Scroll through a sampling of reports: Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Press TV, Rabble.ca . (Originally reported by Le Devoir, but my French is poor!)
Montreal Gazette: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hPqxA8NsB16aA8gt3PvJKBspPCBw?docId=CNG.c0c32039955369c191763a9365df1b65.771
(AFP) – Jun 3, 2011
OTTAWA — Canada is looking to expand its military reach by setting up staging points in Germany, Jamaica and elsewhere to support humanitarian and combat missions abroad, officials and media said Friday.
Jay Paxton, spokesman for Defense Minister Peter MacKay, told AFP: “Military planners are pursuing logistical agreements to ensure Canada is ready to respond quickly to future humanitarian disasters and international crises.”
The warehouses of military equipment and other facilities would support “high-tempo expeditionary operations in places such as Afghanistan, the Middle East, Haiti, Africa and most recently in protecting civilian life in Libya.”
However, he added, “this government and the Canadian Forces have no intention of creating permanent large bases in overseas locations.”
According to Canadian media, Ottawa has reached agreements to open new bases in Germany and Jamaica, and is negotiating with Kuwait for another in that country.
As well, the Canadian Forces are reportedly eyeing a presence in Senegal, South Korea, Kenya and Singapore.
Canada currently uses several of its allies’ bases around the world to support its military deployments, including a US base in Germany and a British base in Cyprus as a place to decompress after serving on the front line in Afghanistan and before returning home.
In October, Canada was forced to close a top-secret military base in Dubai that was part of a key supply route to Afghanistan after refusing to grant the UAE’s two national carriers, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways, more landing rights.
During the Cold War, Canada also maintained two bases in Germany but closed them in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Canada currently has troops supporting UN missions in Haiti, Sierra Leone, Darfur and southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sinai peninsula, Cyprus and Kosovo.
Canadian fighter jets are also taking part in the NATO mission in Libya, and Ottawa plans to send 950 military trainers to Afghanistan to coach Afghans after its 2,800 combat troops withdraw from the war-torn country in July.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved
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Growing our military niche baffling
At least that’s what Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s office has been trying to do, after French language newspaper Le Devoir reported earlier this month that the Canadian government had completed agreements for new foreign military bases in Jamaica and Germany, and was closing another deal with Kuwait.
Why this sudden military (and budgetary) expansion for a middle power with a war-weary population that traditionally associates its foreign role with peacekeeping and diplomacy? MacKay calls this “prudent planning.”
“The focus of the planning, let’s be clear, is our capability for expeditionary participation in international missions,” he said.
“We are big players in NATO. We’re a country that has become a go-to nation in response to situations like what we’re seeing in Libya, what we saw in Haiti. . . .”
That was a good and honest answer, but in a sign of just how uncomfortable the minister was taking questions on Canada’s expanding foreign military engagement, he fell back on jargon explaining the foreign bases in a manner that no layman could understand.
“We are constantly working within that paradigm of countries, to see where we can bring that niche capability to bear. It’s part of planning and preparation, in conjunction with our equipment needs.”
What “paradigm of countries” is MacKay talking about? Le Devoir reported that Canada is also in negotiations with Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, Singapore and South Korea. To further the confusion, while MacKay confirmed that Canada is looking at setting up bases around the world to better position the military to participate in international missions, a day later, his spokesman said that while “prudent planning is necessary to ensure that future expeditionary operations are fully supported,” Canada has “no intention of creating permanent large bases in overseas locations.”
Would non-permanent large bases in overseas locations be acceptable?
Perhaps permanent bases that are small?
When considering the possibilities, I could not help but think of veteran journalist Tom Engelhardt, who continues to delight in the linguistic charm of what the Bush administration once called “enduring camps,” which is perfectly flaccid Pentagonese for something deeply unpopular even in the United States, mainly, permanent large bases in overseas locations such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
With Canada’s most prominent and most expensive military engagement set to draw down this summer with the end of our combat mission in Afghanistan, and with the government promising tough action to balance the budget, overseas bases seem like a dubious investment, unless Canada plans to bring our “niche capability to bear” a lot more often across the world.
Perhaps this is what MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have in store, but according to a February 2011 Angus Reid poll, Canada is a war-weary nation. That poll had Canadians opposing the war in Afghanistan by a 2-to-1 margin, with support hitting an all-time low of 32 per cent with 63 per cent of Canadians against.
Meanwhile, Canada’s engagement in Libya -which has cost $26 million to date -is up for a parliamentary vote on Wednesday. When the government extends what was supposed to be a short mission, the costs will rise to an estimated $60 million by the end of September, and perhaps the Canadian public will begin to pay attention.
Or perhaps not. Perhaps Canadians are satisfied with our foreign and defence policy being conducted behind closed doors with only an occasional press report about something as significant as overseas military bases disturbing the proverbial peace. This state of affairs probably suits our secretive government just fine, and it is a good bet that our military allies south of the border are fairly enthusiastic about having a junior partner with its own “enduring camps” across the globe.
But what does this mean for Canadian troops? What does it mean for our budget? Actually, it’s pretty simple -overseas military bases make overseas military engagements easier for our governments to commit to.
After all, we are big players in NATO, a go-to nation, always ready to bring our “niche capability to bear.”
Kris Kotarski’s column appears every second Monday.
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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183110.html
Canada’s Minister of Defense Peter MacKay said on Friday that the main goal will be supporting the humanitarian and combat missions abroad, AFP reported.
The Canadian media said Ottawa has so far reached agreements to open new bases in Germany and Jamaica, and is negotiating with Kuwait. Other targeted countries include Senegal, South Korea, Kenya, and Singapore.
David Bercuson, a senior research fellow with the Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute, said the Canadian facilities are more likely to be “small storage facilities” comprising an airfield, a warehouse and two or three soldiers.
“They will be what you would call ‘forward supply depots,’ strategically placed near parts of the world where Canadian Forces might be deployed in future,” he further explained.
Canada was forced in October 2010 to close a top-secret military base in Dubai that was part of a key supply route to Afghanistan after refusing to grant the UAE’s two national carriers, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways, more landing rights.
During the Cold War, Canada also maintained two bases in Germany but closed them in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
JM/AGB/AKM/HRF
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From RABBLE.CA
Expanding foreign military bases serves Harper’s war agenda
By Derrick O’Keefe | June 8, 2011
The aggressive militarism of this government is central to its long-term political project for transforming this country — that’s why it’s imperative that all those fighting against Harper’s domestic agenda also oppose his government’s foreign policy.
Any day now, the Conservatives will put an extension of the war in Libya through the new Parliament. There was scarcely any debate or discussion of Canada’s role in NATO’s intervention in Libya during the recent election campaign, despite the fact that Libya is the biggest air operation by Canadian Forces since the Kosovo War over a decade ago.
Canadian fighter jets have flown more than 400 sorties over Libya thus far, and NATO’s air campaign is intensifying. The Canadian planes have been operating from a NATO base in Italy. To fight wars from the air, you need to have the use of foreign bases.
Last week, Le Devoir broke the news that the Canadian government had completed agreements for new foreign bases in Jamaica and Germany, with talks ongoing to establish bases in Kuwait, Tanzania and several other countries.
Late last week, Minister MacKay denied that Canada had any plans for “large military bases” abroad. This is an attempt to divert opposition to foreign Canadian bases through semantics: whether large or small, expanding the number of bases abroad will expand the ability of Canada under the Harper government to take part in more wars and military interventions.
In response to this news, the Canadian Peace Alliance has released the following statement.
The Canadian Peace Alliance condemns the plans of the Harper government to establish new foreign military bases for Canada. This is a policy that has been in the works for some time but, like so much else about Canada’s foreign policy, it was completely excluded from the discussion during the recent federal election.
The idea of expanding foreign military bases for Canada goes against the wishes of the vast majority of Canadians. With the Harper government set to make a series of cuts to public services and spending generally, one of the few areas where they seem intent on spending even more is on war and militarism.
Last week, Peter MacKay admitted that Canada had already made agreements for bases in Germany and Jamaica, and were in talks with Kuwait and a number of other countries. MacKay stated that the focus was on increasing the Canadian military’s “capability for expeditionary participation in international missions.” MacKay noted that Canada has already “become a go-to nation in response to situations” like Libya and Haiti.
The new overseas bases are designed to increase Canada’s ability to play leading roles in future military interventions. Taken together with the Harper government’s policy of acquiring costly new F-35 fighter jets, and an ongoing policy of expanding Canadian Special Forces, this policy of expanding overseas operation bases is lock-step with its exporting of militarism rather than human rights and aid.
It was Canadian Special Forces, the secretive Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2), who participated in the 2004 coup against the elected government of Haiti, securing the airport in Port-au-Prince from which President Aristide was taken out of the country by U.S. Forces. The war in Afghanistan is also increasingly being fought with Special Forces.
The announcement about new foreign bases came at the same time as a request to keep Canadian Forces on the ground in Richelieu, Quebec to help with flood relief was being ignored. The Harper government continues to encourage costly and unnecessary deployments of the Forces abroad, while showing little interest in using its resources at home for disaster relief.
Foreign bases have nothing to do with Canadian security, and everything to do with the Harper government’s desire to be able to participate in future military aggressions like the ones ongoing in Afghanistan and Libya.