20 décembre 2011

Canada-U.S. Military Ties: Nations In Lockstep On Defence Issues, Experts Say

PhiGéo


Huff Post publie un article où est décrit le resserrement des liens entre le Canada et les États-Unis en matière de défense depuis l'élection du gouvernement conservateur à Ottawa. Le major-général à la retraite MacKenzie et l'historien Morton sont cités:

"Most significantly, in 2008, Ottawa and Washington quietly signed an agreement to support each other's military during floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and after a terrorist attack. Both MacKenzie and McGill University historian Desmond Morton say what is likely at play is the solidifying of Canada's defence posture around the U.S. in ways that may have been unimaginable before the Afghan war. Canada rushed to the defence of Britain in the two world wars and found itself lashed to NATO during the Cold War, said Morton. "But why were we in Afghanistan before anybody else? It wasn't 9-11, it was 9-12 we cared about when the border was jammed shut." The Liberal government under Jean Chretien snubbed Washington by refusing to participate in the Iraq war without a United Nations mandate, and had consistently embraced multilateral institutions including NATO. But MacKenzie argues that disappointment with the "dysfunctional nature" of the North Atlantic alliance and the way Canada was left to fight on largely alone in Kandahar contributed to a sense of disillusionment. Further embracing the Americans is something Canada "is doing perhaps by default because of our frustration," MacKenzie said. "As an independent country, we can pick and choose if it's in our national interest to participate. And I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that it might in our national interest many times over to support the Americans.""



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