- cross-posted to:
- indy_news_canada@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- indy_news_canada@sh.itjust.works
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/45007926
Canadian readers, from the prime minister on down, may be inclined to take comfort in the US NSS on the grounds that Canada gets no real mention. Silence is golden? No talk of annexation, border security laxity, trade relations, access to critical minerals, defence spending, or the Arctic. But to take comfort would be a serious mistake.
There are two reasons for this. One is that Prime Minister Mark Carney has described Canada as the most European of non-European countries, and he means it. It is illustrated in his ongoing support for Ukraine, his commitment to NATO, his emphasis on the Euro-Atlantic security zone, his search of new defence development opportunities with Europe, and his drive to expand economic partnerships as part of a major commitment to diversify Canadian trade beyond the US. London and Paris were the first trips he made overseas after becoming prime minister. In the meantime, Carney’s pursuit of what he once called a new comprehensive economic and security relationship with the US is going nowhere.
Canada could easily become a Europe-like problem in the hairline of Trumpian policies: elite-governed rather than populist, moderate centrist rather than far right in political orientation. Canada could be in the same sights as European countries, whose politics need a “course correction” with help from the US. Think of how the Liberal government treated the poor, well-meaning populists of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests, whose coffers were filled with US dollars, whose ideas were supported by American MAGA commentators, whom Trump himself backed. A little memory jog might be in order. Here is what Trump said in support of the “Freedom Convoy” protest back in February 2022: “The Freedom Convoy is peacefully protesting the harsh policies of the far left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates.”
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What is so disgusting is how so many bills that would violate the privacy of Canadians and allow warrantless monitoring of personal information are all being pushed through AND they are still sharing this crap with US intelligence and law enforcement.
Worse, it’s being done at America’s behest.
If WW2 taught us anything is that kowtowing to tyrants will only make them want more.
You think Europe would have learned that. So why are they Kowtowing so hard.
Because Canada is such a good friend of the United States, Canada was allowed the build the sort of nuclear power plants that other countries are not allowed to build for fear the waste could be used for nuclear weapons.
Just some food for thought.
Canada’s nuclear plants (CANDU) specifically do not produce enriched uranium, and so no. We were not permitted such flexibility.
They can and do produce plutonium. But reprocessing is banned.
TIL
It’s good enough for dirty bombs though.
That’s clearly the only language that Trump, Putin, and Xi understand. Elbows up, my friendly cousins and neighbors. I’m sure you guys can put one together rather quickly.
Canadians start preparing today
I feel the need to post the Danish 10 commandments from WWII:
If you didn’t start last year today is better then never.
I started preparing 12 months ago.
When he first starter saying 51st state I listened.
I am ex-military, ex-intelligence and work in cybersecurity. I have been preparing since October 2024.
I’m just an average Joe with a shitty life. If the US invades I’m ready to cross into the states and blow myself up in a US government building in the name of Canada.
Same here.
If the US moves to take control of Canada there will be a line of people over the horizon ready to burn every resource and every piece of infrastructure before handing it over.
Well we’re going to find out unless a solution is found for this problem. And no one seems to have one.
I’m thinking about Texan electrical substations and rail tracks a lot these days.
This is so fucking true.
Winter survival training camp is probably a good idea to go along with getting our firearm and restricted firearm licences done to start range training. Often can combine them into a two day course marathon depending where you live.
And/or read the sabotage guide books too of course.
Might just have to explore that “Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”
Maybe. Our politicians certainly won’t.
No, the plethora of privacy violating bills are on the damn floor and are probably going to be passed… and they are sharing all that information with both US corporations and the US government/law enforcement.
I recently watched an interview with Marco Rubio and am actually significantly less worried about American aggression since. Not because he allayed my concerns, but because he reminded me that this administration is incompetent.
Let’s put what the US is saying aside for a moment and look at the actual situation in Venezuela. Maduro’s government is still in control. His VP has assumed duties and doesn’t seem to be playing along. There are no American boots on the ground. There doesn’t appear to be any plans to put boots on the ground. In the interview with Rubio, he laid out what the plan was. They are going to use their fleet to embargo Venezuela and pressure the already existing government until they do what the US wants.
What? How is that different from what they were doing before Maduro was abducted? What did abducting Maduro change here? In the past when doing regime change the US would have some local element ready to take advantage of the chaos to seize control of the government. My suspicion is that something similar was planned here, but for whatever reason the local part of the coup never fired. What we are looking at is a failed coup. And what we’ve seen from the US since, the lies about the Venezuelan VP being in Russia, the lies that she was playing along, the threats against various other countries in the western hemisphere, it’s all marketing. Chest beating from the US to project an illusion of strength in the face of this failure. The one thing Trump is pretty good at is controlling the narrative, and that’s what they are attempting to do here, but it’s coming from a place of weakness, not strength.
Of course, this is all speculation on my part and I would still advise preparing for the worst. But I think the US is trying to cow all it’s neighbours with threats that it won’t be able to back up. If they aren’t willing to put boots on the ground in Venezuela for oil, they sure as hell aren’t going to invade Denmark for “national security”.
I hope you’re right, but they can still cause a lot of trouble. And Denmark can’t fight the USA off singlehandedly if the US attacks Greenland, and it looks like the EU leaders are probably too cowardly to help.
I agree with all of that. I think our’s and Europe’s leaders are making the exact wrong move. This is a moment where we should be locking arms with they as well as Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, etc and projecting strength right back at the US. Not falling for their bravado.
His VP has assumed duties and doesn’t seem to be playing along.
Carney also seems that way. Trump said “it doesn’t matter what she says, even calling it a kidnapping is not an issue” which is confidence that Venezuela like Canada’s leadership will just gaslight their people for a while until they submit harder.
But I think the US is trying to cow all it’s neighbours with threats that it won’t be able to back up.
Everyone cowering alone instead of seeking better relations with China and Russia is what the US needs to be successful. US having meetings with those countries while Canada doesn’t gives them the confidence of control.
Venezuela and Canada have similar heavy oil that gulf refineries are set up for. Trump will use Venezuela to economically cripple Canada.
Nah just those berta dopes.
Long term, should the GOP remain unchecked in the US, Alberta’s chances are not looking good.
If the US military pulled up to the city limits of Calgary and wanted to force a Christian nationalist agenda on the people living here and to deport anyone who didn’t look right, they’d be asking how they could help, not asking questions about legality of their actions, or a thought of concern how it will impact the people they serve.
Fact is, our defence against an American invasion is to make Canada not worth the trouble to occupy. We can’t really count on anyone to actually stop them, especially police.
Given what happened in Venezuela, given there seem to be no checks on Trumps use of the American military, you have to assume Smith might be happy to help Trump gain that Canadian foothold, and at that point, what can the rest of Canada really do to stop them?
I’m sure nothing bad will happen to the rest of Canada if 10% of the economy is crippled
Alnetans could start paying sales tax like the rest of Canada to support themselves.
41M people. I doubt they’ll be able to protect all that land. They have ~50k available fighters. If the US really wanted Canada, it would barely have to do anything. But which seppos would want to move to Canada after annexation? It would be the same shithole as the US, just colder.
Albertan’s when they realize life isn’t better living under Trump’s boot:
The propaganda has cooked many brains in this province, including those of my loved ones.
It’s especially hard to meet my father once a year for Christmas to have the whole meal ruined because he just had to start praising Daniel Smith. As a trans person it’s incredibly frustrating to hear him repeat talking points he read on Facebook, especially misinformation about trans treatment, he literally watched me jump through hoops for more than a decade, but will repeat things that he must know are not true.
Watching him repeat talking points like that, knowing he has the ability to debunk them with his own lived experience with just a small amount of reflection, but because he’s always identified himself as a conservative, he choosing to indulge in the psychosis.
I see the same patterns from I went through suffering through psychosis, they can’t confront this pillar of his identity, something that was taught to them growing up but it’s been twisted. It’s always been a form of conditioning, I know growing up I always saw myself as conservative as well, and we used to have in-depth discussions about policies, he’s not stupid. Confronting this kind of confirmation bias is exceedingly difficult, it takes time and a conscience effort to accomplish.
MAGA is like a coping mechanism, they get you hooked on the reactions, the anger, the rage, then they push for catharsis through policy based on revenge, which is now showing itself to have addictive qualities. It’s a mental health crisis.
I’m sorry you have to go through that, friend. Remember that you can’t pick family, but you can pick who you spend time with.
I also have a parent who believes this nonsense, and it’s poisoned our relationship sadly.
Maga, like any populist propaganda, just says what people want to hear in a troubled time. "Climate change isn’t real, and if it is, it’s not your fault. It’s the other that did it, the gay/trans/foreigner/person of colour/etc that caused this, fear them!
It’s the same with the conspiracy theory believers, the aliens are causing your wage not to increase but cost of living to skyrocket, yeah, lizard people who control the world! Couldn’t possibly be the ultra rich and the corporations they own, no, it’s clearly 5g making frogs gay that does it.
It’s a lost generation, except young and old fall for it in places.
Climate change isn’t real, and if it is, it’s not your fault. It’s the other that did it, the gay/trans/foreigner/person of colour/etc that caused this, fear them!
Don’t forget that they’re unstoppable and taking over the world…and also suuuper weak and totally defeatable as long as you vote for the TEMU Nazis.
Same with those lazy immigrants who are somehow also stealing jobs.
Also, temu Nazis is a great term, very apt for these shit stains.
It’s the classic fascist play. The Other is both strong beyond imagination and so weak they can be toppled by a stiff breeze.
Oh, I haven’t spoken to any Albertans who like what Trump’s doing. Everyone in my Albertan life thinks he’s a fucking moron.
Only the most brain dead Albertans think Trump is a good thing. They would still lick boot too. I would be surprised if any of them actually came to the surprised Pikachu conclusion lol
The U.S. could take over Canada in a day. But Canadians would never let it end, and we play dirty. Think power grid take downs, poisoning water resovoirs, bridge damage, etc - throughout the U.S. Easy stuff for anyone to do. Canadians can easily walk among Americans undetected if they want.
Honestly I’d rather die than be a slave. Not much with living for if that happens.
You’ll be of value for the high-risk assignments in the resistance, then.
USAsian here. I feel the same. This is all bullshit.
All of that would hurt “Canadians” more than US. The biggest problem of all with annexation is that Canadians would become burdened by US debt levels, which is already a case for imminent collapse of the US. The best Canadian defense is to force collapse of Japan for a global recession, which is easiest because it has even higher debt levels with rising interest rates, and devotion to even higher budgets, including military purchases from US, to suicide themselves to the US altar. Canada needs to exterminate its US debt holdings, and support China and Russia instead. Demand fair/high rents for protecting the US with NORAD instead of tolerating bs that the US protects Canada. No kill-switched-F35s or other US military purchases. Answering polls that Carney sucks and NDP/Greens/BQ would be better is important to stem the betrayal.
After an , or pre Carney tolerated, invasion, massive secession by provinces and cities to avoid paying US taxes.
I’m not talking about those actions in Canada. There are millions of Canadians already in the U.S. And it’s humousously easy to cross to the U.S. from Canada and blend in. Imagine decades of continuous ‘terrorist’ attacks from within, throughout the US. It might not accomplish anything beneficial for Canada, but once you piss off Canadians, they won’t stop. And they’ll keep smiling and saying ‘sorry’ as they poison your cattle, fields and water supply; spread diseases, cut down remote power lines, start fires all over, etc.
The US got deference in so many aspects of foreign policy for so long because it was willing to use soft power to protect allies. Why the hell should any of our traditional allies support us if we plan to throw them under the bus whenever support is inconvenient?
The people of the USA’s (former) allies seem to have figured this out, but the politicians are living in a dream where they give Trump everything he wants and he treats their countries nicely and with respect. Either they don’t see what they’re dealing with or they’re too venal and cowardly to act.
I think what your analysis is missing is that European politicians also have to contend with a significant part of their population who don’t think what Trump does is all that awful. So you’re gonna antagonize the bully, with predictable consequences for your population, against the will of part of that population. It’s a hard sell honestly.
I agree that you should do that, with tremendous courage, but hoping for tremendous courage from our leaders is not really realistic now is it?
One can only hope
