NATO

Wednesday December 4, 2019

December 4, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 4, 2019

Trump calls Trudeau ‘two-faced’ after candid video

April 11, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “two-faced” after a video went viral of the Canadian leader apparently speaking candidly to other world leaders about Trump.

“Well he’s two-faced,” the president said on Wednesday, when asked about the conversation in which Trudeau seemed to make reference to the president’s lengthy, unplanned media availability the day before.

Trump went on to speculate about Trudeau’s motivation for engaging in the gossip – namely, Canada’s failure to meet the recommended defence spending target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

June 9, 2018

“Trudeau, he’s a nice guy. I find him to be a nice guy, but the truth is, I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2 per cent, and I guess he’s not very happy about it. I mean, you were there. A couple of you were there,” Trump told reporters.

“He should be paying more than he’s paying. And he understands it. So I can imagine he’s not that happy. But that’s the way it is.”

In the video, Trudeau was speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Princess Anne, daughter of the Queen.

February 9, 2016

The video, which was shot during a reception at Buckingham Palace late Tuesday, shows Johnson asking Macron why he was late. In response, Trudeau quips, “he was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”

Though the president is never mentioned by name, Trump had taken multiple questions from journalists during an unscheduled news conference ahead of meetings with Trudeau, Macron, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

July 12, 2018

Trudeau went on to say, without a clear context, that “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”

The gossiping and name-calling comes in stark contrast to the mood between the two world leaders yesterday, when Trump said of Trudeau that it was “an honour to be with a friend,” and touted their “very good relationship.”

The prime minister echoed Trump’s sentiments, saying the relationship between Canada and the United States is “is incredibly strong, I don’t think it’s ever been stronger.” (CTV News) 

 

Friday April 5, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 5, 2019

The world still needs NATO after 70 years

The 70th birthday of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this week deserved far more attention and celebration than it received.

November 23, 2002

There were no parades, no fireworks, no self-congratulatory gatherings of presidents and prime ministers clinking champagne flutes to recognize an alliance that has done so much for global peace and security.

Instead, and in marked contrast to the three-day extravaganza that saluted NATO’s accomplishments on its 50th anniversary in 1999, there was only a low-key ministerial meeting Thursday for the organization’s members in Washington, D.C.

This was likely because an ambitious, A-list gathering of NATO-nation leaders would have had to include the volatile, NATO-bashing American President Donald Trump. Having no party was preferable to having one he’d ruin.

Yet NATO was worthy of better. Whatever challenges it faces today — and some coming from disaffected members like Turkey are urgent — NATO must be judged a rousing success.

According to the Brookings Institution research group, NATO is one of the most enduring military alliances in the past 500 years. It rose from the wreckage of the Second World War, when European nations so recently freed from the scourge of Nazi Germany were confronted by an aggressively expansionist Soviet Union.

May 29, 2002

Some critics insisted NATO had passed its best-before date. Russian President Vladimir Putin showed how wrong they were. Today, and with support from Canada’s Armed Forces, the 29-member alliance has deployed troops in the Baltic States, Ukraine and Poland to halt Putin’s territorial ambitions. When the Russians annexed Crimea and destabilized eastern Ukraine, an impotent United Nations watched. NATO acted.

Despite Trump’s rants and threats, Congress and the American people are largely supportive of NATO. They know the alliance helped them in Afghanistan and how much the friendship of so many nations counts in a changing, uncertain world just awakening to the rise of a headstrong, authoritarian China.

Today’s world is very different from what it was in 1949. But for seven decades NATO has helped guide it through seas both calm and rough. Change it must and will. But NATO is still needed and we hope it lasts at least seven decades more. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday July 12, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 12, 2018

Trump suggests NATO allies could double defence spending beyond 2014 pledge

U.S. President Donald Trump barrelled into a NATO summit Wednesday with claims that a natural gas pipeline deal has left Germany “totally controlled” and “captive to Russia” as he lobbed fresh complaints about allies’ “delinquent” defence spending during the opening of what was expected to be a fraught two-day meeting.

February 22, 2017

Trump also suggested that NATO allies commit to spending four per cent of their gross domestic product on defence — double the current goal of two per cent by 2024.

The president, in a testy exchange with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that kicked off his visit, took issue with the U.S. protecting Germany as it strikes deals with Russia.

Trump’s dramatic exchange with Stoltenberg set the tone for what was already expected to be a tense day of meetings with leaders of the military alliance as Trump presses jittery NATO allies about their military spending ahead of his meeting next week with Putin.

November 17, 2015

“The United States is paying far too much and other countries are not paying enough, especially some. So we’re going to have a meeting on that,” Trump said, describing the situation as “disproportionate and not fair to the taxpayers of the United States.”

“They will spend more,” he later predicted. “I have great confidence they’ll be spending more.”

And with that, he went on to push allies at the summit to double their commitment on defence spending.

“During the president’s remarks today at the NATO summit, he suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of two per cent of their GDP on defence spending, but that they increase it to four per cent,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders.

She said the president raised the same issue at NATO last year and that, “Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Saturday June 17, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 17, 2017

China-based Hytera returns with matching bid for Vancouver’s Norsat International

September 23, 2016

Norsat International Inc., the Vancouver tech firm at the centre of duelling acquisition bids, says China-based Hytera Communications has matched a $67.3 million US rival takeover offer from an American fund manager.

Hytera, which manufactures radio transceivers and radio systems, made its friendly takeover offer for Norsat last year and received clearance under the Investment Canada Act this month.

April 26, 2017

But Privet Fund Management LLC — a U.S. company that already owns 17.6 per cent of Norsat’s equity — emerged with a rival bid this week that was 25 cents per share above Hytera’s offer of $11.25 US.

Although Hytera has now raised its offer to $11.50 US per share and amended the break fees in line with Privet’s bid, Norsat says there’s no assurance that the transaction will get all necessary approvals and be completed.

Hytera’s proposal has sparked a heated political debate over national security risks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that the U.S. was consulted before Industry Canada gave its approval early in June. But Norsat says it also needs approval from the federal government’s industrial technologies office.

Norsat announced Friday that its previously adjourned shareholders meeting will resume next Thursday in Richmond, B.C. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday May 26, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 26, 2017

Trudeau praises benefits of NATO intelligence sharing amid anger at U.S.

February 22, 2017

Canada’s deeply entrenched role in the fight against global extremism is more focused these days on intelligence-gathering — and sharing — than on putting more boots on the ground in the Middle East, Justin Trudeau suggested Thursday.

“The track record has shown that collaboration and co-operation between allies, friends and partners has saved lives and keeps all of our citizens safe,” Trudeau said at the outset of a daylong NATO meeting in Brussels.

October 6, 2014

“We are going to continue to collaborate and to work together to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep citizens and our communities safe.”

Trudeau suggested the role that Canada now plays in fighting terrorism is through its membership in the so-called Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

February 22, 2005

“We continue to be an important and trusted ally in the global intelligence community,” said Trudeau, who noted he would not go into detail.

“There are many, many occasions upon which we have directly participated and in other occasions directly benefited form information-sharing between security agencies and at the highest level.”

And while NATO agreed to assess its “level of support and the future of the mission” in Afghanistan, Trudeau betrayed no enthusiasm for sending soldiers back.

July 22, 2013

“We have no troops in Afghanistan at this time, but we are happy to be supportive in other ways.”

Trump has also been vocal about his demand for the other members of NATO to pick up their fair share of the tab when it comes to defence spending. Canada spends just over one per cent of its GDP on defence, just half of NATO’s target.

The Liberal government says its contribution is bigger than the numbers suggest, citing its commitment to send up to 455 troops to head up a multinational mission in Latvia, as part of efforts to curb Russian aggression in the Baltics. (Source: Toronto Star)