Whether it's the demise of the Liberals or inexperience of the NDP, Harper is getting too much of a free ride from the Opposition.
Canada is about to wrap up our first failed foreign war. We went to war in support of our ally (and senior partner), got caught up in the hype and wound up overstaying our welcome for no good end. For the sake of our dead and maimed, we should at least have learned a lesson from that fiasco. Apparently neither Harper & Company nor the Opposition have clued in.
The Opposition still sees the F-35 as a political football all about costs and who knew how much and when. Talk about a bunch of lazy shits going after low-hanging fruit. Not one of them has been willing to raise what's really wrong about the F-35. Sure it's overdue, over-price and under-performing but that's not the greatest problem.
What's most troubling about the F-35 is how it will shape Canada's military and foreign policy in the coming decades. Yes, an airplane is going to shape our foreign policy and in potentially very dangerous ways.
The F-35 is an offensive weapon system. It is a light, marginally-stealthy, intruder bomber. It is designed to get into hostile airspace and bomb critical tactical targets. It can't protect Canada or our sovereignty. There's nothing remotely defensive about it. As the RAND Corporation already determined it can't outrun, outclimb, out-turn or outfight the current generation of Russian fighters much less the next generation.
What the F-35 does is enable us to sign on to America's new "pivot" to the far East, the containment of China mission. Why we want to pile on to a military threat to the very same country Harper's tortured mind sees as a great customer for our toxic petro-sludge is curious but that's beside the point.
Canada has already paid far too dearly to play war on behalf of Uncle Sam. We got our asses handed to us in Afghanistan by a gaggle of farm boys with rusty assault rifles. America may have the biggest military with the greatest firepower but it consistently fails to deliver victories. So, why are we signing on to its far East adventure?
Canada has no business sabre-rattling on China's doorstep. It's about time those shiftless time-wasters on the Opposition benches began shouting that from the rooftops.
4 comments:
"We got our asses handed to us in Afghanistan by a gaggle of farm boys with rusty assault rifles."
You're entitled to your opinion. But with no links or supplied facts, that's all it is.
And an opinion with no facts behind it is a brain-fart best avoided by staying up-wind from the intellectually oblivious.
Now, I could be mistaken, but didn't one of our boys give one of the Muj a .50 cal headache at over 2,000 meters? Set a record I believe.
I do not know quite how to saytthis, but the F35 is slower, thaan the Avro Arrow!!
Yeah, you're right Ed, one of ours did a couple of Talibs with a .50 at over 2000 meters but, other than a grand demonstration in marksmanship, what did that achieve?
Even Gwynne Dyer opines that we accomplished zip by engaging in an "unwinnable war from the start."
He's got a PhD in war studies from U London, Ed. Got something to trump that, like results? I didn't think so but you're entitled to your opinion for what that's worth.
Look at it this way, Ed. For more than a decade we've had the 'bad guys' woefully outnumbered and ridiculously outgunned and it's us who will be yielding the field to them. That's getting your ass handed to you by any measure. They know it, Ed. They always did.
I agree Mound.
I also read, the F-35 jets, have a low fuel capacity. Canada has vast distances, for a short range jet. How much good would the jets be, in the high Arctic? Russia has a fleet of ships and jets prepared, to take what they think is their Arctic territory. F-35's just won't cut it. Harper's ancient submarines he bought from England, aren't even seaworthy. Especially against Russia's nuclear subs. I believe Canada does have, a state of the art battleship. Canada is out numbered and out gunned. Russia's ally is China.
China and the U.S. are in a standoff in the Philippines, over a tiny island, rich with resources. MacKay ever the fool, wants to stick his nose into that too. I can't see Harper permitting a fight with China. They own most of the tar sands, and most of Canada's minerals.
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