Open letter to Global Affairs Minister Stephane Dion
When propaganda is hyped as foreign policy, war becomes inevitable
Canada’s foreign policy exists as nothing more than a propagandist construct in service to US hegemonic ambitions. In doing so, we pander to further warfare and endless militarism.
Dear Mr. Dion:
I thank you for your letter of September 20th, 2016. I must, however, take strong exception to the claims you make in your letter.
As you point out in your second paragraph, NATO was founded in 1949 as a defence alliance to counter the USSR and its NATO equivalent the Warsaw Pact. However, in 1989 when Cold War l ended with the collapse of the USSR, NATO instead of being disbanded, as was the Warsaw Pact, it was globalized and became an instrument of American global imperialism.
Even though a promise was made to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand NATO up to Russia’s border; the promise was immediately broken by US President Bill Clinton.
In paragraph three you refer to “Russia’s aggression in Ukraine .“ This is a highly controversial claim as I have read numerous reports on what actually happened in the Ukraine. It was an American instigated coup d’etat to further undermine and “close the noose” on Russia. The coup established an America-friendly puppet state in the Ukraine and was a further attack on Russia’s sphere of influence. It is widely reported the coup was managed by Victoria Nuland of the US State Department(a well-known neoconservative)with the assistance of US ambassador to the Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.
One of the best accounts I have read on the 2014 Ukrainian coup is contained in the book, Queen of Chaos, The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton, by Diana Johnstone. Johnstone is an American journalist based in France, and she gives a very detailed and “on the ground” account of what happened there. I refer it to your attention.
In paragraph five you state:
“As Canada plays its part in strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence posture, I should underline that all NATO activities and decisions are taken in transparency, are defensive in nature, and are proportionate.”
Here again, your claims are highly contentious given the following:
- NATO-led and dominated by the US accounts for 65% of annual global military spending. Russia and China together account for a mere 15%.
- NATO has started every war of the 21st century and in reality has become an agent of imperial aggression.
- If you read the UN speeches of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, they have no imperial ambitions. They want nothing more than the right to exist and freedom from constant American aggressions.
- It was US President Obama who has committed a trillion dollars to the renewal of the American nuclear arsenal.
- It was the US that annihilated Iraq as a country and continues to plunder Syria without mercy.
Your contentions were devastated long ago by the Wolfowitz Doctrine and the Program for the New American(PNAC) and most recently by America’s Pacific pivot. These documents, freely available on the internet, state policy for US pursuit of global hegemony, -“ Full Spectrum Domination.” They are seminal in explicating the geopolitics of our times. Absent from any consideration they render the world in denial, and a world tilting toward even more devastating wars.
You close your letter:
“Our engagement with Russia also provides opportunities to reaffirm fundamental Canadian values and clearly express our opposition to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and support for illegal armed groups in the Ukraine. “
Rapprochement with Russia is certainly a worthy goal, but I fail to see how you can achieve this when you accept as fact, “ Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and support for illegal armed groups in the Ukraine.” You are again making a highly contentious claim. I suggest this is nothing more than propaganda. Russia must question the sincerity of our overtures for rapprochement when it sees Canada participating in the massive NATO buildup on its borders and our habitual participation in other NATO aggressions.
I must note here your repeated allegation of Russia’s “illegal” actions at a time when legality in geopolitics is extinct, and NATO has done more than its share to create this international lawlessness.
What is most alarming about your letter is what is never mentioned. This is NATO’s reckless unjustified determination to vilify, threaten and lure Russia into a war nobody can win. NATO is playing a very dangerous game of brinkmanship. Many informed international observers are sounding the alarm bells, but for the most part, their warnings have fallen on the deaf ears of a sorely corrupted mainstream media and submissive NATO member leaders willing to pander to endless warfare.
Canada’s foreign policy in this regard exists as nothing more than a propagandist construct in service to US hegemonic ambitions. In doing so, we pander to further warfare and endless militarism.
As one of twenty-eight NATO vassal states, we allow ourselves to be idiotically coerced into one war after another. We live by the insane notion our silent complicity buy’s the peace when all we do is buy into more warfare, more bloodshed, and more global anarchy. We may believe our silent complicity absolves us of culpability, but should these tensions erupt into warfare we become an accessory; as with murder, so too in warfare.
As Donald Trump’s presidential campaign disintegrates into absurdity, it becomes apparent Hillary Clinton is going to assume the US presidency. Here again, I refer you to Johnstone’s book. Johnstone has the “goods”on Hillary Clinton as she confirms her as a warmongering neoconservative hawk. The world cannot afford another Clinton presidency.
By their dissent, NATO’s 28 vassal states can defuse a perilous drift to war. To claim at this point NATO’s actions are transparent, defensive, and proportionate, shamelessly mocks the truth. NATO is an organization totally corrupted and past its time.
Instead of accommodating America’s boundless addiction to warfare it is time leaders of NATO member states say enough is enough. World peace demands defenders who are actually willing to lead and not cower in the shadows of a tarnished superpower.
I would be very interested in hearing from you what “fundamental Canadian values” you would like to see reaffirmed.
Sincerely,
Robert Billyard
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Robert Billyard is an artist and writer living in Mission BC with a special interest in politics and world affairs.