Canada needs to learn lesson about wars
The narrative that North Americans are the innocent victims of a madman in North Korea is both false and dangerous.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is not insane, nor is he a fool.
On the contrary, he is a keen observer of western military interventions who has come to believe that when the world’s greatest superpower flouts international law with impunity, the only safe refuge lies in a nuclear deterrent.
Kim witnessed the destruction of Yugoslavia, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Libya, and ongoing American involvement in Ukraine, Syria and Yemen, and realized that Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Gaddafi would be still be in power today if they had possessed nuclear weapons.
Kim’s pursuit of nuclear weapons in order to preserve his regime should remind Canadians that illegal NATO and US interventions — wars that have not been sanctioned by the United Nations — may have frightening, unintended consequences.
Canadians need an act of Parliament preventing Canadians troops from participating in foreign conflicts without the prior approval of the United Nations, lest unauthorized interventions strengthen the resolve of men like Kim to better arm themselves.
Kim has learned his lesson.
Now, can Canadians?
Mike Ward
Duncan