Foreign Policy Secrets

The government of Canada, like all governments, does not want to tell citizens bad news. They feel our weak mental constitution cannot bear it. Funny though, when it comes to health issues like COVID-19, it provides information that convince us to play ball, for example, vaccinate en masse.

But the government doesn’t tell us why we are in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a Europe ‘watch my back’ thing formed in 1949, after World War 2. Oh! Let me guess, Britain. Canada was a British colony, so it had no alternative. It was an, all in the family situation.

We shall ignore that. However, we will not ignore NATO putting pressure on Justin Trudeau to increase Canada’s defence spending to 2% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Don’t ask me what the GDP is. I don’t fully understand it.

What I know is that it is money the government deducts from paychecks and from toothpaste, which I’m using to represent everything we buy. But Canada signed on the dotted line in 2014 to increase its contribution, you say.

NATO suggested the 2% to accommodate future defence needs, initiated by the U.S. on its ideology war with Russia. Canada is very far from Europe, so that continent is not a threat to us. Russia also has no interest in invading Canada.

Russia has a problem with the United States, which is also gigabyte far from Russia. NATO is America’s foot soldier. America decides on Afghanistan, NATO follows. America decides on Iran, NATO follows. America decides on Ukraine, NATO follows.

Canada can also leave NATO. Britain did it. It left the European Union (EU), for purely selfish reasons, right? Guess what? It is still in NATO, drinking tea with EU ministers it abandoned after BREXIT.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.