Canada’s Military in the 21st Century
Having finished a slew of audio books, I returned to some podcasts I’ve been neglecting. One is the Best of Ideas, a fantastic CBC show. I listened to a fascinating discussion (MP3, 12 MB, 53:00) about the present and future of Canada’s military. They discuss how the military can transform itself to remain relevant both domestically and in international operations. All three speakers are extremely articulate.
In particular, the opening section discusses the reality of Canada’s modern military, which is far from the blue-bereted peacekeeper we’ve come to associate with it.
I didn’t necessarily agree with all of the proposals put forth–there’s some scary talk of disconnecting the military from parliamentary oversight–but it proved an enlightening and informative show. If you don’t want to take on the whole thing, here’s the three-minute conclusion, which was pretty thought-provoking.
On a related point, I find the current discussions about committing an international peacekeeping force to Lebanon pretty repulsive. We’vee got a conflict where a few hundred people have died, and already the international community is kicking around the idea of sending in troops.
Meanwhile, in places like the Congo and Rwanda and the Sudan, literally millions of people have been killed, and the West is reluctant to send in more than a platoon to evacuate their citizens.
Steve 
darren 
Mark