Analysis: As Europe rearms, Canada has what it needs. That can be the basis of a post-NATO alliance
Analysis: As Europe rearms, Canada has what it needs. That can be the basis of a post-NATO alliance
Mind boggling how we went from Trump whining that we weren't spending enough to meet NATO targets now we're talking about "post-NATO" because of him.
@Yoga @ValueSubtracted It was more about Buy America Weapons and provide auxillary troops to our awesome democratization campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan. I mean the US had a pretty sweet deal. It wanted more. That didnt go as the Chief deal maker expected.
Time to invest in low cost single use attack drones that are rated to work in -70C
Shahed drones supposedly stopped working in Ukraine due to cold weather. We need something bespoke and we'd have a competitive advantage for international sales.
Honestly just raw manpower seems like something we could offer them. We can't send that many experienced soldiers equipped for battle, but I feel like a giant recruitment drive for devoted Ukraine peacekeepers could be sold if it came explicitly in exchange for security guarantees.
Before somebody says it, I'll absolutely go first, to whatever degree they'll take me. I really don't want to be part of America and we don't have a strong negotiating position, like the article points out.
Edit: Or even simpler, funding for their troops. We still have a healthy debt load and now's the time to dip into it.
We've done far more for Ukraine by offering traiming, and that's something we can (and do) continue to offer. Canadian training has been instrumental in Ukraine's staunch resistance against the Russian assault and has directly enabled many of their victories. Even now Ukrainian troops are being trained by Canadian soldiers in the UK, and we have deployments for that mission scheduled for years out (assuming they're still needed by that point).
The Europeans have been training them too, and they're also competent. If you're suggesting that's a replacement for actually spending anything, the "paid in gumption" idea was lame when we were selling it to the US and is definitely lame when we're selling it to people who might have to rescue us from the US.
The article suggests oil and space for European air training exercises in our hinterland. Critical minerals have been brought up before. I just don't know if that will be enough, given that they're still thinking to some degree that they can avoid the whole situation on our continent.
Sounds good. So long as we don't get couped by the US, we should be good with this in the long run.