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December 08, 2003

Comments

Paul Jané must be the only blogger I know whose comments are longer than the articles :-) He started a discussion about the relative strengths of the Canadian Military (one of his pet peeves) and then he had to berate a confused commentator which led to a second article which has even more detailed comments. Being international (yes Vicki, the internet is available on computer and it works all over the world), some of the comments are from non-Canadians.
There is an undertone in some of the discussions that reflects the tension between Canada and there southern neighbours which is quite similar to the tension between Australia and New Zealand. NZ his effectively disbanded the non-transport sections of the airforce (i.e. they no longer have an air attack capability) and Australians feel that this is primarily because they will rely on Australian support. In the same way, it appears that there is a risk that the Americans will think that the Canadians are relying on the US military and I agree with Paul that this is not a great idea. If you want to go down that path then you need to be on really good terms with each other - almost a de-facto extension (51st state in the case of Canada, 7th state* in the case of New Zealand).
The Gray Monk has also waded in and points out that the problem is not just Canada, in particular he talks about the ratio of defence personnel to public servants which is more frightening that Paul's references to percent of gdp.
One solution is to hire a policeman (the US) and let them do all the hard work for a fee but the problem with that is deciding who guards the guardian - or more significantly, who controls the guardian. It certainly won't be Kofe Again and the UN (Unnecessary Natering)...

[* The Australian states are: Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania. The Northern Territory is not a state (it is a territory) and the ACT is not a real state - it is a joke.]

Posted by Ozguru at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

Comments

Thanks for the linkage, Ozg. :-)

Posted by: Paul Jané at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

As for hiring the US to police the world might not be such a good idea. The left is trying really hard to change our role from policeman to asskisser. I don't think it will happen any time soon but Bush really needs to get the body count down in Iraq. Most people will put up with it for a coulpe of years, but not 10 years. Vietnam is still pretty fresh in our history. Plus there is a serious retension problem in the US reserve forces right now and we might have to scale back all our operations in 3 years, just due to lack of man power

Posted by: Skipjack at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

and er... the ACT is not a state legally anyway... its a Territory too...

Posted by: Peskie at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

and er... I know but when it became self governing (about 1988) instead of a formal territory under the control of the Commonwealth, the locals thought they were becoming a state. Note that the NT is a territory which is "administered" via SA and it has a Chief Minister rather than a state government. NT was given the chance to move to full statehood and wisely rejected it. ACT on the other hand grabbed at the opportunity with both hands and then discovered they had been sold a "pig in a poke". They got all the overhead of local government but did not get to be a "real" state. Real states have six representatives in the federal senate whereas territories (including the ACT) have only two. Thanks for raising it - that made me do my homework to check what I thought I knew....

Posted by: ozguru at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

well, it is early in the morning here, like 8 am so most of that flew straight over my head... i should keep up with current events. but i am so far south in the US i thought a lot if the problem we had with canada was made up for the media... wow havn't even been to class yet and i am already learning new stuff.

Posted by: TL at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM

That's really fascinating, I knew that New Zealand had unloaded the combat capabilities of their air force, but I had no idea there was a similar dynamic at play between them and Australia. P.S. I apologize, I know I post gigantic essays in the comments. =)

Posted by: Chris Taylor at December 8, 2003 09:12 AM