Forget Putin. Our defence budget is all about Trump
Donald Trump treats military spending like "a protection racket"
The man with a pretty good shot at being the next U.S. President sent shockwaves through NATO headquarters this week.
At a political rally, Donald Trump told supporters he would “encourage” Russia to attack any of the U.S.’s NATO allies whom he considers to have not met their financial obligations.
Watch on the BBC
But the whole point of the NATO alliance, which comprises 30 countries including the U.S., Canada and several dozen European states, is to scare off enemies by agreeing that an attack against one NATO member will bring a united response from everyone else.
Trump undermines all of that.
NATO head boasts Canada and Europe military spending “unprecedented”
The alliance’s head scrambled to respond, assuring the Americans that NATO’s military spending is soaring and Trump has nothing to worry about.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg even named Canada in expressing how high military spending has climbed.
“Last year we saw an unprecedented rise of 11 per cent across European allies and Canada,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of the organization’s defence ministers in Brussels.
Pro-military voices were quick to point out that protecting our economy and its close links to the United States is going to pressure the government to direct much more spending to the military – money that’s desperately needed for many other priorities.
Affordability and health care – not the military – are top priorities for Canadians
Canadians put social programs, climate, and pocket-book issues far above military spending as needing more money.
For instance, an Ipsos poll last year found that nearly half (43%) of Canadians put, “Help with the soaring cost of every day needs due to inflation” in their top-three federal budget priorities.
Less than one-in-ten (7%) said, “Investing in Canada’s Armed Forces and Defence” was one of their top three priorities.
Is Canada a low military spender, or a high one?
There is plenty of spin-doctoring going on out there in the media when it comes to Canada’s military spending. I have written about the ways pro-military commentators select certain figures to bolster their argument for billions more in weapons-spending.
Scott Taylor, publisher of Esprit de Corp magazine, says contrary to what many defence analysts (and Donald Trump) may claim, Canada is no 'Freeloader' on defence spending. (Spoiler alert! The excellent explainer video below includes archival footage of this author from a decade ago.)
Could Canada be in for its own “tea party?”
Writer and researcher Gordon Laxer can’t help but see some parallels between Trump’s insistence on more military spending, and the colonial demands of mother Britain in the 18th Century on its American colonies.
“Donald Trump sees NATO as a protection racket. Pay up or we will encourage Russia to attack you. Trump knows little American history,” said Gordon in a note to me this week.
“When the empire of the day – the British – made subjects in the 13 colonies pay for British military expenditures through customs duties and stamp taxes, it sparked the American Revolution,” he added.
“Now that the U.S. is today’s stumbling empire, American politicians insist that vassal states, like Canada, shoulder more of the military burdens of their empire. Anyone up to throw a tea party in Toronto harbour?”
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Naomi Klein and others fear for imprisoned Russian activist Boris Kagarlitsky
Russian court stiffens sentence to include 5 years in prison
A Russian military court of appeals has ordered socialist and anti-war dissident Boris Kagarlitsky to spend five years in jail after prosecutors succeeded in overturning his original sentence.
Upon learning of the jail term, author Naomi Klein tweeted, “Very distressing news about the unjust imprisonment Boris Kagarlitsky - an principled scholar and activist who advised me on the Russian chapter of The Shock Doctrine.”
Kagarlitsky’s original sentence was handed down on December 12 after he was found guilty of “justifying terrorism” over comments made in October 2022 about the war in Ukraine. But prosecutors argued successfully the fine was “unjust due to its excessive leniency” and demanded five and a half years’ jail instead as part of their appeal.
Last year PeaceQuest supporters endorsed a joint letter of support for Boris Kagarlitsky. It was also signed by Naomi Klein, Maude Barlow, and other prominent intellectuals and activists.
Recent news of the suspicious death of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny is surely weighing on the minds of Boris’ supporters.
You can learn more from https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/russia-anti-war-socialist-boris-kagarlitsky-sentenced-five-years-jail
