Is Canada Far Away From Becoming the World Police?

Recently, Canada's Defense Minister, Peter MacKay, announced that peace in Libya won't come while Qaddafi is in power. Then  NDP's Foreign Affairs critic clarified the UN's position by emphasizing that it is not looking for a regime change but rather they hope that Mo mar Qaddafi will just stop trying to subdue Libyan dissidents through force and do it through negotiations. Anybody who has seen Qaddafi at work over the past 20 years or so knows that won't happen. The UN can try this diplomatically, but in the end nothing short of complete regime change and military vanquishment is the only way to help Libyans.

This is a new role for Canada. Never in her history has she been involved in regime change while her closest ally, the US,  stays out of it. The US did not fair well with it's last effort in Iraq, not quite getting the results everyone had hoped for. In all likelihood,  Canada and it's UN partners in this will not do any better. Libya has links with terrorist groups that will, no doubt, come out of hiding if they think they can capitalize on the situation. In any case, Qaddafi's army probably won't have trouble procuring arms and munitions. Canada has committed to 3 more months of military support to help protect Libyan civilians from Qaddafi's forces. 200 more rockets have been ordered at $100,000 a pop to support the airstrikes. This is starting to look like a slippery slope. While most reasonable people would support ousting this madman, you can't ignore history. Without exception, every foreign invasion going back to the Romans , while starting out hopeful, eventually fails miserably. The initial goals are never reached, and the people who the invaders are supposed to be helping eventually get tired of being occupied and turn against them; once the old regime is eliminated, the power vacuum is quickly filled by a group that wants the occupying force to leave.

So, the question is will Canada learn from others' past mistakes and not overstay her welcome. Let us hope so. Though I am sympathetic to the Libyan's cause, I feel the only true freedom is gained from an internal struggle. This means more casualties, but it also means that once the revolution is won the people will be in control of their country, not a foreign power.

Disaster Or Opportunity?

Article first published as Disaster Or Opportunity? on Technorati.

When a violent oceanic earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami hit the north-east coast of Japan

earlier this year it was no doubt a reminder to the Japanese people of just how vulnerable they are. While earthquakes aren't new there, this one seemed to do more damage than most of the previous quakes in recent history. But the Japanese people are resilient and adaptable. It's not the first time they've had to deal with a devastating natural disaster and perhaps no event compares to the devastation of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. Just like then, now the Japanese people will work together to help in the recovery process. Some estimate the recovery time may be a decade.

It has been speculated that Japan will be the first nation, either alone or jointly with the European Space Agency(ESA), to establish a mining colony on the moon. This latest disaster may be just the impetus for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA to start pouring more money into such programs as moon colonization. Currently funded at just under $2.5 billion annually, this amount may grow considerably over the next several years.

Ever since WW2 Japan has become a major manufacturing force in the world. It is ranked third in the world, but the two things that it lacks are space(no pun intended) and raw materials. So Japan had been expanding it's manufacturing capability by setting up factories throughout Asia, and South America. But it still relies on raw materials from other countries; and while relations between Japan and the rest of Asia and America are civil at the moment, that may change.

Mining the moon potentially provides all the materials needed to manufacture space technology in space. Recently JAXA has taken part in experiments on the International Space Station(ISS), and are testing their own launch vehicles. They are also developing transfer vehicles with the ambition to become a key transporter of supplies to the ISS. To continue to be a major economy in the world it has to expand, and space is the next logical step. However, there is another reason why Japan needs to look heavenward. Keeping some of her assets off-world is good insurance in case Japan's homeland is struck by disaster..again.

While the recent economic recession had hit the US and Europe the hardest, Japan's economy, the March disaster aside, has been relatively stable. Perhaps this may be a good time to seize the opportunity their economic lead has provided and start looking toward the skies while recovery continues.