Australia gives Canada some pointers (Aussies point out what's wrong with Canada's weasels policy)

Toronto Star Times (via Embassy magazine) ^ | August 17th, 2005 | By Martin Regg Cohn

[NZerFromHK]

You hear that, Canada?

(Note to administrators: the original title is too long to be posted here, and I apologize for changing the title)

[NZerFromHK]

Ping!

[Owl558]

"Australia is emerging as a global player and diplomatic powerhouse."

What do you mean emerging? Only if you've been asleep.

[jokar]

Good on ya for your self reliance and helping on the frontiers. Poor Canada has be come the fat and lazy ex wife of America.

Australia can only become more robust and independent from taking responsibility for it's own future. That makes you more desirable as an ally to all the country's of the world.

[Aussiebabe]

One very incorrect item in the article mentioned that we have comparable populations and militaries--although we have 20 million people and Canada 30 million, please don't compare our military to Canada's--the Canadian's just aren't in the same league as the Aussies--they lost the will to adequately fund and staff their military many years ago. Not sure the Canadians could repel an attack from Greenland.

[Fred Nerks]

"...Not sure the Canadians could repel an attack from Greenland."

That cowardice disease they caught from the French seems to have been fatal...

[Cobra64]

Good on ya for your self reliance and helping on the frontiers. Poor Canada has be come the fat and lazy ex wife of America.

We're with on that mate. Americans love you Ozzies, Of course you talk sorta funny. (kidding of course).

What is the OZ citizienship's political view of the middle eastern dillema? Are the OZ folks on board with the USA?

Curious since my Dad was stationed in Perth during WWII and loved you guys.

[CeDex]

Out of respect, I'm certainly hoping members of the Canadian Armed Forces currently deployed in Afghanistan, which number four or five times that of what the Aussies have in Iraq, ARE NOT reading FreeRepublic right at this moment.

I'm referring to the COMMENTS posted here, NOT the news piece itself (which the average Canuck volunteer grunt over there would probably agree with).

Very disrespectful. And I'd imagine it would be somewhat demoralizing if they were reading it from over there as well. I'm actually embarrassed that nobody here seems willing to make the distinction between the ARTICLE and the volunteer Canadian soldier deployed.

But by all means. Carry on. It speaks volumes about some of the posters around here.

[tophat9000]

Well I not going to dump on Canadian across the board there is a good size minority in Canada that know the score and conversely the US has it's own moonbat minority... There are Free Dominion Canadian http://www.freedominion.ca/ and DU Americans

So as they say ..."There but for the Grace of God"...

And thank God for the Aussies

[I. M. Trenchant]

Owen Harries, a foreign policy advisor to previous Australian governments ...... [declares that] [d]espite his skepticism of Australia's over-arching ambition to be in the big leagues, [he] is contemptuous of Canada's more cautious foreign policy, [saying] I don't admire Canada's foreign policy very much. For a country of its weight, it should be doing more than engaging in good works."

Are we to conclude from his sanctimonious prattle that Harries thinks Canada should be engaging, not only in good works, but also in bad works, non-good works, silly works, macho works, mindless works, or, more likely, pretentious works that would give it an appearance of having military strength that Canada (like Australia) does not and never can have in a world in which U.S. power is utterly preponderant in every way -- except in putting down insurgencies?

[Aussiebabe]

Hmmm we have troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Naval and Airforce support. Better get your facts straight....mate!

[Northern Alliance]

Guys, we are all on the same side. And any country that has to wait until their policemen are KIA before arming them really doesn't have bragging rights about leadership.

[wildcatf4f3]

damn thats gotta smart for the Hockeyheads

[kittymyrib]

God bless the Aussies. They have the old "can-do" spirit that the US once had, but is woefully lacking today. Troops should be stationed on our southern border right now to stop the lawlessness there, but the president is too timid to fix the problem and people are dying because of it. It's so much easier to make speeches about securing the territory in Iraq than it is to secure Laredo, Texas. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across the Rio Grande, has had more people killed since Jan. than we've lost in the war in Iraq this year, and this malignant crime spree sends thousands of illegal criminals into the US. Many Texans still have the same spirit that Australians have, so we look for a good turnout of Texas Minutemen to patrol the border in Oct. and show the girlie-men like Fred Barnes how it CAN be done.

[CeDex]

Are you trying to engage me in some kind of pis*ing contest between the Australian/Canadian military? Well, don't bother. I'm American.

Re-read my post. The original article is about the divergent policies/philosophies (at least, according those interviewed) between the two countries GOVERNMENTS. Yet, right out of the gate, the first half dozen posters started ragging in on NOT ONLY the Canadian government, but Canadians in general, and (what COULD be misread as) members of their active military itself, who are currently engaged WITH US in Afghanistan.

I could care less if Australia has 10, or 10,000 troops in the ME/Afghanistan. Same goes for Canada. And Poland. The fact is, they're all there, FIGHTING THE FIGHT. AS ALLIES, as well as individuals.

But other point I was trying to make is, and please READ THIS CAREFULLY: If there's some 19yo Canadian kid/grunt stationed in Kandahar, who volunteered to sign up DESPITE the shortcomings of his Liberal government, and just happens to be reading FreeRepublic and some of these comments on his or her laptop at this very moment, THEN I as an American, and a freeper, am deeply offended and embarrassed by those same comments. And for that, I deeply apologize to any Canadian military who may be reading this (and any part I had in it).

If you want to slag off the Canadian government, go ahead. Have a ball. But don't slag off the kids who are there helping out. That's just (for lack of of a better term): pathetic.

I believe I also mentioned something about RESPECT re: the above.

Got that? MATE?

[CeDex]

Are we to conclude from his sanctimonious prattle that Harries thinks Canada should be engaging, not only in good works, but also in bad works, non-good works, silly works, macho works, mindless works, or, more likely, pretentious works that would give it an appearance of having military strength that Canada (like Australia) does not and never can have in a world in which U.S. power is utterly preponderant in every way -- except in putting down insurgencies?

Brilliant observation. Kinda' thought of it that way myself. An obvious Aussie poseur, yet the article was written by a Canadian. Too funny.

Last time I was skiing up in Whistler, BC (I'm from WA state and visit Canada all the time) the entire town was just teeming with Aussie expats. You name it: waiters/waitresses, hotel and bar staff, ski lift personnel, etc. None of them were planning on going back home anytime soon. Could it be they were in Canada hiding out from this Owen Harries dude? Fosters and ski bunnies a little more appealing than invading the Solomon Islands, perhaps?

Way too funny...

[recce guy]

He does have his facts straight. Canada has troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other middle east countries I can not disclose as well as air support elements in the entire region. We also have troops in Bosnia, Golan, Siera Lione, Sudan, Haiti, Siani, Jerusalem, Darfur etc.

Last time I checked Canada was doing more than their fair share of ship boardings in the Gulf.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Canada entered WWII less than a week after Great Britain did so in September of 1939 whereas 85% of the U.S. population still opposed U.S. entry into WWII more than two years later, on December 6th, 1941. This only changed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1941 AND the declaration of war on the U.S. by Germany on the same day. Does this mean that the U.S. did not do its share in winning WWII? Of course not. U.S. contributions in WWI and WWII were decisive. However, it does mean that Canada did its share in both WWI and WWII, long before the U.S. entered either conflict, and has nothing to apologize for as recce guy has noted in post #19 of this thread.