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© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Canada excluded from anti-Islamic State coalition meeting
By ROB GILLIES TORONTO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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smithinjapan
No loss to Canada. This silly snub just makes the very real removal of the fighter jets that much more assured. But this kind of childish behaviour is why we're in this particular mess.
SuperLib
Why remove the planes?
lostrune2
If Canada is gonna withdraw their jets regardless, what's the use of being in a meeting about future plans anyways?
ISIS just lost Ramadi; they already lost Sinjar, Tikrit, and Kobani. Mosul is next, then Raqa.
If Canada isn't gonna be there for Mosul, then why would it matter if Canada is in the meeting. It wouldn't matter one way or another if Canada is in the meeting or not.
smithinjapan
Lostrune: if they're meeting to already start division ding up the spoils again, then, fine, no, there's no reason in Canada being there. But otherwise why would you not want an additional point of view and input?
nath
Yeah, a country that may speak what they think, rather than what they think the others want to hear, would just get in the way.
Wakayama Mama
Yes! If Canada really wants to fight IS, they should instead associate themselves with the Russians.
lostrune2
More POVs would help, though........... (as explained below)
It's a strategy meeting of defense ministers, not a general policy meeting of heads of state. That's why only 6 other countries with forces are meeting.
Canada doesn't want fighting forces in the Middle East at all, so they won't be fighting with the Russians neither. Canada is still fighting ISIS in other non-military ways.
WilliB
Indeed! I also notice the absence of any Turkish representation at this meeting. So why are these Europeans discussing more meddling in the Middle East without any input from the local players, instead of protecting their own borders?
Serrano
"Ministers from the Netherlands, France, Australia, Germany, Italy and Britain will take part in the talks on Wednesday."
What about Russia and China?
"Canada is smart not to associate themselves with this coalition of the inept, incompetent and impotent"
Oh, well then just let ISIS run amok, lol.
TrevorPeace
As a Canadian, I couldn't give a rat's a** about the Middle East. The current situation goes back to post-WW1 and European nations (and subsequently the USA) divvying up the landscape and its cultures. Build a bomb, it blows up. Getting our forces out of there is a no-brainer.
kchoze
Shias and Sunnis have been killing each other for centuries, long before the very short 30-year window where the Middle-East became for a short while protectorates of Europe following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Islam has been used as a rational for war for even longer, here is what Thomas Jefferson reported the Barbary State ambassador replied to him when he asked him why pirates from his country attacked other nations who had one them no harm:
"The Ambassador [of Tripoli] answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise"
Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire was no stranger to civil war or sectarian warfare. In 1860, Muslims slaughtered nearly 20 000 Christians in Lebanon. Let's also not forget the world's first modern genocide done by the Turks against the Armenians.
The blame for this powder keg, I think, should be on the Ottoman Millet system. Under that system, religious communities could govern themselves by their own religious laws, as long as they remained submissive to the Islamic Caliphate that ruled them. This prevented the people of the Empire to identify with a civic, national identity and encouraged religious segregation and the foundation of people's identity on their religion. So, in essence, multiculturalism is to blame. What they would need is nationalism, the establishment of a shared civic national identity for all citizens, the basic cornerstone of all peaceful democratic nations.
Europe and the US are not blameless, but denying the internal causes for these conflicts is actually racist because you are denying that the people living in the area have agency and wills of their own, you are presuming that only the West acts, and everyone else just reacts.
Black Sabbath
Out of curiosity: what is the most recent war you supported or would have supported?
kcjapan
"The Canadian jets continue to participate in air strikes, and it is unclear when Canada will remove the planes."
"Australia has six jet fighters and has soldiers in non-combat roles in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. It has declined a U.S. request to do more. The Netherlands has four fighter jets in the mission while Germany is not involved in air strikes."
So, the occupation isn't going great. Playing politics with world terror threats seems the only idea that has an unlimited shelf life.
Black Sabbath
You're avoiding the question.