Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 1, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 pm i Cimmin 2000 eur Force threat to nato has the United states created a Frankenstein monster in Europe some officials obviously Are beginning to think so As they contemplate the unwelcome news that the leaders of the european Union Are moving ahead with a plan to create their own rapid deployment military former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has denounced the initiative As an act of monumental while such a Force at first glance might seem to make sense Given the seemingly endless tension and Vio Lence in Europe own it could ultimately have highly negative implications not just for nato but More important for the Long term strategic interests of the United As Well As Washington unwittingly paved the Way for such a Sepa rate military capability by constantly urging natos european members since the 1950s to upgrade their collective military Washington desire to see key countries like Ger Many increase defence spending was Given that the shouldered the greatest defence Bur Den within the last thing the anticipated was the establishment of a european military Force capable of giving the 15member eur the ability to defend not solely its own but also possibly doing so independently of undercut but its not simply the Prospect of such a proposed crisis intervention Force operating separately from nato that is the sole concern for american it is fear such a Force with its own command Structure Over undercut Washington ability to dominate euro Pean states via it could even conceivably decouple the and Canada from the extremely close transatlantic cooperation existing since natos creation in the erosion of nato would reduce this country ability to Advance distinctively Canadian views in a forum whose european acting in Are beginning to play a much greater role collectively in International France had already tried to pursue an Independent course in the 1960s when it took command of its forces out of the formal nato Structure in Brus although Paris subsequently reintegrated French forces into natos command successive French governments nonetheless have tried assiduously to create a distinctly separate european military the agreement reached by eur leaders at their recent Summit meeting in Brussels to make specific commit ments of ships and is the culmination of that despite claims by eur leaders that the new Force would remain linked to Many americans regard it As a potential Trojan threatening Hegemony Over european until Washington could normally rely on Britain to thwart such eur changing realities in Europe came into play in recent most West european states were no longer ruled by conservative governments but by socialist or Centre left they found it increasingly easy to work together on All whether or Security and the fallout from Yugoslavia Oisin particularly the massive wave of refugees suddenly flooding across european convinced eur states they had to develop a concerted capability to protect their collective including greater defence drastic cuts in Canadas own Mili tary spending have not Only exposed this country inability to adequately Field peacekeeping but also resulted in Canadas exclusion from critical decisions being made by Core nato Canadas contributions considered little1 better than Token by Alliance weakness the us own military weakness became vividly apparent in the Airway against the Lack of Independent High tech military including Large scale air meant european nations had to rely on military this also meant deferring to military even if it didst correspond with the views of eur with the concept of euro Pean Unity spreading across the Conti Calls for greater coordination among existing eur military forces Are the Prospect of a United Europe conceivably evolving into a powerful Mili tary bloc separate from nato should serve As a warning to Ottawa that its own downgrading of Canadas commit ment to nato could ultimately under with Europe tithe alliances refusal to Bend limits Chance to govern the though remarkable in Many is chiefly remarkable in its failure to resolve yet again who and what will ultimately provide an alternative to the present Liberal the results represent a Large dose of Dejavu All Over in Jean Chretien and the liberals won office with the considerable assistance of a fractured As subsequent events unfolded and the ineffectiveness of the opposition was made Mani the conventional Wisdom was though the next election was unlikely to change the it would determine which party would become the real oppo in the liberals barely scraped Home in 1997 and the future of the opposition remained unset so that after the election a new conventional Wisdom was Artic notably by Reform Leader Preston this View argued that Only with a breakthrough in Ontario would Reform become credible and that breakthrough could Only be achieved by somehow uniting the mannings instincts were sound but remain though a new party was it remained largely oriented to the policies of the despite an infusion of defecting it chose As its Leader a Man whose chief Quality was that he was photogenic but who seemed to possess Little of Man rings intelligence and who seemed captive of the most conservative part of the which thus reinforced its Appeal to those of its supporters who had nowhere else to go in any worse Day embodied a rather unappealing combination of naivete and Well caught in his election night characteristically cliche rid it seemed to rest on the proposition that any banality uttered twice packs double the punch of its being uttered once in it served to underline the emptiness of much of what he was one was struck yet again at How easy it must be to thrive in the Hothouse environment of the Alberta provincial conservative party where the absence of Challenge and the presence of Money have produced a dynasty now nearly 30 years old in which orthodoxy and received opinion strengthened in one the Alliance emerges strengthened from this election its share of the popular vote is up and it has won More particularly in the three westernmost provinces it now stands Sec albeit a Distant in Many the Ontario breakthrough has not despite much disenchantment with the liberals and continuing Appeal to some the Alliance shows Little capacity for continued the is whether it can go any further without a change of Leader and a substantial reorientation of its policies and values in metamorphosing into Someth very much like the progressive conservative albeit with a stronger right is the much of what was Reform and is now Alliance support once constituted the right Wing of the conservative the tories were electable because they could Appeal to wan Remiorz Canadian press the under Stockwell has to be willing to Middle of the Road and could make such Appeal because the though was not since the right has had a party All to their understandable reluctance to relinquish that dominance now limits their by foreclosing the rebuilding of a broadly based conservative party with sufficient centrist Appeal to woo disenchanted the right can maintain its orthodox ideological purity or it can enter something larger with the Prospect of forming a government it is unlikely to achieve it will be by the fact that in Western its ranks include Many for whom a visceral hostility to the rest of the country now seems deeply for the thanks largely to Joe the results provide the Chance to fight there of no guarantees they will pre but they have stepped Back from the oblivion that faced them just a few months though far from a the election nonetheless vindicated Clarks View that there is a conservative option that is not represented by the Over million canadians voted for that in prefer ence to both the liberals and the a fact All the More striking since there was never any possibility of the conservatives actually the continuing Alliance that the conservatives Are splitting the must disconcert those voters who think themselves More than herds of listening on election night to Brian sometime tory and now an Alliance is to realize that he and Many others still dont get it voters vote As they do As a matter of voting to make life More convenient for parties or party elites is not really what the exercise is reuniting the election suggests that most conservative Vot ers were unlikely to follow Clark into the embrace of the Alliance even if he had wanted to Lead for Many such a govern ment dominated by the values that dominate the Alliance has Little to recommend it Over the Liber a reuniting of conservatives remains a require ment of a broadly based alternative to the but the Alliance is not it is noteworthy that in the combined reformatory vote was 38 per cent in this election the Alliance tory vote is still 38 per the Liberal vote Rose from 38 per cent to 41 per for All the toil and trouble that went into uniting the right this was a Barren in frfst1 it i tie free press alters from they must include the authors address and Telephone 1m 11 1 Lui letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email evolution not Dis provable despite Robert Kayes letter creationists discount science that Doest fit science does not clearly support the prob Lem is evolution is not provable or Dis the theory obviously has if we can eat shellfish and then we have the same Bio chemistry As shellfish and you consider any lineage of related including humans or there Are gaps in the and the closer you the spotter the record and the bigger the Dan can show but not if or How they the bulk of the evidence Points to evolution As a working and does not Dis prove evolution is the Best Overall general but that it Bailey Winnipeg referendum plan election ploy does Stockwell Day really believe in citizen initiative and referendum for Many years Day worked closely with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and neither demonstrated any willingness to listen to albertan whose views differed from government petitions containing More based on Albertas than the Alliance threshold for a National referendum were submitted on Bill the Alberta health care privatization massive demonstrations were held across the in Day and Klein referred to opponents of Bill 11 As being misguided rambler users and left Wing can we honestly believe the Alliance referendum plan is nothing More than an election ploy Gordon Steele Edmonton backstreet boys rate five stars i was very offended about the review Bartley Kives did on the new Back Street boys along with my thought that it was rude and especially the comment Kives made about the boys admirable decision not to slap their pretty mugs on the cd what does he mean Nicks hairstyle was dubiously inspired by a flock of seagulls most people think its great for Nick to try a new style Kives also mentioned that the Guys wrote at least half of their songs give them a Gold that have raised their rat ing i think the review should have Given five stars out of Meghan younger Winnipeg Granger remarks intolerant i was appalled to read about Betty grangers recent comments concern ing asian immigrants for two Rea i am an English As a second language teacher in Winnipeg school division where is Granger is a school in my esl Many of my students Are in addition to teaching them i encourage tolerance and respect of the diverse cultures and lifestyles that we find in it greatly worries me that is Granger Doest appear to share this View i am the Mother of a Chi Nese girl adopted from Mainland China in March she is a Grade 3 student at a Winnipeg school division school where the Lions quest pro Gram emphasizes Many Fine including respect and is grangers recent remarks show Nei ther tolerance nor my question to is Granger is How do i explain to my students and my Daugh Ter that one of their school trustees does not think that they have the right to live and be educated in Canada Isle Slotin Winnipeg Granger didst say anything new Betty grangers career appears to be Down the Drain because of ill advised remarks made to University of Winnipeg but i have heard exactly those same remarks made in documentaries As Well As in new spa especially on the West her big sins were to use them during a highly charged election Campaign and to not Couch them in More Deli Cate for this she is paying the Price for not being that Bunch of sanctimonious Busy bodies at the school Board should stick to the business they were elected to do and let the voters look after is it is not their business to hold trials to see if she is guilty of maybe we need a school Board that knows what its business is apparently this one As for Allan who decided to throw off his academic Cap for a partisan Liberal one his career should take the same track As is he decided to throw in his lot with a party that starved educational institutions which employ him As Well As health for funds and made one of the situations she was describing much worse than it needed to at the same the government found funds with which to Reward friends and finance Ven Tures of doubtful such As fountains in we dont expect writers or commentators to live in a they have opinions and preferences but i am sure his credibility will suffer with this blatant example of partisan will Schultz Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau in spoken future a Arvak ;