Five post-pandemic pivots in Canadian security and intelligence
As global insecurity runs high, Canada can no longer presume any country, starting with the US, will protect us. We will have to think for ourselves.
Five post-pandemic pivots in Canadian security and intelligence
As global insecurity runs high, Canada can no longer presume any country, starting with the US, will protect us. We will have to think for ourselves.
June 23, 2020
Why Canada may become a great global power this century
The Canada that exits the Great Quarantine may, by mid-century, become a great power. Or it may, as a mirror opposite, become a deep vassal state.
Canada faces two wildly different futures, one as essentially a vassal state to the US. The other requires us to think and act like a major power.
I don't see Canada playing a big role. We're very committed to NATO and most of us are proud of that. (if they've heard of NATO) . We'll remain near the top in CO2 per capita. We'll get refugees but not like Europe. I hope we'll stop financing new fossil fuel exploration and development even ban it. We're like that Titanic lifeboat that had extra space but got far enough from the ship to avoid swimmers. (like Leonard Di Caprio)
[quote=Rikardo]
We're very committed to NATO and most of us are proud of that. (if they've heard of NATO)
[quote=NDPP]
'Of one thing only can we be sure. We shall remain stupid.' - Voltaire -
The Final 100 Seconds
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/22/the-final-100-seconds/
"Never before this year 2020 has the world famous Doomsday Clock registered only '100 seconds to midnight'. The Doomsday Clock is internationally recognized as an important SOS of impending catastrophe..."
NORAD. We remain an independent country in terms of international relationships to an extent but in terms of the defence of North America we are almost one with the USA. That is not going to change.
We will not be overrun with refugees like Europe because our continent is physically difficult for refugees to reach. Mexico and countries in South America are being forced to try to stop them. We will let them do what we can't because of our human rights laws. Some refugees will make it into the US and Canada but nothing like Europe.
Fortress North America already exists and its defences will only get stronger.
Canada is among the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of natural resources including lots and lots of water which we will have to share with the U.S.
Global warming is expected to have a greater than average impact on Canada which will bring more weather disasters, hurricanes and tornadoes, flooding, melting permafrost. Even so we will be lucky. It is unlikely Canada will get too hot for human habitation which is going to happen in other regions of the world. Our agriculture will be radically impacted forcing farmers to change crops and they may lose many but we will get more farmland not less. We may end up with the new California growing things we never imagined we could. The adjustments won't be easy. We will feel the pain of climate change. We are still among the best positioned to do better than just survive it.
Canada will remain one of the wealthiest safest countries in the world to live in.
The big powers aren't going to fight each other physically on our respective lands. We all know better. We fight our wars on other peoples lands not home soil.
China is going to get a slap down because they have been breaking the global gentleman's rules like not assasinating people on the soil of the major players like the EU, US, Canada, etc. They will pay for the hostage taking too. The economies are too intertwined to do a lot without hurting ourselves but the same is true in reverse. Each could destroy the others economy but only at the cost of its own so self-defeating.
But, the west has woken up to our vulnerability. Security is not all about guns. It is about the ability to manufacture that which we need to survive. Lots of industrial manufacturing is about to return to North America over the next 10 to 15 years. Canada is going to dive into developing green technology. I hope a hub will be created in Alberta to begin to suck up all that empty office space and to slowly replace the oil industry. Alberta could also become an expert in land reclamation. The oil industry isn't going to die overnight. It will exist for decades to come so the transition will happen over time.
Canada's future is very bright. Beating my favorite drum yet again, I am convinced the Conservative/reform party is doomed for the foreseeable future. That probably means at least another 10 years of the Liberals or an NDP government that transformed itself into a centrist party to win so are really barely left of the Liberals.
Opportunity beckons but it requires its own thread.