Good-bye, F-35?
canadian military
Ten reasons the F-35 stealth fighter is wrong for Canada
Today ceasefire.ca launches a petition against the purchast of F-35 stealth fighters for the Canadian military. Check out the petition by clicking here or use the nifty form below, and read 10 plus one great reasons to sign.
Afghanistan: The crucible for reorienting Canadian foreign policy
Operation Apollo, Operation Athena, Operation Archer, Operation Accius, Operation Altair... since Canada first entered the war on Afghanistan in 2001 the list of extensions, renewals and "spin-offs" has gone on and on and on. Originally scheduled to end in 2003, Canada's involvement in this imperialist aggression threatens to continue until 2014 if Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets his way.
Afghanistan has been the central preoccupation of Canadian foreign policy over the past decade. It has also been a main focus of peace movement activity. Mobilizations against the war in Afghanistan have not been nearly as spectacular as those against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The build up was slower, and it took more time to locate a basis of unity upon which to build mobilizations.
Afghanistan and Canada: The 'disconnect' on both sides of the wire
'While in Kandahar, I sensed little in terms of a common goal, a unity of effort, or even recognition of context by those there.'
Related rabble.ca story:
Afghanistan and Canada: The 'disconnect' on both sides of the wire
"Disconnect" is the term that keeps popping into my mind when I think about Afghanistan and the events unfolding here.
We all talk about this term. We can apply it to almost everything at times, from the relationship with our food, or lack thereof, to the goods we buy and where they come from, our political system and our involvement in it, and the consequences of our lifestyle on the planet as a whole to name but a few.
The term is also incredibly descriptive of the happenings here in Afghanistan, unfortunately.
The destructiveness of war-mongering
White poppies. Sometimes something rings a little bell amid the gloom, like a bird singing after a catastrophe, or a light in a raging storm. It's a symbol of peace, first introduced in Britain by the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1936. The notion that hope for peace might live, however, is apparently so outlandish that the symbol is little known and only makes rare appearances, as it did in P.E.I. this Remembrance Day, and always seems to upset someone.
F-35 stealth fighters are for 'shock and awe' warfare, not Canada's needs
The $16-billion debacle continues...
Related rabble.ca story:
New fighter jets have no 'useful military role'
Of all the things Canadians want from their government, my guess is that new military fighter jets would probably rank close to last.
But new fighter jets are what we're getting. Despite the enduring popularity of peacekeeping among Canadians, the Harper government continues to ramp up war-oriented military spending, most recently with its announcement of plans to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.
At $16 billion -- and that's a conservative estimate; cost overruns are rampant with military contracts -- the jets promise to be the most expensive military acquisition in Canadian history.
What makes this purchase bizarre is how little use the jets will be, unless we're waging all-out war.
A hero stands up to cowboys
In an inaugural address to 2,000 soldiers in the Ottawa Congress Centre in February 2005, Gen. Rick Hillier declared: "When Canadian troops go overseas, they expect sex." Within a split second, he corrected himself: "success."
It was clearly a slip of the tongue. But, according to someone who was there, it also fit the mood of the room. After years of feeling like an emasculated army of peacekeepers, Canadian soldiers finally had a real fighting man at their helm. No more girlie-man peacekeeping, boys! We're gonna make war!
The transformation of the Canadian military into a war-oriented force -- a partner in George W. Bush's freewheeling War on Terror -- was the product of the influential Hillier, with the backing of the Harper government.
