First published at Axis of Logic, 2016-07-13.
Miles Report No. 72 - Trudeau - following Harper’s footsteps in Foreign Policy
Only half a year in power and it is apparent that Trudeau is essentially following Harper’s footsteps when dealing with Canada’s foreign policy - militarily, politically, and economically.
The recent NATO meeting and Trudeau’s sojourns to Ukraine have indicated - that like Obama using “hope and change” to replicate Bush’s U.S. policies - that like Harper, he is using his “sunny ways” to continue with Harper’s (and U.S.) foreign policy, simply couching it in fancier and false language.
Ukraine - wilful ignorance or simply ignorance?
As the mainstream media (MSM) does not truly cover developments in Ukraine or Russia other than when it wants to blame Russia for all our woes, I regularly read information coming from a variety of alternate sources. All these sources would indicate that what the MSM delivers to westerners (being mostly Europeans and North Americans) is at best disingenuous and more frequently simply not true.
Trudeau’s comments in Ukraine indicate that he chooses to remain ignorant of developments in Ukraine and Russia, or that he simply is not as sunny and wise as the image he likes to project. He is cited on the CTV website saying,
It is obvious that Ukraine has made some extremely important and difficult steps in Parliament and in their institutions to live up to their responsibilities on Minsk. And it's also quite clear that on the security side of the Minsk implementation, Russia has not been a positive partner.
First off, Kiev has done nothing to live up to the Minsk agreements. They have not withdrawn heavy artillery from the truce line; they have not made any constitutional changes to allow for regional autonomy (not independence); they have not consulted with any Donbas leaders on any issues relating to Minsk. Russia it should be noted did not sign the Minsk agreement - that is between Kiev, and Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions who rebelled against the Kiev/Maidan Banderist’s attempts to control the region.
Trudeau continued about Russia,
They have not been moving responsibly or appropriately on things like ceasefires or international observers, and we are very hopeful that continued international unity and clarity around the expectations that we advance with Minsk are going to continue to put the necessary pressure on Russia to follow the process and act on the security concerns.
Again, Russia is not a signatory to the agreement. As well, Ukrainian regulars and Ukrainian neonazi militias have moved forward to the truce line (the withdrawal line is several kilometres back from that on each side) and have moved forward heavy artillery to continue shelling the breakaway region, targeting overwhelmingly civilian structures.
Ukrainian leader Poroshenko is using the Obama tactic of blaming the other person for their own transgressions,
With that situation, it is vitally important for us that Russia meet the security criteria for launching the political process. This is Russia who should make a disengagement. This is Russia who should remove the heavy artillery, weapons, multi-rocket launch systems, tanks, from their front lines.
Of course, this is not the situation in eastern Ukraine, where Russian assistance is assuredly supplied just as NATO sycophants supply the Kiev regime. Poroshenko is possibly referring to Crimea where a referendum indicated that the vast majority of residents wanted to be part of Russia and the Russian Duma accepted that. Crimea is not part of the Minsk agreement.
It should also be remembered that it was the U.S. wanting to destabilize Russia in order to protect its petrodollar fiat currency and to control the EU that has led to NATO moving a thousand kilometres up to Russia’s borders and to funding and promoting the Maidan and Odessa murders in order to bring and keep Yatsenyuk, Poroshenko, and their cronies into power. Trudeau’s sunny ways simply wish to continue with this sector of Harper/U.S. foreign policy.
NATO - more military, more obfuscation, and a new Cold War
At the same time, Canada has committed a whopping 450 military personnel to Latvia in order to act as a “deterrent” to Russian aggression. Russia has not and will not act aggressively against the Baltic states - this is more fear mongering by NATO (read U.S. foreign policy) than any realpolitik.
The U.S. needs enemies for various reasons. First off, they need a Russian enemy in order to control Europe, in particular eastern Europe - to control it from becoming part of the Chinese-Russian New Silk Road (more correctly from the Chinese: One Belt, One Road). This goes hand in hand with the control of the fiat petrodollar mentioned above. And yes, if it looks like a new Cold War, acts like a new Cold War, no amount of obfuscation will deny that it is a new Cold War. The nuclear deterrent is still the ultimate factor: the U.S. has long held a first strike nuclear policy, and Obama is currently wanting to upgrade and “modernize” the U.S.’ current arsenal. The MSM just won’t talk about that aspect.
Another obvious good enemy is “terror.” Most of the terror created in the greater Middle East has been the partly intended, partly unintended consequences of U.S. military aggression in the region. This of course was greatly assisted by the 9/11 events, the “New Pearl Harbor” so desired by the U.S. neocons. If anybody still believes the official version from the 9/11 Commission their heads must be buried in the sand (or elsewhere).
Canadian General Vance on CTV did his best to bafflegab the situation in eastern Europe, saying the “tripwire” would act as a deterrent to Russian aggression. More like a pothole or a sacrificial lamb a purely conjectural Russian action. If it acts like a Cold War, if it looks like a Cold War, no amount of obfuscation will stop it from being what it is: a new Cold War.
The MSM cites Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria as signs of a renewed Russian aggression. It was Georgian troops trained by the U.S. and Israel that attacked the breakaway Georgian regions to which Russia responded - they could have effectively taken control of all of Georgia, as in actuality they did, but withdrew to the original regional lines after defeating the Georgian forces. In Ukraine, certainly Russia supported the breakaway regions, but what the MSM does not ever mention is that it was all instigated by the U.S. in the first place. After many invasions from the west over the years (Napoleon, Wilhelm II, Hitler most notably) it is not surprising that Russia is concerned with U.S. attempts to move NATO closer to its borders.
As for Syria, which is beyond the scope of this article, Russia effectively and efficiently assisted a long time ally (without questioning the illegal annexation of the Golan Heights) in pushing back the terrorists that Canada and the U.S. were supposedly fighting, the latter being very ineffective about it all - terrorists that were supplied and trained by our ‘allies’ Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and NATO member Turkey.
Free trade with Ukraine, briefly
Getting back to the Ukraine, Canada has recently signed the free trade agreement with Ukraine, the one created by Harper. It is not really a big deal economically, but as always with these deals it is a political act, an economic act, and has nothing at all to do with “free” trade. What these agreements do is allow corporations to move around the world avoiding sovereign rules about health, worker’s safety and welfare, and the environment (et al) and nothing at all about “freedom.”
Too much sunshine
Altogether it demonstrates that within the economic and political realms not much has changed with Canada’s foreign policy. Canada still supports U.S. efforts for global domination by way of military force to support the economic policies attempting to corral the globe into US$ supremacy. Trudeau has acted well within the sphere of U.S. foreign policy obligations and expectations leaving Canada essentially without an independent sovereignty.
The world could use a lot less of “hope and change” (although Hillary Clinton’s record of military aggrandizement and support is rather scary) and a lot less of “sunny ways” if that sunshine only shines upon an ignorant and misguided foreign policy imported from the U.S.