MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – February 1, 2013
- Mali (1a) “The total cost of providing a transport plane to aid international efforts in Mali is an estimated $18.6 million, says one of Canada’s top soldiers. Of that cost, $11.7 million is directly related to the mission itself and the remainder is the regular cost of keeping the C-17 Globemaster ready to go, Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance told a House of Commons committee Thursday. Canada had initially agreed to provide the massive transport plane for one week to assist the French government in transporting soldiers and supplies to the West African country ….”
- Mali (1b) Not JUST military $ “…. David Morrison, with the Canadian International Development Agency, said agency spending in aid for Mali – one of the world’s poorest nations – will likely top more than $100 million in the next few months ….”
- Mali (1c) Another “not just military help needed” reminder “Foreign Affairs and Defence officials defended Canada’s role in Mali and the surrounding region Thursday while warning military action alone won’t defeat the threat posed by Islamic militants. “There is a tendency to see military kinetic action as the silver bullet on the Islamic threat,” Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance told the Commons’ foreign affairs committee. “In fact, kinetic action does not address the root causes.” ….”
- Mali (1d) “Opposition MPs were left with unanswered questions about Canada’s larger goals in Mali after government officials briefed them on the ongoing mission Thursday. Canada is there to support France with its intervention, Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance told the foreign affairs committee. He praised France for launching a professional and effective campaign over a short period, stopping the southern advancement of Islamist militants and reversing it since the intervention started in the troubled country on Jan. 11 ….”
- Mali (2a) Globe & Mailcolumn “The Harper government is so obsessed with stressing what it’s not going to do in Mali – combat – that it fumbles whenever it talks about what it will do. It’s been a pattern of miscommunication: Let every smidge of information about Canadian involvement dribble out elsewhere, preferably on Twitter or overseas. Then deny it. Wait. Then confirm it. Keep everyone guessing ….”
- Mail (2b) Terry Glavin’s take “It seems to take quite a lot for a spectacular state-failure catastrophe to attract the attention of the civilized world these days, what with U.S. President Barack Obama’s persistent and absurd reiterations of his administration’s fantasy that “the tide of war is receding” and everything. In the case of Mali, it took the better part of a year and the loss of two-thirds of the country to a grisly alliance of Tuareg slavers, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa and Ansar Dine, the “Defenders of the Faith.” ….”
- Mali (3) Parliamentary Secretary for Defence re-shares Info-machines aid messages
- Mali (4) Toronto Star column “…. Whatever the next move in Mali, Ottawa will be involved with its allies. If we don’t get it right, we risk a return with a much bigger challenge at hand.”
- Mali (5) “The UN Security Council will consider plans to deploy a new UN peacekeeping force to Mali to help pacify the northern part of the West African country following France’s ejection of militants from the cities there, a senior diplomat has said. The Security Council last month passed a resolution approving a multinational African force to help stabilize Mali. But with the rebel forces in retreat, that plan has been overtaken by events on the ground. Instead, the Security Council will discuss a regular UN peacekeeping force for Mali instead, the senior Western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans were in an early phase of discussion. The force would probably be composed of 3,000 to 5,000 peacekeepers, the diplomat said ….” – more on this idea here.
- Mali (6) More on whazzup in Mali here (Google News), here (EMM Explorer) and here (France’s defence ministry’s daily update in French)
- Looking to Algeria as the fight continues down the road? “…. it seems …. Algeria is going to be playing a pivotal role in counter-jihadist activity in North Africa. British PM David Cameron just concluded a visit to Algiers – what was discussed remains unspecified – and both Britain and France were quick to support the Algerians on the hostage operation. Algeria cooperated with France in the use of its airspace for the Malian operation ….”
- “Lawyers arguing the case of Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, the Halifax naval officer at the centre of an international espionage embarrassment, gave a court conflicting accounts of the scope of damage his treachery did to Canada’s foreign relations. Delisle, 41, has a two-day hearing in a Nova Scotia court after pleading guilty in October to one count of breach of trust and two counts of passing information to a foreign entity that could harm Canada’s interests. The case of a Canadian in uniform selling a vast horde of secrets to the Russians for about $72,000 is unprecedented. Delisle is the first Canadian charged under the Security of Information Act, which was passed after the Sept. 11 attacks. That means the judge has no prior cases to help him sentence the former threat assessment officer with a top secret clearance ….” - more here, here, here, here and here.
- “Captain (Navy) Raymond Kao, a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Medical Officer, was appointed the First Chair in Military Critical Care Research at Lawson Health Research Institute, the research arm of London Health Sciences Centre during a ceremony held today in London, Ontario. Captain (Navy) Raymond Kao is currently the senior critical care advisor to the Surgeon General, critical care physician at the London Health Sciences Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry ….”
- Minister of Defence: I was flying for work, honest! “…. I used government aircraft to do government business. In July 2010, I left my four days of personal time early, via helicopter, to return to work and announce a $34-million military contract while also informing citizens of London, Ont., and Canadians, of the government’s actions to create jobs in that area. As the Canadian Armed Forces pilot of the flight, Major Stephen Reid, said, “the flight would have been flown regardless of whether or not the minister was included because the squadron conducts two training events per dayas part of a regular routine.” I then left London to attend the Pictou Lobster Carnival, which marks the end of this important seasonal fishery and is the largest annual event in Central Nova. It is attended by thousands of maritimers and was recently voted Canada’s favourite festival. As minister of national defence and regional minister for Nova Scotia, these types of events are both necessary and worthwhile.”
- VA Minister in the House of Commons on vets funeral costs “Mr. Speaker, since 2006 more than 10,000 veterans and their families have benefited from the funeral and burial program. Unlike the Liberals who cut this very program, we have brought benefits and programs to veterans at an unprecedented level over the last seven years under the leadership of our Prime Minister. We are always interested in looking at ways we can improve our programs.”
- Liberal Party Info-machine on covering vets’ funeral costs “The Conservative government must treat Canadian veterans and their families with the respect they deserve and immediately increase funding to the Last Post Fund, said Liberals …. “Not only have the Harper Conservatives cut funding to the Last Post Fund, which offers assistance for veterans’ funeral and burial costs, but they have outright denied 66% of requests,” said Liberal MP for Random–Burin–St. George’s Judy Foote. “This is no way to treat the courageous men and women who have fought and sacrificed so much for our country. That is why I am introducing a Private Member’s Motion, supported by the Royal Canadian Legion, calling on the government to increase funding and access to this fund.” ….”
- Way Up North “Canada will begin a two-year stint at the helm of the eight-nation Arctic Council amid a clamour of competing calls for leadership, as the ice recedes and the race heats up to extract resource riches while protecting a fragile and now-exposed environment. While there’s near-unanimity that Canada will need to lead when it takes over from Sweden in May, the direction and pace remain in sharp dispute. The oil industry wants to get busy drilling; ocean shippers are eyeing cost-saving shortcuts across long-frozen seas, while environmentalists fear the melting polar pack leaves the Arctic vulnerable to unrestrained ravage. Most expect, and some fear, the Conservative government will tip towards development ….”
