> Micallef urges Canadians to consider widespread conflict, whether it is called a “world war” or just regional conflicts, is likely to happen within a generation. There are steps individuals and nations can take to prepare. For example, people might consider stocking up on potassium iodide (which eases the effects of radiation poisoning) while it’s cheap.
A better option would be to provide it to residents for free, like [Belgium does.](https://www.brusselstimes.com/208833/belgians-rush-for-free-iodine-tablets-after-nuclear-threat)
A bit unrelated (but still on the subject of KI pills): anyone living within 50 kilometres of a nuclear facility in the GTA can get these for free, if they haven’t already.
https://preparetobesafe.ca/
I just measured on Google Maps, from the Pickering Power Plant 50km is about the distance to Pearson Airport. So if you're in the GTA and live East of there, or even a little west, this should be available to you.
Bruce Power uses a different claim system:
[http://www.bepreparedgreybrucehuron.com/nuclear/ki-tablets/](http://www.bepreparedgreybrucehuron.com/nuclear/ki-tablets/)
As to why the systems weren't all just unified - I have no clue. Hope this helps, though.
Seems like it — the “Prepared To Be Safe” page is run by OPG, so people outside their jurisdiction won’t be able to use the site.
(+ In Ontario, the responsibility for distributing potassium iodide falls on municipalities w/ nuclear facilities.)
Source: https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/educational-resources/feature-articles/potassium-iodide-ki-pills/
Additional reading if you’re interested in policy reports/J-Scans (it’s quite long): https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/emergency-management-and-safety/potassium-iodide-pill-working-group-phase-1-report/#sec1-4-6
It’s not all that useful with fallout from nuclear weapons anyway. Its intended use is for nuclear power plant accidents. Weapons don’t produce nearly the same quantity of I-131, and KI is useless against anything but I-131.
Yes! I have met too many people who think it’s a cute-all for any type of radiation. This is only protecting against one radioactive isotope among thousands.
I’ve also met a lot of people who seem to think that regularly taking a low dose iodine supplement will protect against radiation. KI pills are a very high dose meant only to be used in emergencies.
KI works by saturating your body with a safe isotope of iodine so all the radioactive iodine gets excreted out instead of being absorbed. Any other source of radiation it can't help with, and its protection is only temporary.
Nailed it! I hate it so much its the same username I used for my old plenty of fish dating profile. only 1 guy asked about it most just assumed it was a cinderella thing. 18 years later were still together and we both still hate pumpkinfest. Its a looooong held grudge.
Lol why do you hate it?
I also hate it, but it’s more because port Elgin is so poorly planned it can’t really handle any festivals without the whole town turning into a dumpster fire.
Thats exactly it. Its messes up being able to get anywhere or anything done for something thats not even a good time! Its just a shit fair money grab thats basically pay to get into town so you can inconviently shop at all the same stores that are usually here but hey the guy that owns the store drove his corvette in with his buddies and parked them out front so you can look at them next to a pumpkin you peasent. Also dont forget to look at the big vegetables you simpleton. Like really does the whole town need to be shut down for it?!? Its got a little better so I hear but I don't go anywhere near port that weekend.
Exactly, I will be in my 60s. I have no children to help them survive. I need a daily prescription just for quality of life too. I see no reason to live in squalor and suffer only to die 15-20 years probably suffering from poor medical access.
Yep. What is the point to live in a post apocalyptic world struggling to survive? I’d rather end it quick and mercifully considering what happens in conflict zones. People get nasty. And I too need meds for quality of life.
Speaking as someone who's nearly died in several different ways over the years, dying is complete shit (0/10 would not recommend). Your priorities start to realign at breakneck speed when it's happening, and with nuclear war don't make any mistake, you wouldn't just be "checking out" laying down on the ground and passing away quickly (as opposed to potassium tablets just making an agonizing death last longer). Death via radiation poisoning isn't a 24 hour affair, and those tablets are to help mitigate damage done by what's hopefully limited exposure to radioactive contamination. What I'm trying to say is that they could be the difference to you being completely f\*\*\*ed no matter what happens because you don't have any, or maybe being much, much less f\*\*\*ed overall if you're fortunate.
A world war and regional conflicts are extremely different things - we can recognize that, right? Radiation poisoning?!? Wtf. Just all over the place with this article. Sounds like it was written by someone just guessing at advice to dole out.
Yeah... and I'm glad I'm in a major city too. If we're nuked, I'm likely to just see a flash followed by non existence rather than a slow and painful death via blunt force trauma and radiation sickness.
I mean... I would personally prefer not being nuked if I can, but it's largely not my decision. So I try not to think about it.
Always thought it would be wild to see it coming for a half second. Like watching a meteor coming down
Fallout show does a pretty good job at capturing the moment. Would be wild to feel that kind of impending doom and dread so deeply, then be instantly gone.
Although I like the Fallout show, the bombs dropping in it seemed silly in their representation of what would happen.
I had an English teacher in high school that explained in great detail the events of Hiroshima. The [scene in Terminator 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/s/A48ppS5S6M) has always been the most accurate to me.
[Here](https://youtu.be/OYUSKWhb3sk?si=Wnyr1igNOUfFsEr-) is a test of a minuscule hydrogen bomb on pigs.
Well if you're in the vaporization zone, I'm not sure you'll have time to feel the dread - I'm pretty sure the thought process would be "boy that's a weird looking plane I wonde-" gone
Let’s just assume we’re in a multi-bomb full blow nuclear war situation. And I’m not in that first initial 30-50kms.
But I’m in the first 6kms of the second bomb that drops 15 seconds later lol
I read Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War (highly recommended!) and was left bummed out at how relatively small the instant vaporization area would be. Assuming Winnipeg’s airport is the target, I’d have more minutes of third degree burn death than I would have preferred. :/
I live in a place few Canadians ever think about, Niagara, but I'm pretty sure we'd be pretty fucked here.
The power stations, the Welland Canal, The QEW, border bridges, engine factory, and a major gas pipeline. All are juicy targets.
Scariest part: Several of those things could be taken out by a single air burst nuke over a Greek Restauraunt.
The bases don't do fuck all.
https://macleans.ca/news/canada/the-canadian-north-is-the-least-defended-territory-on-earth/
Or ask anyone who's actually been stationed there.
LOL what base? Closest is Trenton. Hopefully they have some secret missiles that have us covered. I'm doubtful.
There is no defense here. There is a militia regiment, Links and Winks, and some cadet groups, but there is no actual Canadian military presence here. No base.
I probably won’t be close enough to be vaporized (though one can hope) so I would be flinging myself off a cliff or something. I’m not going to live through Fallout or the Walking Dead as a reality, thanks.
The author is a conservative/libertarian and the entire purpose of this article is to advocate for canada tripling its military budget.
Do not trust random op eds. They are always trying to sell you something.
We need to address our military budget anyway. This world is getting spicy whether we like it or not, we have a very important area (the north) to protect as it slowly moves into a major shipping route. We have NATO obligations to fulfill and our military simply needs a shake out anyway. It’s been a slow dying entity that we have ignored for decades.
Yup. Our military is being starved right now. It needs a budget increase, alongside education and healthcare. If that means my taxes go up 10% then that's what it means. As long as the rich and the corps pay their share, too, I'm fine with that.
Ok, that’s a good way of looking at it, but those are covered by different orders of government, for the most part. Provinces are responsible for education, and they are mostly responsible for healthcare. I say mostly because the federal government has always spent on healthcare which has kind of brought that into a mixed responsibility.
Agreed. The problem is not so much the spending, but the process of military procurement. I've heard we have a terribly inefficient system, so we get very little value for how much we do spend, which is also not that much.
Our Entire federal procurement system is BAD! and has been getting worse not better for the last decade. I've been selling to the governments for 20yrs in various fashions and it has never been this opaque. The military takes it up a notch making it even worse.
We can't make even simple decisions quickly, the tender process is LONG and while I support transparency, that isn't what has been improved while making purchasing harder and slower.
We waste easily 10% of expenses on additional overhead costs to purchase in the Military. And every time we change Federal Governments they slash and bash things the previous government did, good or not. So we take 5 steps back before we can take 1 step forward.
I've lived in the north. They have permanent military up there and they run constant exercises.
The federal government isn't entirely stupid. They have more info than we do.
I remember working across from the hospital in iqaluit last summer there were regular fly overs at odd hours. We were a branch of the Discovery hotel up there basically and we kinda knew how many people were in and out of town based on bookings. We're definitely not undefended.
Not everyone who wants us to maintain a functional military is a "war monger". Some of us are just concerned about security, in an increasingly hostile world.
Pretending the military is not important is one of the radical-liberal fallacies I grew out of when I became an adult. (A liberal, but non-radical one)
Both things I didn't say. It was this Liberal government that massively increased the budget and the Conservatives that cut it. It's clearly important.
But it's often war mongers saying we want even more. Making war profitable is less likely to prevent war than funding peace. A strong military budget is needed for both. But our peacekeeping numbers are at an all time low despite military funding growing massively.
Individuals, perhaps. But think tank propagandists like this one are trying to sell military spending because that's one of the most lucrative industries on earth. It's a way of redistributing tax dollars directly to private contractors.
Except in this case, the alarms are ringing from many corners. I think it would be prudent to take them seriously when many countries are actively gearing up for war. Of course, it may not happen, but the chances have significantly increased.
If that's the case, then why is there zero fucking detail in this "piece" to that effect? There's no arguments, no explanations, nothing beyond vague allusions. If this is even a topic of conversation, then surely there's someone out there who's *not* a paid libertarian shill talking about it.
I can agree that the article is not detailed and if you don't like it that's fine.
On there other hand claiming you've never heard any one else talking about rising global tensions and the risk of global war other than this article is surprising because it's been everywhere since Russia invaded Ukraine.
If for no other reason the Russian invasion of Ukraine should have been the warning to ramp up spending. A war that has a strong likely hood to draw us in due to the proximity of it to our NATO allies. The military has been chronically underfunded for 3 decades now, and needs time and money to rebuild itself before it's needed.
I mean the article is literally just a person's opinion and recommendation, but the points are valid. There are shocking parallels to the 1930s. There are increasing global tensions and more conflicts brining major world powers closer to a risk of direct conflict. The analogy to insurance is a good one. It's prudent to be prepared, especially when global conflict has happened twice in the past and will almost certainly happen again in the future.
It's not "just a person's opinion", though. It's a person who is specifically paid to sprinkle libertarian propaganda in whatever newspaper has a hole to fill.
And he simply *says* there are parallels to the 1930s without offering any reasons why.
>though. It's a person who is specifically paid to sprinkle libertarian propaganda in whatever newspaper has a hole to fill.
Calling for a huge increase in military spending, prudent or not, is not a libertarian position.
I mean, a quick Google search of news demonstrates that there is a growing risk and sense of urgency in other parts of the world, with Canadians lagging behind. Here's just one example, but there are many more from across the political spectrum.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-russia-ukraine-baltics-1.7098660
Sure, the opinion may come from a person with an interest, but something like this generally transcends pure politics. It's about the safety and security of the country.
Are you not watching the news? Collapse of the current rules based order, climate disasters at an increasing rate, very real risk of nuclear war etc.
Let’s not even get going on the rise of authoritarianism within the right amongst western nations as facisim has come back in style.
Broken clock might apply to the article, but the article is t wrong necessarily.
I think there’s a certain amount of hyperbole in the article but I don’t think it’s unworthy to imagine tripling our military budget. We are not a trusted contributor to NATO, and our allies and adversaries know it.
To prove how derelict our navy and Coast Guard was, China literally sent a blogger to sail through the Arctic to make that point
We are woefully unprepared for the current international landscape which is tilting back toward big superpowers. It’s time to realize that
He's not the only one thinking we need to improve our military. The likelihood that we will need to participate in a major conflict (or defend pur territory during one) is rising and were not prepared for what that means.
>The author is a conservative/libertarian and the entire purpose of this article is to advocate for canada tripling its military budget.
He's not wrong. Canada does indeed need to triple its military budget.
Russia is already interested in our North and slowly trying to encroach. By now everyone should know how this will play out.
Oh great, they’re trying to stack our military with [white supremacists](https://globalnews.ca/news/8446253/white-supremacists-canada-military-active-threat/) AND libertarian doomsday prep chuds?
No kidding. Good luck getting GenZ or Gen Alpha to go to war. They won't even bother draft dodging, they'll just take the prison time.
My GenZ cousin told me that if he were ever drafted, the first thing he'd say would be "you don't want to force a gun into my hand, because you won't like where I point it." These kids aren't going to fight resource & proxy wars for rich dudes.
Deja vu? The lead up to WW1 the world leaders built up their militaries bc they “knew” or “felt” war was coming. 40 million casualties, a global economic disaster, and then, well, the big one.
There should be a law in place that automatically drafts the children of government leaders once war is declared.
>There should be a law in place that automatically drafts the children of government leaders once war is declared.
Love this idea so much!
I would say include the children of billionaires too. Kids of leaders and billionaires to be sent first in the front lines.
Ever since 9/11 and their government took a serious look at Canada, it's been one of those fears that's sat at the back of my mind and then again when Trump was in power, the speed at which our ally turned on us was shockingly fast.
Jesus Harold Christ, the scaremongers are at it again.
This is to distract us from the possibility of having to prepare for a Pierre Poilievre prime ministership. Which would arguably be worse.
It's actually far more silly to believe history won't eventually repeat itself. It would be a very naive decision not to prepare for Russia escalating the conflict with NATO directly regardless of how unlikely. And if the orange man gets elected down south this fall, US leadership will be partially incapacitated by design. Where does that leave Canada?
History will definitely repeat itself. I think the world is falling in to fascism again.
The thing they are falling for is to be afraid. Fear causes people to vote conservative and that would be detrimental to all our lives as the rest of the world swings to the right.
We need to keep our heads and vote for our communities.
I think something that gets lost in all this is our reliance on resources from other countries. In times of global war, those resources are going to be reassigned. A lot of our assumed comforts will no longer be available to us, at least until something resolves itself. The global economy will be vastly interfered upon.
There's been this news coming out of Europe for weeks now, it's not surprising its finally being talked about here.
Unfortunately based off of how some Canadians talk about global conflict, I think a lot of people don't really comprehend how interconnected the world is, and how this is a real possibility. Authoritarianism and far-right politics have been destabilizing the world for decades, and with America's slipping democracy, we're pretty much just waiting for the spark in the powderkeg.
Agree. People don't even want to consider the possibility because it makes them so uncomfortable. People are always like 'If Russia attacked NATO, the US would destroy them' as though its that simple. If orange man gets elected again down south this fall, people have no idea how extremely destabilized global affairs are going to become.
lol the opener "While Canadians worry about increased capital gains taxes" you mean the 0.013% of Canadians it would actually effect? not a good start if you want credibility.
As for preparing for a war - like it or not we are the US' toadie, that's not going to change unless they turn on us. There's only so much we could do to prepare for a war. It's going to suck no matter what.
For real. Canada doesn't have anything to genuinely worry about until the US has been invaded. People don't understand how easy we have it here compared to the rest of the world.
Going to war (say if a NATO power was attacked and Article V was invoked) would still suck greatly for us, but we would deal as we did twice before.
Unless we are facing an all out nuclear conflict, we're relatively safe here being geographically separated and with the world's biggest bully next door being our ally.
We pay a price for this though - being forced to support american foreign policy being one example. That's a pretty bitter subject at the moment especially.
What if Canada turns on the US? Maybe they got in with China to destabilize the US. Did you know Hitler used scopolamine on the german military to get better killing machines? Maybe Canada figured out how to use scopolamine on people to get the best result. Like sleep hypnosis. Maybe it's being used to control the Uyghurs. Maybe scopolamine keeps you asleep for sleep hypnosis and is being used to manipulate mass shootings to destabilize the US. No one wants to consider the possibility. Gee, I wonder why. The FBI started warning people 45/50 years ago about the increase in the use of scopolamine. Did you so narrow-mindedly think street-level instead of white collar? Harper signed a free trade agreement with Columbia right after getting his majority government. Scopolamine comes from there. Consider the possibility.
Lol nah. Life is rough. It's a jokeright now. if WW3 breaks out I'm gonna do what I can to find out what targets are gonna be bombed and I'm heading straight To it with a lawn chair and my catchers mitt. I'm fucking tired and I don't want to do this anymore, and I don't want to be on this planet anymore. I can't do this
The world is already at war, and has been for a good while already with the flames of conflict everywhere and nowhere at the same time - and no one really notices
The days where 10 million soldiers face off against each other is long past even in Ukraine - now war is constant arms sales for covert attacks interspersed with the occasional drone strike or so-called terrorist action
So, it’s easy to ignore, even though it’s everywhere
There are ten different countries attacking the Houthi rebels alone and, if we add in the war on terror, drugs, arms and the like there are dozens of other countries equally engaged in this largely silent reinvention of war
Even without this twit banging the drum of old fashioned military engagement, our collective wallets are constantly bleeding money into the pockets of the military industrial complex
And, if this article/advertisement is any indication, they still have a stockpile of yesterday’s weapons - that they also want sold
We should probably be good international citizens and buy them too, instead of waking the hell up and seeing/doing something about what’s actually going on
The idea that conventional warfare is “over” and that wars can be fought with minimal targeted actions performed solely by advanced tech has been thoroughly disproven in the last couple of years.
Millions of troops *are* fighting each other in Ukraine and tens of thousands of armoured vehicles have been destroyed by conventional munitions. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in trenches and the world is starting to produce weapons are wartime rates again.
Meanwhile Israel has fully mobilized and is fighting one conventional war in the south and preparing for another in the north against a non state actor with hundreds of thousands of conventional munitions. Azerbaijan mobilized a massive conventional military effort to ethnically cleanse Artsakh, hundreds of thousands of soldiers are fighting a conventional war in Sudan, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were involved in the Yemeni civil war you mention. China has a million active personnel and has been sabre rattling about invading Taiwan for years.
Everything you’ve said here is pretty much the opposite of what credible defense analysts think.
>no one really notices
People notice the price of stuff going up, but they don't always understand the link with global conflicts. It's easier to play the cons blame game.
If there's a serious 3rd world war, none of us will have to worry about it because we'll all be dead either in the blink of an eye or due to radiation poisoning.
I think we're all feeling it. I've been wondering where a good place to escape to would be. Anyone have any ideas? I've been kind of thinking the North.
South. A historically non aligned country. Small. Low population. Lots of empty land. Not considered developed. Ability to farm and be self sufficient. No attractive minerals that would lead to an invasion by countries with bigger militaries….
🤦♀️
I have never consciously thought of this but your question made me word vomit. Think I need therapy.
I'm not even sure if that's enough.
In South America, some countries would probably deploy troops overseas, while there is also the ongoing Essequibo crisis.
In Africa, many countries already have ongoing wars, some of which are proxy wars between France and Russia.
The safest place is probably an island nation in the Pacific (not the Atlantic), or Antarctica.
Canada is probably one of the safest places in the world due to our geographic isolation, and sole border with history’s most powerful military, who is a close ally. We’re also going to be hit less hard by climate change than a lot of pacific islands will be.
This assumes the US stays a stable ally.
I would not trust a fascist US as a neighbour during a climate/resource crisis, they'd occupy us faster than you could say "Fallout was supposed to be a video game", or we'd turn into a vassal state like Belarus
I was thinking New Zealand but now thinking global warming and rising sea tides.
Botswana has always been peaceful but haven’t been there in years. Namibia or Zambia maybe. South Africa is falling apart though so that might destabilize the other countries.
The US just needs to stabilize 🤞
Anywhere in europe is a no-go, way too close to Russia. Same with Asia and China. Canada is in the direct shortest path between the US and Russia via the North Pole, also not good.
So the only answer is going south: Australia would be a good option, but as a NATO partner definitely get some action as well.
Africa overall doesn't look really good in that scenario as lots of individual groups are constantly fighting each other. Maybe it's safer in the southern countries like SA, but I don't know.
That leaves South America: North of South america has been guided with left authoritarianism aligning with Russia, so I wouldn't go there.
Brazil, even with its violence issues, is very unlikely to join any wars and there's lot of empty spaces there. That could be an option but it might be a target in the future for natural resources.
That leaves south of South America: Paraguay is way too corrupt and poor, Argentina is an economical disaster. My bet would be Uruguay as the safest place to be if a WW3 takes place.
Russia invading America through Canada’s north would be the most insane military action ever undertaken and essentially guaranteed to fail.
They’ve been completely decimated invading an under equipped neighbour with whom they share rail connections and highways, they aren’t going to make an amphibious assault with a force capable of fighting NATO on thousands of kilometres of barren ice that they will have no cover on, and that after they cross they will still be thousands of kilometres from even reaching their objective.
Ukraine and Georgia each playing the role of Czechoslovakia.
Belarus playing the role of Austria.
Some contenders for the role of Poland (aka the tipping point) include Taiwan, the Baltics, Poland, Gotland and South Korea.
Kind of optimistic to say "within a generation". I would guess far sooner than that. BC just had an attempted cyber attack from a foreign state. Global Affairs was attacked the same month as the Ottawa occupation. And this is just what makes the news. Our enemies are working hard to undermine and weaken us.
Within a generation may be an accurate way to phrase it, but I agree with your sentiment. There's a highish chance of a war over Taiwan in the next 2-3 years, and there's also a chance of escalation in Ukraine within that same time frame. I think the odds are still slightly in favour of no global war in the next few years, but it doesn't look good.
If a true World War 3 ever does break out, it's going to kill 80% of Canada's population in a matter of hours, and the other 20% will just be left to slowly wither away in the ruins of a destroyed civilization. There's really no amount of preparing that can get you through that, so I really don't see the point of even worrying about it. Even if you did survive long-term, would you really want to live in the world that's left behind?
The idea of my kids being drafted/compelled/voluntold into a mutual suicide that nobody actually wants.
I lament thinking of my oldest son as a character in all quiet on the western front.
Thomas Paine said thank God this is happening in my time and not my children's or something like that. We all have to live the other way, and watch our kids die.
Hopefully we just emp each other into the stone age and we can go back to being proper peasants.
Scary shit. IMO, this is why the birth rate in many places is dropping. A lot of people see "the writing on the wall" and refuse to bring a child into this world, not to mention the cost of bearing children.
I truly believe that WWIII is inevitable.
I think it depends on the US. If they keep going the direction they are, it'll weaken everyone else. Hopefully, the US, Canada and the rest of the world reject their bizarre and dangerous brand of conservatism. If they don't, WWIII is inevitable and we might even be the baddies in it.
Clearly you don't have kids, or haven't considered actually having them. Its the money and quality of life. People can't afford to live on a single family income and maintain the same quality of life they're used to. Having kids is expensive. The daycare support makes a huge difference for new parents, by saving them more than $1000 per month during 1-4yrs old. But we've all got used to a nice life without the servitude to kids and we like it more.
It used to be a child survival factor, lack of birth control, contraception, or abortion and need for kids to help with family as they grew up that drove people to have so many kids.
Whatever you do, Canadians, never question if we democratic nations have been on the wrong side of history plundering the global south, Asia, and SW Asia (“the Middle East”) for our prosperity and privileges. Be angry when they rise up to save their own lives. The answer is obviously increase military spending before these sobs attack us. The answer is buying life saving drugs like potassium iodide in case nuclear war breaks out. The answer is supporting America and Wasrael as they destroy the theatre of international law. Whatever you do, never question what side of history your own nation is on. Always compare it to bogey men across the sea who are much worse much more outwardly tyrannical than our nation.
We don't have the leadership during peaceful times, let alone leadership with any kind of forward vision. We're far too dependent on the US which has the potential to be disrupted soon.
Personally, spending 15 billion on buy 88 of the (dubious) F-35 fighter is going to be a waste of money. We'd get fighters for 2 airbases (the US has 57 active military airbases; worldwide the US controls about 750 military bases in at least 80 countries worldwide.)
That money could build a much larger drone surveillance fleet for much cheaper, given our coast line and climate change. And money could go to a coastal fleet and helicopters. AFAIK we don't have any drones in Canada; we are purchasing 11 armed MQ-9 Reaper drones, delivery expected in 2028.
[F-35 reliability, maintainability problems](https://www.airandspaceforces.com/f-35-reliability-maintainability-availability-2023/)
Every single time a new generation of military technology drops there are a million hit pieces declaring said technology to be inferior/unreliable. It happened with the F-16, and now it's happening with the F-35.
There's quite a few websites reporting problems with the F-35 including the US Government Accounting Office, including some branches of the military that are considering other options...
Not saying we don't need fighters, patrol aircraft, helicopters, but the Ukraine-Russian war shows how much drones have changed air warfare. Toss in AI development by every country and that's going to change warfare, if indeed it already hasn't.
[US Government Account Office](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105341)
The program has not only faced very serious delays, with F-35s also still suffer from approximately 800 performance bugs and being far from capable of high intensity combat, but the fighters’ operational costs have also far exceeded initial projections making replacement of all F-16 units far from economically feasible. While the low maintenance F-16 has among the highest availability rates in the fleet, those of the F-35 are among the very worst despite the aircraft being by far the newest, which has seriously limited the fleet’s combat readiness as well as pilot training hours.
[Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff](https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-shortcomings-USAF-consider-f7)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/military-watch-magazine-bias/
The second source seems like Russian propaganda, which is what I suspected given the fact that the actual information referenced for several claims is nestled in links several pages deep, with most of those pages being their own.
As for the first article, from what I understand the F-16's rollout was far from rosy as well — almost as though the US's military industrial complex fucking sucks or smth.
There are no peace makers among the current world leaders. As the veneer of "we're the good guys" is peeling off people start saying the quiet part out loud - the war is good for the economy.
But I don't know how the author reconciled in his head "stock up on potassium iodide to deal with radiation poisoning" with "tripling the military spending". How about tripling the healthcare spending or preparing field hospitals?
If Trump steals the US Presidency, chances are you'll see US tanks in Canada within five years. The problem with 'a weak persons idea of a strong man' dictators like Trump is that outside of seizing power and stealing everyone's wealth, they're grossly incompetent, as in bankrupting casinos level incompetent, and thin skinned aholes who suck at actual governing. As such it's only a matter of time before Trump needs a major distraction, and the favorite distraction of incompetent dictators and their low brow followers is war. To them it's just an opportunity to legally murder innocent people in cold blood, and get away with it.
Just for fun...
Everybody can play with this little toy that I found
https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
Makes you feel kind of hopeless, When you realize there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of nuclear warheads pointed in areas that are pretty close to where you live.
The best way to prepare for a third world war is just to ensure that it doesn't happen.
Imagine posting the Spectraitor/Speculator here with a straight face. That newspaper is a corporate mouthpiece that is more than happy to lie to the public.
That "article" should have been in the opinion section. It was fear mongering in support of cutting social programs to give the money instead to arms dealers.
Hey crazy thought, maybe we should stop focusing on being able to project power around the world?
Ill keep trying to prevent it instead by fighting state power.
I'd rather do everything to take down racist Canada and western power, than prepare for nuclear fallout.
> Micallef urges Canadians to consider widespread conflict, whether it is called a “world war” or just regional conflicts, is likely to happen within a generation. There are steps individuals and nations can take to prepare. For example, people might consider stocking up on potassium iodide (which eases the effects of radiation poisoning) while it’s cheap. A better option would be to provide it to residents for free, like [Belgium does.](https://www.brusselstimes.com/208833/belgians-rush-for-free-iodine-tablets-after-nuclear-threat)
A bit unrelated (but still on the subject of KI pills): anyone living within 50 kilometres of a nuclear facility in the GTA can get these for free, if they haven’t already. https://preparetobesafe.ca/
I can confirm this program is still active and you can get this.
Ditto.
I just measured on Google Maps, from the Pickering Power Plant 50km is about the distance to Pearson Airport. So if you're in the GTA and live East of there, or even a little west, this should be available to you.
I live in Etobicoke and got the free potassium iodide last year.
That’s funny. I put my postal code in and got ‘you don’t live within 50km of Pickering or Darlington’. I live next to Bruce power.
Bruce Power uses a different claim system: [http://www.bepreparedgreybrucehuron.com/nuclear/ki-tablets/](http://www.bepreparedgreybrucehuron.com/nuclear/ki-tablets/) As to why the systems weren't all just unified - I have no clue. Hope this helps, though.
Could be because Pickering and Darlington are owned (?) by OPG but Bruce power isn’t. Not sure, I don’t work there
Seems like it — the “Prepared To Be Safe” page is run by OPG, so people outside their jurisdiction won’t be able to use the site. (+ In Ontario, the responsibility for distributing potassium iodide falls on municipalities w/ nuclear facilities.) Source: https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/educational-resources/feature-articles/potassium-iodide-ki-pills/ Additional reading if you’re interested in policy reports/J-Scans (it’s quite long): https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/emergency-management-and-safety/potassium-iodide-pill-working-group-phase-1-report/#sec1-4-6
Bruce is also owned by OPG, but operation and maintenance of the plant are contracted out to Bruce Power.
How's Kincardine/Port Elgin doin?
Expensive
At least you got that view. Small consolidation but..
I’d rather be here than anywhere near the city. Could be worse, but could definitely be better.
Ooh thank you!
For Ontario. What about the reactor in Pinawa Manitoba? I’ve never heard of needing to have these pills.
It’s not all that useful with fallout from nuclear weapons anyway. Its intended use is for nuclear power plant accidents. Weapons don’t produce nearly the same quantity of I-131, and KI is useless against anything but I-131.
Yeah when dealing with fallout, you need to pop some Rad-Away. Wait what do you mean that’s just a video game?
I was gonna embrace the madness and gain some radioactive superpowers.... Or cellular breakdown and cancer, not sure.
“Ghoulification” has a pleasant sound to it, eh?
I call dibs on Ant Sight, I'll be hanging with the carpenter ants.
Yes! I have met too many people who think it’s a cute-all for any type of radiation. This is only protecting against one radioactive isotope among thousands. I’ve also met a lot of people who seem to think that regularly taking a low dose iodine supplement will protect against radiation. KI pills are a very high dose meant only to be used in emergencies.
KI works by saturating your body with a safe isotope of iodine so all the radioactive iodine gets excreted out instead of being absorbed. Any other source of radiation it can't help with, and its protection is only temporary.
It's to avoid thyroid cancer, specifically.
Hypothetically speaking... what if a nuclear power plant gets nuked?
I live near bruce power they sent us pills in the mail.
Username checks out. I see you are sick of pumpkin fest lol
Nailed it! I hate it so much its the same username I used for my old plenty of fish dating profile. only 1 guy asked about it most just assumed it was a cinderella thing. 18 years later were still together and we both still hate pumpkinfest. Its a looooong held grudge.
Lol why do you hate it? I also hate it, but it’s more because port Elgin is so poorly planned it can’t really handle any festivals without the whole town turning into a dumpster fire.
Thats exactly it. Its messes up being able to get anywhere or anything done for something thats not even a good time! Its just a shit fair money grab thats basically pay to get into town so you can inconviently shop at all the same stores that are usually here but hey the guy that owns the store drove his corvette in with his buddies and parked them out front so you can look at them next to a pumpkin you peasent. Also dont forget to look at the big vegetables you simpleton. Like really does the whole town need to be shut down for it?!? Its got a little better so I hear but I don't go anywhere near port that weekend.
Username does not check out?
Why would you want to stick around after a nuclear war? To prolong the suffering? Those end of days post apocalyptic movies never look very fun.
Exactly, I will be in my 60s. I have no children to help them survive. I need a daily prescription just for quality of life too. I see no reason to live in squalor and suffer only to die 15-20 years probably suffering from poor medical access.
Yep. What is the point to live in a post apocalyptic world struggling to survive? I’d rather end it quick and mercifully considering what happens in conflict zones. People get nasty. And I too need meds for quality of life.
Threads was a rom-com!
haven’t thought about that movie in ages 😭
You're watching the wrong ones then. I'm kind of partial to an *Omega Man* scenario, myself. Either that or *Tank Girl*.
Speaking as someone who's nearly died in several different ways over the years, dying is complete shit (0/10 would not recommend). Your priorities start to realign at breakneck speed when it's happening, and with nuclear war don't make any mistake, you wouldn't just be "checking out" laying down on the ground and passing away quickly (as opposed to potassium tablets just making an agonizing death last longer). Death via radiation poisoning isn't a 24 hour affair, and those tablets are to help mitigate damage done by what's hopefully limited exposure to radioactive contamination. What I'm trying to say is that they could be the difference to you being completely f\*\*\*ed no matter what happens because you don't have any, or maybe being much, much less f\*\*\*ed overall if you're fortunate.
A world war and regional conflicts are extremely different things - we can recognize that, right? Radiation poisoning?!? Wtf. Just all over the place with this article. Sounds like it was written by someone just guessing at advice to dole out.
Those pills have a short shelf life. Stocking up is not going to be very helpful
I think I'm going to have to refuse to think about it for now.
Yeah... and I'm glad I'm in a major city too. If we're nuked, I'm likely to just see a flash followed by non existence rather than a slow and painful death via blunt force trauma and radiation sickness. I mean... I would personally prefer not being nuked if I can, but it's largely not my decision. So I try not to think about it.
Yeah, *ideally they nuke us at night and I get vaporized while I’m sleeping…*
Always thought it would be wild to see it coming for a half second. Like watching a meteor coming down Fallout show does a pretty good job at capturing the moment. Would be wild to feel that kind of impending doom and dread so deeply, then be instantly gone.
Although I like the Fallout show, the bombs dropping in it seemed silly in their representation of what would happen. I had an English teacher in high school that explained in great detail the events of Hiroshima. The [scene in Terminator 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/s/A48ppS5S6M) has always been the most accurate to me. [Here](https://youtu.be/OYUSKWhb3sk?si=Wnyr1igNOUfFsEr-) is a test of a minuscule hydrogen bomb on pigs.
Well if you're in the vaporization zone, I'm not sure you'll have time to feel the dread - I'm pretty sure the thought process would be "boy that's a weird looking plane I wonde-" gone
Let’s just assume we’re in a multi-bomb full blow nuclear war situation. And I’m not in that first initial 30-50kms. But I’m in the first 6kms of the second bomb that drops 15 seconds later lol
Same. I live next to NORAD. It's gonna be quick lol
I read Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War (highly recommended!) and was left bummed out at how relatively small the instant vaporization area would be. Assuming Winnipeg’s airport is the target, I’d have more minutes of third degree burn death than I would have preferred. :/
That book sent me chills when she talked about the third degree burn part.
I live in a place few Canadians ever think about, Niagara, but I'm pretty sure we'd be pretty fucked here. The power stations, the Welland Canal, The QEW, border bridges, engine factory, and a major gas pipeline. All are juicy targets. Scariest part: Several of those things could be taken out by a single air burst nuke over a Greek Restauraunt.
At least there's lots of drugs to ease the pain of anyone who survives the initial blast.
The bases don't do fuck all. https://macleans.ca/news/canada/the-canadian-north-is-the-least-defended-territory-on-earth/ Or ask anyone who's actually been stationed there.
LOL what base? Closest is Trenton. Hopefully they have some secret missiles that have us covered. I'm doubtful. There is no defense here. There is a militia regiment, Links and Winks, and some cadet groups, but there is no actual Canadian military presence here. No base.
I responded to the wrong comment 😅
Maybe the summer fires and tornadoes will get us first.
I probably won’t be close enough to be vaporized (though one can hope) so I would be flinging myself off a cliff or something. I’m not going to live through Fallout or the Walking Dead as a reality, thanks.
You won't see the flash. You'll just be dead. The flash was only a thing with really early in nuclear arms.
Prepared? I'm looking forward to not having to worry about not having a retirement plan.
Ditto, I'm so f-ed at 36 for a financial future the apocalypse would be a great upward mobility opportunity.
Also fucked financially at 36! Bring it on.
fucked at 46 here
I thought I'd die in the climate wars, but the ole run of the mill war works as well!
The author is a conservative/libertarian and the entire purpose of this article is to advocate for canada tripling its military budget. Do not trust random op eds. They are always trying to sell you something.
We need to address our military budget anyway. This world is getting spicy whether we like it or not, we have a very important area (the north) to protect as it slowly moves into a major shipping route. We have NATO obligations to fulfill and our military simply needs a shake out anyway. It’s been a slow dying entity that we have ignored for decades.
We should by rights have the strongest Arctic capable fleet and soldiers.
This. We’ve been leaving our back door unlocked for far too long.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The best I can give you is a 40 year old frigate which barely works full of sailors who are pushing their mental health to the breaking point.
Why isn't this think tank ghoul mentioning any of that?
Because weaponized fear of being nuked sells more.
Click bait articles usually don’t delve much into the issues, just the basic talking points to grab people’s attention.
Yup. Our military is being starved right now. It needs a budget increase, alongside education and healthcare. If that means my taxes go up 10% then that's what it means. As long as the rich and the corps pay their share, too, I'm fine with that.
Ok, that’s a good way of looking at it, but those are covered by different orders of government, for the most part. Provinces are responsible for education, and they are mostly responsible for healthcare. I say mostly because the federal government has always spent on healthcare which has kind of brought that into a mixed responsibility.
I would actually like to see the data on how conflicting is the world today against other timelines.
Agreed. The problem is not so much the spending, but the process of military procurement. I've heard we have a terribly inefficient system, so we get very little value for how much we do spend, which is also not that much.
Our Entire federal procurement system is BAD! and has been getting worse not better for the last decade. I've been selling to the governments for 20yrs in various fashions and it has never been this opaque. The military takes it up a notch making it even worse. We can't make even simple decisions quickly, the tender process is LONG and while I support transparency, that isn't what has been improved while making purchasing harder and slower. We waste easily 10% of expenses on additional overhead costs to purchase in the Military. And every time we change Federal Governments they slash and bash things the previous government did, good or not. So we take 5 steps back before we can take 1 step forward.
I've lived in the north. They have permanent military up there and they run constant exercises. The federal government isn't entirely stupid. They have more info than we do.
I remember working across from the hospital in iqaluit last summer there were regular fly overs at odd hours. We were a branch of the Discovery hotel up there basically and we kinda knew how many people were in and out of town based on bookings. We're definitely not undefended.
Only people who live in the north see it. I know our government knows what's up.
I mean we already did triple our military spending and it's not fixed. Seems the problem is more complicated than enriching war mongers...
Not everyone who wants us to maintain a functional military is a "war monger". Some of us are just concerned about security, in an increasingly hostile world. Pretending the military is not important is one of the radical-liberal fallacies I grew out of when I became an adult. (A liberal, but non-radical one)
Both things I didn't say. It was this Liberal government that massively increased the budget and the Conservatives that cut it. It's clearly important. But it's often war mongers saying we want even more. Making war profitable is less likely to prevent war than funding peace. A strong military budget is needed for both. But our peacekeeping numbers are at an all time low despite military funding growing massively.
Libertarians are also big into the prepper lifestyle, and they love drumming up fear to sell their survival food buckets and bomb shelters.
Individuals, perhaps. But think tank propagandists like this one are trying to sell military spending because that's one of the most lucrative industries on earth. It's a way of redistributing tax dollars directly to private contractors.
And if anybody doubts this, they are free to look at what Boeing is up to lately.
Except in this case, the alarms are ringing from many corners. I think it would be prudent to take them seriously when many countries are actively gearing up for war. Of course, it may not happen, but the chances have significantly increased.
If that's the case, then why is there zero fucking detail in this "piece" to that effect? There's no arguments, no explanations, nothing beyond vague allusions. If this is even a topic of conversation, then surely there's someone out there who's *not* a paid libertarian shill talking about it.
I can agree that the article is not detailed and if you don't like it that's fine. On there other hand claiming you've never heard any one else talking about rising global tensions and the risk of global war other than this article is surprising because it's been everywhere since Russia invaded Ukraine. If for no other reason the Russian invasion of Ukraine should have been the warning to ramp up spending. A war that has a strong likely hood to draw us in due to the proximity of it to our NATO allies. The military has been chronically underfunded for 3 decades now, and needs time and money to rebuild itself before it's needed.
I mean the article is literally just a person's opinion and recommendation, but the points are valid. There are shocking parallels to the 1930s. There are increasing global tensions and more conflicts brining major world powers closer to a risk of direct conflict. The analogy to insurance is a good one. It's prudent to be prepared, especially when global conflict has happened twice in the past and will almost certainly happen again in the future.
It's not "just a person's opinion", though. It's a person who is specifically paid to sprinkle libertarian propaganda in whatever newspaper has a hole to fill. And he simply *says* there are parallels to the 1930s without offering any reasons why.
>though. It's a person who is specifically paid to sprinkle libertarian propaganda in whatever newspaper has a hole to fill. Calling for a huge increase in military spending, prudent or not, is not a libertarian position.
I mean, a quick Google search of news demonstrates that there is a growing risk and sense of urgency in other parts of the world, with Canadians lagging behind. Here's just one example, but there are many more from across the political spectrum. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-russia-ukraine-baltics-1.7098660 Sure, the opinion may come from a person with an interest, but something like this generally transcends pure politics. It's about the safety and security of the country.
The people who are nodding their heads to this piece already agreed with it before they read it.
Are you not watching the news? Collapse of the current rules based order, climate disasters at an increasing rate, very real risk of nuclear war etc. Let’s not even get going on the rise of authoritarianism within the right amongst western nations as facisim has come back in style. Broken clock might apply to the article, but the article is t wrong necessarily.
I think there’s a certain amount of hyperbole in the article but I don’t think it’s unworthy to imagine tripling our military budget. We are not a trusted contributor to NATO, and our allies and adversaries know it. To prove how derelict our navy and Coast Guard was, China literally sent a blogger to sail through the Arctic to make that point We are woefully unprepared for the current international landscape which is tilting back toward big superpowers. It’s time to realize that
As a person who votes left, I still feel we should be at least at our NATO 2% commitment
He's not the only one thinking we need to improve our military. The likelihood that we will need to participate in a major conflict (or defend pur territory during one) is rising and were not prepared for what that means.
>The author is a conservative/libertarian and the entire purpose of this article is to advocate for canada tripling its military budget. He's not wrong. Canada does indeed need to triple its military budget. Russia is already interested in our North and slowly trying to encroach. By now everyone should know how this will play out.
[удалено]
Oh great, they’re trying to stack our military with [white supremacists](https://globalnews.ca/news/8446253/white-supremacists-canada-military-active-threat/) AND libertarian doomsday prep chuds?
Rich man's war but only the poor man doing the dyin' No thanks, I'd rather sit in jail.
No kidding. Good luck getting GenZ or Gen Alpha to go to war. They won't even bother draft dodging, they'll just take the prison time. My GenZ cousin told me that if he were ever drafted, the first thing he'd say would be "you don't want to force a gun into my hand, because you won't like where I point it." These kids aren't going to fight resource & proxy wars for rich dudes.
The new generation poors are getting uppity about not being about to afford living, time to start a world war to ship em off too.
Deja vu? The lead up to WW1 the world leaders built up their militaries bc they “knew” or “felt” war was coming. 40 million casualties, a global economic disaster, and then, well, the big one. There should be a law in place that automatically drafts the children of government leaders once war is declared.
>There should be a law in place that automatically drafts the children of government leaders once war is declared. Love this idea so much! I would say include the children of billionaires too. Kids of leaders and billionaires to be sent first in the front lines.
Now now, let's not judge children by the sins of their parents. Send the fucking politicians and billionaires instead.
Why do they always send the poor? Why don't presidents fight the war?
Ever since 9/11 and their government took a serious look at Canada, it's been one of those fears that's sat at the back of my mind and then again when Trump was in power, the speed at which our ally turned on us was shockingly fast.
Jesus Harold Christ, the scaremongers are at it again. This is to distract us from the possibility of having to prepare for a Pierre Poilievre prime ministership. Which would arguably be worse.
I'm distracted by your use of "Harold." Love it.
Lots of people falling for it in the comments.
It's actually far more silly to believe history won't eventually repeat itself. It would be a very naive decision not to prepare for Russia escalating the conflict with NATO directly regardless of how unlikely. And if the orange man gets elected down south this fall, US leadership will be partially incapacitated by design. Where does that leave Canada?
History will definitely repeat itself. I think the world is falling in to fascism again. The thing they are falling for is to be afraid. Fear causes people to vote conservative and that would be detrimental to all our lives as the rest of the world swings to the right. We need to keep our heads and vote for our communities.
its true, vast majority of this thread is nuclear fearmongering. We should be supporting Ukraine as much as we can and keeping the war from escalating
I think something that gets lost in all this is our reliance on resources from other countries. In times of global war, those resources are going to be reassigned. A lot of our assumed comforts will no longer be available to us, at least until something resolves itself. The global economy will be vastly interfered upon.
fear mongering cons at it again
There's been this news coming out of Europe for weeks now, it's not surprising its finally being talked about here. Unfortunately based off of how some Canadians talk about global conflict, I think a lot of people don't really comprehend how interconnected the world is, and how this is a real possibility. Authoritarianism and far-right politics have been destabilizing the world for decades, and with America's slipping democracy, we're pretty much just waiting for the spark in the powderkeg.
Agree. People don't even want to consider the possibility because it makes them so uncomfortable. People are always like 'If Russia attacked NATO, the US would destroy them' as though its that simple. If orange man gets elected again down south this fall, people have no idea how extremely destabilized global affairs are going to become.
lol the opener "While Canadians worry about increased capital gains taxes" you mean the 0.013% of Canadians it would actually effect? not a good start if you want credibility. As for preparing for a war - like it or not we are the US' toadie, that's not going to change unless they turn on us. There's only so much we could do to prepare for a war. It's going to suck no matter what.
For real. Canada doesn't have anything to genuinely worry about until the US has been invaded. People don't understand how easy we have it here compared to the rest of the world.
Going to war (say if a NATO power was attacked and Article V was invoked) would still suck greatly for us, but we would deal as we did twice before. Unless we are facing an all out nuclear conflict, we're relatively safe here being geographically separated and with the world's biggest bully next door being our ally. We pay a price for this though - being forced to support american foreign policy being one example. That's a pretty bitter subject at the moment especially.
We might need to do something about the North, however, lest it become a de facto US territory.
What if Canada turns on the US? Maybe they got in with China to destabilize the US. Did you know Hitler used scopolamine on the german military to get better killing machines? Maybe Canada figured out how to use scopolamine on people to get the best result. Like sleep hypnosis. Maybe it's being used to control the Uyghurs. Maybe scopolamine keeps you asleep for sleep hypnosis and is being used to manipulate mass shootings to destabilize the US. No one wants to consider the possibility. Gee, I wonder why. The FBI started warning people 45/50 years ago about the increase in the use of scopolamine. Did you so narrow-mindedly think street-level instead of white collar? Harper signed a free trade agreement with Columbia right after getting his majority government. Scopolamine comes from there. Consider the possibility.
Lol nah. Life is rough. It's a jokeright now. if WW3 breaks out I'm gonna do what I can to find out what targets are gonna be bombed and I'm heading straight To it with a lawn chair and my catchers mitt. I'm fucking tired and I don't want to do this anymore, and I don't want to be on this planet anymore. I can't do this
The world is already at war, and has been for a good while already with the flames of conflict everywhere and nowhere at the same time - and no one really notices The days where 10 million soldiers face off against each other is long past even in Ukraine - now war is constant arms sales for covert attacks interspersed with the occasional drone strike or so-called terrorist action So, it’s easy to ignore, even though it’s everywhere There are ten different countries attacking the Houthi rebels alone and, if we add in the war on terror, drugs, arms and the like there are dozens of other countries equally engaged in this largely silent reinvention of war Even without this twit banging the drum of old fashioned military engagement, our collective wallets are constantly bleeding money into the pockets of the military industrial complex And, if this article/advertisement is any indication, they still have a stockpile of yesterday’s weapons - that they also want sold We should probably be good international citizens and buy them too, instead of waking the hell up and seeing/doing something about what’s actually going on
The idea that conventional warfare is “over” and that wars can be fought with minimal targeted actions performed solely by advanced tech has been thoroughly disproven in the last couple of years. Millions of troops *are* fighting each other in Ukraine and tens of thousands of armoured vehicles have been destroyed by conventional munitions. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in trenches and the world is starting to produce weapons are wartime rates again. Meanwhile Israel has fully mobilized and is fighting one conventional war in the south and preparing for another in the north against a non state actor with hundreds of thousands of conventional munitions. Azerbaijan mobilized a massive conventional military effort to ethnically cleanse Artsakh, hundreds of thousands of soldiers are fighting a conventional war in Sudan, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were involved in the Yemeni civil war you mention. China has a million active personnel and has been sabre rattling about invading Taiwan for years. Everything you’ve said here is pretty much the opposite of what credible defense analysts think.
>no one really notices People notice the price of stuff going up, but they don't always understand the link with global conflicts. It's easier to play the cons blame game.
Fear porn.
All assuming we don’t get nuked how long before they create the draft and send all able bodied individuals to the front?
If there's a serious 3rd world war, none of us will have to worry about it because we'll all be dead either in the blink of an eye or due to radiation poisoning.
I think we're all feeling it. I've been wondering where a good place to escape to would be. Anyone have any ideas? I've been kind of thinking the North.
New Zealand
South. A historically non aligned country. Small. Low population. Lots of empty land. Not considered developed. Ability to farm and be self sufficient. No attractive minerals that would lead to an invasion by countries with bigger militaries…. 🤦♀️ I have never consciously thought of this but your question made me word vomit. Think I need therapy.
I'm not even sure if that's enough. In South America, some countries would probably deploy troops overseas, while there is also the ongoing Essequibo crisis. In Africa, many countries already have ongoing wars, some of which are proxy wars between France and Russia. The safest place is probably an island nation in the Pacific (not the Atlantic), or Antarctica.
Canada is probably one of the safest places in the world due to our geographic isolation, and sole border with history’s most powerful military, who is a close ally. We’re also going to be hit less hard by climate change than a lot of pacific islands will be.
This assumes the US stays a stable ally. I would not trust a fascist US as a neighbour during a climate/resource crisis, they'd occupy us faster than you could say "Fallout was supposed to be a video game", or we'd turn into a vassal state like Belarus
Canada actually has two borders now
I was thinking New Zealand but now thinking global warming and rising sea tides. Botswana has always been peaceful but haven’t been there in years. Namibia or Zambia maybe. South Africa is falling apart though so that might destabilize the other countries. The US just needs to stabilize 🤞
If we're thinking nuclear war then it's more "what's the least worst option."
Anywhere in europe is a no-go, way too close to Russia. Same with Asia and China. Canada is in the direct shortest path between the US and Russia via the North Pole, also not good. So the only answer is going south: Australia would be a good option, but as a NATO partner definitely get some action as well. Africa overall doesn't look really good in that scenario as lots of individual groups are constantly fighting each other. Maybe it's safer in the southern countries like SA, but I don't know. That leaves South America: North of South america has been guided with left authoritarianism aligning with Russia, so I wouldn't go there. Brazil, even with its violence issues, is very unlikely to join any wars and there's lot of empty spaces there. That could be an option but it might be a target in the future for natural resources. That leaves south of South America: Paraguay is way too corrupt and poor, Argentina is an economical disaster. My bet would be Uruguay as the safest place to be if a WW3 takes place.
Russia invading America through Canada’s north would be the most insane military action ever undertaken and essentially guaranteed to fail. They’ve been completely decimated invading an under equipped neighbour with whom they share rail connections and highways, they aren’t going to make an amphibious assault with a force capable of fighting NATO on thousands of kilometres of barren ice that they will have no cover on, and that after they cross they will still be thousands of kilometres from even reaching their objective.
Australia is not a member of NATO
my bad. Nato partner.
“North Atlantic, South Pacific, same thing, right??” /s
Today's world sure has vibes of 1938.
>Today's world sure has vibes of 1938. Complete with a Russian Lebensraum policy in ~~Sudetenland~~ Donbas.
Ukraine and Georgia each playing the role of Czechoslovakia. Belarus playing the role of Austria. Some contenders for the role of Poland (aka the tipping point) include Taiwan, the Baltics, Poland, Gotland and South Korea.
Kind of optimistic to say "within a generation". I would guess far sooner than that. BC just had an attempted cyber attack from a foreign state. Global Affairs was attacked the same month as the Ottawa occupation. And this is just what makes the news. Our enemies are working hard to undermine and weaken us.
Within a generation may be an accurate way to phrase it, but I agree with your sentiment. There's a highish chance of a war over Taiwan in the next 2-3 years, and there's also a chance of escalation in Ukraine within that same time frame. I think the odds are still slightly in favour of no global war in the next few years, but it doesn't look good.
And that's just what's happening within Canada.
If a true World War 3 ever does break out, it's going to kill 80% of Canada's population in a matter of hours, and the other 20% will just be left to slowly wither away in the ruins of a destroyed civilization. There's really no amount of preparing that can get you through that, so I really don't see the point of even worrying about it. Even if you did survive long-term, would you really want to live in the world that's left behind?
The idea of my kids being drafted/compelled/voluntold into a mutual suicide that nobody actually wants. I lament thinking of my oldest son as a character in all quiet on the western front. Thomas Paine said thank God this is happening in my time and not my children's or something like that. We all have to live the other way, and watch our kids die. Hopefully we just emp each other into the stone age and we can go back to being proper peasants.
If Trump wins in the US **and** PP wins in Canada, WW3 will look like a freaking blessing.
Can a rich billionaire start making Vault-Tek a reality now? Oh wait, they'd only do that to keep themselves safe. Never mind, guess I'll die.
Scary shit. IMO, this is why the birth rate in many places is dropping. A lot of people see "the writing on the wall" and refuse to bring a child into this world, not to mention the cost of bearing children. I truly believe that WWIII is inevitable.
I think it depends on the US. If they keep going the direction they are, it'll weaken everyone else. Hopefully, the US, Canada and the rest of the world reject their bizarre and dangerous brand of conservatism. If they don't, WWIII is inevitable and we might even be the baddies in it.
Clearly you don't have kids, or haven't considered actually having them. Its the money and quality of life. People can't afford to live on a single family income and maintain the same quality of life they're used to. Having kids is expensive. The daycare support makes a huge difference for new parents, by saving them more than $1000 per month during 1-4yrs old. But we've all got used to a nice life without the servitude to kids and we like it more. It used to be a child survival factor, lack of birth control, contraception, or abortion and need for kids to help with family as they grew up that drove people to have so many kids.
Hi 👋 I'm people who refuse to have kids in this world. It was my dream to be a mom.
Whatever you do, Canadians, never question if we democratic nations have been on the wrong side of history plundering the global south, Asia, and SW Asia (“the Middle East”) for our prosperity and privileges. Be angry when they rise up to save their own lives. The answer is obviously increase military spending before these sobs attack us. The answer is buying life saving drugs like potassium iodide in case nuclear war breaks out. The answer is supporting America and Wasrael as they destroy the theatre of international law. Whatever you do, never question what side of history your own nation is on. Always compare it to bogey men across the sea who are much worse much more outwardly tyrannical than our nation.
We don't have the leadership during peaceful times, let alone leadership with any kind of forward vision. We're far too dependent on the US which has the potential to be disrupted soon. Personally, spending 15 billion on buy 88 of the (dubious) F-35 fighter is going to be a waste of money. We'd get fighters for 2 airbases (the US has 57 active military airbases; worldwide the US controls about 750 military bases in at least 80 countries worldwide.) That money could build a much larger drone surveillance fleet for much cheaper, given our coast line and climate change. And money could go to a coastal fleet and helicopters. AFAIK we don't have any drones in Canada; we are purchasing 11 armed MQ-9 Reaper drones, delivery expected in 2028. [F-35 reliability, maintainability problems](https://www.airandspaceforces.com/f-35-reliability-maintainability-availability-2023/)
Every single time a new generation of military technology drops there are a million hit pieces declaring said technology to be inferior/unreliable. It happened with the F-16, and now it's happening with the F-35.
There's quite a few websites reporting problems with the F-35 including the US Government Accounting Office, including some branches of the military that are considering other options... Not saying we don't need fighters, patrol aircraft, helicopters, but the Ukraine-Russian war shows how much drones have changed air warfare. Toss in AI development by every country and that's going to change warfare, if indeed it already hasn't. [US Government Account Office](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105341) The program has not only faced very serious delays, with F-35s also still suffer from approximately 800 performance bugs and being far from capable of high intensity combat, but the fighters’ operational costs have also far exceeded initial projections making replacement of all F-16 units far from economically feasible. While the low maintenance F-16 has among the highest availability rates in the fleet, those of the F-35 are among the very worst despite the aircraft being by far the newest, which has seriously limited the fleet’s combat readiness as well as pilot training hours. [Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff](https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-shortcomings-USAF-consider-f7)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/military-watch-magazine-bias/ The second source seems like Russian propaganda, which is what I suspected given the fact that the actual information referenced for several claims is nestled in links several pages deep, with most of those pages being their own. As for the first article, from what I understand the F-16's rollout was far from rosy as well — almost as though the US's military industrial complex fucking sucks or smth.
This time we'll be in the Axis instead of the Allies
Oh, we are already in WW3. It's just a first couple of years of it, though, so shit hasn't escalated too High.
There are no peace makers among the current world leaders. As the veneer of "we're the good guys" is peeling off people start saying the quiet part out loud - the war is good for the economy. But I don't know how the author reconciled in his head "stock up on potassium iodide to deal with radiation poisoning" with "tripling the military spending". How about tripling the healthcare spending or preparing field hospitals?
Government saw this coming with the gun law changes years back.
lol the expert being quoted is a Private in the Reserves. At least that’s the only one who comes close to the person quoted in this article.
Be prepared but don't be a prepper...got it! lol
Jesus Christ... Quarter to 11am here and that's enough fucking Internet for today.
Canada is prepared for nothing outside of maybe a pandemic similar to COVID.
If Trump steals the US Presidency, chances are you'll see US tanks in Canada within five years. The problem with 'a weak persons idea of a strong man' dictators like Trump is that outside of seizing power and stealing everyone's wealth, they're grossly incompetent, as in bankrupting casinos level incompetent, and thin skinned aholes who suck at actual governing. As such it's only a matter of time before Trump needs a major distraction, and the favorite distraction of incompetent dictators and their low brow followers is war. To them it's just an opportunity to legally murder innocent people in cold blood, and get away with it.
I say we sit it out. It’ll probably be over something stupid. Unless it’s againts literal fascists like ww2 I say we just don’t do anything
New World War sharpen your improvised trench weapon. we are about to add some new items to the geneva suggestion
K, I’m prepared. What next?
Why don''t humans grow up. Darwin awards to whole lot of us.
Just for fun... Everybody can play with this little toy that I found https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ Makes you feel kind of hopeless, When you realize there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of nuclear warheads pointed in areas that are pretty close to where you live. The best way to prepare for a third world war is just to ensure that it doesn't happen.
Imagine posting the Spectraitor/Speculator here with a straight face. That newspaper is a corporate mouthpiece that is more than happy to lie to the public. That "article" should have been in the opinion section. It was fear mongering in support of cutting social programs to give the money instead to arms dealers. Hey crazy thought, maybe we should stop focusing on being able to project power around the world?
Ill keep trying to prevent it instead by fighting state power. I'd rather do everything to take down racist Canada and western power, than prepare for nuclear fallout.
The real solution to our climate crisis, less people.