MILNEWS.ca Highlights – May 21, 2019

• What’s Canada Buying?
• “US clears $1 billion in Raytheon weapons for Canada, South Korea and Japan … Canada has been cleared to purchase $387 million worth of MK 54 lightweight torpedo conversion kits …”
• “Canada – MK 54 Lightweight Torpedoes — The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Canada of MK 54 lightweight torpedoes with support for an estimated cost of $387 million …” (Defense Security Cooperation Agency info-machine)
• “Canada to buy 425 MK 54 lightweight torpedo conversion kits”
• “Boeing offered Super Hornet Block III fighters to Canada”
• Big Honkin’ Ship Document Leak Case
• ” ‘It was my decision and my responsibility’: Vance speaks on suspension of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman”
• “Liberals stymie Commons defence committee inquiry into Mark Norman case”
• “Liberals vote down attempt to launch probe into Mark Norman case”
• “Les libéraux refusent d’entendre Mark Norman en comité parlementaire”
• “Andrew Scheer veut une enquête publique dans l’affaire Mark Norman”
• “Conservatives say they’re ‘confident’ Mark Norman will expose more Liberal wrongdoing”
• ” ‘The fight of your life’: Mark Norman finally tells his side of the story”
• “Le vice-amiral Mark Norman raconte son cauchemar”
• “How the Liberals spent the week blaming everyone else for the Mark Norman fiasco”
• “Mark Norman has been vindicated – but the navy-procurement crisis ticks on”
• “Chantier Davie: une enquête de la GRC lancée après une colère de Trudeau”
• Afghanistan
• “Canadian Forces Afghan memorial dedicated in ceremony (14 May) – officials decided to limit publicity”
• #CHN/Pacific Rim
• “Canada sends delegation to China to press for release of citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor”
• “Canada sends delegation to China to press for release of citizens”
• “Two Canadians Arrested on State Secrets Charges”
• “Kovrig is ‘holding up as well as one could hope for,’ says Canadian detainee’s boss”
• “China’s offensive on Canada, in plain sight”
• “Chinese businessman-turned-Taoist leader confirms he is father of the student who was kidnapped in Canada”
• “USS Preble Sails Near Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea”
• “Coast Guard Gives US New Tool in Disputed South China Sea”
• “South China Sea: US Destroyer Conducts Freedom of Navigation Operation Near Scarborough Shoal”
• “China opposes US provocation in South China Sea” (CHN mil media)
• “Experts: It’s of little effect for US to gang up allies and stir up the South China Sea” (CHN mil media)
• “(US) Navy has four ships patrolling South China Sea”
• “What does the reduction of Okinawa-based US Marine Corps imply?” (CHN mil media)
• “Xi stresses military personnel education for strong armed forces” (CHN mil media)
• “Chinese, Russian senior diplomats agree to boost joint efforts on global strategic stability” (CHN mil media)
• “Trump Bans China’s Huawei In US Amid National Security Concerns”
• “Australia – caught between the U.S. and China – has banned Huawei. Why can’t Canada?”
• #OpPRESENCE/#MLI-Africa
• “Mali violence: Nigerian peacekeeper killed in Timbuktu”
• “Burkina Faso Seeks Broad Sahel Anti-Terror Coalition”
• “Christians in Burkina Faso seek refuge”
• “Islamic State claims it killed 28 Nigerien soldiers”
• “Group 1 of China’s 6th batch of peacekeepers to Mali return home” (CHN mil media)
• “G5-Sahel force five years on”
• Way Up North
• “Winning at all costs: the bizarre position of the Trump administration on the Northwest Passage”
• “Russia says its radio-electronic shield now covers the Arctic”
• “Moscow as Beijing’s ‘Useful Partner’ in the Arctic Region”
• “F-22s Intercept Russian Bombers, Fighter Jets Off Coast of Alaska”
• “U.S. fighter jets intercept Russian warplanes off Alaska”
• “U.S. fighters escort Russian strategic bombers over Arctic, Pacific oceans”
• “Denmark threatens Russia with fighter jets in Arctic region”
• “US fighter jets intercept Russian warplanes off the coast of Alaska”
• “Putin makes Arctic push”
• “The Arctic is America’s Next Maritime Frontier”
• “Chinese rig makes massive gas discovery in Arctic Russia” 
• #OpREASSURANCE/Russia-Baltics-Cold War 2.0
  
• “Lithuanian Armed Forces prepares for Exercise Defender 2020” (LTU MoD)
• “Russia’s Special Operations Forces Command and the Strategy of Limited Actions”
• Internal Security
  “Turkey willing to help Canada repatriate ISIS members held in Syria, official says”
• “NATO researchers consult federal government on foreign election meddling”
• “Protecting Elections: A Strategic Communications Approach” (NATO info-machine)
• “Canada introducing digital charter to combat hate speech, misinformation”
• ” ‘Distasteful alliances’: The secret story of Canada’s fight against migrants”
• Veterans & Helping Veterans (or Not?)
• “Disabled Veterans Under attack by VAC” (open letter via Facebook)
• Sexual Assault/Harassment in the CF
• “The Department of National Defence and Statistics Canada will hold a news conference to address the findings in the 2018 Statistics Canada Survey on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday, May 22, at 9 a.m. (EDT) …” (DND info-machine)
• “Sexual Harassment and Violence in the Canadian Armed Forces” (Senate of Canada)
• “Inconduite sexuelle toujours omniprésente au sein des Forces armées canadiennes, conclut un comité sénatorial”
• “Former sailor remembers persecution that followed decriminalization of homosexuality”
• Other Military News
• Did the headline writer REALLY mean this?  “High schoolers go commando at military co-op placement”
• “Gen. Vance receives a raise – Trudeau recommended increase to upper limit of $306,500”
• “Canada, NATO, and the ‘Dumbbell’ Concept”
• “Better bang for a bullet: Artillery school aligns core exercises with courses” (Canadian Army Today)
• “Parliament Hill excavation uncovers pre-Confederation military complex”

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