Jong Un has the expression of someone who has just had shite rubbed under his nose,
i guess standing next to Donald is kind of similar though…
Saying this in Maine, no less, a state that will be massively affected by tariffs and likely even more so by the Canadian retaliatory tariffs. With Collins up for election, causing economic hardship in Maine over the next two months is an explicit policy objective.
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I know it is only a segment, but I don’t like the MAGA trend over the last year when it comes to conquering Canada. It’s unlikely, but no longer impossible as more and more Americans get used to that imperial discourse.
I don’t envy your geography (and I say that as someone who lives on Russia’s border). While I am probably more at risk, still, If I was Canda, I would calibrate my responses to the US a bit carefully. Firm, but not too provocative, since the USA has joined the Predator Club and you are indeed only a Middle Power with a very large territory, but rather small armed forces to defend it (lacking in strategic weapons).
If NATO truly collapses and if MAGA wins the next election, limited conquest or perhaps armed support for separatists, is unlikely but far from impossible.
Bad times these. But I have said that since 2022…
At least the Risk Calculus must be gamed and studied carefully and so taken very seriously. Because Highly Unlikely does not equal Impossible.
We should all remember how the Ukraine War started and why the Kremlin threw the dice and took Krim and Donbas. Ukraine wanted a path to join the EU and not be shackled economically and politically to Russia (2014) and this ended up to be completely unacceptable to the Kremlin and it’s dreams of imperial revival of Greater Rus.
I am just noting, that the same thinking is gaining traction in the US. So the risk is real, just unlikely. And I am honestly quite serious about this. It is hard to forecast the death of MAGA and what it has unleashed after Trump. No one should attempt to do it with certainty…
Provocative what I am about to say now, but like Scandinavian and Baltic countries (I am incredibly frustrated that Norway refuses to do so), Canada should consider leaving the Ottawa Treaty if stress increases with the USA down the line: Ottawa Treaty - Wikipedia
It is by far the cheapest Force Multiplier (and least time consuming) and it is a Treaty from an era where we thought the future would be peaceful. High Morality regarding weaponry only works if the Threat Level is lower and there is no real chance of Industrial War or Invasion.
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I really think at times that MAGA is just a Traumatic Brain Injury
https://x.com/derrickvanorden/status/2091333055688360072?s=20
This guy was literally AT the stop the steal rally and protesting at the capital (though notably did not enter, presumably because he knew it was illegal as fuck and the rubes they were railing up were canon fodder)
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I note that the ocean protects Canada against anyone but the USA.
https://x.com/ConStelz/status/2091971307541827904
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I am not usually one to promote famous people (dislike the tendency many others have to promote people just because they look good on TV or are rich etc.), but Mr. Geere says it well enough here. And I suppose, saying things well, is his job so:
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2091913124538454415
Worth watching this snippet from the Oslo Freedom Forum.
Personal note: I wish Americans (really it’s an Anglo cultural problem) stopped speaking of “monsters”, but I suppose that will not happen within the next few decades. Always makes me sigh internally though. Humans are well capable of spectacular violence and even sadism and there is nothing “supernatural” or otherwordly about that. Cultural Heritage and Environment is usually what that is about, when it’s not mental illness…
To be honest, I am reminded of that film Canadian Bacon. It’s not exactly the best film in the world, but it centres around a war between the US and Canada which was orchestrated to improve the ratings of the President. I think it failed because the central tenet of the satire seemed too outlandish.
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Did Natalie write that?
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Too many long words for him to have written it himself.
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I’m sure the Natalie ones have the thank you for your attention.
I always felt it odd some did and some didn’t. Anyhow it’s Tuesday so it will be interesting to see what he rows back on today.
Canada exports natural gas, oil, and electricity to the US. Almost none of it passes through the US to reach any Canadian market
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I know that logic isn’t a strength of this regime, but has anyone attempted to explain why Canada shouldn’t speak French, or what that has to do with trade?
This is yet another example of the ‘America is not the way it is because Trump is President, Trump is President because America is the way it is’.
All the way back in the 1988 negotiations for the Canada-US free trade agreement, the US wanted to denominate language requirements in packaging as a non-tariff trade barrier. They again resurrected that position in the NAFTA negotiations in 1991, somehow perhaps thinking that Mexico would be more amenable to the idea (supposedly, the Mexican negotiator simply raised an eyebrow and suggested the discussions moved on when the US raised it).
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Trump making important now an issue that was previously spoken about in the 80s? Inconceivable.
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Textbook Trump story
- Trump takes issue with something he actually does (vote by mail) with arguments based on lies they wont back up court
- The admin then tries to take actions to support him, which if enacted would harm democracy
- SC go to ludicrous lengths to support his scurrilous claims
- Dominoes still have to fall for it to work the way his worst critics claim, but the bigger factor is chaos and uncertainty, which is almost by itself as bad as the thing Trump is seemingly trying to achieve.
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