A “terrible decision” for nuclear non-proliferation On September 15, 2021 the American, British and Australian leaders announced a new strategic partnership, with the acronym AUKUS, intended to improve security in the Indo-Pacific. President Biden stated: Today, we’re taking another historic …
Course correction long overdue for Global War on Terror
9/11: Lessons unlearned from GWOT (of which Afghanistan is one tragic part) Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them…. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are …
Gun control, space security, Afghanistan and re-imagining Canada in the world
Conservative dissembling on gun control Given the continuing legacy of the Polytechnique massacre of 1989, it is no surprise that gun control was a hot topic in the French language federal election leaders’ debate, sponsored by major Quebec broadcaster TVA …
No easy answers for Afghanistan
What next for Afghanistan – Part Three Our last two blogs have focused on the catastrophic failure of the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan and why that dismal outcome was a virtual inevitability without a change in course — in …
2021 federal election week one: Climate crisis and peril in Afghanistan
A leaders’ election debate on the climate crisis is an urgent necessity Four leading Canadian recipients of the Order of Canada, Margaret Atwood, Stephen Lewis, Michael Ondaatje and David Suzuki, have written to David Johnson, head of the Leaders’ Debate …
Foreign Policy Issues to ponder while RI takes a short summer break
RI is taking a two-week pause We are embarking on a two-week summer hiatus so watch for our next blog on Monday 23 Aug 2021. In the meantime, here are some of the foreign policy issues we are watching closely. …
State-sponsored espionage whether Chinese or American puts us all at risk
Cyber espionage and the real problem with 5G Technologies To put things in a nutshell, the United States has won its all-in war against Huawei. Those words were written by Wesley Wark, one of Canada’s foremost national security experts, in …
Canada gets Cuba policy right, why DND does not need new subs and much more
Canadian Cuba policy opposing trade embargo and urging dialogue is the right one In an “analysis” entitled As Cuba erupts, Cuban-Canadians accuse the Trudeau government of turning its back, CBC’s Evan Dyer references this statement from Global Affairs Canada: Global …
Swarming military drones bring new urgency to push for killer robot ban
Killer robots and swarming drones A non-paywalled article in Foreign Policy carries the terrifying headline: Killer Flying Robots Are Here. What Do We Do Now? (Vivek Wadhwa and Alex Salkever, 5 July 2021). The sub-title reads: A new generation of …
Time for Canada to get serious on rethinking security for a post-pandemic world
Rethinking security needed now more than ever On the occasion of the deployment of the UK’s new aircraft carrier to “Japan and back”, Professor Paul Rogers has written another powerful article on the futility of our current approach to security …
Parliamentary report heeds civil society calls for strengthened arms export control system
Foreign Affairs Committee Report to Parliament on Arms Export Controls On 21 June 2021 the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development delivered its report to parliament on its study, begun in December 2020, of the Granting of Arms …
Glimmers of hope from the Biden-Putin Summit and more
We are modestly optimistic about Biden-Putin Summit Following closely on the heels of the G7 and NATO Summits, American President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva on Wednesday, 16 June 2021 for several hours of talks. …
