MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 17 June 12

• Alberta security guard shooting:  Three dead, one CF member (who was also working for the security company) clinging to life - more here
• Syria  “Canada is “deeply disappointed” the Syrian government created a threatening environment for United Nations monitors who were forced to suspend work Saturday. “The Syrian government has the obligation to protect the well-being of these monitors as they conduct their work, and report their findings,” said Rick Roth, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. “Anything less is a complete abdication of their responsibilities, and a clear signal to the international community that (Syrian president Bashar) Assad has no interest in co-operating.” Growing violence in Syria has forced UN observers to halt operations on the ground as global leaders prepare to meet for G20 talks this week ….”
• Afghanistan  “Hundreds of containers of Canadian military equipment remain trapped in Afghanistan as the Pakistani government continues to refuse to reopen NATO supply lines into the country. Thousands of tonnes of equipment including armoured vehicles, guns, ammunition and combat uniforms have already been airlifted out of the country. However, an estimated 400 containers remain stranded in secret locations throughout southern Afghanistan. Pakistan closed NATO’s main transit route from the port of Karachi in November following an air attack on the country’s border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Supply trucks have sat idle in Afghanistan since then ….”
• Interesting photos of Canadian special forces troops taking part in a competition in Colombia, with commentary at Army.ca here, and more (in Spanish) from the competition web site (brace yourself for bracing Spanish music when clicking there) here.
• What’s Canada Buying?  Someone to help Canada’s defence scientists do literature researches
• Columnist:  “…. This month marks the 62nd anniversary of the start of the Korean war, and it’s not surprising that the government is once again cutting back the military to save money. Some things never change . . . “
• “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, and Public Safety’s Parliamentary Secretary Candice Hoeppner, on behalf of the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, will make a significant announcement (today) related to keeping our streets and communities safe ….”
• Former Canadian int officer: time to give medals to whistleblowers?  “…. I was reminded of a young woman who confided in me many years ago. Her name was Jane Shorten and she was a brilliant analyst with Canada’s electronic eavesdropping agency, the Communications Security Establishment Canada. Shorten spoke several languages fluently and earned a stellar reputation as a rising star inside the notoriously secretive and little known espionage service. Despite her success, Shorten began to have grave misgivings about her work when she realized that the spy agency was, at the time, breaking the law by routinely intercepting the electronic communications of Canadians. …. she followed the chain of command. She was told, in effect, to shut up. The tipping point came when she heard an intercept of a Canadian woman discussing gynecological problems with her doctor. That’s when she reluctantly agreed to go public. She was so fearful of CSEC’s reach that Shorten only agreed to be interviewed on-the-record outside of Canada. In the end, her revelations prompted Ottawa to set up a watchdog over CSEC to try to ensure that it abided by the law. But Shorten lost her job and Canada lost an honourable civil servant. The laws that are supposed to protect whistleblowers are woefully inadequate — as the indefatigable David Hutton, executive director of FAIR, a lobby group devoted to whistleblowers, has rightly argued. They must, as Hutton insists, be strengthened to truly protect whistleblowers working in the public and private sectors who are motivated neither by fame nor fortune, but rather by the desire to do right by Canadians. Failing that, here’s another suggestion. The Governor General also hands out bravery medals to deserving Canadians. I can think of no one more deserving of that recognition than the whistleblowers who have risked so much to serve the public interest. It’s time he pinned a medal on one of them.”
• War of 1812 (1)  “Gov. Gen. David Johnston says the War of 1812 is the perfect time for Canadians to reflect on the peace the country has enjoyed on its soil. “This is a very blessed country,” he told CBC News during an event at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., to mark the bicentennial of the war’s declaration. “And because we’ve enjoyed peace so long, because our freedoms seem to be so readily available, I think we have a tendency sometimes to take that for granted.” He said that remembering the war reminds Canadians that they had to fight for freedom, liberty and democracy and they should “work constantly to improve and enhance” the country ….”
• War of 1812 (2)  Some red-haired guy who did a good job in the war  “On June 18, 1812, at a portage between two rivers in the wilderness west of Lake Michigan, a courier who’d trekked thousands of kilometres with a secret letter from Upper Canada’s military commander, Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, finally reached the intended recipient: Robert Dickson, a 46-year-old, Scottish-born fur trader from Niagara who was known as “Red-Haired Man” among his many aboriginal friends. On the same day in Washington, U.S. president James Madison signed a declaration of war, sending the young American republic — just 29 years after winning its fight for independence — into a new battle with Britain, this time with plans to conquer its Canadian colonies and secure unfettered access to the vast Northwest beyond the Great Lakes ….”

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