Canada doing a lot of good by being in NATO
Dear Editor:
Mark Haley is grasping at straws in his letter that claimed “formation of NATO as a regional military alliance violated the newly minted United Nations Charter.” (Ask Libyans or Afghans how NATO helps, July 3.)
Haley then fails to address which violations actually take place.
Canada maintains strong contributions to NATO in Eastern and Central Europe, with operations in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Caribbean.
The Canadian Armed Forces primary objectives are to ensure peace and stability in the region, building economic ties, provide training components, and to help train those local forces to confront mounting security threats.
The bilingual nature of the CAF also makes our troops effective in both East and West Africa.
Such commitments are a mirror image to that of the United Nations principles, including the maintenance of international peace and security, to develop positive relations and “encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms.”
NATO delegations operate as a consensus of 29 independent countries (including Canada) whose primary foreign and defence policy objectives are based on sovereign equality that promotes democratic values and is committed to peaceful resolutions.
Canada has been, and always will be known as a peacekeeping nation. However, that does not mean we will lie down our weapons while prolonged wars that include mass murder, rape, genocide, chemical warfare, religious prosecution and extreme terrorism reign in other parts of the world while thousands of innocents die horrendously.
NATO was founded to defend those who needed protection from communist Russia back in the mid 1950s. Whether Haley likes it or not, NATO is an alliance “fighting for the common good,” consisting of notable countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands — countries in which Haley makes references to their “military-industrial complexes and chauvinistic nationalism.”
It is quite clear Haley doesn’t comprehend the economical, and operational procurement of Canada alighting itself with like-minded countries. As the realm of international law expands, NATO increasingly expands in a much needed role of peacekeeping and crisis management.
Raymond Theriault, Kelowna