Archive | May, 2010

DND: There really is a free lunch!

In an unusual move, Canada’s top soldier and the Defence Department’s Deputy Minister have given DND staff permission to accept free meals from contractors at this year’s CANSEC arms trade show (David Pugliese, “Changes to DND hospitality rules at military trade show raising eyebrows,” Ottawa Citizen, 11 May 2010). The new rules do not breach […]

Small steps toward Arctic cooperation

The Canadian government took a couple of small but potentially helpful steps towards greater cooperation in the Arctic last week. On Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon called on the United States to work with Canada to resolve the two countries’ border dispute in the Beaufort Sea. And on Friday, Canada and Denmark signed an […]

Navy faces budget crunch?

Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden, the commander of the Canadian Navy, are contradicting each other on the state of the Navy’s budget (David Pugliese, “Cash-strapped navy being cut to bone, analysts say,” Montreal Gazette, 12 May 2010; see also David Pugliese, “MacKay says no decision made on fleet reductions; Admiral and sailors […]

Russian nuke data fall short

Russia has presented a chart and other data detailing recent reductions in its nuclear forces to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference currently underway in New York. But the information provided falls far short of the (itself incomplete) level of disclosure recently made by the United States, reports Hans Kristensen–and it may not even be accurate […]

Canadian lawyers, academics call for nuclear disarmament

Two recent statements organized by the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: Legal Experts and Lawyers Call for Abolition We… call on the Government of Canada: 1) to find early and prominent opportunities to publicly reaffirm Canada’s commitment to a world without nuclear weapons; 2) to encourage a new NATO Strategic Concept that commits NATO […]