WORLD Dion gives Putin a reward he does not deserve.
Vladimir Putin’s approach to t he Far North has been emphatically demonstrated by the planting of a Russian tricolor on the seabed at the North Pole, the construction of a network of new and refurbished military bases across Siberia, the forward basing of an army division in eastern Siberia by 2018 and the deployment of a new fleet of nuclear- powered ice breakers and quieter submarines in the Arctic.
The Trudeau government’s “rational” approach to the Top of the World is to initiate talks with the Russians next month about areas of mutual i nterest such as global warming and search and rescue.
At the Brisbane G20 summit two years ago, then prime minister Stephen Harper received kudos from Canada’s allies when he famously told Putin, “I guess I’ll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you, you need to get out of Ukraine.”
Canada now favours a much less confrontational approach, according to a speech given recently in Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion’s name by his parliamentary secretary, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones.
The dreamers now ruling Canada believe a gentler stance can lead to a more trusting relationship with Putin on northern issues.
Dion’s radiant idea is to separate the two countries’ northern policies from uncomfortable talk with the Kremlin over other vexing issues such as its seizure of Crimea, setting eastern Ukraine aflame and constantly menacing Poland and the Baltic states. This is precisely what the Kremlin has been loudly demanding for years in an unconcealed effort to divide the West.
Dion’s olive branch has come at the precise moment when there is an explosive rupture between Washington and the West and Moscow. It has been stoked by Putin’s nearly $ 1- trillion spending spree to upgrade the Russian military by 2020, his bullying behaviour from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and a Rand Corp. report that concluded that Russia could occupy Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 60 hours.
And that short of the nuclear option, there was nothing the West could do about it.
There are many other poisonous new elements to Russia’s faltering relations with the West. They include the recent bombing of a UN humanitarian convoy in Syria, the sustained aerial bombardment of the ruins of Aleppo, persistent cyberwarfare against European allies and, according to the U.S., the recent cyberhacking of Democratic Party computers to interfere with the U. S. presidential campaign.
To get back i nto Moscow’s good graces, Putin demanded that Washington remove all troops and infrastructure from NATO countries bordering Russia, lift all sanctions including, presumably, those imposed by Canada because of his Ukrainian gambit and compensate his country for the economic damage t hose sanctions have caused.
Despite Dion’s olive branch, the Canadians are hardly Boy Scouts.
The RCAF still operates a secret listening post at the top of Ellesmere Island to eavesdrop on Russia. Only three months ago, the Trudeau government agreed that Canada would lead one of four NATO combat battalions to be placed in the Baltics.
Those tripwires, which Moscow bitterly opposes, are purpose- built to dissuade Putin from i nvading the Baltics unless he is prepared to kill Canadian, American, British and German soldiers.
Still, that is small beer compared to what Russia has been up to.
Canada’s opening to Moscow fits awkwardly with Russia’s announcement that it intends to base SS- 26 Iskander missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. This means the troops that the Trudeau government is sending to Latvia could now be hit with only a few minutes’ warning by missiles fired from either the west or the east.
Meanwhile, Sweden — which many Canadians regard as a similarly benevolent force for good in the world — has been so spooked by Russia’s behaviour that it is seriously considering joining NATO. The historically neutral Scandinavian nation is also bringing back conscription and, for the first time, will consider including women in the draft.
Norway’s top soldier, Admiral Haakon Bruun- Hanssen, told The Wall Street Journal that his troops had witnessed a rapid improvement in Russia’s Arctic capabilities. To counter these emerging hazards, Oslo is likely to increase defence spending by eight per cent this year and may spend more than twice as much per capita as Canada on defence by 2020.
To defend polar regions from Russia, Norway, Denmark and the U. S. are purchasing cutting- edge F- 35 fighter jets.
Resisting the fact that Canada’s closest f riends strongly believe that the F- 35 is the way to defend Arctic air space, the Trudeau government continues to favour buying Super Hornets with much older, second-tier capabilities.
By separating talks with Russia about relatively benign issues in the Arctic from Putin’s malevolent military posture there and elsewhere, Dion gives Putin a reward he does not deserve and puts Canada seriously out of step with close allies who are extremely distrustful of the Russian dictator’s intentions everywhere.