And now... AUKUS, but no CAN?

Regular readers will know that Walt often refers to "the AABC countries" -- America, Australian, Britain and Canada -- which are (or should be) the major English-speaking countries, who have (or should have) common interests and should therefore support each other against common interests. Sometimes things work out. Sometimes not.

I left New Zealand out of that list because "AABCNZ" is rather unwieldy, and, let's be frank, New Zealand isn't much more than an appendage of Australia. [Some would say Canada isn't much more than an appendage of othe USA! Ed.] But in recent years all five countries have joined together in an "intelligence alliance" called the Five Eyes.

The United Kingdom - United States of America Agreement, to give the Five Eyes its formal name, has now been superseded (or modified or strengthened -- depends how you look at it), by AUKUS -- a new security pact beweetn America, Australia and Britain... but not Canada.

Here's Senile Joe, flanked virtually by Aussie Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British PM Boris Johnson (see footnote), announcing the trilateral security partnership, aimed at countering the increasing dominance of Communist China in Asia and the Pacific. None of the three leaders mentioned China, but there can be no doubt that the initiative was a response to China’s expansionist drive in the South China Sea and increasing belligerence towards Taiwan.

The plan includes building a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, along with wide-ranging projects on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Over the next 18 months, teams from the AAB countries are to draw up a plan for assembling a new Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet. Australia will become only the seventh country in the world to have submarines propelled by nuclear reactors. 

Speaking from London, BoJo said the three countries were "natural allies" even though "we may be separated geographically," He added that the alliance would create "a new defence partnership and driving jobs and prosperity." Of course. Pouring massive amounts of money into the military-industrial complex (a phrase coined as a warning by the late President Eisenhower) always results in jobs and prosperity, if not peace.

BoJo neglected to mention that since the Brits handed Hong Kong (on a silver platter) to China in 1997, they have had virtually no territories in the Pacific. "Separated georgraphically" was something of an understatement! How is it, one wonders, that a country with a very long Pacific coastline, was left out of the agreement. I refer to Canada, and the question is a good one.

Could it be that the AAB countries don't trust Canada, now that it's under the proprietorship of the very Liberal Just In Trudeau, who has openly expressed his admiration for Communist China and their ways of "getting things done"?

The Globe and Mail quotes Eric Miller, a political and business consultant specializing in Canada-U.S. affairs, as saying AUKUS represents an alliance between countries "more willing than Canada to take on China... Those who are in the world of 'we need to directly confront China, and use all of our assets and resources to do that' – they are essentially moving forward."

Canada is clearly not in the "world" to which Mr Miller refers. It is the only one of the Five Eyes not to have banned Huawei Technologies from its 5G network. Intelligence experts fear that the Chinese firm could use such access to collect sensitive information and turn it over to Beijing's spy agencies.

The Canadian government has been dithering for three years over what to do about Huawei, and its position is more than awkward because of its continued detention of Meng Wanzhou, aka "The Princess of Huawei". The CFO of the telecoms giant has for some three years been under house arrest ["mansion arrest", shurely! Ed.] awaiting extradition to the USA on a warrant issued by the Trump administration.

The arrest of Ms Meng angered the Chicomms, who retaliated by arresting "the two Michaels" -- Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor -- Canadian citizens who have now spent well over 1000 days in Chinese prisons, as hostages for the release of Ms Meng. Sleepy Joe could solve that problem for Mr Socks by giving the OK to let Ms Meng go, but this is the one action of the Trump administration which he apparently doesn't want to undo.

Canada is also reluctant to jeopardize business interests in China, which include export markets for canola, pork and seafood. "Canada has not really made a choice about where it stands on China. For a long time, the attitude has been, 'We'll focus on the economic relationship with China, and the security relationship with the U.S. will be unaffected'" Mr. Miller said. "Canada now has to choose between its economic interests and security interests." 

The office of the Prime Minister of Canuckistan would not answer questions about AUKUS, including about whether it had been involved in discussions over the pact, or whether it had asked to join or wanted to join in the future. A spokesthing for Blackie McBlackface referred questions to the government's  "Global Affairs" [sic] department, but answer came there none.

Footnote: You think I'm disrespectful to keep referring to the freely and fairly elected President of the Excited States of America as "Sleepy Joe"? In its report on AUKUS, Breitbart News says that Mr Biden appeared to forget who he was talking to when he looked away from his prepared notes for just a few seconds and addressed Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison as "that fella down under."

Another footnote (added 17/9/21): Canada's alleged foreign policy was, in the first years of Mr Socks' government, led by Chrystia Freeland, "Diplomat of the Year" in 2018. She was known as "The Lady in Red" -- colour-coordinated with the Communist Chinese flag?!