Looking at the reporting on this story and it's pretty clear this is a newish political animosity towards Cuba from Canada. The GoC has acted much as the US has done, and in the reporting they have even noted their co-ordination with the US.
I've provided a link over at ChessTalk on this story although, so far, there are no replies.
A mysterious illness,[at one point, embarrassingly for Canada and the US, attributed to the noise of crickets!] has been given as a reason for the reduction in staff, which has led to the reduction in services. I rather think this is planned meticulously; Canada has recently taken the lead, in the "Lima Group" for example, of noisily supporting US foreign policy in Venezuela - so I think the Cuba policy is simply one more plank in a rather large load.
Trudeau Sr. once remarked that living next to the US is like sleeping with an elephant. "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
I like more the expression from the other neighbour to the US: "Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States."
In any case, this is clearly something the US wants done, just as arresting Huawei's CFO was.
I don't see any advantage for Canada in all this whatsoever. So, yes, it is surprising.
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supplemental: NSA official John Bolton recently spoke at the "Veterans' of the Bay of Pigs" in Florida where he praised the (failed) invasion of Cuba back in 1961. Apparently, the Monroe Doctrine is alive and well.
The Trump Administration Is Launching a New Round of Aggression Against Cuba
So there you have it.
Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; 05-15-2019 at 02:06 PM. Reason: Bolton article etc
This one should set the cat among the pigeons.
Bank of Canada reports today on climate risks facing nation's financial system
I think the CBC is providing a live feed of the press conference.The Bank of Canada's latest financial system review report is being released today — and it's expected to be the first ever to explore the threat climate change poses to the country's financial system.
The central bank's annual financial system review (FSR) analyzes the resilience of the country's financial system, cataloguing the main vulnerabilities and risks facing it. Critics have been urging the bank to examine the impact of climate change on financial stability for years now....
"The importance of climate-related issues for financial stability and monetary policy (has) become increasingly clear," said Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz at the time. "This is particularly true for Canada, where resources play a vital role in our economy and where the natural environment is a defining feature of our national identity."
More on the Cuba dossier ...
Canadian Foreign Minister C. Freeland was in Washington over the last few days trying to address ongoing tariff issues between the US and Canada. There was, so far, no success for Canada.
The Minister is now off to Cuba. I think the idea is to put pressure on Cuba to distance itself from the Maduro government in Venezuela.
quid pro quo, anyone? Perhaps Canada is hoping for a solution to the tariff issues by doing Uncle Sam's dirty work in Cuba.Originally Posted by Winnipeg Free Press
The other thing here of note is that with US President Trump's recent escalated animosity towards Cuba (remember those Florida votes in 2020!), Canada could wind up targeted by a revived Helms-Burton law. This applies US law to other countries such that
So, a mixed bag? Is Canada afraid of getting whacked by US sabre-rattling and [illegal] extra-territorial application of their domestic law? Or maybe some tariff settlement if they do the US dirty work?After the brief Obama "thaw" with Cuba, the US has decided to resume the old practice of economic siege and provocation. This includes invoking Title III of the illegal Helms-Burton Act to threaten any 3rd party, such as Canada, that does business with the revolutionary country that refuses to bend the knee to the Monroe Doctrine.
Or maybe a bit of both?
Here's the wiki re: yesterday's 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador general election, resulting from an unnecessarily early election call by Liberal premier Dwight Ball, who had a majority government, but who now has been reduced to a minority (barring some sort of deal involving a floor crossing); at least the NDP could not have won, as they had only 14 candidates thanks to some sort of act of self-destruction since 2011; people who lived in Ontario when Liberal premier David Peterson pulled a similar early election call trick will recall the bitter cost to Ontario when Bob Rae's NDP was elected to a surprise majority then (relatively nothing compared to what was to follow under Liberal administrations headed by Dalton McGuinty and then Kathleen Wynn, of course):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_N...neral_election
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
Here's a link re: efforts to form an Israeli government fail, fresh 2019 general election to come:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5332766/i...cond-election/
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
Here's a link re: currently ongoing cyber attack against Baltimore:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48371476
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
Here's the wiki re: SpaceX:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
Fwiw, here's the wiki re: Brexit (what a mess, meaning the topic at hand):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
Here's the wiki re: WWII; not exactly hot news, but that war arguably still affects the world in a big way:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.