Fireworks And Beer

It’s Canada Day. And while millions of Canadians celebrate across the country, the reality that we are a nation caught up in the most foolish proxy war that this nation has ever been lured into will no doubt go largely overlooked.

Fireworks and beer have that affect.

Our men and women in uniform, doing their duty, are the ones that will have to endure the reckless policies and military usury that will keep them in Afghanistan for years to come. ISAF itself is nothing more than a US military proxy, and one that has paid a heavy price dealing with yet another completely ill conceived post 9/11 US led invasion. The Taliban, which was overthrown in 2001, is stronger today than it was when they were sent packing following the initial invasion. In their wake, a wholly corrupted Western puppet regime has filled the void, one that is completely ineffectual and unable to govern the country without the presence of foreign forces. Of course, all of that has not stopped the dream of a natural gas pipeline from the Caspian to the Arabian Sea from being sidetracked.

I’ll not defend the Taliban, not in a million years, but the realities of history regarding the region have so blatantly been overlooked as to utterly stupefy.

June was the deadliest month on record in Afghanistan for occupational forces since the 2001 invasion. June was also the second month in a row that casualties in Afghanistan surpassed those in Iraq.

The problem in Afghanistan does not solely rest with the existence of the Taliban either. Corruption and political infighting are rampant, and the government itself shows no real signs of true consolidation. It is an apparatus wholly dependant on the support of foreign powers, powers that will, without question, extract every ounce of advantage from Afghanistan, and its people, if the military situation in the country’s volatile regions are ever quelled to an extent that outright exploitation can be viewed as safely lucrative. While we are fed tripe about helping the people of Afghanistan, the reality remains that they represent an untapped resource, one that will see them exploited as a mechanism of cheap labour – all under the banner of progress and self sustainability.

It is, in a word, a shit show – one that has claimed the lives of far too many Canadians.

We are a nation at war. Given the context in which we are involved, perhaps more time should be spent today contemplating what it is that this nation ultimately stands for. And if Canadians are comfortable with the fact that we represent little more than a military proxy for the United States and those Trans-Corporations that are patiently licking their lips like wolves waiting in the wings – then what does that ultimately make us?

The Prime Minister of this nation believes that our involvement in this ridiculousness will ultimately lead to this nation becoming more of ‘a player’ on the world scene. Since when has that ever been a Canadian objective, or, for that matter, a truly Canadian perspective?