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Tag: Opinion

Should Canada Join AUKUS?

Published by Ryan Flannagan on September 12, 2023

The Quick Answer is No. Let’s start off by answering the question of what is AUKUS? First, AUKUS stands for Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As best I can understand, AUKUS is a three-country defence pact that proposes the involved countries work together closely on several defence-related issues in the Pacific region, including the transfer of technology that would allow Australia to acquire nuclear submarines (henceforth to called SSN = Submersible Ship Nuclear). It’s this last point…

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The Argument for Canada Investing 2% GDP into Defence

Published by Ryan Flannagan on July 30, 2023

I regularly listen to the Defence Deconstructed podcast, which regularly delves into a range of topics concerning the Canadian Armed Forces (the CAF). Recently, I listened to a conversation that discussed the brutal Wall Street Journal opinion piece that took Canada to task for its anemic defence spending, which is approximately 1.3% of GDP. Inarguably, it was the single most damning piece of opinion regarding the sorry state of Canada’s defence capabilities in recent memory. In listening to the conversation…

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What Capabilities Should the CAF Go Without?

What Capabilities Should the CAF Go Without?

Published by Ryan Flannagan on February 9, 2023

I recently listened to a podcast where Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff talked about the future of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). As things tend to go with senior leaders from any large governmental organization, it was a guarded talk. There was however one thing I seized on from the General’s remarks. Specifically, on two occasions, he indicated that the CAF would have to choose capabilities (current or future) that it wouldn’t be able to take on. The comment got…

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How to Recruit More Soldiers into the CAF?

Published by Ryan Flannagan on December 28, 2022

Recently, I wrote a detailed blog on why the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) can’t meet its recruiting targets. Further to that post, the CAF announced it would allow Permanent Residents (PRs) to apply to the CAF. Subsequently, it was announced that 2,400 PRs applied to the CAF. This was an important and positive policy change for the CAF. If done well, recruiting, training and holding onto PRs could go some distance to increasing the CAF’s enrollment numbers and increasing the…

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What is Missing From Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy?

What is Missing From Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy?

Published by Ryan Flannagan on December 28, 2022

I did some reading up on Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the consensus seems to be that it’s a step in the right direction but that it is also modest. In Take Whiteman and its sequel, China plays a role, but it’s primarily in the background. In my novels, the United States is in the midst of a civil war and has largely pulled back from its international commitments. I have also assumed China has taken Taiwan and is asserting itself…

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Top 3 Books To Set You Up For Success

Published by Ryan Flannagan on May 5, 2022

No Matter How Hard Life Gets At any given moment in time, life can suck. We all have bad spells. For some of us, it’s a bad day, for others it’s several years.   I can tell you that for the past two years, my own life has been particularly challenging. Perhaps the toughest two years of my life. Health issues, an extraordinary professional challenge, a new job, the selling and buying of houses, and the moving of a family…

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What Fighter Jet Should Canada Buy?Gripen in flight

What Fighter Jet Should Canada Buy?

Published by Ryan Flannagan on January 30, 2022

It should be Sweden’s J-39 Gripen So if you’re reading this there’s a good chance you read my book, Take Whiteman. Take Whiteman is fiction of course, but there are real world events that I like to offer my two cents on. Defence matters is one of those topics. And what fighter jet Canada is going to select in the coming months is perhaps the biggest defence policy issue in Canada right now. So to give my readers some unsolicited…

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