10 November 2010, 1841 EST
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| First they came for the icebergs… |
So let me get this straight – Canada is going to close down 1/5 of its African embassies, but we’re worried about terrorism in the Arctic where terrorists might attack our…. igloos? Frozen piles of rocks? Radicalize our polar bears?
Really, I’m all for patrolling the place but I can’t think that Tuktoyaktuk is really that high on the al Qaida radar.
Rather, I’m pretty sure that this is the reason why we as a nation can’t have nice things.
Stephanie Carvin is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Her research interests are in the area of international law, security, terrorism and technology. Currently, she is teaching in the areas of critical infrastructure protection, technology and warfare and foreign policy.
Stephanie holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and published her thesis as Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo (Columbia/Hurst, 2010). Her most recent book is Science, Law, Liberalism and the American Way of Warfare: The Quest for Humanity in Conflict” (Cambridge, 2015) co-authored with Michael J. Williams. In 2009 Carvin was a Visiting Scholar at George Washington University Law School and worked as a consultant to the US Department of Defense Law of War Working Group. From 2012-2015, she was an analyst with the Government of Canada focusing on national security issues.
Stacie Goddard
The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.
Perhaps with the advent of the U.S. Africa Command the embassy closures simply represent yet another opportunity for Canada to free-ride on the benefits of American hegemony. With U.S. military forces now shouldering a greater share of stability efforts in Africa there's less need for the Canadian Foreign Services to foster conditions favorable to Canadian mining operations across Africa. Canadian tax payers now get to pay less for “soft power” because American tax payers are paying more for “hard power.”
Thus, Canadian efforts can be shifted to the Arctic where the stability needs of resource extraction won't be shouldered by the U.S. without a _quid_pro_quo_ on the Northwest Passage.