The police are wonderful when they control traffic, or rescue a cat from a tree, when they talk to school kids about catching criminals and locking them up, when they talk to teens about the dangers of drunk driving and the new legalities around marijuana.
Crowd control – who benefits?
But give them a G7 summit to watch over and a whole new image emerges. When it takes 8 000 police from various forces, costing an estimated $400 million, to watch over a small set of protesters numbering between 200-300 from various groups, the police are no longer your friend, but the friend of the government and big business.
In Quebec during the recent G7 summit (La Malbaie, Charlevoix) the squads of police wore riot gear with bullet proof vests, face masks, gas masks, equipped with assault rifles, and tear gas launchers. Overhead, drones, helicopters, and dirigible like balloons watched for wandering groups who might be a “threat” to the community. In reality, the only threat came from the militarized police forces, while the security system smiled proudly as the corporate dollars rolled in.
Israel is probably the biggest beneficiary in the monetary sense. The Canadian government is very proud of its support of the colonial-settler state of Israel, and has many trade agreements with them, many dealing with military services and security. Whether all the gear is made in Israel is not apparent, but as Israel demonstrates how its “security” works against the Palestinians then Canada is certainly learning from the best of the oppressors. (It’s only fair, Canada set up a system of racial genocide/apartheid well before Israel did, and both countries are the product of the racist British empire).
Israel cannot take all the credit, as Canada tends to follow trends in the U.S., being about 10 years later on the same path. Now that Canada and the U.S. are entering a trade war scenario, the security “threats” will come from a new economic angle – the U.S. does not need to bluster on about its military prowess to Canada as we are essentially a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. anyway, the 51st state at best, a sycophantic foreign policy follower at worst. To control Canada, the U.S. simply needs to close its border to Canadian goods.
The Trump factor
Few have any idea how to deal with Trump. The guy is such a whack-o nutcase narcissistic bully with a fragile ego that rational thought cannot deal with him. Beyond that, the leaders of the G7, and indeed the leaders of all western governments, are held in bondage by the U.S. through their control of the World Bank/IMF/BIS/SWIFT and other related economic institutions commonly known as the Washington consensus.
For Canada to stand up to Trump will probably lead to tariffs accompanied by such idiotic statements from Trump about Trudeau being “very dishonest and weak” (one can almost hear John Bolton whispering into his ear, but this is more than likely true Trump-speak). Trudeau will only be “very dishonest and weak” if he caves in to U.S. demands on trade within NAFTA and outside NAFTA on other issues. As most European leaders appear to have acquiesced to Trump on the Iran deal – not directly, but by not outlining any plan to support their own industries threatened by bank and economic sanctions – it will be tough for Trudeau to stand up to Trump and U.S. economic threats.
Boycott USA
Canada would certainly suffer economically if that happens – so would the U.S. A response that could be made is a grassroots action to boycott Made in USA goods. That is impossible to do in its entirety as Canada is so strongly tied into the U.S. economy, but avoiding some obvious items such as automobiles, electronic goods, and agricultural products would send a strong message to the U.S. and to the world.
It is fully doubtful that any MP in Canada would dare voice such an idea in Parliament, but the challenge is their for them to accept, or, conversely, provide a few weasily words as to why we cannot antagonize our southern neighbour for whatever invented reason.
…and the rest of the world…
What is noticeable by its lack of media attention are the various summits hosted by Russia and China. While the “west” is bickering within itself, mostly kowtowing to U.S. control, the “rest of the world” is getting on with business. The recent St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the more recent Putin – Xi-Jinping summit meeting, the current SCO meeting in Qingdao, have received no coverage in the mainstream media.
Thus the ‘world island’ of Eurasia is arranging itself outside of public awareness in the west, and probably only through highly distorted western deep state awareness in private. Systems are in place for military, financial, and industrial trade within most of the nations and populations of Eurasia, independent of U.S. control.
U.S. eyes will be focused on Trump heading to Singapore to meet Kim Jong-un of North Korea – and while the MSM spins the Trump/US line on denuclearization, Russia and China are getting North and South Korea talking to each other, anticipating their incorporation into the BRI (new Silk Road) and backing North Korea in its ‘negotiations’ with Trump – the ‘art of the deal’ meets Sun Tzu and the traditions of Lao Tzu and Confucius, and contemporary Asian pragmatism.
G7 follies
The G7 is a tired worn structure, ineffective because of its subservience to U.S. interests and its lack of willpower to think/act independently of U.S. desires. Perhaps Trump’s childish tantrums in reaction to Trudeau’s statements will put some spine in somebody’s response. A trade war would do the world a lot of good, revealing the underlying cut and thrust of economic-military policies of the United States within and against its current allies.
It will remain to be seen whether Canada’s government, and the Canadian people, are capable of acting against U.S. wishes and demands, or whether they capitulate and accept their third class status within the empire.
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Jim Miles is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
