Canadian Foreign Policy & Affairs II

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I'm going to guess, none of the signatories from that memo foresaw or wanted actual acknowledgement by Hamas.

As for skate to where the puck is going, you'd be surprised how many immigrant groups are pro-Israel. A lot of Indians for example. This isn't going to be as helpful for the LPC as one imagines.

I have also had a few Indian friends who are supportive but the more woke ones who are part of visible minority networks at work and the like are very pro-Palestinian. At the end of the day only Jews and Muslims are going to change their vote based on the issue though so this is smart politics by the Liberals. Notice the Conservatives are not eviscerating the Liberals for these moves. They are still hoping to tap into the Muslim anti-woke feeling and really their natural affinity for the Conservative party that Kenney and Harper started to develop before going full-blown racist in the 2015 election.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Pro Israeli or anti-Muslim???

A lot of Indian Hindus are pro-Israel. Indian Muslims can be pro-Palestine. Indian Christians tend to be a mixed group.

India has suffered a ton from Islamist terrorism. And many of the groups in that region will include India, Israel and US in the same talking points of their propaganda. So there's a general resentment against groups like Hamas and a broad view that Israel and India are fellow travelers. But for Indian Muslims, Sikhs and some Indian Christians this view is also tempered by their experience with sectarian majoritarian violence in India. On the whole though, the recent wave of immigrants from India are mostly Hindu and staunchly conservative. Highly unlikely they'll be tolerant of what they perceive to be appeasement of Islamists.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

Well, according to that CBC article, the Reaper has a state of the art anti-icing/de-icing system, ...

Yeah. That's why just a few months they were talking about pushing this back till they could prove that capability.....

It's just not as capable in that environment as the MQ-4C Triton (a marinized Global Hawk) that are used by the USN and RAAF and literally designed as a complement to the Poseidon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nort...n_MQ-4C_Triton

From what I am hearing though, the work around here is that these do more work on the coasts and free up P-8s to spend more time up north. So maybe icing is less of an issue. But really in that case, it would have been better to buy 5 Tritons and park them in Yellowknife.

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

...and by the looks of it, Canada is addressing the satellite/communication issues related to flying this drone in northern latitudes.

Comms in the Arctic is in many ways a relatively Canadian problem. The US just cares less about it. So Canada is the lead on a number of major satcom projects that should come online over the next decade or so to provide that bandwidth. It's not just comms. There's also projects looking at improving satnav reliability up there.

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone

I think having Reapers is better than nothing.

I think this is the mentality that gets us stuck with obsolete kit or stuff that just doesn't fit the purpose. It's the mindset that got us the disasters that are the Cyclone Helicopter and the Kingfisher SAR aircraft. At least this one won't kill people (we hope).

Personally this whole project just sounds like a bunch of air force generals really wanted armed drones and were trying to sell it to the government so they added "Arctic Surveillance" as an afterthought. It's not 2010. Drones are now a whole family of capabilities. Need to match the tool to the job.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

No good deed goes unpunished. Hamas puts out a video (in English) thanking Canada, Australia and New Zealand banking a ceasefire and working to help isolate the "fascist Israeli government".

https://twitter.com/StewGlobal/statu...Vtu5oMXHA&s=19

Oh man. This is going to be some major own goal scoring with domestic politics.

It looks like he has painted on frowny eyebrows. It's weird to hear him speak calmly while his eyes look like uncle Leo from Seinfeld.



I agree though, this isn't a good thing. Regardless, I still believe a ceasefire is necessary. Hamas needs to go though. Not sure what the solution is but this shooting gallery in a cage isn't it. Likud also needs to go frankly.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Where did I use the word ceasefire?

Now?

Originally Posted by O-tacular

... I still believe a ceasefire is necessary.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Now?

Is this supposed to be some kind of Gotcha!? Cause I said in the second part of your first quote (which you conveniently left out) that I supported a ceasefire.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Is this supposed to be some kind of Gotcha!? Cause I said in the second part of your first quote (which you conveniently left out) that I supported a ceasefire.

Huh???

You posted Palestinian refugee porn (the photos) to imply a position without actually saying it. Savevp called you out:

Originally Posted by savevp

But this is also why when someone says Hamas=/=Gaza, I say your ceasefire calls do equal pro-Hamas statements. And so in the current context, 'Free Palestine' means 'Up Hamas.'

You replied that you never called for a ceasefire (your quote in full) and implied that he was inferring the wrong thing:

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Where did I use the word ceasefire? Though I do think one is warranted. Subject to release of all hostages, bringing humanitarian aid and ultimately demanding an end to Hamas’ leadership.

Though you say you prefer one (which I think everyone does), you later and explicitly call for an unqualified ceasefire (unlike your first post), proving Savevp correct.

No "gotcha" post implied as your words are there in full.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Huh???

You posted Palestinian refugee porn (the photos) to imply a position without actually saying it. Savevp called you out:

You replied that you never called for a ceasefire (your quote in full) and implied that he was inferring the wrong thing:

Though you say you prefer one (which I think everyone does), you later and explicitly call for an unqualified ceasefire (unlike your first post), proving Savevp correct.

No "gotcha" post implied as your words are there in full.

I posted those pictures in response to savevp’s out-of-nowhere implication that anyone opposing Israel’s reckless response is only doing it because of some woke notion of ‘intersectionality’ or some bullshit. I replied I don’t need a textbook to see all the civilian casualties are wrong. Then he accused me of only posting pictures to call for a ceasefire (which I never mentioned) and that I was doing Hamas’ work.

Now you pop up out of nowhere to insinuate some other weird thing to prove that…. I hold the same opinion that I did earlier? Btw calling it ‘Palestinian refugee porn’ sounds close to ‘Pallywood’. Also you only take issue with my pics but not TrueNorth’s of Jews being shot? You’re the biased one here.

All you guys seem to want to do is project whatever nonsense you think anyone opposing Israel’s response to be onto every argument to attack their character. I was horrified by what Hamas did and the unthinkable barbarity of murdering and mutilating babies and innocent civilians. As a parent it really struck a cord. But I also had a pit in my stomach anticipating Likud’s response. As a parent of young children I am horrified by the indiscriminate bombing, starvation and homelessness that the IDF is inflicting on millions of civilians and children.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Now you pop up out of nowhere

Pop up out of nowhere??? He’ll I’ve been in this thread since page 2, not like some page 11 come lately.

We all want the hostilities to stop - you’re not unique in that so don’t blow your own horn.

Some want Hamas defeated by the IDF at all costs. Some don’t.

Some also don’t know much about LGBT rights in the ME and resort to ad hominem attacks, but whatever. Have a great day!!

[Truenorth00]

Roshel delivered its 1000th Senator APC to Ukraine today.

https://defence-blog.com/roshel-deli...le-to-ukraine/

Rocky start aside, this is proving to be an incredible success story for Canada and saving lives in Ukraine. I hope the government can follow up with a long term commitment to buy these for our reserves and for Ukraine's TDF.

[Truenorth00]

I really hope more people call out The Toronto Sun for this anti-Semitic trope:

[Docere]

The Toronto Sun is garbage and always has been.

[acottawa]

They apologized pretty quickly.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/sun-a...es-for-cartoon

Part of the text.

It falsely implied American aid to Ukraine involves theft.

It was hurtful to Canadians of Ukrainian origin, and to all Ukrainians, fighting an existential struggle against Russian aggression.

It also used anti-Semitic stereotypes in its depiction of Zelenskyy.

It was hurtful to Canadians of Jewish origin, and to the Jewish people, currently under assault from a global wave of anti-Semitism.

We failed them and we failed all of you, our readers.

The syndicated cartoonist behind the cartoon will no longer run in our newspaper.

We promise to do better in the future.

[76samian]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

I really hope more people call out The Toronto Sun for this anti-Semitic trope:

Until this war started the Ukrainian government was always regarded as the most corrupt in Europe. Why does this have to be interrupted as Anti-Semitism? Billions of dollars have gone unaccounted for as thousands of Ukrainians against their will get sent to die. It's disgusting.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by 76samian

Billions of dollars have gone unaccounted for as thousands of Ukrainians against their will get sent to die. It's disgusting.

Thousands of noncombatant Ukrainians have been killed by Russia too, like the ones who died in Bucha or Mariupol. Good geopolitical strategy is about trade-offs and picking the lesser evil so pointing out that there have been some negatives doesn't by itself mean much. Compulsory military service is common around the world.

Do you have any source for the lost billions? The Pentagon revised the value of aid to Ukraine down last summer: https://apnews.com/article/fact-chec...d-987942991352. I suspect a lot of dollar values for aid to Ukraine are inflated and do not represent true costs as a lot of that gear would have otherwise been scrapped. Some of it is not exactly what Ukraine needed and was sent because allies wanted to clear out their warehouses and claim the highest aid dollar figure possible.

Most of the aid from the USA is military assistance in the form of equipment, training, etc., not cash. A lot of the content on the internet is from fake Russian sources, like the story about Zelensky buying yachts.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by 76samian

Until this war started the Ukrainian government was always regarded as the most corrupt in Europe. Why does this have to be interrupted as Anti-Semitism? Billions of dollars have gone unaccounted for as thousands of Ukrainians against their will get sent to die. It's disgusting.

What's disgusting? What's your solution? Neither of your statements are completely false but they're largely irrelevant too. It was never the most corrupt but yes was very corrupt largely a result of being trapped in the Russian oligarchic orbit and the reasons hundreds died to put their country on a "European" path in 2014. Ukraine has seen a massive all of society effort to fight back against what Russia is offering. Are some people being drafted yes but what does that mean? Should they only work with volunteers when civilians are billing killed across the country?

[someone123]

The best prospect for making Ukraine less corrupt is for it to undergo reform as part of EU accession. The fastest way to make Ukraine more corrupt is to allow it to be subverted or invaded by Russia. If you care about corruption in Ukraine you should be arguing for aid and engagement from Western countries.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by 76samian

Until this war started the Ukrainian government was always regarded as the most corrupt in Europe. Why does this have to be interrupted as Anti-Semitism? Billions of dollars have gone unaccounted for as thousands of Ukrainians against their will get sent to die. It's disgusting.

According to Russian propaganda it was the most corrupt country in Europe. It certainly had corruption issues, but in objective measures like the Corruption Perception Index then Russia was the most corrupt country in Europe.

A hooked nose has been an anti-Semitic trope since the Middle Ages.

The claim that billions have gone missing is pure Russian propaganda. It has no basis in reality.

Thousands of Ukrainians are dying against their will because Russia is invading their country.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by acottawa

They apologized pretty quickly.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/sun-a...es-for-cartoon

Part of the text.

It falsely implied American aid to Ukraine involves theft.

It was hurtful to Canadians of Ukrainian origin, and to all Ukrainians, fighting an existential struggle against Russian aggression.

It also used anti-Semitic stereotypes in its depiction of Zelenskyy.

It was hurtful to Canadians of Jewish origin, and to the Jewish people, currently under assault from a global wave of anti-Semitism.

We failed them and we failed all of you, our readers.

The syndicated cartoonist behind the cartoon will no longer run in our newspaper.

We promise to do better in the future.

That it was greenlighted to begin with says so much about them. Several people at that newspaper thought this was perfectly okay to publish. Wasn't just the cartoonist.

Guess anti-semitism is acceptable to them if it doesn't involve Israel or Jews in Canada.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by someone123

the best prospect for making ukraine less corrupt is for it to undergo reform as part of eu accession. The fastest way to make ukraine more corrupt is to allow it to be subverted or invaded by russia. If you care about corruption in ukraine you should be arguing for aid and engagement from western countries.

+1