Joël-Denis Bellavance, a reporter with La Press in Montreal, published an article today dealing with Canada’s approval in April of the export of a suitcase-sized drone to the rebel forces in Libya. The export was made in contravention of the UN embargo on supplying arms to Libya. Bellavance based his story on related documents, heavily blacked out, secured through the …
Familiar Opening Scenes: Libya is rid of Gadhafi, but will Canadian Forces soon be bogged down in another Afghanistan?
Author John Siebert The Ploughshares Monitor Autumn 2011 Volume 32 Issue 3 It may be churlish to begrudge Prime Minister Harper some self-congratulatory hyperbole for the Canadian military’s contribution to the civil war in Libya. On August 21, the rebel forces, supported by NATO airstrikes since March, swept the capital of Tripoli. Moammar Gadhafi and his regime were no longer …
Don’t Close Chapter on Libya, Yet
Author John Siebert Published by the Waterloo Region Record It may be churlish to begrudge Prime Minister Stephen Harper some self-congratulatory hyperbole for the Canadian military’s contribution to the civil war in Libya. On Aug. 21, the rebel forces, supported by NATO airstrikes, swept the capital of Tripoli. Moammar Gadhafi and his regime were no longer in control of most …
Canada and the UN Arms Embargo on Libya
Open letter to Canada’s Foreign Minister August 30, 2011 The Honourable John Baird Minister of Foreign Affairs 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2 Re: Canada and the UN Arms Embargo on Libya Dear Minister, I am writing to seek clarification on Canada’s legal interpretation and reported approval of the recent delivery of a Canadian-made surveillance drone to forces in …
Target Libya: Can air strikes protect civilians?
Author John Siebert The Ploughshares Monitor Summer 2011 Volume 32 Issue 2 In the space of a few short weeks in February and March 2011 the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) took the leap from diplomatic and economic preventive measures to sanctioning military intervention in Libya based on Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principles. Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from U.S. and …
Libya and R2P
Briefing 11-2 Author John Siebert The NATO implementation of a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians, which began on March 19, has now explicitly morphed into regime change by bombing runs. The intensive daylight bombing of Tripoli on June 7 and recent statements by Canadian government ministers confirm the fundamental confusion between the goals of civilian protection and regime change. …