[Newsbot]

Title: Harper wants 'broad consensus' before extending Mali help
Category: World
Posted By: Zipperfish
Date: 2013-01-23 10:51:07
Canadian

[bootlegga]

Translation: If I can get someone else to go along with us, we'll send troops...

[CDN_PATRIOT]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Translation: If I can get someone else to go along with us, we'll send troops...

Harper is playing is smart, not wanting to get us involved in another meat grinder like Afghanistan, a la the previous government.

-J.

[DrCaleb]

I wonder which broad he was speaking of?

[BartSimpson]

I'd leave Mali to the French.

[herbie]

Brenda - phone Stephen!

[Zipperfish]

Yes, this is smart. Hats off to the Prime MInister on this one. No buy in unless everyone buys in.

[Gunnair]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Yes, this is smart. Hats off to the Prime MInister on this one. No buy in unless everyone buys in.

Yep. Get the buy in and all party support and load 'em up.

[martin14]

$1:

Harper spoke to New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair on Sunday and asked about extending the loan of the C-17, NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar told CBC News.

The NDP wanted to ensure parliamentary oversight on what's happening in Mali, as well as an assurance that the foreign affairs committee will hold public meetings on the issue. Dewar said the government agreed to both.

Ya, just to make sure we broadcast every move to the jihadis.




*sigh* This is a bad idea, mission creep coming.

[Gunnair]

martin14 martin14:

$1:

Harper spoke to New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair on Sunday and asked about extending the loan of the C-17, NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar told CBC News.

The NDP wanted to ensure parliamentary oversight on what's happening in Mali, as well as an assurance that the foreign affairs committee will hold public meetings on the issue. Dewar said the government agreed to both.

Ya, just to make sure we broadcast every move to the jihadis.




*sigh* This is a bad idea, mission creep coming.

This is what the military is for. It's a tool to execute foreign Canadian policy. If Mali is moving towards being a new Afghanistan terrorist training ground, then stepping in and rooting that out makes sense.

The Feds know Afghanistan cost them some political credit which they've partially gotten back by ending the combat mission there. However, I'd posit that if mission creep occurs, then a need for it exists lest the CPC wouldn't take the chance.

Or... we can go find some place to do some peacekeeping because that's such a great job for the CF.

[bootlegga]

Gunnair Gunnair:

This is what the military is for. It's a tool to execute foreign Canadian policy. If Mali is moving towards being a new Afghanistan terrorist training ground, then stepping in and rooting that out makes sense.

I have to agree that it would be good to nip it in the bud, but I don't want Canada in a situation like Kandahar where we are asked to do a lot of heavy lifting while other ally's troops sit on the hands in other provinces.

Gunnair Gunnair:

The Feds know Afghanistan cost them some political credit which they've partially gotten back by ending the combat mission there. However, I'd posit that if mission creep occurs, then a need for it exists lest the CPC wouldn't take the chance.

History has shown over and over that Harper is more than willing to use the CF to score political points (Iraq, Afghanistan, defence spending, etc).

The last thing anyone wants is another 9/11, but we have to be careful that deploying the CF to Mali is in the best interests of Canadians, not just the current government.

Gunnair Gunnair:

Or... we can go find some place to do some peacekeeping because that's such a great job for the CF.

Careful, or you'll find yourself quoted by Mulcair as a CF supporter of peacekeeping!

[Gunnair]

Well the problem with not wanting to do the heavy lifting because others don't means the heavy lifting doesn't get done. So then we have to choose what's best for Canada....nip this in the bud with unwanted heavy lifting or don't do the heavy lifting and take the chance that Mali becomes another failed state and terrorist hotbed with an eye to striking western targets.

[bootlegga]

Ahh, maybe here's why Mali is suddenly so important;

$1:

In fact, Mali has been designated a "country of focus" for CIDA since 2009. So it comes as no surprise that Canada is one of the biggest foreign aid donors to Mali, ranking fifth in the world according to OECD figures.

The $110 million Canada gave to Mali in 2010-11 (mostly through the Canadian International Development Agency) was enough to rank Mali as the third biggest recipient of Canadian assistance in Africa. Only Mozambique and Ethiopia received more.

While direct aid payments to the government of Mali were suspended following the coup there in March 2012, CIDA's programs that deliver humanitarian assistance directly to the population are still operating.

CIDA operates some 45 assistance programs through a variety of international and local non-governmental aid partners, such as CARE Canada.

And this;

$1:

But Canadian investment in Mali amounts to considerably more — in the hundreds of millions. And the bulk of that investment can be summed up in one word: gold.

About a dozen Canadian gold miners are actively producing and exploring in Mali. Rich veins of gold were discovered in the country's southwest region in the late 1980s.

The biggest Canadian company there, Toronto-based Iamgold Corp., operates two joint ventures with South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti and the Malian government.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadas-links- ... 56453.html

We've never seen anything like this before have we?

[Guy_Fawkes]

The French have a long standing history with Mali, so I doubt Canada will do much heavy lifting. In the end we might send a force there but it wont be anything close to what we had in Afghanistan at the height of the war. If anything I suspect it will be closer to armed disaster relief than full on terrorist hunting.

[Zipperfish]

"Harper wants 'broad consensus' before extending Mali help"

As for consensus, why just the broads? Don't the guys get a say?