Why Is Stephen Harper Going To Open Seven NEW Military Bases Outside Of Canada's Borders???
A couple of major questions come to mind with the announcement that Canada is about to massively expand our military presence around the world. Firstly, why do we need to spend Billions of tax dollars on an ever increasing Canadian Military?
Also, if Harper wants to trim Billions in spending from the Budget, (yet is about to spend more tax dollars on top of the Billions already spent on Canada's military.), where are all the cuts going to come from?
"Canada is looking at setting up bases around the world to better position the military to participate in international missions, Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed Thursday.
The Canadian Forces does "prudent planning," MacKay told reporters, taking into account the ability to participate in international missions.
"As we look out into the future what we obviously try to do is anticipate where and when we will be needed, but it's difficult with any certainty to make those plans, without talking to other countries, without doing internal examinations," he said.
"The focus of the planning, let's be clear, is our capability for expeditionary participation in international missions.... We are big players in NATO. We're a country that has become a go-to nation in response to situations like what we're seeing in Libya, what we saw in Haiti..."
CBC
"The Canadian Forces are preparing the establishment of seven military bases worldwide supply that will allow Canada to respond quickly in all regions of the planet, learned Le Devoir. The army is preparing his return to a particular country in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, to supply more easily the new training mission in Afghanistan, which begins in August."
Le Devoir
Also, if Harper wants to trim Billions in spending from the Budget, (yet is about to spend more tax dollars on top of the Billions already spent on Canada's military.), where are all the cuts going to come from?
"Canada is looking at setting up bases around the world to better position the military to participate in international missions, Defence Minister Peter MacKay confirmed Thursday.
The Canadian Forces does "prudent planning," MacKay told reporters, taking into account the ability to participate in international missions.
"As we look out into the future what we obviously try to do is anticipate where and when we will be needed, but it's difficult with any certainty to make those plans, without talking to other countries, without doing internal examinations," he said.
"The focus of the planning, let's be clear, is our capability for expeditionary participation in international missions.... We are big players in NATO. We're a country that has become a go-to nation in response to situations like what we're seeing in Libya, what we saw in Haiti..."
CBC
"The Canadian Forces are preparing the establishment of seven military bases worldwide supply that will allow Canada to respond quickly in all regions of the planet, learned Le Devoir. The army is preparing his return to a particular country in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, to supply more easily the new training mission in Afghanistan, which begins in August."
Le Devoir
Here and here are where some of the cuts will come from.
Out with science and art, in with war!
Posted by
sassy |
8:42 am, June 02, 2011
1) Cuts are coming to the Canadian Forces' operating budget. Internal adjustments and efficiency-actions began over a year ago.
2) These "bases" won't be very expensive, or even realized necessarily in a physical way - until some other operation calls upon them to be used in the future. These are essentially just negotiated agreements with Host Countries, and while they may have a financial component they are more often complicated a long list of terms and conditions. In the past, the Government of Canada has negotiated these deals at the very last minute, which as you can imagine isn't really negotiating from a position of strength. This initiative is forward-thinking, and actually has the possibility to provide to the Government of Canada savings in the long-term.
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:08 am, June 02, 2011
Hi Leo,
Are you able to give an example (or link) of efficiency-actions?
Thanks
sassy
Posted by
sassy |
1:13 pm, June 02, 2011
My question is why we're promoting this militarist bullshit in the first place? Just so Stevie Peevie and the other chickenhawks can indulge their schoolboy G.I. Joe fanatasies and thump their flabby little chests while they feed other people's kids into meatgrinder wars that only serve the corporatist agenda, and all the while throw a big "fuck you" to the poor? What happened to us trying to promote peace instead of making work and profits for the death merchants and Wall Street/Bay Street? When are we going to stop this primitive shit once and for all?
Posted by
ThinkingManNeil |
1:26 pm, June 02, 2011
@sassy: here's one:
"Lt.-Gen. Leslie’s mandate is to trim about 5 per cent of the Canadian Forces’ $19-billion base budget immediately"
From here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/military-cuts-to-target-reservists-paper-pushers-general-says/article1775604/
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:56 pm, June 02, 2011
The aircraft carrier will need some place to go!
Posted by
Steve |
12:50 pm, June 03, 2011
It's all part of serving in America's foreign legion. No one is saying it but that's the reasoning behind the F-35. It's an aircraft Canada will only be able to operate usefully in support of some much larger (i.e. American) campaign. The F35 is not a standalone airplane. It requires stealth fighter escort, long-range aerial tankers and the latest command and control aircraft. But, being America's spear carrier, that really doesn't matter.
Posted by
The Mound of Sound |
8:22 am, June 12, 2011