Canada’s “Copy and Paste” Foreign Policy with Regard to Ukraine: Ottawa Supports US War Agenda directed against Russia

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, September 20, 2014
Ria Novosti 18 September 2014
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As Canada hits Russia with a new package of sanctions targeting Russian military officials, defense companies and the largest state-owned bank, political analyst Prof. Michel Chossudovsky believes the country is simply copying the policy of the US towards Moscow and adds that it is mostly a move to curry favor in the polls with the country’s Ukrainian diaspora.

“I think that there are essentially two elements here,” he told Radio VR.

“One pertains to the fact that in recent years, particularly under the government of Prime Minister Harper, Canadian foreign policy is a ‘copy and paste’ of that of Washington. Essentially, there is an agreement on basic principles. The US and Canada have integrated military commands, the two economies are heavily integrated and the corporate elites overlap with one another.”

“That’s the first element,” he added.

“The second has to do with the 1.2 million Ukrainians, or people of Ukrainian descent, who are largely concentrated in the western provinces – [such as] Manitoba.”

“And this, from the point of view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is an important source of political support in forthcoming elections and he has played on that,”

said Prof. Chossudovsky.

“But at the same time, that Ukrainian community in Canada is not necessarily aligned with the Poroshenko government. It has diverse opinions, and some people within that community are extremely critical of the ongoing processes and the Poroshenko government’s support of Nazi elements and so on.”

Prof. Chossudovsky also commented on Poroshenko’s trip abroad, including his visit to Ottawa, calling it a “public relations tour”.

“The prime minister has already promised that Canada would deploy so-called non-combat troops from the Canadian army and navy and air force,” he said.

“Non-combat sounds a bit contradictory. [They are] to join allies in Eastern Europe and I assume they may be even deployed inside Ukraine; that is an object for discussion.”

There is a financial assistance package, added Prof. Chossudovsky, but it is not particularly significant, and it would be a loan rather than direct foreign aid.

“And I think that we are dealing with a little bit of propaganda here, with public relations. Poroshenko is on a public relations tour.  And I think most of these positions taken by the Ottawa government are formulated in liaison with the US State Department.”
Articles by: Prof Michel Chossudovsky

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983) He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015). He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

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