Archive | June, 2010

Help stop "a summer of bloodshed"

Dear Ceasefire.ca supporters – This is an urgent alert to inform you of new developments in Afghanistan, and to ask for your help to avert more innocent civilian casualties. Your action is required. This could be our most important campaign since our founding in 2003. We are asking our 20,000 supporters to support our media […]

Happy talk watch: Afghan insurgency losing momentum

“We are heading in the right direction in Afghanistan,” U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy told the Senate Armed Services Committee on 15 June. “We are regaining the initiative and the insurgency is beginning to lose momentum.” (Jared Allen & Roxana Tiron, “After setbacks, Hoyer hints Dems’ support for Afghanistan is slipping,” The […]

Canada should stay in Afghanistan: Ignatieff

Canadian military personnel should remain in Afghanistan as military and police trainers following the 2011 end of the Kandahar mission, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has declared (Joan Bryden, “Ignatieff: Canadian trainers should stay in Afghanistan,” Globe and Mail, 15 June 2010). The new Liberal position, which was floated two weeks ago by Bob Rae, was […]

New Navy mascot needs name

The Canadian Navy is said to face serious recruiting, morale, and (according to its commander, although not the Minister of National Defence) budgetary problems. And what better way to respond than to create a new furry mascot for the embattled element? Officially, the Navy describes the new “recruit” as “a communication tool developed to help […]

Joint Strike Fighter purchase could cost $16 billion

The Globe and Mail is reporting that the estimated full cost of the government’s plan to buy 65 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is $16 billion (Daniel Leblanc, “Harper bending to U.S. on sole-source fighter purchase, documents reveal,” Globe and Mail, 11 June 2010): Officials at National Defence and Public Works refused Thursday to discuss the […]