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Canada seeks to revive the Cold War.
'The Russians are coming'. That was the headline - for all intents and purposes - of a recent press release by the Canadian government. The Conservative government of neo-con Stephen Harper is a militarist one which has boosted national defense spending from C$14.8 billion to C$21 billion. An annual 9% increase between '06-'09.
And in order to justify that redundant defense spending at a time of a tens of billions budget deficit, spending cuts and for a nation with no enemies and living next to a superpower which would easily defend them if need be, the Canadian government has resorted to dramatic Cold War-era rhetoric.
A spokesman for the Canadian government recently retold the story about how two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets has ostensibly forced back two Russian bombers from heading into Canada's Arctic airspace. That these brave Canadians were "staring down Russian long-range bombers".
Expect it was all dramatic P.R. designed to justify the military build-up. The Canadian people were not amused (one headline read 'The Russians aren't coming') and even less so when NORAD - a joint American-Canada defence project - stated that such flights are the norm and NORAD conducts such exercises with Russia frequently. So this was all just a gimmick.
Is Canada that dull and boring that they have to resort to dated Cold War plot lines to create excitement?
Source: The Economist.
