Mission creep in Ukraine

RE: Canadian military gets free rein in Ukraine (June 15)

Here we go again! The Trudeau government isn’t, as promised, restricting Canadian military “trainers” to western Ukraine, far from the fighting in the Donbass region. This sounds like mission creep to me.

And just what are Canadian troops doing in Ukraine? Although an international diplomatic agreement was in place, the legitimate Yanukovych government was overthrown by a violent U.S.-backed coup in 2014. Today, there are explicitly fascist parties in cabinet, openly boasting of ties to the Nazis during the Second World War and unabashedly anti-Semitic.

Does anyone remember Afghanistan, where Canadian troops were located first in the relative safety of Kabul, the capital? It wasn’t long until 150 Canadians lost their lives in Kandahar, doing the heavy lifting for the U.S. empire, in a war costing Canadians $20 billion, for no apparent gain.

In Iraq, Harper sent “trainers” to help the Kurds, supposedly well behind front lines against ISIL. But it wasn’t long until Canadian Sgt. Doiron was killed by “friendly fire” ahead of Kurdish front lines. By the way, contrary to international law, the Trudeau government is continuing the policy of helping the Kurds carve a separate state out of the sovereign territory of Iraq.

Justin Trudeau certainly didn’t run on a platform of increased military spending and “hard power,” talking instead of reviving peacekeeping missions and Canada’s international diplomatic reputation. But the priorities of his government are now clear and lowering the risk of nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine is not one of them. David Rennie, Stoney Creek