The Canadian Compass: Charting a Path Though Geopolitical Chaos

According to D. Trump, the United States does not need anything that Canada has to offer. With the assistance of AI, this statement, like virtually everything that spills out of Trump's mouth is a lie, or at best, rooted in ignorance: "Over history, Canada –United States relations have included vital Canadian support during the American Civil War , two world wars, critical Cold War defense pacts, modern military coalitions, and emergency disaster relief . [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] 19th and Early 20th Century Support American Civil War (1861–1865): Between 33,000 and 55,000 volunteers from British North America served in the Union army to support the North . [ 1 ] San Francisco Earthquake (1906): Canadian communities and civic groups sent immediate financial aid and relief supplies following the devastating earthquake and fire . [ 1 ] World War II and the Early Cold War Manhattan Project (1940s): Canada supplied critical raw materials, including uranium and heavy water, used in the ...

This time, rather than bombs it was bombast. The so-called "leaders" of the once great US of A has compelled Canada to call the bully and his toadies' bluff. The huff and puff that Vance so tactlessly attributed to our Prime Minister ended up spewing from Trump and his minions. Like bullies in the school yard who have faced a response they did not expect, they have resorted to their pitiful name calling and childish insults. Trump used  the same playbook he would employ   as "developer" to string his suppliers out to the end of a deal and then change the rules at the last moment. This invariably would  force the businesses to which he owned millions into bankruptcy, having been ground down to a defenseless position. Given their position relative to the predator, they could not sustain the fight and had to cut their losses. Check the record, this is how Trump operated time and time again. Trump has never come to terms with the reality that global business is not ...

As I watch the world unfolding as it should not, I am struck by several confounding realities. First, if some tin pot despot in a tiny country in a distant hemisphere were to issue vacuous and erratic pronouncements about levelling or taking over a country that has pissed him off, or continued to malign democratic processes that brought him to power, or insulted well respected world leaders, most of the world would laugh him off as an aberrant and passing curiosity. However, if that despot represented a once powerful and revered nation state, the impact is the opposite; those actions are destructive beyond compare in their affect every corner of the globe in a profoundly negative way. Exemplary nation states of all systems and sizes, act in their own self-interest, protecting their standing in the world community and operating as part of a world order that champion's stability for the mutual benefit of that order as well as the benefit and prosperity of their citizens. Nation state...