OTTAWA – Selon un nouveau rapport, les dépenses de la Défense nationale du Canada augmentent, atteignant 21,185 milliards $ en 2009-2010; ce qui place le Canada au 13e rang mondial, et au 6e rang parmi les pays de l’OTAN, intégralement.
L’auteur et analyste des questions de défense, Bill Robinson, dit que l’augmentation des dépenses de la Défense est une indication des priorités fédérales. « Les dépenses de la Défense nationale sont 20 fois plus élevées que celles du ministère de l’Environnement, lequel, en comparaison, a obtenu seulement 1,064 milliard $. »
International relations, peace and conflict
Canadians could be forgiven for thinking that they spend a mere pittance on their military: politicians and pundits constantly bombard us with the claim that Canada is a military miser. Most Canadians would probably be stunned to learn that Canada is actually among the top 15 military spenders in the world, and the 6th largest spender among the 28 members of NATO. They might also be surprised to learn that Canadian military spending is now higher than it has been in more than 60 years — higher than it was during the Cold War, or indeed at any time since the end of the Second World War.
OTTAWA—A new report shows that Canada’s rising National Defence spending is $21.185 billion in 2009-2010, making Canada’s rank 13th highest in the world, and 6th highest among NATO’s 28 members, dollar for dollar.
Defence analyst and author Bill Robinson says the rise in defence spending is an indication of the government’s priorities. “Government spending on National Defence is twenty times that of federal Environment Department spending,” said Robinson. “By comparison, the Department of the Environment was allocated only $1.064 billion.”
In the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, Stephen Lewis laments in this issue of Our Schools/Our Selves that it may be too late to prevent a climate catastrophe.
At 1 a.m. on June 28, Manuel Zelaya, the elected progressive President of Honduras, was roused from his bed at gunpoint by masked Honduran army soldiers, who kidnapped him in his pajamas and put him on a plane to Costa Rica. The army replaced Zelaya with Roberto Micheletti, the head of the Honduran Congress.
As the military coup unfolded, the army assassinated union leaders and political activists, suspended civil rights, instituted a 24-hour curfew, and shut down the national phone system, the national electricity grid, and nine radio and TV stations.
Canadians generally are not as wildly and uncritically patriotic as Americans. We are not chauvinists. We don’t continually wave the flag and boast about our country’s pre-eminence in everything from culture to quality of life to military might.
Most of us, however, tend to be quietly proud of Canada, glad to live here, and even tolerant of the inequitable society that has developed.
The closest we come to jingoism is on Canada Day, when we put our patriotism enthusiastically on display, wearing and waving the Maple Leaf with abandon.
Why is Afghanistan so important?
A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.
Afghanistan is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas. And, although Afghanistan may have little petroleum itself, it borders both Iran and Turkmenistan, countries with the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world. (Russia is first.)
Joining the revolutionary wave sweeping Latin America, the people of El Salvador in March elected the first progressive government in the country’s 168-year history, by voting in the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a former left-wing guerrilla army. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN President-elect, told cheering supporters: "The time has come for the excluded. The opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats, for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity."
Funes formally took office on June 1.
Why is Afghanistan so important?
A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.
Afghanistan is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas. And though Afghanistan may have little petroleum itself, it borders both Iran and Turkmenistan, countries with the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world. (Russia is first.)