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Britain and France sign military cooperation treaties

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy have signed two new military cooperation treaties. One of the treaties focuses on nuclear weapons cooperation.  Under the agreement, a British-French centre at the British nuclear weapon research and development establishment at Aldermaston will work on nuclear testing technology, and a centre in Valduc, eastern […]

Ignatieff on Canada's lost Security Council seat: What's your reaction?

Photo by Jorbasa Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has laid out his vision for “rebuilding Canada’s leadership on the world stage” in the wake of the Harper government’s failed bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Speaking to Le Conseil des Relations Internationales de Montréal on November 2nd, Ignatieff condemned the Harper government’s approach […]

Happy talk watch: More momentum moments

More official word on who’s got the Big Mo in Afghanistan: “We now have the initiative. We have created momentum.” Major-General Nick Carter, commander of NATO coalition forces in southern Afghanistan (Carlotta Gall, “NATO coalition pushes Taliban into retreat in southern Afghanistan,” Globe and Mail, 21 October 2010) “My sense is there will be a […]

F-35 protest outside Aerospace Industries Association convention

Last week saw the first Canadian street protest over the planned purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The protest took place on Tuesday, October 26th outside of the Westin Ottawa hotel, where the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada was meeting. Shown above, the Raging Grannies, supported by ceasefire.ca, perform outside the convention as Minister […]

Schwarzenegger calls for New START ratification

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called in his inimitable style for the quick ratification of the New START treaty to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons (Governor Delivers Remarks at USRBC Annual Meeting, 21 October 2010): Well, let me just tell you that the most excited I’m about is — and I’m asking Congress to […]

Auditor-General: F-35 purchase poses "risks"

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s latest report describes the acquisition of Cyclone and Chinook helicopters as “troubling”, and details how government agencies presented the purchases as simple and low risk while continuously lowballing estimated costs in order have them approved.  This resulted in seven- and five-year-long delays, respectively, and huge price increases — of approximately 80% in […]