Four years ago, David Bercuson, Director of the DND-funded Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, declared that UN peacekeeping was dead: As far as UN-led operations,… there just aren’t any left in the world today and you ought to really know that. These old Blue Helmet operations which our army stopped doing back in the […]
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RSS feed for this sectionU.S. Nuclear Posture Review released
The new U.S. Nuclear Posture Review was released on Tuesday. Full text of the report (72 pages) NPR summary factsheet (2 pages) Obama statement on NPR Other U.S. government background information Commentary Ceasefire.ca‘s report on NPR contents, 5 April 2010 Statement on Nuclear Posture Review, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, 6 April 2010 David […]
U.S. to reduce role of nuclear weapons
The United States will reduce the role assigned to nuclear weapons in its national security strategy, the New York Times reports (David E. Sanger & Peter Baker, “Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms,” New York Times, 5 April 2010). The Obama administration’s much-delayed Nuclear Posture Review is to be formally released on Tuesday, […]
Staff at Tim's eligible for small, regular medal
The staff at the Tim Hortons outlet at Kandahar Airfield are eligible to receive the General Service Medal for their service in Afghanistan, Canwest News Service reports (David Pugliese & Katherine Laidlaw, “Tim Hortons staff eligible for Afghan war medals,” Victoria Times-Colonist, 29 March 2010). The medal, which was established in 2004, is given to […]
Fowler scorches Canadian foreign policy
Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler launched a blistering attack on the foreign policy of recent Canadian governments during a speech to the Liberal Party’s “thinkers’ conference” on Sunday (video of speech here). Fowler, now retired, was a senior member of the Canadian foreign policy establishment for decades, serving in a wide variety of posts, including […]
U.S. and Russia agree on modest nuclear cuts
The United States and Russia have reached agreement on the terms of a new strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty, the White House reported on Friday (“Key Facts about the New START Treaty,” Whitehouse.gov, 26 March 2010). The new treaty, which will be signed in Prague on April 8th, will replace both the 1991 START Treaty […]