Tag Archives: Arctic sovereignty

No Russian threat in Arctic

The Harper government’s dire warnings of a Russian threat in the Arctic — at one time a regular feature of its campaign to sell Canadians on the “need” to buy the F-35 — do not reflect its own behind-closed-doors assessment of the situation.

F-35 may be incapable of communicating in the Arctic

According to a recent Globe and Mail article (Murray Brewster, “New stealth fighters lack ability to communicate from Canada’s north,” Globe and Mail, 23 October 2011), briefings given to the Air Force’s top general indicate that early models of the F-35 Lightning II may be unable to communicate while operating in Canada’s North.  Lockheed Martin, […]

No war in Arctic: Harper

Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show that Prime Minister Harper’s frequent scare talk in support of a greater Canadian military presence in the Arctic is just for public consumption and does not reflect what he says in private (Campbell Clark, “Harper’s tough talk on the Arctic less stern in private,” Globe and Mail, 12 May 2011): […]

Russian bomber flights rare: NORAD

NORAD statistics obtained by the Ottawa Citizen show that Russian bomber flights near Canadian airspace–which the Harper government has been hyping in its efforts to sell Canadians on the controversial plan to buy F-35 fighters–have occurred only three to five times a year since 2007 (David Pugliese, “NORAD logs few Russian flights,” Ottawa Citizen, 4 […]