Hands off Syria!

Unionist wrote:

This is how Magoo wins.

What does he win?

Mr. Magoo wrote:

The people of Syria will oust ISIS wihout our meddling intervention the same way the people of Poland gave the Nazis the heave-ho without our meddling intervention.  When will we ever learn?

 It's none of our business what they do.  Poland is a great example of how they can handle themselves and we should mind our own business.

Thousands in London, Madrid Protest Military Intervention in Syria

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/11/28/439535/London-Madrid-protests-D...

"Thousands of people have taken to the streets of London and Madrid protesting their governments' potential participation in airstrikes in Syria..."

The urgency to stop Canada's participation in this war increases now that it is clear its purpose is not to destroy ISIS but to destroy Syria. See #106

No Timetable On Pulling Jets Says Defence Minister

http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2015/12/11/no-timetable-on-pulling-jets...

"Canada will not pull its CF-18 fighter jets from the combat mission in Iraq and Syria if it degrades the overall capability of the coalition forces, Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan told Sirius XM in an interview on Everything is Politcal with Evan Solomon.

'The decision for that will be based on my conversations with my counterparts, making sure that the coalition's capability is not reduced, the defense minister said. This stands in contrast to what the Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said on Monday, when he announced that the combat mission would end 'imminently'..."

Still bombing Syriaq with no end in sight.

April, 2015: Canada's War Against ISIS: Road To Destruction Not Peace

http://rabble.ca/news/2015/04/canadas-war-against-isis-road-to-destructi...

"Let me get this straight. Canada is flying bombing missions targeting ISIS [less ISIS, mostly Syrian infrastructure] positions in Syria with a US-led coalition that also includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar - all three of whom have financed various extremist and jihadist Sunni groups.

And so, Canada is participating in a rapidly expanding conflict in Iraq and Syria against an enemy originally nurtured by a supposed ally..."

Yes, and despite campaign promises to withdraw by Trudeau, the bombing continues. As does the national apathy about it.

Canada's Record of Accepting Refugees, From Chile and Vietnam in the Past, to Syria Today   -  by Roger Annis

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/05/canadas-record-of-accepting-refug...

"...The Syrian numbers are part of the 60 million refugees estimated by the UNHCR, the UN refugee rights agency, to have been forced from their homes or their countries by war.

There are many ways in which Canada could alleviate the refugee crisis in Syria. It could start by ending its participation in the US-led bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq and ending its support, including arms sales to the repressive regimes in the region that are also fomenting war in Syria, such as Saudi Arabia. [and Israel, trying to steal even more land in the oil rich occupied Golan]

Canada could support diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria, such as the UN Security Council resolution of December 18, 2015. The government and mainstream media in Canada do not breathe a word of that important, breakthrough resolution, no doubt because it marks a significant achievement for Russian diplomacy in the region. Instead of saving human lives, Canada's military ships and those of its allies are uselessly parading around the Mediterranean and Black Seas as part of NATO's ongoing, threatening military posture against Russia.

The full scope of the Syrian refugee crisis goes largely unspoken in Canada because that would require examining why Syrians are being forced to leave their homes and homeland in the first place. The best outcome of the crisis is not to watch Syria become emptied of its population due to war. It is to end foreign intervention that aims to overthrow the government of Bashar al Assad and which is the main cause of the refugee crisis. Instead, a political settlement is needed for the admittedly difficult political conflict that has torn Syria apart.

Canada should be demanding that NATO-member Turkey end its brutal internal war against the Kurdish population in the east of that country. The policies of permanent war and 'regime change' against governments that do not jump to Washington's orders are at the root of the political and humanitarian disasters in the Middle East. CANADA, ISRAEL and the countries of the EUROPEAN UNION all share responsiblity for what has unfolded.

Given the Trudeau government's course in the Middle East and its unwavering support to the NATO countries' threats and ecnomic embargo against Russia and Crimea, Canadians have a renewed duty to speak out and organize against war and militarism. In this 'honeymoon' period of the Trudeau government, there were hopes that 'something' would improve in Canada's foreign policy. But  we have seen that movie before, following the election of Barack Obama in 2008.

It did not end well and neither will this new script unless we act."

NDPP wrote:

Canada Weighing Options To Expand Its Role in Mideast War

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/14/cana-j14.html

"The new government's determination to retain Canada's major role in the US-led drive to consolidate its hegemony in the Middle East reflects the fact that a repartition of the world's most important oil-exporting region is underway.

Trudeau and his senior government colleagues, including Defence Minister Harjat Sajjan have repeatedly refused to spell out a timeline for the withdrawal of the fighter jets, even suggesting that they could remain in position beyond the March 31 deadline set by the former Conservative government.

Sajjan has also indicated that the Liberal government is considering military options encompassing a broader area than Syria and Iraq. Canada is deeply implicated in all three of the US's major military-strategic offensives around the world. In the Middle East, against Russia in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, and the military and economic encirclement of China in the Asia-Pacific..."

So where is the Canadian anti-war movement?

Let's just think about that last comment in the quote for a moment. "The military and economic encirclement of China."

Just how would you imagine that to end?

The last time the US did that to an asian country is a world famous example of a road to war that was made unstoppable. Most historians agree that the encirclement of Japan contributed both to the motivation for war and to undermine any second thoughts. Japan committed horrors in the war but these actions made war unavoidable.

Consider the geo-politics of this: China is still on a per capita basis quite poor and it expects by virtue of its power to play a role in the world. Choke it and it will fight you whether it wants war or not.

Does Canada really want to engage in this?