While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Steven Staples.
Late on a Friday night, with the clock running out on a new trade deal, Prime Minister Mark Carney did something Canadian prime ministers don’t do very often: he told the Americans no.
“Despite the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries…Lebanon moved forward with the ban on antipersonnel landmines,” said the Ottawa-based group Mines Action Canada in a statement, celebrating the new addition.
An F-35 crash in Alaska should give shivers to Canada’s military. The pilot survived thankfully, but the $200 million plane was completely destroyed.
I nearly drove off the road when I heard Pope Leo’s powerful message on the radio this week.
Canadian troops may be only days away from deploying to the Middle East to aid the U.S.’s and Israel’s war on Iran. The latest indication is a joint statement expressing concern about Iran’s restriction of oil tankers through the narrow Strait of Hormuz signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO allies late in the week.
For a moment there, it looked like Mark Carney would be the torchbearer for countries opposed to Trump’s big power politics. Now, not so much. In fact, it seems Prime Minister Carney is ready to embrace the “end of the international rules-based order” rather than oppose it – thanks to the confusing and contradictory statements by the Canadian government following...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has finally revealed his plan to turn Canada into a weapons-exporting global mega-power. “In total, the Defence Industrial Strategy is an investment of over half a trillion dollars in Canadian security, economic prosperity, and our sovereignty,” he announced this week, promising to create over 125 thousand “high-paying careers” building weapons and otherwise supplying the Canadian military...
Cuba has been plunged into darkness. Schools, hospitals and essential services are hit by rolling 12-hour blackouts. Foreigners, including Canadians, have fled. Even worse, infant mortality is climbing.
A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.
The Canadian government has avoided commenting on the United States’ controversial targeting of alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Caribbean waters.
This week the Pentagon issued secret contracts to American weapons-makers to build the first generation of space weapons. The contracts have not yet been publicly announced, however sources told Reuters that the list includes Lockheed Martin and Northup Grumman – two of the biggest defence companies in the world.
I went back to Ottawa this week. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the nation’s capital to talk about peace issues, so when the Senate of Canada contacted me, I had to go. Prime Minister Carney’s Budget 2025 is making its way through Parliament, and the Senate’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs asked me and...
As Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “Donald Trump wants to break us so America can own us.” But what if Trump decides to use military power along with economic tariffs? An Arctic expert writing in The Globe and Mail says we shouldn’t think of tanks or helicopters streaming over the border. Instead, an American show-of-force could begin with a single...
I am very worried that Canada is sleepwalking into potentially the most dangerous military project since the atom bomb. Trump’s Golden Dome will put thousands of weapons in space – one of the few places where there are no weapons today – and lock us into a new Cold War with Russia and China that will rob our children and...
Canada’s Defence Minister was at the Pentagon this week working out untold arrangements with his mercurial American counterpart, Trump’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth (yes, “war” is part of his new job title). Canada’s media seems to have little interest in what Minister David McGuinty was discussing, whether it was
You may have heard the news this week that in a bizarre, high-risk move, Russia sent drones into the airspace of NATO members Poland and Romania (Russia has denied attacking NATO). The scale of the incursion – 19 drones into Poland’s airspace and another drone over Romania – is too many to be just an accident. On September 9 and...
It’s difficult for us to imagine a future that’s different than today, because so much of our understanding of today is based upon our past.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has removed any restrictions on Canada’s military to join President Trump’s Golden Dome, an unproven, half-trillion dollar program to try to shoot down nuclear-armed missiles launched against the United States by Russia or China. According to Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese, Defence Minister David McGuinty visited the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters in Colorado...
Canada’s military budget is set to grow so much, the question everyone is asking is: How will Prime Minister Carney pay for it?
For readers of a certain generation, Lloyd Axworthy represents a Golden Era for Canada on the international stage during the 1990s after the Cold War. Serving as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Lloyd Axworthy helped to shift power away from the nuclear-armed superpowers toward increased multilateralism, international institutions, and disarmament. Chief among his accomplishments is the global treaty...
American President Donald Trump left the G-7 meeting in Kananaskis one day early this week, but not before firing a parting shot at Prime Minister Carney over Canada’s role in the Golden Dome missile defence system, which will put weapons in space for the first time.
Canada is moving closer to joining Trump’s Golden Dome scheme, despite widespread opposition expressed by the public in a new poll.
Looking over media releases from the Prime Minister’s office, you will find in recent days Mark Carney has spoken to the Premier of China Li Qiang, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto. But one world leader’s name is conspicuously absent from the list: U.S. President Donald Trump.
It takes this National Defence expert only five minutes to utterly take apart Trump’s Golden Dome missile defence scheme. This interview features an analysis by Prof. Walter Dorn, a Defence Studies professor at the Royal Military College, discussing President Donald Trump’s ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defence initiative. Watch it here:
Former Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of betraying Canadians in a strongly worded opinion article published by The Globe and Mail. Axworthy was responding to the announcements this week, first by Donald Trump and then by Carney a day later, that Canada wants to join and help pay for Trump’s “Golden Dome” scheme that...
There are plenty of problems confronting progressives in the United States right now. So lots of our American cousins may not even be aware of the angst and hardship that Trump is inflicting upon Canada.
Parliament will look very different when newly-elected MPs return to Ottawa this month. There will be far less diversity of voices in the House of Commons with the demise of the NDP, and this is not good for our democracy.
Is it time I admit defeat, pull up my tent and go home? For 30 years I have advocated for reductions to Canada’s military spending, and it keeps rising and rising. Now it’s reached the point where Canada is the 6th highest in actual dollars within NATO (after USA, Germany, UK, France, Poland). Responding to expensive plans to increase military...
Some alarming news has come to light this week in the Russia-Ukraine war that has far-reaching implications – potentially leading to the use of nuclear weapons.
Israel’s far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a secret plan for Gaza as his defence forces continue to bomb, displace and now starve its more than 2 million inhabitants. Haaretz journalist Noa Landau says that despite never admitting it, Netanyahu has a “day after” scheme for Gaza that looks remarkably like the way the United States devastated Iraq following the...
If you or someone you know has been active in the pro-Palestinian movement, you may have noticed this trend. There is a growing frustration among those trying to stop the terrible violence and bloodshed in Gaza from Israel’s wonton bombings, launched in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas fighters on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The prospect for peace in the Middle East is farther away than ever, with both Palestinians and Israelis convinced their attacks on the other are justified by past grievances. As the first anniversary of the surprise attack by Hamas on civilians and troops inside Israel on October 7 nears, which prompted massive attacks by Israel killing tens of thousands, a...
What does the now-defunct Liberal-NDP cooperation agreement teach us about politics? Can politicians rise above partisanship for the common good? I’ve witnessed toxic “hyper-partisan” politics firsthand during my years in Ottawa. It can get pretty ugly. The Conservatives once shut down my presentation to the all-party National Defence Committee practically mid-sentence!
It’s counter-intuitive, but Ukraine’s surprising incursion into Russia this month may mean that Ukraine is seeking a way to end the war, not expand it. As PeaceQuest readers will know, the conflict war between Ukraine and Russia has become what is known as “a war of attrition,” where each side is unable to make significant territorial games and both resort...
A potential regional war looming, over two hundred citizens taken hostage and 1200 killed during a preventable massacre, and international condemnation over potential war crimes, yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political support has increased recently, according to a new public opinion poll.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s fate may have been sealed when, in front of dozens of world leaders at the NATO 75th anniversary meeting, he introduced Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” There was an audible gasp in the room. Biden immediately corrected himself after conflating the arch
While Canadian media outlets joined with U.S. lawmakers in haranguing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Canada’s military spending, the Wall Street Journal just came right out and said it. Americans think Canada spends too much on social programs and not enough on the military.
The future looks pretty dire for progressive voters in the United States and Canada. Right-leaning parties seem to be poised for big electoral success on both sides of the border. By the time Remembrance Day comes around next year, Donald Trump’s Republicans and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives could be in power in Washington, D.C. and Ottawa.
Are international arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas’ Sinwar and others one step closer? The criminal case against the leaders of Israel and Hamas got a boost last week from a new UN report exposing damning evidence of war crimes committed by each side’s forces.
With “all eyes on Rafah” following the horrifying deaths of Palestinian civilians in fiery airstrikes by Israel on Gaza, hardly anyone is noticing that the U.S. and NATO nuclear powers are pushing the world closer to a nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President, is growing desperate as Russia makes advances on the battlefield, and he has been pleading...
Both sides of the Gaza war objected strongly when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) accused their leaders of war crimes this week. Hamas and the Israeli government said their respective leaders are not “moral equivalents,” and that only the other side is guilty of such heinous crimes.
Good morning — here is your Saturday newsletter. I have recorded an article voiceover, if you prefer to listen. This week I am adding something new! PeaceQuest classifieds from our friends to keep you informed about opportunities to attend events, join campaigns, and more. In peace,
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre’s roadside chat with protesters in the Maritimes this week has raised plenty of questions about the party’s political game plan. As Press Progress editor Luke Lebrun described the meeting, “Poilievre told a sovereign citizen convoy group camped out at the Nova Scotia - New Brunswick [border] that he saw them on the side of the...
Pro-Palestine encampments are springing up on campuses across the United States. But university administrators are responding with heavy-handed tactics, calling in the police mounted on horseback and motorcycles. Over 100 students were arrested at Columbia University in New York.
“Bring us more targets!” the Israel Defence Force (IDF) commanders shouted at intelligence officers. The commanders were directing the artillery and airstrikes in Gaza and demanded a “continuous pipeline of targets.” The intelligence officers sending them targets turned to a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) program called Lavender, which the IDF devised to track and identify Hamas fighters.
There is a new political force growing inside Israel, and it may offer the best chance to end the terrible bloodshed in Gaza. Last weekend, tens of thousands of people rallied in Israeli cities, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to do more to secure the release of hostages still in the hands of Hamas. Nobody knows where they...
Monday was a day of high political drama in Ottawa, but the outcome left many unsatisfied. After hours of negotiations that went down to the wire, Parliament voted in favour of an NDP motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the end of arms shipments from Canada to Israel. A rare achievement for an opposition party.
Canadian peace research group Project Ploughshares says statements by Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly about arms exports to Israel are misleading, and remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are “patently false.” Trudeau told Parliament on February 14, 2024, that no export permits have been issued for Canadian arms transfers to Israel since October 7, 2023, the day Hamas killed over a...
Some commentators are raising the alarm that Canada’s military can’t seem to hire enough soldiers, leaving a big gap in Canada’s ability to send troops to Eastern Europe and elsewhere around the world. But what’s the reason? Is it plentiful jobs that are available to young people, or are they rejecting war and the military?
Ottawa is buzzing with anticipation of the introduction of the Canada Pharmacare Act and other measures, expected on Thursday, February 29. Details of the Liberal’s pharmacare program have been leaking out slowly since NDP leader Jagmeet Singh announced that his party was satisfied with the Liberal plan last Friday, securing his party’s support for the minority Liberal government for another...
The man with a pretty good shot at being the next U.S. President sent shockwaves through NATO headquarters this week. At a political rally, Donald Trump told supporters he would “encourage” Russia to attack any of the U.S.’s NATO allies whom he considers to have not met their financial obligations.
There is growing pressure on Israel’s allies to convince the Netanyahu government to reign-in, or even end its devastating and indiscriminate military bombardment of Gaza sparked by Hamas’ surprise cross-border attack on October 7, 2023. Peace and human rights groups issued an open letter this week calling on the government to end weapons exports to Israel in protest of its...
Despite the government’s best efforts to avoid it, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in recent Canadian elections is underway in Ottawa. Not surprisingly, its main focus is China and Russia, with India added late to the list. But some are saying one major threat to our democracy is missing: Big Foreign Oil. In an article published in Policy Options...
Yesterday the World Court handed down its anticipated initial ruling on South Africa’s case of genocide against Israel over its conduct in Gaza. The court ordered that Israel must “take all measures within its power to prevent” any acts of killing or hardships in Gaza that would violate its obligations under the Genocide Convention, which was introduced in 1948 in...