Why on earth would we? Canada benefits from higher energy prices. Of course we would benefit far far more if foolish Liberals (and those who vote Liberal, Bloc, NDP, or Green) hadn't chosen to impede our oil and gas industry.
In fact, a few years of high prices might provide a good object lesson for many who need it.
Canadians don’t benefit from high energy prices. We are all paying more at the pump, and soon we’ll be paying more everywhere else as the cost of trucking goes up.
Some large corporations will make a killing, and presumably governments as well through royalties.
I don’t think wealth flowing from Canadians to corporations and governments is a good thing when we get nothing for it.
Canada is a net energy exporter. The country, therefore, on net, benefits from higher prices. As with any economic activity or transaction, the results are unevenly distributed. This kind of uneven distribution doesn't bother many Canadians when it comes to government spending.
Except that then governments buy our votes with various programs, and our pension funds like CPP benefit from the solid returns in the companies they invest in.
A rock and a hard place: Is it better to mitigate the effects of Trump's disaster in Iran or to clean up his mess and free him up to wreck havoc in Cuba, Greenland, Panama, our north, and lord know what else over the next three years?
This was highly informative with a minimum level of anti-Trump, anti-American snark, thank you.
Was it ever acceptable for Iran to control the Strait? The 'world community' tolerated this so long as the oil kept flowing, but lived in constant fear of disruptions. This gave Iran, a county ruled by crazed theocrats intent on extinguishing the state of Israel (AKA murdering millions of Jews), free hand in the region. Say what you want about the Israeli/American actions, but those days are over.
So, deal with the situation as it is, not as we wish it to be. Take this opportunity to secure the Strait of Hormuz permanently. NATO and the UN countries should be exploiting this and taking action, and if Canada can contribute to a Strait security force, all the better.
Just as a point of clarification, Iran did not "control the strait" any more than the UAE, Saudi, Oman or Yemen controlled the Strait prior to the war. Iran chose to effectively take control of the Strait as a response to the war -- this has always been a known risk of military action in that region.
But you can argue that by the world giving Iran free reign in the region, there was clearly an incentive on Iran's part to treat the strait as its own.
Very true, but I think the point is now that Iran has done it, you can’t leave the regime intact. They have to be eliminated in order to get it open and show any regime anywhere that there is a massive price to trade disruption. If you don’t, there is nothing stopping regimes from doing the same thing everywhere.
I’m not making an argument about what needs to be done next. I’m just pointing out that closing of the Straits was a very well-known risk; and the Trump admin was either unaware of that risk, or chose to ignore it. Not only has this created an immediate oil shock, these choices also risk a serious medium-term famine in many poorer countries dependent on now blocked fertilizer.
If you’re weighting the administration’s strategic capability when it tells you what it believes needs to be done next, your assessment needs to take facts like this into consideration. JG.
Threatening the Strait has always been the blackmail Iran has used for 47 years. The difference now is the sense of international best interests that has deeply constrained US strategic interests is no longer the case. When it was the case, we saw how the Iran spread its malignant death cult fanaticism not only around the region but throughout the west. We see this not only on the streets of western capitals with supportive demonstrations of the IRGC but somewhere in majority range on western campuses. This 'fact' seems to have eluded the chattering classes when it comes to confronting its toxic influence and we see appeals to the negative effects of standing up to this totalitarian mass murdering terrorist enabling nuclear weapons seeking state. (This always seems to fall under, 'But think of the children' kind of mewling apologetics).
As history has shown repeatedly, misunderstanding US restrain with US weakness always seems to lead to a tipping point of armed conflict that the IRGC in Iran is now experiencing. Not pleasant and comes with negative consequences beyond the combatants. But basically this arrival at armed conflict is inevitable with expanding ideological doctrines that threaten US strategic interests and are confronted. Understood this way, calls for cease fire are identical to capitulation because the confrontation is the point.
Every person in the West has a stake in this confrontation (Iran being the Chinese proxy) being successful and, once again, the US is leading the charge on behalf of the entire and targeted western world. And, right on cue, apologists for anti-western sentiment come to the forefront and use 'But think of the children' to excuse their rationalized capitulation to this never-ending totalitarian aggression (in this case, fertilizer or helium or whatever being of more concern than the latest batch of thousands of Iranians including children murdered by this regime to maintain its power over them to export its death cult using Iran and its people, resources, and geography). We forget and/or ignore our duty to humanity itself when rationalize capitulating to such ideological forces in whatever modern guise its dresses itself.
Trump knew exactly what would happen. It's part of his Green Plan. The planet is upset at energy costs and will therefore use less energy. This benefits the planet as less Carbon is being emitted. It works like a Carbon tax. You'd think everyone would be rejoicing. Gosh. Leave it closed.
I'll add to what the "crazed theocrats" will also continue to do.....make war (and way they can) against any form of governance dissimilar to theirs that isn't playing nice with them.
Trump is a senile lunatic and cannot be trusted. All the world is a reality show hosted by the reality show president. He has started a war. Doesn't know how to finish it without sending in the combat arms. Cleaning up American messes is our penance for having been too cheap to make the 2% GDP for NATO. (Even now the new 2% plan from Ottawa is a master class in creative accounting for stuff that has zero to do with winning the firefight.)
It doesn't matter what we say or do, the man is a lunatic and the next three years are going to be unreal, messed up, dangerous, bewildering and more².
Trump is unlikely to matter. Unless a deus ex machina pulls off a miracle the USA and Israel have lost the war.
If we want to help with mine clearing, or whatever, we should be offering our help to the Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Or possibly to the Sultan of Oman since it seems that Iran and Oman are in talks about shared management of the Strait.
Do we have even have any mine sweepers? I cannot find any.
I have not even seen a reliable report that there are any mines. There seems to be no doubt that Iran can mine the Strait but has it
20% of the world's oil supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz. 7% of US oil uses that passage. It's time for "the world" to give up that free ride and assume some international maturity.
Hiding behind "The US started all this" ignores a nuclear-armed Islamist Iran. Hands up all who find that appealing.
755774 The reason Trump could not advise his NATO allies of his intentions in Iraq is because of people like you in government who can't be trusted to keep information confidential. You are like the home owner who has a known killer living on his street who has murdered his wife and children but you don't want the police to arrest him because if he is let out on bail he might come and burn your house down. Another usful Idiot.
The Halifax class have very limited air defense capability. Don't love the idea of deploying one to a mission where air defense is the biggest concern.
Iran, not Trump, started this conflict almost 50 years ago. Trump and Israel had the courage and resolve to end Iran's ever growing threat to the Western world that included the threat of a nuclear war. This author has, at best, a shallow knowledge of history.
The middle east is a quagmire we should stay away from. God knows what that madman South of the border could drag us into. Sending our questionably equipped navy there is simply unwise.
What countries have the demining technology available? As I understand the US recently decommissioned its wooden hulled minesweapers, apparently underwater drones are the better way to demine waterways, so who has this technology?
Also why are the Gulf states, whose Navies are designed for that water, not being pressured to assist? Its literally in their backyard.
If we've moved onto the whole "spheres of influence" thing there are a lot of Nations that ought to step up, on this particular naval exercise, before Canada.
You probably don't have an answer, I'm just curious if advancements in underwater drone demining technology means that mines can be taken out, even in hostile waters, without risking naval vessels.
I for one think Trump is doing an excellent job. I dont want Iran to have nuclear weapons or the means to drop them on us. Was JFK right when Russians were trying to deploy nuclear weapons to Cuba? I think JFK and Trump were both right.
Canada is making money hand over fist despite Gibault and Trudeau's efforts, one could only imagine how great this could be. USA learned from Iraq that regime change is not easy and requires boots on the ground but targeting the regime has been masterful, and there could be regime change without boots on the ground. Personally I want Canada to focus on arresting and deporting IRGC operative currently in Canada. The World is a bunch of hypocrites. Buying Russian gas and supporting Ukraine. Buying Iranian oil and turning your back on the women and young men being slaughtered. Persia was never Muslim and it is time this regime, which has been the bane of many a US President, be put down for good. The Straits? Let those who benefit put their money where their oil use is -- and this is not Canada.
We can take a peacekeeping role...when there is a peace to keep. The US and Israel buggered this up. It's on them to solve it. Solving it doesn't involve more bombs.
This ode to the Liberals contains some valuable information of which we all need to be reminded. For example, where our armed forces are currently, such as helping to de-mine the Black Sea, deter drug smuggling in the Caribbean and increase security in the far east.
But - where is the information about Canada's situation at home? What percentage of oil/gas used in central Canada is in fact purchased from ships that might come through the Strait of Hormuz, or might support dictators elsewhere?
Transparency on oil/gas sources might change ideas among the Liberals' voter base of Central Canadian seniors. Voters might then prefer less interference with western Canada's resource use, or actually shift their votes!. Frequently lack of transparency exposes political bias.
Someone else mentioned this....I forget who. Wouldn't waiting until Iranian and/or Iranian aligned shipping cleared the strait far enough away from missile/drone attack and board/seize/sell the ships/cargo be a better option? Iran is PO'd no matter what. Allowing them to profit from higher oil prices just guarantees more funding for their global terror campaign.
Why on earth would we? Canada benefits from higher energy prices. Of course we would benefit far far more if foolish Liberals (and those who vote Liberal, Bloc, NDP, or Green) hadn't chosen to impede our oil and gas industry.
In fact, a few years of high prices might provide a good object lesson for many who need it.
Canadians don’t benefit from high energy prices. We are all paying more at the pump, and soon we’ll be paying more everywhere else as the cost of trucking goes up.
Some large corporations will make a killing, and presumably governments as well through royalties.
I don’t think wealth flowing from Canadians to corporations and governments is a good thing when we get nothing for it.
Canada is a net energy exporter. The country, therefore, on net, benefits from higher prices. As with any economic activity or transaction, the results are unevenly distributed. This kind of uneven distribution doesn't bother many Canadians when it comes to government spending.
Except that then governments buy our votes with various programs, and our pension funds like CPP benefit from the solid returns in the companies they invest in.
Speak for yourself. This war can drag on for years and we'll be better for it.
But your Liberals all tell us that 0 dollars inflate trucking costs?
A rock and a hard place: Is it better to mitigate the effects of Trump's disaster in Iran or to clean up his mess and free him up to wreck havoc in Cuba, Greenland, Panama, our north, and lord know what else over the next three years?
This was highly informative with a minimum level of anti-Trump, anti-American snark, thank you.
Was it ever acceptable for Iran to control the Strait? The 'world community' tolerated this so long as the oil kept flowing, but lived in constant fear of disruptions. This gave Iran, a county ruled by crazed theocrats intent on extinguishing the state of Israel (AKA murdering millions of Jews), free hand in the region. Say what you want about the Israeli/American actions, but those days are over.
So, deal with the situation as it is, not as we wish it to be. Take this opportunity to secure the Strait of Hormuz permanently. NATO and the UN countries should be exploiting this and taking action, and if Canada can contribute to a Strait security force, all the better.
Just as a point of clarification, Iran did not "control the strait" any more than the UAE, Saudi, Oman or Yemen controlled the Strait prior to the war. Iran chose to effectively take control of the Strait as a response to the war -- this has always been a known risk of military action in that region.
But you can argue that by the world giving Iran free reign in the region, there was clearly an incentive on Iran's part to treat the strait as its own.
Hypothetical and pointless.
But for U.S./Likud adventures, we wouldn't have this problem in the strait. No amount of awkward after-the-fact justification changes that.
Very true, but I think the point is now that Iran has done it, you can’t leave the regime intact. They have to be eliminated in order to get it open and show any regime anywhere that there is a massive price to trade disruption. If you don’t, there is nothing stopping regimes from doing the same thing everywhere.
I’m not making an argument about what needs to be done next. I’m just pointing out that closing of the Straits was a very well-known risk; and the Trump admin was either unaware of that risk, or chose to ignore it. Not only has this created an immediate oil shock, these choices also risk a serious medium-term famine in many poorer countries dependent on now blocked fertilizer.
If you’re weighting the administration’s strategic capability when it tells you what it believes needs to be done next, your assessment needs to take facts like this into consideration. JG.
Threatening the Strait has always been the blackmail Iran has used for 47 years. The difference now is the sense of international best interests that has deeply constrained US strategic interests is no longer the case. When it was the case, we saw how the Iran spread its malignant death cult fanaticism not only around the region but throughout the west. We see this not only on the streets of western capitals with supportive demonstrations of the IRGC but somewhere in majority range on western campuses. This 'fact' seems to have eluded the chattering classes when it comes to confronting its toxic influence and we see appeals to the negative effects of standing up to this totalitarian mass murdering terrorist enabling nuclear weapons seeking state. (This always seems to fall under, 'But think of the children' kind of mewling apologetics).
As history has shown repeatedly, misunderstanding US restrain with US weakness always seems to lead to a tipping point of armed conflict that the IRGC in Iran is now experiencing. Not pleasant and comes with negative consequences beyond the combatants. But basically this arrival at armed conflict is inevitable with expanding ideological doctrines that threaten US strategic interests and are confronted. Understood this way, calls for cease fire are identical to capitulation because the confrontation is the point.
Every person in the West has a stake in this confrontation (Iran being the Chinese proxy) being successful and, once again, the US is leading the charge on behalf of the entire and targeted western world. And, right on cue, apologists for anti-western sentiment come to the forefront and use 'But think of the children' to excuse their rationalized capitulation to this never-ending totalitarian aggression (in this case, fertilizer or helium or whatever being of more concern than the latest batch of thousands of Iranians including children murdered by this regime to maintain its power over them to export its death cult using Iran and its people, resources, and geography). We forget and/or ignore our duty to humanity itself when rationalize capitulating to such ideological forces in whatever modern guise its dresses itself.
Trump knew exactly what would happen. It's part of his Green Plan. The planet is upset at energy costs and will therefore use less energy. This benefits the planet as less Carbon is being emitted. It works like a Carbon tax. You'd think everyone would be rejoicing. Gosh. Leave it closed.
😆 😆 😆👏
I'll add to what the "crazed theocrats" will also continue to do.....make war (and way they can) against any form of governance dissimilar to theirs that isn't playing nice with them.
Trump is a senile lunatic and cannot be trusted. All the world is a reality show hosted by the reality show president. He has started a war. Doesn't know how to finish it without sending in the combat arms. Cleaning up American messes is our penance for having been too cheap to make the 2% GDP for NATO. (Even now the new 2% plan from Ottawa is a master class in creative accounting for stuff that has zero to do with winning the firefight.)
It doesn't matter what we say or do, the man is a lunatic and the next three years are going to be unreal, messed up, dangerous, bewildering and more².
Trump is unlikely to matter. Unless a deus ex machina pulls off a miracle the USA and Israel have lost the war.
If we want to help with mine clearing, or whatever, we should be offering our help to the Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Or possibly to the Sultan of Oman since it seems that Iran and Oman are in talks about shared management of the Strait.
Do we have even have any mine sweepers? I cannot find any.
I have not even seen a reliable report that there are any mines. There seems to be no doubt that Iran can mine the Strait but has it
Yeah but he's a part of the regime that killed upwards of 36,000 of its own citizens.
20% of the world's oil supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz. 7% of US oil uses that passage. It's time for "the world" to give up that free ride and assume some international maturity.
Hiding behind "The US started all this" ignores a nuclear-armed Islamist Iran. Hands up all who find that appealing.
755774 The reason Trump could not advise his NATO allies of his intentions in Iraq is because of people like you in government who can't be trusted to keep information confidential. You are like the home owner who has a known killer living on his street who has murdered his wife and children but you don't want the police to arrest him because if he is let out on bail he might come and burn your house down. Another usful Idiot.
The Halifax class have very limited air defense capability. Don't love the idea of deploying one to a mission where air defense is the biggest concern.
Iran, not Trump, started this conflict almost 50 years ago. Trump and Israel had the courage and resolve to end Iran's ever growing threat to the Western world that included the threat of a nuclear war. This author has, at best, a shallow knowledge of history.
strange comment
"... while waiting for new capabilities that have been contracted to be delivered" is A fancy way of saying will never happen.
The middle east is a quagmire we should stay away from. God knows what that madman South of the border could drag us into. Sending our questionably equipped navy there is simply unwise.
Yet no one questions why our ships are "questionably equipped"...
Years of neglect
Ever seen any national figure question this?
Me neither. Canada isn't a serious country, so we shouldn't be expected to be taken seriously.
What countries have the demining technology available? As I understand the US recently decommissioned its wooden hulled minesweapers, apparently underwater drones are the better way to demine waterways, so who has this technology?
Also why are the Gulf states, whose Navies are designed for that water, not being pressured to assist? Its literally in their backyard.
If we've moved onto the whole "spheres of influence" thing there are a lot of Nations that ought to step up, on this particular naval exercise, before Canada.
We still have four Kingston-class ships left and they can do minesweeping, but you wouldn't want them there in the middle of an active warzone.
You probably don't have an answer, I'm just curious if advancements in underwater drone demining technology means that mines can be taken out, even in hostile waters, without risking naval vessels.
I for one think Trump is doing an excellent job. I dont want Iran to have nuclear weapons or the means to drop them on us. Was JFK right when Russians were trying to deploy nuclear weapons to Cuba? I think JFK and Trump were both right.
Canada is making money hand over fist despite Gibault and Trudeau's efforts, one could only imagine how great this could be. USA learned from Iraq that regime change is not easy and requires boots on the ground but targeting the regime has been masterful, and there could be regime change without boots on the ground. Personally I want Canada to focus on arresting and deporting IRGC operative currently in Canada. The World is a bunch of hypocrites. Buying Russian gas and supporting Ukraine. Buying Iranian oil and turning your back on the women and young men being slaughtered. Persia was never Muslim and it is time this regime, which has been the bane of many a US President, be put down for good. The Straits? Let those who benefit put their money where their oil use is -- and this is not Canada.
We can take a peacekeeping role...when there is a peace to keep. The US and Israel buggered this up. It's on them to solve it. Solving it doesn't involve more bombs.
This ode to the Liberals contains some valuable information of which we all need to be reminded. For example, where our armed forces are currently, such as helping to de-mine the Black Sea, deter drug smuggling in the Caribbean and increase security in the far east.
But - where is the information about Canada's situation at home? What percentage of oil/gas used in central Canada is in fact purchased from ships that might come through the Strait of Hormuz, or might support dictators elsewhere?
Transparency on oil/gas sources might change ideas among the Liberals' voter base of Central Canadian seniors. Voters might then prefer less interference with western Canada's resource use, or actually shift their votes!. Frequently lack of transparency exposes political bias.
Someone else mentioned this....I forget who. Wouldn't waiting until Iranian and/or Iranian aligned shipping cleared the strait far enough away from missile/drone attack and board/seize/sell the ships/cargo be a better option? Iran is PO'd no matter what. Allowing them to profit from higher oil prices just guarantees more funding for their global terror campaign.