Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from April 1995

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from April 1995

"Ready, aye, ready."(need for a volunteer multinational military force under United Nations command)(Editorial)
April 1, 1995... Their ranks get thinner each year. The dwindling numbers gather every November 11 to honour fallen comrades. Grey-haired and a little stooped, they huddle around war memorials across the country and shed tears of remembrance. Soon they'll all be...

The warrior culture. (social and economic factors that cause war)(War - Causes)
April 1, 1995... Warfare is not an invention of modern humans. In fact, violent clashes between groups probably pre-dates Homo Sapiens. The chimpanzees that Jane Goodall has studied for years in East Africa may have given us a glimpse into the lives of our...

Noble Canadians. (Canada's role in international conflicts)(War - Causes)
April 1, 1995... A long with New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, India, and others, Canada fought in someone else's wars for the abstract notions of justice and freedom. This was true in two World Wars and the Korean War. Canada was not threatened with invasion...

At the personal level. (why people fight wars)(War - Causes)
April 1, 1995... Honour, glory, revenge -- these are what drove the ancient warrior cultures. Among the Masai of East Africa, North American Plains Indians, and scores of other groups, a man could not marry until he had proved his worth by killing someone in...

Post whose war? (160 wars fought since the end of World War II)(War - Causes)
April 1, 1995... We usually refer to the period since the end of World War II as the post-war era. However, since 1945 some 160 wars and civil conflicts have erupted. During the "post-war" period, about 7.2 million soldiers and between 33 and 40 million civilians...

Making peace.(War - Alternatives)
April 1, 1995... Winston Churchill, Britain's leader during World War II, summed it up: "Jaw, jaw, jaw," he said, "is better than war, war, war." Call it what you will -- diplomacy, negotiations -- but, in the end, the only workable alternative to fighting is...

War games. (rulers in 15th century Italy hired mercenary armies)(War - Alternatives)
April 1, 1995... Sometimes, combatants will stage a limited war. Perhaps, the ultimate examples of this took place in 15th century Italy. At the time, Italy was divided into a large number of city states and conflict among them was quite common. The wealthy...

Closing the gap. (Canada 21 Council report supports ending disparities between industrial and developing countries)(War - Alternatives)
April 1, 1995... The Canada 21 Council is a group of Canadian academics and public servants. In 1994, the group issued a report Canada and Common Security in the 21st Century, in which it said: "In a world where frontiers are ever more transparent, we are...

Global bomb bazaar.(War - Nuclear Weapons)
April 1, 1995... The Cold War is at an end. The arms race is winding down. And, there's a lot of plutonium, the highly toxic stuff that nuclear weapons are made of, looking for new homes. According to U.S. officials, at least 50 tonnes of plutonium will come from...

Having a blast. (expert opinion on how easy it would be to build a nuclear bomb)(War - Nuclear Weapons)
April 1, 1995... A dozen clicks on the Internet and anyone can find instructions on how to make a nuclear bomb. Or, a trip to your local library to check out the encyclopedia will do it too. Some say between two and 12 skilled workers could create a nuclear bomb...

Grams of destruction. (small amount of plutonium is highly toxic)(War - Nuclear Weapons)
April 1, 1995... According to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, terrorists with state-of-the-art equipment would need at least eight kilos of plutonium to make a nuclear bomb. But a tiny amount can do enormous damage. Only a few hundred grams...

Empty promises? (progress in nuclear nonproliferation)(War - Nuclear Weapons)
April 1, 1995... The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty came into force in 1970. Under it, the five major nuclear-weapons power agreed to provide technology for peaceful nuclear research and power plants as long as recipients promised not to use it to make weapons....

The chemistry of war.(War - Chemical and Biological Weapons)
April 1, 1995... It's easy to find the raw materials for making chemical weapons, and they're cheap, which makes them a logical choice for poor as well as rich countries Chemical weapons have been maiming, disfiguring, and suffocating their victims since World...

Invisible foot soldiers. (dangers of biological weapons)(War - Chemical and Biological Weapons)
April 1, 1995... Biological warfare, the use of agents such as bacteria and viruses, is also covered by international law. While chemical weapons are seen as the equivalent of nuclear bombs for poor countries, biological weapons are described as the foot soldiers...

Superbugs. (biological weapons of mass destruction)(War - Chemical and Biological Weapons)
April 1, 1995... In 1994, The Sunday Times of London reported that the Russian military is secretly developing biological weapons of mass destruction, including a "super-plague" for which the West has no antidote. Only 200 kilos if the powerful plague sprayed...

Market expansion.(War - Arms Trade)
April 1, 1995... Weapons are big business. Many poor countries spend huge sums on arms. Rich countries are happy to take their money, arguing that if they don't someone else will. The 1994 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development...

Setting priorities. (poor countries need to spend less on weapons)(War - Arms Trade)
April 1, 1995... An article in The Economist looked at Third World arms spending. For the amount that Nigeria, run by a military regime, spent on 80 British battle tanks in 1992, it could have vaccinated all of its two million unimmunized children and provided 17...

It just goes on killing and killing and killing.... (land mines)(War - Arms Trade)
April 1, 1995... There are thought to be 85 million mines strewn about the world in 62 countries. Afghanistan, where an estimated 10 million are lying around waiting to do their grisly work, has been described as one enormous minefield. The design of the mines is...

Unforgettable memories. (Canadian veterans criticize management of D-Day ceremonies)(War - Remembrance)
April 1, 1995... Traditionally, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month people across the country take two minutes of silence to remember those who died in the two world wars. But, what we remember depends on who we are. Those who are under 50 and have...

Rethinking tradition. (Susan Eisenhower criticizes D-Day anniversary celebrations)(War - Remembrance)
April 1, 1995... Susan Eisenhower is the granddaughter of U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower, the man who led the Allied forces to victory in World War II. In an article in The Washington Postf, she wrote that the 1994 D-Day celebrations seemed "not only outdated but...

More bitter memories. (lack of official appreciation for Canadian Natives who served in World War II)(War - Remembrance)
April 1, 1995... If Canadian war veterans as a whole have taken second place to politicians, the role that Native People have played in defending Canada is an even more deeply buried memory. Several thousand Native men enlisted for service overseas in both world...

National memory lapse. (many Japanese refuse to admit responsibility for misdeeds in World War II)(War - Japan)
April 1, 1995... The historical record is clear. Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen broke just about every rule of civilized behaviour during their occupation of much of east and southeast Asia. From 1931 to 1945, Japan was the brutal overlord of an area...

What's in a letter? (Australia changes Victory Over Japan Day to Victory in the Pacific Day)(War - Japan)
April 1, 1995... For 49 years Australians among others have celebrated 15 August as VJ Day. It stands for Victory over Japan Day and marks the end of World War II. Perhaps wary of offending its most important trading partner, the Australian government has...

Crimes against humanity.(War - War Crimes)
April 1, 1995... Contradiction seems the best word to describe everything surrounding war crimes. Governments go to enormous trouble and expense training people to fight and kill. The their soldiers they mustn't use certain methods, even though these might...

Too little, too late. (Canada acts slowly on accused war criminals)(War - War Crimes)
April 1, 1995... In 1987, Parliament passed a law that permits the government to try suspected war criminals in Canadian courts. But, by 1995, no convictions had been registered, and Ottawa had embarked on a new strategy. The government has decided to try to...

Telling it like it isn't.(War - Propaganda)
April 1, 1995... The philosopher Bertrand Russell said during World War I that "allegiance to country has swept away allegiance to truth." George Bernard Shaw advised soldiers at the front on both sides to shoot their officers and go home. Meanwhile,...

One journalist's lament. (government control of media coverage of the Persian Gulf War)(reprinted from Harper's magazine)(War - Propaganda)
April 1, 1995... "The Pentagon's invitation (to the media to cover the short-lived Persian Gulf War in 1991) carried with it a number of conditions -- no reporters allowed on the battlefield except under strict supervision, and then only in small task forces...

The next wars.(War - The Future)
April 1, 1995... The rich nations of the world spend vast sums of money on think tanks whose job it is to predict the future. The idea is that, with advance warning, governments can take action to make the most of good things and head off the nasty stuff. The...

Rules of war. (Geneva Conventions)(War - The Future)
April 1, 1995... For what they're worth, which isn't a lot, there are rules which govern the way in which wars are supposed to be fought. Bundled together as the Geneva Conventions, these rules are recognized by many nations, Canada included, as binding...

Guns not butter. (countries with highest ratios of military spending to social spending)(War - The Future)
April 1, 1995... The United Nations says that a warning sign that a county may be on the road to disaster is when it spends much more on its military than it does on education and health. Here, according to the UN Development Program is the list of top military...

North vs South. (Count de Marenches predicts new world war between the North and the South)(War - The Future)
April 1, 1995... In The Fourth World War the former head of the French intelligence system, Count de Marenches, foresees a new world war breaking out between the North and the South. The new enemies being terrorists, drug dealers, and dictators. To protect...

The Star Warriors ride again. (Republicans in Congress push to revive Strategic Defense Initiative)(War - The Future)
April 1, 1995... Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan probably watched too many science fiction movies. He endorsed the scheme of building a space-based, invisible protective shield. The idea was that an array of high tech zappers would vapourize all incoming...

War by stealth.(War - Terrorism)
April 1, 1995... April 19, 1995, was a banner day for terrorists. * In Oklahoma City, someone left a truck loaded with 1,800 kilos of explosives outside a federal office building. The blast tore away one third of the structure and killed 200 people. * In...

Terrorism school. (Sudan is center for training terrorists)(War - Terrorism)
April 1, 1995... According to England's Sunday Telegraph, Sudan has become a major centre for training terrorists. Hidden away in remote villages are camps whose visitor list is said to read like a Who's Who of Middle East terrorism. People from groups such as...

Defending Canada. (Canada tries to support peacekeeping while cutting its defense budget)(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... The world has changed dramatically in the last few years. The Berlin Wall has come down, Germany has been reunited, and the Soviet Union has disintegrated. These events ended the Cold War and the atmosphere of continuing crisis that had shaped...

An unmilitary power.(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... Canada was born of a sense of threat. By 1865, the United States had become a major military power, having survived a bloody civil war which left it with one of the strongest armies of the time. Wary British colonials in Canada feared this...

A great power protectorate. (U.S. serves as Canadian protector)(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... The first of these defenders was, of course, Great Britain. British garrisons in Canada were permanently withdrawn by 1905. However, until the late 1930s, Britain remained the world's dominant naval power, and was committed to protecting our...

An unmilitary community.(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... The military historian Charles Stacey once described Canada as an "unmilitary community." By this he meant that Canada has never wanted a powerful military establishment. Canadians have preferred, instead, to spend their money both on consumer...

Canada's defence partnerships.(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... Of the 500,000 troops Canada contributed to the allied war effort during World War I, 60,000 never came back. In 1919, the League of Nations was organized and Canada became a founding member. World War I had ironically been called "the war to end...

The price of protection. (Canada's committment to military alliances)(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... A commitment to war has been the ultimate price that Canada has paid for its protection by great powers. But, even in peacetime, Canada supported the vital security interests of its powerful allies and has continued to do its share for the common...

Defence and the economy.(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... Keeping a defence force, with all the personnel, equipment, and military bases which that entails, is a costly operation, but there are benefits as well. By purchasing services and equipment and maintaining bases over the years, the federal...

Prospects for peacekeeping.(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... Peacekeeping traditionally involved the positioning of impartial forces between combatants. The best known, and perhaps most successful, of Canada's peacekeeping missions was the first United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Middle East....

Redefining our role. (Canada's military policy)(About Canada)
April 1, 1995... The history of Canada's defence policy is one of commitments far beyond the protection of the Canadian homeland. Our military tradition has been to support great power patrons; to defend the principle of democracy; to cultivate military...