diplomacy

Wednesday September 20, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 20, 2017

Donald Trump says ‘rocket man’ Kim Jong-un is ‘on a suicide mission’

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear standoff, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

September 6, 2017

Loud murmurs filled the green-marbled UN General Assembly hall when Trump issued his sternest warning yet to North Korea, whose ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests have rattled the globe.

Unless North Korea backs down, he said, “We will have no choice than to totally destroy North Korea.”

“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” he said.

A junior North Korean diplomat remained in the delegation’s front-row seat for Trump’s speech, the North Korean UN mission said.

August 10, 2017

In his first appearance at the annual gathering of world leaders, the president used a 41-minute speech to take aim also at Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional influence, Venezuela’s collapsing democracy and the threat of Islamist extremists. He also criticized the Cuban government.

But his strongest words were directed at North Korea. He urged United Nations member states to work together to isolate the Kim government until it ceases its “hostile” behaviour. He said North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles “threatens the entire world with unthinkable cost of human life.”

In what may have been a veiled prod at China, the North’s major trading partner, Trump said: “It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime but would arm, supply and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Saturday September 16, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 16, 2017

U.S. not obliged to defend Canada in event of North Korean missile attack, MPs told

The highest-ranking Canadian officer at Norad has demolished a long-held political assumption by telling a parliamentary committee that the U.S. is under no obligation to defend Canada in the event of a ballistic missile attack.

Lt.-Gen. Pierre St-Amand laid out on Thursday — in stark terms — where the military lines of each nation begin and end in the event the North Korean crisis erupts into a shooting war.

“The extent of the U.S. policy is not to defend Canada,” said St-Amand, who is the deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, which is responsible for defending the skies and maritime approaches to North America. “That’s the fact I can bring to the table.”

The debate over whether Canada should join the U.S. ballistic missile defence program re-emerged this summer following a series of  successful intercontinental missile tests by North Korea, including another missile launch from that country’s capital Pyongyang on Friday.

The missile flew over Japan before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it travelled about 3,700 kilometres, reaching a maximum height of 770 kilometres.

February 25, 2005

The Liberal government in its recent defence policy review chose to uphold a 2005 decision by former prime minister Paul Martin to remain outside of the U.S. missile shield.

The often-cited political narrative has been that the U.S. would shoot down a missile if it was headed toward Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal.

St-Amand made clear that is not guaranteed and it would be a decision made “in the heat of the moment” by U.S. political and military leaders. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Thursday August 24, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 24, 2017

Canada won’t join U.S. missile defence, send troops to Afghanistan, Trudeau says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has thrown cold water on suggestions the Liberal government wants to sign onto continental ballistic missile defence, or that it might send troops back into Afghanistan.

The question over whether Canada should be part of the U.S.’s continental missile-defence shield has been rekindled in recent days amid concerns about North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal.

Canada opted out of ballistic missile defence in 2005 following a divisive national debate, but many defence experts and parliamentarians, including some Liberals, want the issue reopened.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan has also resurrected questions about whether Canada will be asked to follow suit.

Speaking in Montreal on Wednesday, however, Trudeau appeared to close the door on both ideas.

“On those cases, we will always take the decisions in terms of what is the best interests of Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters after a meeting with federal and provincial immigration officials.

“And our long-standing positions on those two issues are not going to be changed any time soon.”

The comments on ballistic missile defence were the strongest yet from the Liberal government, which had largely sidestepped questions about its intentions in recent weeks. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Thursday, August 17, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, August 17, 2017

Chapter 19 may be a NAFTA deal breaker for Canada

A lot of Canadian softwood lumber exporters will tell you Chapter 19 is an instrumental part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

July 17, 2017

Softwood lumber is the longest and bitterest of Canada-U.S. trade disputes. Small wonder then that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has cautioned that removing Chapter 19 from the trade pact would be a deal breaker in the upcoming renewal talks between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Chapter 19 is a mechanism NAFTA members can use to review the fairness of anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The U.S. has a long history of slapping such duties on Canadian softwood lumber shipments, and Canada has taken advantage of Chapter 19 to reverse those actions.

A Chapter 19 panel decides each case according to the domestic laws of the country that imposed the duties. So a Chapter 19 panel does not override a country’s domestic laws, but serves as a check on how each country is applying its own rules.

June 7, 2017

“There is absolutely no doubt that it acts as a check on some of the more abusive, arbitrary and discriminatory actions of the regulators on both sides of the border,” said Milos Barutciski, co-head of the international trade and investment law practice at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto.

Softwood lumber has long been a flash-point in Canada-U.S. trade relations, and Canada has turned to Chapter 19, both under the original Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and subsequently under NAFTA, to address what it sees as the unfair imposition of duties.

August 27, 2005

The U.S. lumber industry argues that the tariffs are necessary because provincial governments unfairly subsidize Canadian producers who log on crown land. Canadian companies argue the tariffs are improper because they pay provincial governments market rates for that timber.

“Chapter 19 has been a very important piece in every softwood lumber dispute since the original FTA was signed,” Barutciski said. (Source: Financial Post) 

 

Saturday August 12, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 12, 2017

Trump warns North Korea’s Kim he will ‘truly regret’ further threats to US and allies

Donald Trump on Friday went further to turn the crisis over North Korea into a personal battle of wills between him and Kim Jong-un, warning the North Korean leader he would “truly regret” hostile acts against US territory or US allies.

The warning came a few hours after an early-morning tweet from the president that claimed US military options were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang “acted unwisely”.

The tweet triggered worldwide alarm and a rebuke from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: “I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer.”

But Trump stood by his words when asked about them at his golf resort in New Jersey.

“I hope they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” Trump said. “Those words are very, very easy to understand.”

He then issued an ultimatum to Kim Jong-un himself. “This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” he said. “If he utters one threat in form of overt threat – which, by the way, he’s been uttering for years – or if he does anything in respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it.”

The North Korean leadership has warned it will launch four missiles at the waters around US Pacific territory of Guam as a warning to the US if it persisted with its practice sorties by long-range bombers based on the island.

Despite gung-ho language from the US president, there was no change in US deployments in the region or a change in the alert status of US forces. And it was reported on Friday that the Trump administration had reopened a channel of communication between US and North Korean diplomats at the U.N. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

 

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