I'll believe it when I see it.
History doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes.Harold Macmillan was once asked what the most troubling problem of his Prime Ministership was. ‘Events, my dear boy, events,’ was his reply.
The determination of PP as a leader will be his ability to divert from dogma and policy to react to events. Trudeau has failed miserably in this regard.
On the Defence file... it will take a rather significant event to see any Canadian government divert funding from election promises to CAF funding.
It all depends on what each leader defines as "significant"
Good point.We did the 'three monkeys' thing before WWII. To be fair, a lot of countries did but, even after it started, we still did our best to simultaneously look the other way and appear intensely interested at the same time.
How many houses have fire extinguishers? How many would have smoke detectors if they weren't mandated. We're a funny bunch.
But now, we wouldn’t be second fiddle. We’d be hard pressed to be a groupie in the nosebleeds.Good point.
Probably an unpopular opinion but even in the (slightly glorified) days of WWI and WWII, we were still 2nd/3rd fiddle to the Brits and later the Americans.
There's a theory that was floating around that if we'd been able to manage an Army Group we might have gotten a seat on the Security Council.But now, we wouldn’t be second fiddle. We’d be hard pressed to be a groupie in the nosebleeds.
We know the state of our equipment (stated and unstated) better than most, but I would hazard a guess that we don’t know the same on our allies and so on - and we rely on their news.But now, we wouldn’t be second fiddle. We’d be hard pressed to be a groupie in the nosebleeds.
And Mackenzie King did not want to deploy troops. His thought was that the BCATP would suffice......That worked out so well.We did the 'three monkeys' thing before WWII. To be fair, a lot of countries did but, even after it started, we still did our best to simultaneously look the other way and appear intensely interested at the same time.
How many houses have fire extinguishers? How many would have smoke detectors if they weren't mandated. We're a funny bunch.
You'd think his dead mother would have told him as such...And Mackenzie King did not want to deploy troops. His thought was that the BCATP would suffice......That worked out so well.
And his dog - or was that Son of Sam?You'd think hisndead mother would have told him as such...
Much like this government is baffled by a lot of things.I seem to recall reading that first we weren't even going to deploy ground troops. Then it was a Brigade and then a Division .
The Government of the day was apparently blindsided by the depth of public support for the war. In some cases they actually seemed baffled by it .
Might have been close to being possible as only about 50% of Canadian military personnel deployed vs 75% in our allied countries. If we had deployed the same numbers as the Americans and Australians we likely could have seen 7/8 divisions and an additional armored brigade. By the end of the war you might have maybe 2 armies but the Canadian push into the Cinderella Campaign would lead to high casualties that would likely lead to a removal of a division to beef up the numbers.There's a theory that was floating around that if we'd been able to manage an Army Group we might have gotten a seat on the Security Council.
I don't buy it myself.
Or the removal of a Liberal Party government. Conscription if necessary, not necessarily conscription.Might have been close to being possible as only about 50% of Canadian military personnel deployed vs 75% in our allied countries. If we had deployed the same numbers as the Americans and Australians we likely could have seen 7/8 divisions and an additional armored brigade. By the end of the war you might have maybe 2 armies but the Canadian push into the Cinderella Campaign would lead to high casualties that would likely lead to a removal of a division to beef up the numbers.
Forget getting in line, in some cases they don't even want to spend money on putting in a bid because we are such a dodgy customer.The companies, other govts, etc all have a say as well.
We don’t buy enough of anything to get ahead in line, unlike say the US.
Or maybe his good friend and idol, Adolf Hitler, asked him not to.And his dog - or was that Son of Sam?You'd think his dead mother would have told him as such...
It may sound counter-intuitive, but Donald Trump has probably done more to strengthen Nato than any other political leader in recent years. While he was president, he berated European members of the alliance for failing to pay what he called their “dues”, accusing them of freeloading on the US.
Earlier this year, he seemed to go even further by suggesting at an election rally, not only that he would not bring America to the defence of “delinquent” Nato members, but would encourage Russia to attack them. Cue a predictable international outcry, led by Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, who accused him of undermining “all of our security”. Joe Biden, of course, waded in, saying Trump’s remarks were “appalling and dangerous” and would give Putin “a green light for more war and violence”.
Both of them were wrong. Anyone who has the slightest understanding of Trump’s negotiating techniques knows that he is unlikely to have meant what he said literally; it was a rhetorical device to emphasise his entirely valid point about recalcitrant Nato members. As for a green light, it was Biden who flashed that at Putin with his disastrous retreat from Kabul in 2021, which can only have contributed to Moscow’s calculations on invading Ukraine the following year.
I'm not so sure that giving Trump "credit" is the right word here. That would require some act on his part that has a positive or influential result. I don't think that he is what has put the wind up Europe but I think he has made them look more closely at both America as a whole and themselves.The importance of Trump....
Per Richard Kemp, Col (ret'd) Royal Anglians
Donald Trump has saved Nato – and the West
Alliance members are increasing defence spending precisely because they fear he will pull outwww.telegraph.co.uk
That last statement says it all. Biden has doled out weapons to Ukraine slowly and timidly: only when there was little choice. He has demonstrated his fear of Putin, as have several European states as well by not providing the systems needed when they were needed Afghanistan proved the reluctance to stand firm. I suspect that the Chinese are refactoring their thoughts on Taiwan as a resultI'm not so sure that giving Trump "credit" is the right word here. That would require some act on his part that has a positive or influential result. I don't think that he is what has put the wind up Europe but I think he has made them look more closely at both America as a whole and themselves.
They fear the threat of the unreliability of the American people.
Except that Biden can’t just force the House and Senate to approve things. The US-style “checks and balances” form of govt works until it doesn’t, and one person (like Tuberville) can bring everything to a grinding halt.That last statement says it all. Biden has doled out weapons to Ukraine slowly and timidly: only when there was little choice. He has demonstrated his fear of Putin, as have several European states as well by not providing the systems needed when they were needed Afghanistan proved the reluctance to stand firm. I suspect that the Chinese are refactoring their thoughts on Taiwan as a result