Cloudy Visions: Weapons and Defence in Canada

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The infamous mushroom cloud synonymous with a nuclear explosion evokes a different response depending on audience. Most will immediately harken back to the Second World War when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Others may think of Cold War nuclear tests by Britain and the former Soviet Union (Russia). Depending on perspective, you might awe at the display of power or cringe at the thought of chaos and annihilation. Today we are far removed from the volatile circumstances that resulted in the first use of atomic weaponry, despite what former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev might think. Yet the evolution and proliferation of weapons technology continues at a rapid pace, and destruction of both property and peoples is ongoing. In attempting to somehow measure or quantify human life, many scholars point to death toll statistics in times of both war and peace. These studies aim not to reduce the fragility of human existence to numbers, but rather to help explore the conditions that led to an awful reality. One of those conditions is weapons creation, and on that topic Canada is certainly not as innocent as many think.

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Is Nuclear War Conceivable? A Cautionary Retrospective on the Escalating ‘Crisis in Ukraine’

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Since the so-called ‘Crisis in Ukraine’ made international headlines, speculations abound over the possibility of escalated war. Considering that U.S. President Barack Obama has led international leaders in the continued condemnation of Russian action toward Ukraine, it’s not surprising that concerns over a potential war have been partially wrapped in Cold War rhetoric. Both the United States and Russia have maintained their nuclear arsenals and international intervention in the Crimea remains a real and perhaps immanent possibility, but is there any real legitimacy to the comparisons drawn between the contemporary situation and the Cold War which characterized the second-half of the twentieth century? Setting ideological considerations aside, this post provides a brief overview of the post-1945 technological strategic balance to answer this question.

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Contesting Arctic Sovereignty: A Brief History of “Canadian” Interest in the North

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The Arctic continues to be a topic of heated discussion in Canada. Political, cultural, and environmental concerns have sparked research and scholarship into regions and peoples that have long escaped the public eye. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made Arctic sovereignty a top priority during his current eight-year tenure. He is amongst those who have suggested that real threats toward Canada’s circumpolar autonomy exist, and he seems determined to protect Canadian interests in a northern world that is undergoing significant and rapid change. Yet Harper’s Arctic diplomacy is highly questionable, both from historical and contemporary perspectives. To insinuate that the Arctic is Canadian territory, which Harper has done on a number of occasions, assumes that the massive northern region is holistically the property of a governmental body that has historically been at odds with much of that regions native population. Since Euro-Canadians are not indigenous to the Arctic territories which Harper has proclaimed their own, can his Conservative government actually claim some measure of ownership and stewardship over contested northern territory?

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Canada's Role in Global Nuclear Activity

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A six-nation group made up of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China – and Germany, has struck an accord with Iran that will see it open its nuclear program to international inspection. The deal in principle had been in place since November, but remained unsigned prior to this week. Massimo Aparo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will head the inspections, which will include talks with Iranian nuclear officials as part of a verification process to determine the scope and capability of Iran’s nuclear activity

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