Trudeau considers joining Trump's Star Wars missile program

Trudeau considers joining Trump's Star Wars missile program

Postby Oscar » Sat Feb 18, 2017 4:59 pm

Trudeau considers joining Trump's Star Wars missile program

[ http://canadians.org/blog/trudeau-consi ... le-program ]

February 17, 2017 - 3:26 pm

The United States government has spent more than $239 billion - a massive weapons industry corporate subsidy - on the so-called 'Strategic Defense Initiative' since it was first announced by then-US president Ronald Reagan in March 1983.

Tucked in the Joint Statement issued by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump earlier this week was the line, "We will work to modernize and broaden our NORAD partnership in these key domains [aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning], as well as in cyber and space."
- - -
( Joint Statement is here: [ https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-of ... ter-justin ]
- - -
The Toronto Star reports, "Canada decided more than a decade ago not to join the ballistic missile defence program being developed at the time by the U.S. But that decision is getting another look as the Liberal government reviews its defence priorities."

In her book Too Close for Comfort: Canada's Future within Fortress North America, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow observed, "The decision not to join George Bush's ballistic missile defence plan was popular with the Canadian people." (See more below)

In April 2016, the Ottawa Citizen reported, "Missile defence had been largely off the public and political radar since then-prime minister Paul Martin famously opted not to join the U.S. program following a heated and extremely divisive national debate in 2005. However, the military and others have been pushing for years for Canada to re-consider the decision."

That article notes, "Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan stood by the Liberal government’s plan to re-examine ballistic missile defence following a flurry of NDP references to Star Wars — both the movie franchise and Ronald Reagan’s controversial plan to militarize space. The issue erupted on the floor of the House of Commons, after the Ottawa Citizen revealed that the government’s defence review includes questions about whether Canada should join the U.S. in building a shield to protect it from foreign-launched missiles."

On January 21, The Guardian reported, "[Trump] said he intends to develop a 'state of the art' missile defense system to protect against attacks from Iran and North Korea. It did not say whether the system would differ from those already under development, specify the cost or say how it would be financed."

The Toronto star now reports, "NORAD is weighing sweeping upgrades to its sensors and tactics to better protect North America against increasingly capable missiles being fielded by Russia and North Korea, [says] Gen. Lori Robinson, the U.S. commander who oversees the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Robinson declined to talk about possible Canadian involvement, saying any contribution would be a decision for Ottawa."

In 2004, Council of Canadians founder Mel Hurtig wrote Rushing to Armageddon: the Shocking Truth About Canada, Missile Defence, and Star Wars, which explained his opposition to the missile "defence" plan and the weaponization of space. REVIEW: ([ https://www.amazon.ca/Rushing-Armageddo ... 367&sr=1-5 ]) (See more below)

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

- - - -

Too Close For Comfort: Canada's Future Within Fortress North America Paperback – by Maude Barlow (Author) - October 25, 2005

[ https://www.amazon.com/Too-Close-Comfor ... 0771010885 ]

by Maude Barlow (Author)

Editorial Reviews - From the Inside Flap

Canada's greatest advocate considers our place in Bush's world order.

Not since 1984, when Brian Mulroney went to New York and told a blue-chip business audience that Canada was "open for business," has there been such a push toward continental integration and a common market for North America. The big business community is eager to use the fear of terrorism to erase the border between our two countries as much as possible. The only conceivable way to do this, as far as the U.S. is concerned, would be to make the border irrelevant by essentially harmonizing our foreign, trade, military, security, social, and resources policies.

What does this really mean? In "Too Close for Comfort, the author walks us through the implications and consequences for Canada's sovereignty and shows us how many of the values we hold dear and which tie us together as a nation would be undone. Chillingly, she also shows us how much we have already lost through such policies as the proportional energy-sharing agreement of NAFTA, and she reveals how deep integration could be used to pry open key Canadian policies such as our public health system.
In "Too Close for Comfort, Barlow first offers us a clear-eyed view of the issues we're facing and then suggests a range of possible solutions for maintaining the kind of country and society we want.

About the Author
Maude Barlow is the national chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization. She is a director with the International Forum on Globalization, and co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, an international civil society movement to stop the commodification of water. She is the bestselling author of fifteen books.

- - - - -

Rushing to Armageddon: The Shocking Truth about Canada, Missile Defence, and Star Wars Paperback – by Mel Hurtig (Author) - Sep 28 2004

[ https://www.amazon.ca/Rushing-Armageddo ... 367&sr=1-5 ]

by Mel Hurtig (Author)

Review

“A powerful and devastating critique of the planned U.S. missile defence system and Canada’s possible participation in it, and also of the duplicity of governments, including our own, in their statements on the issue.… Mel’s book is shocking – and factual.” – Senator Douglas Roche, O.C. [Senator Roche has been Canada’s Ambassador for Disarmament and Chairman of the U.N. Disarmament Committee. He is Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative (working at the U.N. on the nuclear weapons issue).]

“Read Mel Hurtig's powerful new book on the folly of missile defence, then tell your friends to read it.” – John Polanyi, Nobel Laureate, long-time commentator on missile defence.

From the Inside Flap

Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig exposes Paul Martin's secret commitment to George W. Bush's weaponizing of space.

Mel Hurtig has five best-sellers to his credit but this is easily his most important book. Readers will be shocked to learn how both the American and Canadian governments are intentionally misleading their citizens about the Pentagon's unprecedented plans to weaponize space; about the huge new Russian and Chinese nuclear missile buildup resulting from U.S. Star Wars plans; about the destruction of vitally important, long-standing arms control agreements; and about the rapidly increasing danger of a nuclear apocalypse.

Among the topics covered are why the so-called U.S. missile "defence"system is really about establishing a U.S. first-strike-from-space capability; why both Paul Martin's government and Stephen Harper's Conservatives want to join in George W. Bush's dangerous program; how numerous official U.S. documents reveal their plans to "dominate space" and place deadly lasers and nuclear weapons in space; how today's nuclear weapons are up to 350 times more powerful than the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki; how the missile "defence" plans will mean the placement of missiles on Canadian soil making Canada much less secure.
Hurtig provides remarkable and often devastating new information that will shock, anger, and appall readers. This is a book that every Canadian must read before Ottawa becomes an active partner in a tragic and potentially cataclysmic blunder.

- - - - -
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9078
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Return to MILITARIZATION OF CANADA

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 5 guests

cron