Sad to say this, but we are still very much in the fold of the empire. The US has an explicit strategy of division of labour for conflict with Russia and China, and we are alongside Europe in the division against Russia. Just look at what we are actually doing. Our defense investment isn’t to harden our southern border. It’s to harden our northern border, facing Russia. We, as the public, are being played. US strategy documents last year laid out the need to apply pressure to create urgency among allies to reindustrialize their military industries, spend more on arms, and for those surrounding Russia to step up and shoulder the burden of facing them so the US can focus on China. This year we see the 5% NATO target demanded by the US accepted, a major bump in Canadian defense spending for the arctic (but not to defend against the US), and increased Canada-Europe collaboration on defense industry as NATO now talks about a two-front war with Russia and China. So, our defense officials won’t be evaluating purchases based on conflict against the US. They’ll be evaluating based on our integration with US systems as part of the larger strategic direction.

I want those in Gaza to get all the support they can to survive this and I’m glad for them to get something rather than nothing from Canada, but I also see this as primarily just performative face-saving from Canada. We aren’t doing anything like as much as we could to apply pressure. Instead, we’re taking minor actions that won’t actually apply much pressure or change the course of Israeli plans while making us look humane. It’s government trying to relieve a bit of public pressure and maintain international image while not doing anything to really rock the boat.

I don’t think this was boycott dependent. The separatist movement in Alberta made sure they saw this opportunity.

That’s just not practical for a lot of businesses. Offloading the capex, operational costs and other hassles to a service provider makes a lot of sense for most companies.

I guess Carney was getting too much attention as “the Trump whisperer” for his ego to handle, so he wants to punish Canada and put Carney back in his place as he sees it.

I kind of suspected we would see something like this after seeing so much in media about Carney’s success in managing the Trump relationship.

The US isn’t leaving NATO. The US just got everything it wanted from NATO, and they still hold massive sway over the alliance. This was just another threat to put fear into the public and the leaders of NATO states so they would pay more money. That’s Trump’s main focus. He wants other people to pay for what suits the US instead of the US doing so.

It’s very much all happening at Trump’s behest. The idea that Trump is an actual threat to NATO is silly. Why would he push NATO countries to increase their defense spending target by 150% if he was planning on actually invading? He is very pleased with a more militarized NATO. He just used fear to motivate the public in NATO countries to open their wallets for more defense spending so the US can concentrate their resources on China. He scared and bullied NATO countries into doing what he wanted.

Trump is the one who pushed for it in the first place! It was his idea. This is all driven by the US. Trump pushed NATO to a 5% target and Hegseth pushed Europe to reindustrialize their defense industry. There’s no way NATO was going to a 5% target if not for Trump. It’s entirely because he wants it.

5% on defense spending is a lot. Really a lot. By the time it reaches 5% in 2035, that’s going to be at least $3.5 trillion per year spent by NATO.

That’s insane.

Also, how much of the infrastructure that gets built is going to be publicly owned and see revenues from their use flow back into public coffers? Are we going to drop tens of billions into infrastructure for rare earth mining only to see the mining companies reap all the benefits?

I am very, very skeptical of all this.

Tbh, my cynical read of this is that it looks a lot more like the West preparing for war under US guidance. BRICS+ has surpassed the G7 in GDP, the center of world economy is now moving to Asia, and China is about to leave the US in its dust economically. That will all happen without any need for war, just based on continued economic development under peaceful conditions. War would be the main thing that could disrupt that and military power is a main advantage the US still has over the competition. The US is already waging economic war on China, and Hegseth has been open about wanting Europe to spend more on their own defense so the US can square off against China. To me, it looks like the Western-led order with the old Western colonial powers dumping a tonne of money into military power so they can disrupt the transition of power to the emerging powers from the Global South and make a last ditch effort to hold on to the world order that’s kept them on top for the last few hundred years.

I would rather a regulatory and subsidization approach direct aimed at targeting the high-value segments of package delivery currently making money for private competitors. Build a business plan to go head-to-head with them on their most profitable market share, but with support of the federal government. Become more sustainable by taking the profits away from UPS and FedEx.

So, the valedictorian was a good student and learned the lessons of history and the values that we would hope for her to learn. Good for her.

I would have been very disappointed to have a principal under me make a choice like that during my career.

The student should receive a public apology from the principal and be allowed to finish her school year with dignity alongside her classmates.

Carney’s response was brutal. He totally gave up on the whole international law and territorial integrity thing. Israel’s foreign minister just mocked us publicly a week ago and already Carney is compromising his expressed values to take their side in an illegal attack. It’s pretty pathetic. Kills my confidence in him that any of the Canadian sovereignty rhetoric is more than just that.

That was well-worth reading. I can’t say I’m shocked at all about the National Post’s anti-Palestinian bias, but they did quite a good job of laying out the extent of the bias and the actual deceptive practices used by the National Post to change content to increase anti-Palestinian bias while still attributing it to the Canadian Press. It’s shameful.

Another small but positive step. Keep going, Canada. There are many more steps to take to get on the right side of this.

I can’t be the only one who can’t help thinking of the rumored Trump golden shower tapes every time he talks about the golden dome. It’s what I imagine he’s dreaming of, but on a continental scale.

Puts in context all the fear mongering about China’s military buildup while they’re sitting at 1.7% of GDP.

Fleeing the US to Canada feels a bit like fleeing Nazi Germany to Poland in the early 1930’s. I hope it doesn’t end up that way.

My preference would be for active nonalignment in the China-US rivalry while broadening relations with other stable nations looking to similarly ride those waves.

I really, really hope we do not fall in line with the US. A window has been opened for us by Trump, but the little I’ve heard from Ray and Carney regarding China makes me worry we will align with the US after all in what is the world’s principal rivalry.

What a completely tactless piece of trash thing to say.

I have a great deal of sympathy for them.

The people who used to milk the cows, that is.