Unfortunately for too many Canadians the once powerful and evocative admonitions “Lest We Forget” and “Never Again” have become mere vacuous slogans. Many Canadians are either indifferent to or oblivious of the US/NATO aggression which is fomenting a very real and present danger of global war.
On Wednesday Nov. 4th there was an extraordinary public forum held in the US capitol issuing just such a dire warning. The standing room only event was convened by leading Democratic congressmen John Conyers and Alan Grayson and featured a panel of experts including Stephen F. Cohen of Princeton University, former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock and Joseph Pepper, a former CEO of Proctor Gamble and other major US corporations. The re-occurring theme of the presentations was of the Obama administration’s dangerous provocations against Russia leading to thermonuclear war!
In his opening remarks Rep. Conyers warned that the demonizing of Vladimir Putin and Russia has fostered attitudes akin to the darkest moments of the Cold War era.
Jack Matlock, who just two weeks earlier was a panelist at the Valdai Club Conference in Sochi, Russia detailed the history of repeated U.S. violations of agreements with Russia…U.S. led NATO eastward expansion, the US unilateral withdrawal from the European ballistic missile treaty and the installation of so-called defensive missile systems in Europe especially in bordering countries such as Poland and Romania.
Stephen Cohen buttressed Matlock’s statements by warning that if NATO puts one more military base on Russia’s western border, or if one more bordering country like Georgia or Ukraine is brought into the NATO military axis, world war becomes irrevocable.
All speakers warned that the greatest danger is the lack of any committed political counter-reaction against this insane war drive…especially here in North America.
Presently, NATO with Canada playing a dutiful role, is conducting Rapid Trident Force, massive war exercises throughout Europe in preparation of the quite insane assumption of an imminent Russian invasion! Also occurring at this time the world can witness a classic example of U.S. gunboat diplomacy against China in the South China Sea.
On his first day on the job Justin Trudeau announced he will pull Canadian jets from US coalition forces in Iraq and Syria. While Trudeau gave no time frame for the withdrawal, this is a laudable decision. When exactly those fighter jets land at a base here in Canada will prove to be a gauge of Trudeau’s integrity.
If the new PM really means business he will pull all Canadian military from and terminate all financial and logistical aid to the illegal Poroshenko junta in Ukraine. These actions will send a strong message to the world community that Canada hasn’t forgotten the ugly despair of war and we will resume the role of peacekeepers again.
Brian Gray,Penticton
