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The ugly war in Ukraine has forced a long-overdue reckoning with the pathetic state of our military. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered Ukraine’s President Zelensky “unwavering and steadfast support,” but we don’t have the modern weaponry and matériel to send that will make any meaningful difference in the war.
Don’t be misled by the budget’s promise of an immediate $8 billion on defence as a portal to renewed military preparedness and morale. According to Matt Gurney, the National Post’s military point man, that amount “will only begin to scratch the surface of what’s needed.” With $8 billion, we can repair old equipment, not acquire new. Facilities and infrastructure can be smartened up, but not expanded. We could address personnel shortages, “but not actually grow the military beyond the size it is already supposed to be, yet isn’t.”
Even if the money allotted were virtually unlimited, Gurney says, “the procurement process in this country is such an omnishambles that we wouldn’t spend most of the allotted money because we simply can’t procure stuff.” And on his litany of deficits goes in a most depressing vein. Trudeau said we need “another defence review,” which is nice, but what point of view will inform the review? If it comes from “the mindset that let this [mess] happen in the first place,” it won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.
Military spending isn’t a priority for most Canadians, because we feel protected from threats of war by our fortuitous geography and the wide span of the American eagle’s wings. If history and human nature are reliable standards for judgment, we can be confident Canadians will only stop feeling safe when it is too late to make ourselves safe. It’s already late. What we are witnessing in Ukraine — an entirely unprovoked and ruthless invasion — should be a warning bell about Putin’s pathological need for imperial expansion, ringing so loudly it won’t let us sleep. Because we’re likely next on Russia’s to-do list.
Last spring, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Canada and other Western Arctic stakeholders — the US, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland — that all the resources beneath the ice melting in the Arctic Sea belong to the Russian government. “It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land,” Lavrov stated at a Moscow press conference. It would be stupid at this point to delude ourselves into believing he is blowing smoke regarding the Arctic as we assumed, for too long, was the case with Ukraine. We should assume he means what he says. More @ Source.
