Posturing Versus Posturing

We must remain vigilant. Yes, we most certainly must do so. All the more so that the Arctic is opening up to shipping transit, presumably soon to be year 'round. And Norway, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the U.S. and Canada are all in the competition to be vigilant, claiming sea-transit rights and routes.

We're ferociously protective of what has always been considered 'Canadian' territory, and much of the irritation Canada experiences comes from disagreements with Denmark and the United States, although Russia is right up there with its claims contesting ours.

The region is a shared responsibility, beyond what is normally considered to be national boundaries. And everyone wants a share of the wealth of natural resources in ores and fossil fuels just waiting to be exploited. And some countries can hardly wait to do an end-run around the claims of the others.

And that, folks, calls for vigilance, to ensure that what is Canada's remains Canada's. Tell that to the United States.

The Government of Canada cannot possibly point to our great good neighbour to the south as the villain in the piece, but it can point to Russia which has gone out of its way in the recent past to post "Property of Russia" where no submersible has gone before.

So our prime minister, rugged soul he, visits our Arctic yet again, alongside the country's chief of Defence. Canada is rigging up its military in grand style. Costly expenditures for state-of-the-art military equipment and aircraft with multiple-billions in hardware and maintenance. Well, so, time it was done, right?

But the howls of outrage from the opposition, primed and ready to screech at any and every initiative undertaken by this government pries reason loose from reality. Still, the antics of the federal government in clumsily painting Russia as an imminent threat to Canadian security rings clangingly false.

The Cold War is over, kaput. We have warm relations with Russia, now. Well, warm is getting a little over-enthusiastic, tepid perhaps.

When the prime minister primes the pump of belligerent rhetoric by absurd declarations like "Thanks to the rapid response of the Canadian Forces, at no time did the Russian aircraft enter Canadian sovereign airspace", we should feel fairly affronted at the lack of respect of the collective intelligence of the Canadian public.

Routine Russian overflights are a reality. All countries engage in these sorties. Canada versus Russia, there is no contest; both countries have the potential to be useful to each other.

While there is good reason to remain suspicious of Russian mischief-making in other parts of the world, and to look askance at them at the very least; with respect to arming countries like Syria and Iran for example (and by extension proxies Hamas and Hezbollah), it's useful to remember that the U.S. has done the same, arming Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Still, it's encouraging that Prime Minister Harper remains in firm control of his station in life, the trust in which he is held by many Canadians, and his fairly steady and responsible bearings to date. Canadians would do a bewildered double-take and more or less lose their faith in the mental balance of the prime minister were he to entertain us with the exploits that Vladimir Putin has engaged in, in his "strong man" exhibitionism.

Confronting wild beasts fearlessly, riding horse bare-chested in the wild background of remote Russian geographies, grappling with (drugged) grizzlies, coasting the unruly waters off Russia's Pacific coast in a mini-gale for the exhilaration of spearing whales for scientific experimental purposes. Gloating over his physical prowess, shoots of his jiu jitsu credentials.

Our own chief parliamentarian has no need to exploit his thespian and over-testosteroned masculine attributes. He knows better; we'd split our sides guffawing.