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Archived version

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U.S. President Donald Trump initially floated his desire to purchase Greenland during his first term in office. Since the beginning of his second, he has repeatedly raised the need to “get” Greenland.

“We need Greenland very importantly for international security. We have to have Greenland,” Trump said as Vice-President JD Vance visited Pituffik Space Base on the island in March.

The self-governing territory, which remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, is already home to one permanent U.S. military base and continues to attract geopolitical interest due to its mineral resources and its location in the North Atlantic.

As melting sea ice opens up more shipping routes in the Arctic, countries like Russia and China are growing more and more interested in sending vessels into northern waters — something that the Danish forces’ Joint Arctic Command is also watching closely.

“Climate change drives a lot of activities in the Arctic area, and that will provide even larger tasks for the military force,” said Deputy Commander Lars Nielsen, who also pointed out the unique needs involved with securing such a large area.

Nielsen said the landmass stretches 2,700 kilometres, with between 80 and 90 per cent of it covered in ice. “Which makes it on one hand quite difficult to protect,” he said, “but access is also equally difficult.”

As challenges mount, Nielsen said the interest in working together with Greenland’s closest neighbour remains high.

“I think that the Danish-Canadian co-operation is important for this area. Joint Arctic Command is the military authority in Greenland, and [we] are very eager to strengthen the co-operation between Denmark, Greenland and Canada.”

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Archived version

The R-C-M-P has warned the federal public safety minister the police force has "resourcing challenges" when it comes to tackling the threat of foreign interference.

The concern arises as the Mounties and other federal security agencies face pressure from diaspora communities to do more to counter meddling and transnational repression by such countries as China, Russia, Iran and India.

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Archived version

More than 3,000 kilometres north of the nation's capital, soldiers, ships and aircraft of Canada's Armed Forces gathered this week in one of the most remote areas of the country to answer one question: How would they board a foreign vessel that neither wanted to be seen, nor stopped.

What if the crew of that ship was near sensitive military sites in the North?

It may seem far-fetched. But vessels run routinely through the north with their transponders switched off — largely invisible to other ships, and not necessarily seen by Canada's satellite and surveillance systems.

The annual exercise is known as Operation Nanook, and took on particular significance this year with a collision of geopolitical changes: China's growing ambition in the Arctic, Prime Minister Mark Carney's plans to substantially increase the capabilities of the military and the newly recognized value of minerals in the North.

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Canada's traditional adversaries have shown growing interest in the North's rich deposits of critical minerals. Not to mention the opening of new, shorter shipping routes between Asia, North America and Europe through the Northwest Passage as climate change makes for an increasing number of ice-free days.

"That would be Russia and, increasingly, China," said Stephanie Carvin, a former national security official and now an academic with Carleton University in Ottawa.

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A member of New York’s Chinese dissident community on Tuesday pleaded guilty to spying on his fellow activists on behalf of the Chinese government.

Tang Yuanjun (唐元雋), 68, had long been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, joining monthly protests outside the country’s Manhattan consulate and founding a pro-democracy nonprofit in Flushing, Queens, where he has lived since 2002.

However, as he publicly advocated against his homeland’s government, Tang was quietly acting on orders from Beijing’s intelligence service to collect information on his fellow Chinese-American rights advocates, according to a guilty plea entered on Tuesday.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4681271

Archived

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The ambassadors did not provide firm figures on the long-debated eligibility criteria, which will instead be set during the negotiations. Currently, third-country suppliers – including those from the UK and Canada – cannot supply more than 35% of the total value of any weapons contract financed through SAFE loans.

SAFE currently only allows European firms, along with Ukrainian and Norwegian ones – whose countries were granted access without negotiations with the Commission – to produce at least 65% of the value of defence products purchased through the programme.

This limit could be removed if the supplier’s home country signs both a Security and Defence Partnership and a separate eligibility agreement with Brussels, and contributes financially to the programme.

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Archived version

Canada has transferred US$1.7 billion to Ukraine from revenues generated by frozen Russian assets.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine had received about US$1.7 billion (CA$2.3 billion) from Canada under the ERA initiative. These funds come from the proceeds of Russian assets frozen in the West.

He noted that with this tranche, Ukraine has received approximately US$17.6 billion since the beginning of the year through the immobilisation of Russian assets.

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At the end of June, the UK gave missiles to Ukraine paid for with £70m interest on Russian assets.

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"We are grateful to Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney and everyone involved in this initiative. We insist on the full confiscation of the frozen Russian assets. They are needed to compensate the victims of aggression and to rebuild our state. This will also be an act of justice to prevent aggressive wars in the future," Shmyhal says.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2029861

Archived

Canada will send $5 billion in aid to Ukraine using funds from seized Russian assets, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday at a peace and security summit in Kyiv.

Trudeau made the pledge as he and a dozen other world leaders are in the Ukrainian capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, where support for Ukraine to end the war on its terms and with its territory intact remained strong.

“This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way,” Trudeau said at the summit table.

“This is a war started for one reason and one reason only: Russia’s desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire.”

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“We cannot return to an era where might makes right,” Trudeau said. “We must do everything in our power to enable Ukraine to secure a just and lasting peace, a peace that cannot be achieved without Ukrainians at the table.”