A LAV III participates in a NATO training mission. Photo courtesy the 32nd Canadian Brigade Group/Flickr. Recently released data quantifying Canada’s 2021 exports of military goods mark the continuation of a disturbing trend in the Trudeau government: the consistent growth of arms sales, including to some of the most repressive
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Schalk
Canadian Dimension: Nicolás Maduro’s Eurasian tour is a victory lap for the Bolivarian Revolution
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro delivers a press conference, June 14, 2022. Photo from Twitter. Since June 7, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been engaged in a so-called “Eurasian Tour” aimed at reaffirming and expanding Venezuelan cooperation with numerous states in North Africa, West Asia, and likely beyond. He has already
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The war in Ukraine has Canadian mining companies looking to Africa
Phosphate mining in Togo. Photo by Alexandra Pugachevsky/Wikimedia Commons. The invasion of Ukraine and the resultant Western sanctions against Russia have wrought far-reaching consequences on global commodity flows. These impacts are evident in a number of global shortages, such as the lack of cooking oil in Indonesia and the paucity
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada votes against health care for Palestinians at the World Health Assembly
World Health Organization headquarters, Geneva. Photo by Yann Forget/Wikimedia Commons. On May 25, 2022, the World Health Assembly held a vote regarding the dire health conditions in occupied Palestine. The WHA report on which representatives voted called on the Israeli state to end its open and systemic denial of health
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canadian mining and the tragedy in Burkina Faso
After the deaths of eight miners at Burkina Faso’s Perkoa zinc mine, owned by the Vancouver-based Trevali Mining Corporation, watchdogs have accused Canadian mining firms of acting with impunity abroad. Photo courtesy Al Jazeera. On April 16, a torrential downpour flooded the Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso, 120 kilometres
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Solidarity with Cuba cannot be blockaded
A balcony in Old Havana. Photo by Ramon Rosati/Flickr. At the 2022 International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, President Miguel Díaz-Canel offered a galvanizing statement to visiting delegates: “Solidarity cannot be blockaded.” If one statement could encapsulate the diverse, moving, sometimes heartbreaking but always inspiring experience of participating in the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Caroline Elkins explores the ruthless violence and ideology of the British Empire
“The Battle of Isandlwana” by Charles Edwin Fripp (1854–1906), depicting one of the worst disasters suffered by the British Army in the late nineteenth century. Image from Wikimedia Commons. Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire Caroline Elkins Penguin Random House, 2022 “What is imperialism but a political
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada needs to acknowledge its violent history in Korea
Still image from the film Korea Brigade, produced by Canada’s Department of National Defence in 1951. Directed by Sergeant L. Stephens. Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada. In a statement issued on July 27, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed the importance of Canada’s contribution to the Korean War, a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada and the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah
Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah. Image from the cover of Kwame Nkrumah and the Dream of African Unity by Lansiné Kaba (Diasporic Africa Press, 2017). On April 27, 1972, former Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah died in Bucharest, Romania, at the age of 62. Just five years earlier, elements of Ghana’s military
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Why Canada’s double standards on Russia-Ukraine matter
Criticism of Russia’s militaristic actions rings totally hollow when one simultaneously ignores or celebrates the militarism of Canada and its allies, writes Owen Schalk. Image by Ahmed Jahaf/@A7medJa7af. Supposed anti-war sentiments lose all credibility when the person espousing them ignores or celebrates military violence that is initiated by members of
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Children are bearing the brunt of Putin’s war
A woman with a child evacuates from a residential building damaged by shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 16, 2022. Photo courtesy the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Who does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine benefit? According to Vladimir Putin, it will benefit the Ukrainians, particularly the Russian-speaking population in the country’s
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: First Nations in northern Ontario and Mexico struggle against gold mining giants
The Lac Des Iles mine, an open-pit and underground operation located almost 100 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Photo courtesy of North American Palladium. Although Canada hosts the world’s largest transnational mining industry and spends more on mineral exploration than any country in the world, there remain mineral-rich regions
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Biden’s sanctions against Afghanistan are starving millions
An Afghan girl in Balish Kalay Village, Urgun District, Afghanistan, March 27, 2011. Photo from Flickr. After the Biden administration withdrew US ground forces from Afghanistan, paving the way for the Taliban’s lightning sprint to Kabul, the country gradually disappeared from media headlines. The humiliating spectacle of a two-decade occupation
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Debunking the myth of Canada’s non-involvement in the Iraq war
A damaged billboard of Saddam Hussein along a roadside as Coalition forces conduct operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 2003. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Jones/Wikimedia Commons. On March 19, 2003, the George W. Bush administration launched air attacks against the nation of Iraq, supposedly
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Sanctions against Russia are hurting ordinary people in Central Asia
The financial war against the Russian economy has already had wide-ranging effects on ordinary people inside and outside of the country. Photo from iStock. While the Russian and Ukrainian economies only account for about two percent of global GDP, the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been earth-shaking.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: No, opposing pipelines does not make you a Putin stooge
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney attends a rally in Edmonton in support of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. Photo courtesy Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council. The second Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, it became obvious that there would be an enormous backlash against Russian-made products and Russian-owned companies operating
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada is facing a dangerous food insecurity crisis
More than four million Canadians are currently grappling with food insecurity. Image by rasslava/iStock. In January 2020, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) published the horrifying results of a survey of Canada’s nationwide hunger crisis. While official data shows that four million people in Canada “struggle to get enough to
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Saudi Arabia is escalating its attacks on Yemen, and Canada is helping them do it
Aerial bombing of Sanaa, Yemen, by the Saudi-led coalition, March 2016. Photo by Fahd Sadi/Wikimedia Commons. In the past few days, Saudi-led coalition forces have intensified their bombardment of the besieged population of Yemen. Casualty figures are difficult to verify. On January 23 the health ministry of the al-Ansar (or
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: ‘Twin Peaks’ and the end of history
Kyle MacLachlan plays FBI Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks: The Return. Photo courtesy Showtime. Oh now it’s gone, gone And I am who I am Who I was, I’ll never have the chance Running out of sand —Eddie Vedder, “Out of Sand” The original Twin Peaks, a mystery-horror television
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Understanding Canadian imperialism
Canadian postage stamp celebrating the vastness of the British empire, December 25, 1898. Imperialism is not only instantiated in military force and unilateral sanctions deployed to influence the sovereign political and economic affairs of a state for the benefit of an external one (usually the United States). Imperialism, far from
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