Canada's first Hindu cabinet minister is a know-nothing windbag

I happened onto a EuroNews interview with our Foreign Minister Anita Anand this morning. With all the heavy hitters in attendance at the NATO pow-wow in Ankara, somebody had to draw the short straw. Anita made all the right noises. Ukraine has turned the tide, Russia is on the brink of collapse, Ukrainian victory is in the bag, and our fleet of new submarines serves notice to Russia and China that we're serious about protecting our Arctic sovereignty. That's the script, and she's sticking to it. Let's start with a few facts. We have allegedly contracted for a fleet of 12 German-built diesel-electric submarines at an estimated $2 billions per unit. The first four are to be delivered by 2034, six years hence. At the moment, China is building six new diesel-electrics per year. Assuming they don't scale up going forward, that means by the time Canada takes delivery of the last of those German-built vessels around 2040, China will have added at least 80 new subs to its fleet. Do we really think parking half a dozen German submarines at either end of what we call "the Northwest Passage" will keep China out? Our Arctic sovereignty is doomed if we think we'll prevail in a submarine war. That's without even considering Russia's Arctic footprint. Russia has more soldiers on permanent bases above the Arctic Circle than Canada has residents there. Over half of the global pop north of the Arctc circle is Russian. They have by far the world's largest icebreaker fleet. They're serious about their Arctic sovereignty. Canada talks a big game. The reality is Canada's Arctic is defended by our "Rangers," who just had their WWII era Lee-Enfield rifles upgraded to, I shit you not, "state of the art bolt-action carbines with a ten shot magazine!" Then there is the unspoken subtext that German technology is so vastly superior that it's worth paying a premium for. We know from Chinese export deals that were made public that they sell their diesel-electrics in the $300 -400 million range. In other words, we could buy four subs from China for the price of one from Germany. Chinese tech generally, in terms of cars, electronics, and weapons systems are at least the equal to German industry, and are often clearly superior. Why would their submarines be any different? At the end of the day, apparently, it all boils down to "values." Anita stressed that the democratic nations of NATO have them and the bad guys don't. Hmm... let's ponder that for a moment. By far the most crucial enabler of the ongoing genocide in Gaza is NATO boss Uncle Sam. The second is Germany. Alrighty then, values it is!