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Canada and the World

DSC said:
I would say that the figures are probably quite similar here..

www.thestar.com

Half of US adults say Israel has gone too far in war in Gaza, AP-NORC poll shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Half of U.S. adults say Israel's 15-week-old military campaign in Gaza has “gone too far,” a finding driven mainly by growing disapproval among Republicans and political independents,
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
Click to expand...

Not to get this off topic but I do not think Israel realizes how many people disagree with them.

They are still playing the antisemitism card that they have been playing for years and it is getting old quickly. Self defense only gets you so far and now Israel is going a tad overboard.

Yes they got attacked, Yes Islam hates Israel but then again Israel is not making any friends by trying to exterminate Islamists off the map in the name of long term security.

At some point (and I do believe this time is coming), the world will side with the Palestinians given how much Israel is going overboard here.
 
Richard White said:
Not to get this off topic but I do not think Israel realizes how many people disagree with them.

They are still playing the antisemitism card that they have been playing for years and it is getting old quickly. Self defense only gets you so far and now Israel is going a tad overboard.

Yes they got attacked, Yes Islam hates Israel but then again Israel is not making any friends by trying to exterminate Islamists off the map in the name of long term security.

At some point (and I do believe this time is coming), the world will side with the Palestinians given how much Israel is going overboard here.
Click to expand...
I'm not exactly sure Israel cares. The State was invaded by its surrounding Arab neighbours less than a month after it was established; the first of several times.

When your neighbours publicly declare that you and your people should simply not exist anymore, perhaps you get a little aggressive.

They *might* start to care if the US cuts support.
 
Hamas kind of f-ed around and are finding out. It's almost like Hamas wants Israel to conduct an ethnic cleansing operation of Gaza.
 
afransen said:
Hamas kind of f-ed around and are finding out. It's almost like Hamas wants Israel to conduct an ethnic cleansing operation of Gaza.
Click to expand...
It's almost like Israel f-ed around in helping create Hamas and is doing it's own finding out now.

theintercept.com

Blowback: How Israel Went From Helping Create Hamas to Bombing It

Hamas wants to destroy Israel, right? But as Mehdi Hasan shows in a new video on blowback, Israeli officials admit they helped start the group.
theintercept.com theintercept.com
www.japantimes.co.jp

Israel's historical role in the rise of Hamas

The complicated relationship between Israel and Hamas with the the 'Frankenstein' Jewish state help create
www.japantimes.co.jp www.japantimes.co.jp
 
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This is mostly why I say we really need to have a conversation on our foreign and defence policy. We're entering an era where the US doesn't think it should be providing protection for free anymore. And if it wasn't Trump, it would be another American President.

kEiThZ said:
I hope we finally understand why defence capabilities independent of the US, are important:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1756414506723320127
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kEiThZ said:
What should the plan be for Canada's foreign policy if Trump leaves NATO?

www.ctvnews.ca

Canada's defence minister reacts to Trump's NATO remarks: 'We're going to hear rhetorical statements'

Canada's defence minister chose his words carefully when asked to respond to Donald Trump's suggestion the U.S. might not protect those NATO allies not spending enough on defence from Russia.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca
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I am honestly surprised people have not been working on the assumption that the US will leave NATO.

From around WW2 to the late 1970s, the US could be counted on to keep everything in check around the world. Once Reagan came into office, politics got in the way and things changed.

With the way US politics is now, they cannot be trusted to handle anything more than their own self-guided interests. Unless there is a 9/11 type of situation, there will never be any consensus.

Sadly, the US is only someone's ally when it suits them. Case and point Donald Trump and the GOP.
 
Richard White said:
I am honestly surprised people have not been working on the assumption that the US will leave NATO.
Click to expand...

I'm sure somebody is working the file behind the scenes. What's disappointing is that we haven't had a debate on what our policy should be. As it stands, Trump will have undermined NATO just by virtue of his comments. Even if he doesn't pull the US out, he could simply refuse to respond to an attack or even veto Article V.

It's easy to say this is just Trump. But if it wasn't him, it would be somebody else demanding the same. As the US gets more isolationist, they are more likely to see relationships as transactional and discount common values. The vacuum is also being filled by autocrats. Ukraine is the first of what could be many examples. All our countries should be having public debates on how to deal with this.
 
kEiThZ said:
I'm sure somebody is working the file behind the scenes. What's disappointing is that we haven't had a debate on what our policy should be. As it stands, Trump will have undermined NATO just by virtue of his comments. Even if he doesn't pull the US out, he could simply refuse to respond to an attack or even veto Article V.

It's easy to say this is just Trump. But if it wasn't him, it would be somebody else demanding the same. As the US gets more isolationist, they are more likely to see relationships as transactional and discount common values. The vacuum is also being filled by autocrats. Ukraine is the first of what could be many examples. All our countries should be having public debates on how to deal with this.
Click to expand...

I do believe that one day you will see the creation of an EU Defense Force to replace NATO.

The only way the US will change is when other countries start abandoning it.
 
Richard White said:
I do believe that one day you will see the creation of an EU Defense Force to replace NATO.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. The different cultures and interests very much limit cooperation in this domain. A common force requires a common foreign policy. And that is exceptionally difficult for the EU. Think about how different France with its far flung territories is compared to say war averse Germany or Russophilic Hungary? Indeed, the current difficulty with Hungary is a great example of why such a force would be a disaster. Imagine giving Orban a veto over European security. Not going to happen.

What is possible is that NATO becomes a European exclusive organization or they build something like that with more discipline (to deal with future Orbans).

Richard White said:
The only way the US will change is when other countries start abandoning it.
Click to expand...

More important to me is what happens to Canada. We are even more dependent on the US for both economic and geopolitical security. Forget NATO. It's a good thing, Trump doesn't know about NORAD and how little we spend while having American aircraft, ships and satellites watch and patrol our waters and airspace. Sure, that might not be an easy relationship for the US to terminate. But they could very easily decide to impose trade costs, if we don't pay up.

Beyond that, our decades of hitching our foreign policy to the US, now leaves us listless. What is the role in the world of a de facto American dependency, in an era where the US is retreating from the world stage? Do we retreat with them or do we stay with other like-minded democracies and work to keep the autocrats at bay? The first is easy and cheap. The second will require courage and sacrifice, the likes of which this country hasn't demonstrated in decades.
 
Northern Light said:
This could go here, or in the Trudeau thread......

Minister Blair announcing the acquisition of some short-range air defense for our troops in Latvia.

Click to expand...

It's a good emergency purchase. It's not enough to actually protect the battle group (for which Canada is now the lead nation). We'll eventually need to buy a more comprehensive system that can actually defend against aircraft and missiles. But this provides some defence against very close threats.
 
Even if it 10%, it's 10% more than we currently have.

"All of the equipment will be deployed with the Canadian-led NATO brigade in Latvia and the purchases — when they arrive — will complete the Liberal government's pledge to close major equipment gaps for troops in the field, whose mission is to deter potential Russian aggression in the Baltic states."​

The troops in the field might disagree.
 
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