Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba THINK TANK COMMENT EDITOR: RUSSELL WANGERSKY 204-697-7269 ● RUSSELL.WANGERSKY@WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A7 MONDAY JULY 29, 2024 Ideas, Issues, Insights History repeats — unless we’re careful I CAUGHT up with VeRA on a sunny Manitoba summer evening recently. It was just the two of us — and hundreds more Manitobans of all ages, milling about the static display of the only Avro Lancaster bomber still flying in North America. Our relationship goes back to the summer of 1988, when I heard (and watched) the first flights out of the Mount Hope airport, where she was restored to flying condition. Living in rural An- caster, it seemed the practice circuits always took her overhead. I remember well when VeRA was joined by two other vintage aircraft, a Hawker Hurricane and a Supermarine Spitfire, for her official inaugural flight. Sadly, five years later, a fire at the airport destroyed the Hurricane, the Spitfire and several other aircraft, along with the hangar and main- tenance records. Only the heroism of the local volunteer fire brigades saved VeRA — I remem- ber a tow truck removing a stalled fuel tanker from near the fire, and the aircrew installing her wheels so VeRA could be towed to safety. But there is more to the story. VeRA is official- ly the Andrew Mynarski VC Memorial Lancast- er. When I was very young, in Calgary, I first learned about Mynarski’s heroism because his cousin, Walter, was a friend of my parents. After we moved to Winnipeg in 1967, I was the first to spot the Royal Canadian Legion branch on Main Street, named in his honour. Later, while teaching on the base at 17 th Wing, I also saw his Victoria Cross on display in the NORAD bunker, where one of my grad students had gotten us special access one quiet evening for our seminar. So, having also visited VeRA at the new Cana- dian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, I had to welcome her to Winnipeg, Mynarski’s hometown. But it was an evening, and a week, of mixed emotions. I am sure the hosts were thrilled by the turnout — it was remarkable how many people lined up for hours, with their often-small children and grandchildren, to tour through the airplane. Yet, as my summer course on militarism winds down, I was troubled: how many of the people there knew why that aircraft was built, or why 55,573 people died in Bomber Command, along with many thousands more on the ground? We teach so little military history in schools or universities that I doubt many of those present really knew much. From a young age, I was just as enthusiastic about that history as the kids that scampered around VeRA. I would often recite the story of Andrew Mynarski from memory — unsolicited — and my reading involved all kinds of books about the Second World War and flying in general. Unfortunately, both for lack of opportunity and means, I have never visited those battlefields or cemeteries across the ocean. Yet I have lived with the thoughts and words of the people who fought and sometimes died, and try to commu- nicate something of their wartime experience to my students today. Canadian military historian Tim Cook refers to the Second World War as “the necessary war,” the one we needed (as Canadians) to fight against fascist tyranny and its underlying ideas that otherwise could have easily skipped across the ocean and threatened us here. That same description, however, does not apply to the Great War of 1914-1918. That war, and how it ended, created the conditions for what the popular press referred to — as early as 1919 — as “the Next War.” Far from being “the war to end war,” the Great War made the next one not optional, but “neces- sary.” So, in the aftermath of hurricane Beryl, spawned and worsened by a warming ocean, my mixed emotions were heightened this past week by the attempted assassination of former presi- dent Donald Trump and by the fatuous hype of the Republican National Convention. What I heard sounded very much like the fas- cism against which the Lancaster crews fought. Uncritical linkages between militarism and nationalism; the over-layering of faux Christian religiousity in the symbols and words used in con- vention speeches; the blind hatred of “the Other” (whoever that happens to be at the moment) — all these are breeding grounds for fascism disguised as a popular movement. Politicians who claim to be “for the people” rarely are, because their words (not their actions) are offered as self-validating evidence. We should judge them by what they do, or have done, not by what they say in the moment to wind up the crowd. VeRA’s visit reminds us of the cost of accepting the glib words of would-be leaders, especially those who offer us simple bumper stickers as shallow policy, in a world that is fraught with complexity and imminent danger. Otherwise, I fear we have not heeded the les- sons of history, and so — with those children who scampered around VeRA’s wheels — will again pay a bitter price. We must stop preparing for war — against people or planet — before fighting it once again becomes necessary. Peter Denton is adjunct faculty at the Royal Military College, and writes from his home in rural Manitoba. U.S. political violence erodes democracy’s reputation RARE bipartisan calls for national unity fol- lowed the near killing of Donald Trump earlier this month. “We have to treat one another with dignity and respect,” said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Violence has never been the answer,” U.S. President Joe Biden echoed in an Oval Office address. But this messaging — while necessary — ig- nores a deep-seated reality. “It is sadly incorrect to say, as so many have, that political violence ‘has no place’ in American society,” conservative intellectual David Frum wrote in response to the groundswell of positive rhetoric. “Assassinations, lynchings, riots and pogroms have stained every page of American political history.” Indeed, authoritarian regimes gleefully insist this is proof that democracy is inherently flawed. It breeds polarization and disorder, they claim, based on the U.S. experience. Autocrats’ own governance models are supposedly superior — systems that conveniently grant them ultimate power while denying their people civil liberties. Despite zero facts indicating the Trump shoot- er’s motivation, Chinese state media swiftly ex- ploited the incident. “This violence indicates that many people no longer believe that democratic processes can address their concerns,” gloated an editorial in the Global Times, a mouthpiece of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The highest rated comment on coverage by the People’s Daily tabloid: “America the free, every day a shooting.” Russian President Vladimir Putin routinely ac- cuses liberal democracy of being degenerate and chaotic. According to him, the West’s so-called “decadence” is destroying traditional religious and family values. Tehran has said that Western countries “lack the moral credibility” to criticize Iran. These countries and others are now aligning in what some experts have labelled an “axis of upheaval.” There is no shared ideology or vision uniting this nascent alliance. Instead, Chinese communists, Iranian theocrats, North Korean dictators, Russian imperialists, African juntas and Latin American socialists all simply want to dismantle liberal internationalism. It’s difficult to pinpoint precisely when Ameri- ca — and by extension, the West — lost its ability to effectively promote its values abroad. Foreign adversaries have also stoked America’s fratri- cidal rage by deploying mass disinformation campaigns. Yet, for people everywhere, the desire for dem- ocratic values — basic freedoms, human rights, functional institutions and the wish to choose how they are governed — still exists. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has underscored, in graphic terms, the profound benefits of preserving a rules-based international system. War is ruinous and expensive. Such principles are harder to promote when America’s global image and leadership is being undermined from within. In the words of Cana- dian author Stephen Marche, the assassination attempt on Trump is just the latest evidence of how the U.S. is being “overwhelmed by its pathol- ogies.” Be it hyper-partisanship and the collapse of faith in national institutions or environmental degradation and the rise of enormous inequality. Corroborating evidence comes from a recent poll that found one in five U.S. adults views po- litical violence as valid if it can “get the country back on track.”s In other words: restore the primacy of their preferred social and political tribe. After going underground in 2021, far-right extremist militias are now reanimating ahead of November’s election. And many aren’t even bothering to hide their recruitment efforts, which are openly occurring across dozens of Facebook groups. This should come as no surprise given events over the past eight years. The attempted in- surrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is the most glaring example. Aside from that, a California man attempted to murder conserva- tive Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Maryland in June 2022. Two months later, an intruder broke into the home of then Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer. A group of men in 2020 were barely foiled in their plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. A gunman shot up an annual congres- sional baseball game for charity in Virginia in 2017. Politically motivated mass shootings at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019 and a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in 2022 explicitly tar- geted visible minorities. Today, local election offi- cials and volunteers face constant death threats. And this is nowhere near an exhaustive list. Appearing on CNN the morning after Trump’s brush with death, political scientist Ian Bremmer cautioned, “No one in the world admires the U.S. political system anymore, and that’s destabiliz- ing.” For the past three decades American soft power has underpinned an international system that — while deeply imperfect — has been more peaceful and prosperous than any other through- out history. But America cannot exercise leadership when it is experiencing violent decay at home. Expect democracy’s global reputation to suffer as a result. Kyle Hiebert is Winnipeg-based political risk analyst and former deputy editor of the Africa Conflict Monitor. A home for spent fuel WHAT if I told you nuclear waste was one of the truly good news stories in the Canadian environmental landscape? What if I said that this good news story spotlights citizen partic- ipation, respect for Indigenous sovereignty and local economic development? In fact, Canada has become a world leader in safely and responsibly stewarding the process of nuclear waste storage. And by doing so, we can invest confidently in nuclear power — a crucial tool in the fight against climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been clear that most pathways to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees require major investments in nuclear energy. While Manitoba doesn’t rely on nuclear power, it generates more than half of Ontario’s electricity, and is a key feature of the province’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. International experts agree that we cannot meet climate change targets without signifi- cantly increasing nuclear power generation. The safe storage of spent nuclear fuel is an important piece of that equation. Last Wednesday, in the Township of Ignace in Northwestern Ontario, we saw a shining example of consent-based stewardship when local citizens voted to express interest in hosting a deep geological repository beneath the town. The vote is a major milestone of the $26-billion project, led by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), to safely store and dispose of Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. The NWMO doesn’t define for a communi- ty what consent looks like. For Ignace, this meant undertaking in-depth education, en- gaging with residents through door-knocking, reporting on the engagement process, and taking a vote at their town council. It meant informing themselves on the numerous safe- guards in place to protect the environment while storing nuclear fuel. The successful vote is another giant step towards results for all parties. The long-term project will create an abundance of stable, well-paid, quality jobs — defining features of Ontario’s heavily unionized nuclear sector. These local jobs will bring economic revital- ization to the region. It is important that efforts to decarbonize Canada’s economy are done in partnership with affected Indigenous communities. For the project to go ahead in Northwestern Ontario, the NWMO will also need to obtain consent from the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation. The site is within their traditional territory, and the NWMO has respected prin- ciples of free, prior and informed consent as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Like Ignace, the First Nation will establish their own process to decide if they support the project. For over a decade, the NWMO has been engaging in in-depth geological, engineering and environmental studies to identify a re- gion where nuclear fuel can be safely stored. After years of scientific analysis, the NWMO established Ignace and the surrounding area as one of two safe and feasible locations. As president of the Society of United Professionals, I’m proud of our members whose work safeguards Canadians. Engi- neers, environmental scientists, nuclear safety scientists, geologists and community engagement professionals will ensure that the project meets the high safety standards of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The international scientific consensus is that the deep geological repository planned for the selected site is the gold standard for nuclear fuel storage. It will use a multibarrier system to isolate the fuel from the surround- ing rock, which is seismically stable. It is stored deep underground at approxi- mately 500-700 feet. That’s roughly the height of the CN Tower. At this depth, there is sep- aration from the watershed, ensuring safety that will meet the test of time. And that $26-billion price tag, how will we pay for that? It’s already paid for, and the money is in the bank. A portion of the pro- ceeds from every kilowatt of nuclear energy sold is put into a trust fund. The nuclear ener- gy industry does not externalize the costs of dealing with its waste onto the public, and no other form of energy can say the same. Because Ignace engaged in a meaningful consultation process with its residents and educated itself on the management of nuclear energy, the township has positioned itself for success, while facilitating success for the nuclear energy sector. We can take pride in Canada’s model for nuclear fuel storage. Michelle Johnston is the president of the Society of United Professionals. KYLE HIEBERT MICHELLE JOHNSTON PETER DENTON NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS The Avro Lancaster at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg on July 16. ;