Flight of the dodo

In a number of recent blog posts I've mentioned the ludicrous military bluster that the Harper government up in Ottawa seems to have adopted in lieu of a foreign policy. Blinded by its pro-Israel bias, Harper's gang has taken a much harder line on the possibility of rapprochement with Iran than any of the countries that are actually involved in dealing with Tehran. And fixated on the votes of the million-and-a-half Canadians who claim Ukrainian descent, the Canadian government has been stamping its little foot on the sidelines of the crisis in the Donbass region, imposing sanctions on all and sundry and calling Vladimir Putin names.

To back up all this loud talk, Canada carries a remarkably small stick.  Seventy-five soldiers have been posted to Poland. (Seventy-five?  Is that even a platoon?). A couple of patched-up, thirty year old fighter jets have been sent to join NATO patrols over the Baltic. And now it seems that eighty Canadian air force personnel are being deployed to Romania.

But, as we learn today, they might not actually be Canadian. For reasons that are not exactly clear (saving money? Lack of suitable candidates?), the Canadian air force has been hiring significant numbers of foreign flyers. The initial spin on the story was that these skilled pilots would be training Canadians to do the job, but it appears that they are in fact carrying out frontline missions themselves.

I have no time for mindless militarism under any circumstances, but if a government is intent on talking that particular talk, you'd think it would first make sure that it's in a position to walk the walk as well.