Stephen Harper finds blowing craters in distant countries infinitely preferable to actually defending Canada, or at least my part of it.
That Canada's west coast remains undefended was embarrassingly demonstrated when a Korean Airlines flight was the subject of a bomb threat as it cruised near the Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwai on April 11th. When the jetliner was diverted to land at RCAF base Comox on Vancouver Island it had to be escorted by two trusty USAF F-15 jets out of Portland, Oregon. You see, we don't have any aircraft of that description in British Columbia. The airspace along Canada's entire west coast is undefended except by the United States Air Force.
The worst part is that the RCAF boys' wet dreams of stealth light bombers don't include any fantasies of defending British Columbia in the future either. Bombing the next Libya that needs a whacking, sure. Defending Canada, boring.
Sure, whether the price tag is $9-billion or, more likely, $50-billion (including replacement aircraft, spares, etc. over its full lifespan) is important and so is how we were misled (deliberately) on this through the last election. Those are important matters.
But what's even more important is whether this aircraft is a massively overpriced underperformer and whether it will do what Canada needs beginning with national defence. The answer to the first question is probably yes. The answer to the second question is certainly not.
The F-35 is for playing in someone else's backyard at the expense of leaving our own undefended. That is just plain wrong. If our political and military leadership cannot understand that their first obligation is to defend Canada then they're self-interested, self-serving charlatans and nothing more. And that goes double for the guys in uniform.
5 comments:
Harper is probably pretty pissed he doesn't have them now to bomb Iran.
The day the first three missiles landed on target, all military aircraft became obsolete instantly.
You don't need any more aircraft to defend your coasts.
Any nation that doesn't control its airspace is in trouble, Anon. Whether it's your airspace, your coastal waters or your land, someone is going to control it and if it's yours, it had better be you.
Mound, our anonidiot doesn't seem to get the point that missiles aren't exactly defensive weapons, other than in the sense a good offense is a good defense. Of course the F-35 isn't a defensive unit either, being as I think you pointed out in an earlier post a manned ICBM, after an enemy has taken out its fuel tankers and AWACS, an easy task for say Russia, China and hell maybe even Syria.
I think Harper is actually opting to become a colony of China, and his new boss doesn't want any defensive assets on the west coast, they will defend their own interests, thank you!
If Canadians think China is going to be paly with Harper and take his side they better think again. China doesn't want to be paly with anyone at the moment. The angst that is taking place in Asia...South Korea, China, Japan and others was not as prevelent until now. Why? The Americans are building up their Armed Forces in the area...which is ticking China off. The Americans need to get it...they are no longer the world's number one. Even South Korea which has 40,000 US personel stationed in that country are on edge. Now that China is ticked off at India as well, North Korea is going to be more than a bee sting in the side of the South Koreans who have worked hard to establish a good relationship with China...this comes from a South Korean friend who has contact with the UN. Maybe that is the reason Canada needs new aircraft...maybe China knows where the Canadian Government will butter its bread.
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