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Canada sells out on nuclear trade with India

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

“If civilian nuclear cooperation is to be a primary fixture and symbol of the cordialization of Indo-Canadian relations,” writes CIGI Fellow Ernie Regehr, “it should be built on the most robust of nonproliferation conditions.” (Ernie Regehr, “The Canada-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal,” Disarming Conflict blog, 29 June 2010) Unfortunately, the deal that Canadian Prime Minister [...]

Canadians: Humanitarian role or stay home

Monday, May 24, 2010

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According to a Leger Marketing poll conducted for the QMI Agency, Canadians are divided on where they would like the Canadian Forces to go after Afghanistan, with many choosing humanitarian missions and 32% saying they should stay in Canada (Laura Payton, “One third of Canadians want troops home after Afghanistan,” Winnipeg Sun, 19 May 2010). The [...]

The Year of the Drone

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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A recent report by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann of the New America Foundation provides a detailed examination of the “secret” U.S. drone war in Pakistan. The report, Year of the Drone: Analysis of US Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2010, looks in particular at the civilian cost of the drone strikes. Estimates of the number of [...]

Pentagon requests record $708 billion budget

Friday, February 5, 2010

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The Obama administration on Monday requested Congressional approval for a record $708 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2011. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed the need for the Pentagon to prepare for a broader range of approaching security challenges while continuing to fund two ongoing wars and also expanding operations in Yemen and Somalia, where [...]

CIA to expand “secret” drone attacks in Pakistan

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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The New York Times reported last week that the CIA has been given the green light to expand its “secret” drone attacks against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan. Under the program, Hellfire missiles are fired at targets in Pakistan from Predator drones flown remotely by CIA operators in the United States. The program, which [...]

Will Canada Join the Drone War in Pakistan?

Thursday, July 23, 2009

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Speculation as to what Canada’s role in Afghanistan will be beyond 2001 has been stirred up amid recent reports that Obama Democrats are quietly lobbying the Tory government to keep troops in Kandahar province after 2011. Steven Staples says that Although the role of Canadian ground troops in Afghanistan may diminish, the Canadian Air Force [...]

An upswing in violence in Afghanistan… What does this mean for Canada?

Monday, July 20, 2009

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By any measure the last few months have been marked by an upswing in violence in Afghanistan–a “dreary and bloody stalemate” according to the CBC’s Brian Stewart. NATO–and the US in particular–have come to recognize this as there has been much ado about how to re-cast the mission. First of all this has meant the implementation of a new command structure [...]