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Military chief warns China and Russia are 'at war with the West' and Canada is not ready

I fixed a few of the snippets from the article:

"From my one sided conversations with friends, allies, and partners at the forum, I was told in no uncertain terms consistently heard great enthusiasm for that lack of Canadian leadership on the world stage, as like-minded nations tackle the mounting threats to our shared was doing virtually nothing in helping today's rules-based international order."

"We will not challenge China when we ought to, we will do as little as possible to upset China and will cooperate with China whenever we want must, and we will work closely with our allies and partners only after they call us out and threaten our economic well being to help maintain peace, security, and stability in the region, by looking to convey as many meetings as possible."

"As I outlined when I visited Singapore this June for the Shangri-La Dialogue, as a Pacific nation, Canada makes several valuable contributions to regional security the pastry table, special shout out to Tim Hortons."

"Wherever I go, our allies and partners say that they want to see more of missed seeing any semblance of the Canada they knew, respected and were accustomed to back in the 1950's and 1960's."

"Today, we’re announcing an investment of 369.4 million dollars,
by moving money from other severely stretched military budgets in the RCAF and Canadian Army to the RCN to maintain and increase our naval presence in the region."

"As part of this new program, Canada will lead training initiatives that focus on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, thereby increasing awareness of gender issues across the region, informed by our work at home to build a more inclusive military because we all know that first attack wave against Taiwan will be an elite all women strike force, highlighting the superiority of the modern Chinese Communist woman/mother."

"
To conclude, these four defence initiatives, along with a meaningful Canadian contribution of 2 (two) of unopened bags of chips and 1 (one) container of dip taken together, will lead to a safer and more peaceful Indo-Pacific region."
If Canada was being pragmatic, we would be putting more money into the RCN and RCAF, the forces that are constantly out the door on operations across the globe. The army needs lots of love as well, but it has a very limited role in the Indo-Pacific, which is a priority region for our partners/allies.

While the "cocktail party" deployments might seem to be achieving nothing, they are an important show of force in the region, are peppered with multiple TG exercises with hosting nations, and put RCN ships right at the heart of the political hotspots.
 
If Canada was being pragmatic, we would be putting more money into the RCN and RCAF, the forces that are constantly out the door on operations across the globe. The army needs lots of love as well, but it has a very limited role in the Indo-Pacific, which is a priority region for our partners/allies.

While the "cocktail party" deployments might seem to be achieving nothing, they are an important show of force in the region, are peppered with multiple TG exercises with hosting nations, and put RCN ships right at the heart of the political hotspots.
Back in 2015 CHA hosted a cocktail party in Alexandria to wave the flag with Egypt, do some work with their forces, and then went back to patrolling around the Russians doing missile strikes/bombing runs into Syria a few days later. It was pretty funny as some of our female sailors had questions from other countries who still don't have any woman serving in combat roles. We also did some less formal things with the Romanians and some others as part of Op Active Endeavor while in the Black Sea, so was a good outreach for allies that were actively worried about RUssian aggression (for good reason), and generally just get together with forces we were working with to put names to faces but also talk shop to figure out the difference to how we do things.

Not a big fan of the port to port for endless cocktail parties, but it isn't an either/or type thing (or used to be with Stewards around... good one CRCN). Pretty easy way for the local ambassador to get folks out and shake hands, so definitely a good way for diplomatic outreach (if done right).
 
Back in 2015 CHA hosted a cocktail party in Alexandria to wave the flag with Egypt, do some work with their forces, and then went back to patrolling around the Russians doing missile strikes/bombing runs into Syria a few days later. It was pretty funny as some of our female sailors had questions from other countries who still don't have any woman serving in combat roles. We also did some less formal things with the Romanians and some others as part of Op Active Endeavor while in the Black Sea, so was a good outreach for allies that were actively worried about RUssian aggression (for good reason), and generally just get together with forces we were working with to put names to faces but also talk shop to figure out the difference to how we do things.

Not a big fan of the port to port for endless cocktail parties, but it isn't an either/or type thing (or used to be with Stewards around... good one CRCN). Pretty easy way for the local ambassador to get folks out and shake hands, so definitely a good way for diplomatic outreach (if done right).
I had a broadly similar experience on my Reassurance, and "Poseidon's Pear" (now Projection) trips. Even my Artemis trip back in 2012 had an element of cocktail parties on the transit home past India, and Singapore.
 
Back in 2015 CHA hosted a cocktail party in Alexandria to wave the flag with Egypt, do some work with their forces, and then went back to patrolling around the Russians doing missile strikes/bombing runs into Syria a few days later. It was pretty funny as some of our female sailors had questions from other countries who still don't have any woman serving in combat roles. We also did some less formal things with the Romanians and some others as part of Op Active Endeavor while in the Black Sea, so was a good outreach for allies that were actively worried about RUssian aggression (for good reason), and generally just get together with forces we were working with to put names to faces but also talk shop to figure out the difference to how we do things.

Not a big fan of the port to port for endless cocktail parties, but it isn't an either/or type thing (or used to be with Stewards around... good one CRCN). Pretty easy way for the local ambassador to get folks out and shake hands, so definitely a good way for diplomatic outreach (if done right).
Diplomacy work being done by Navies is an enduring aspect of that service since before the time of the Phoenicians. And that includes being a platform for the velvet glove set to show the flag. Even without the cocktail parties, it has been my experience that we'd host a myriad of military, government, and industry types in Wardroom at every foreign port.
 
Have they done the math on the increase in release/ divorce rates as a result of this one, I wonder? ;)


"In particular, we will boost our annual naval deployments from two to three frigates. This third frigate will sail from Canadian Forces Base Halifax to the region every year – boosting our presence, particularly in the Indian Ocean."
Okay, so I know they say there are no such things as stupid questions. But…

Doesn’t it make more sense to deploy the ship from the Pacific Fleet to go to the Indian Ocean?


(Or does deploying an Atlantic ship make more sense due to more ports to stop at along the way, if need be?)
 
This isn't all on the Canadian government. Canadian investors are truly among the most conservative anywhere. Especially the Liberal ones. Their first inclination is to find out if their is anymore Canadian Pacific money available from the government.
Not just inventors, the business leaders too. Go thought the names of the Canadian companies that were world class. sold out or failed by being too risk adverse. The list is long. Funny thing all the CP companies were bought by foreign companies but for the rail (that is protected by the government) CP Ship to Hapag-Lloyd. CP hotels to Fairmont. etc. The largest Canadian companies are the ones with government protection. Banks, telcos etc. But for BAM and Alimentation Couche-Tard.

 
Okay, so I know they say there are no such things as stupid questions. But…

Doesn’t it make more sense to deploy the ship from the Pacific Fleet to go to the Indian Ocean?


(Or does deploying an Atlantic ship make more sense due to more ports to stop at along the way, if need be?)
The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Halifax is 7500NM via the Suez Canal.

The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Esquimalt is 11500NM.

It takes roughly two weeks longer to get there and you can be in theatre for less time.

Then there is also the fact that we don't exactly have a lot of friends between Guam and Oman. It's pretty barren out there, services are limited and for a Navy with very little in the way of support, it's a much easier undertaking to sail there from Europe, especially with all the Allied/NATO ports we can call on.

The Pacific is absolutely massive. The Atlantic is a kiddie pool in comparison.
 
The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Halifax is 7500NM via the Suez Canal.

The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Esquimalt is 11500NM.

It takes roughly two weeks longer to get there and you can be in theatre for less time.

Then there is also the fact that we don't exactly have a lot of friends between Guam and Oman. It's pretty barren out there, services are limited and for a Navy with very little in the way of support, it's a much easier undertaking to sail there from Europe, especially with all the Allied/NATO ports we can call on.

The Pacific is absolutely massive. The Atlantic is a kiddie pool in comparison.
I always forget just β€˜how’ massive the Pacific is.
 
The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Halifax is 7500NM via the Suez Canal.

The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Esquimalt is 11500NM.

It takes roughly two weeks longer to get there and you can be in theatre for less time.

Then there is also the fact that we don't exactly have a lot of friends between Guam and Oman. It's pretty barren out there, services are limited and for a Navy with very little in the way of support, it's a much easier undertaking to sail there from Europe, especially with all the Allied/NATO ports we can call on.

The Pacific is absolutely massive. The Atlantic is a kiddie pool in comparison.
So then maybe we should be considering forward stationing a frigate in Diego Garcia.
 
The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Halifax is 7500NM via the Suez Canal.

The transit to the Gulf of Oman from Esquimalt is 11500NM.

It takes roughly two weeks longer to get there and you can be in theatre for less time.

Then there is also the fact that we don't exactly have a lot of friends between Guam and Oman. It's pretty barren out there, services are limited and for a Navy with very little in the way of support, it's a much easier undertaking to sail there from Europe, especially with all the Allied/NATO ports we can call on.

The Pacific is absolutely massive. The Atlantic is a kiddie pool in comparison.
I was listening to one of the talking heads on one of the networks questioning the sending of a MARLANT ship to the Indian Ocean. Yep, some folks should have a globe on their desk.
 
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