Ben Rowswell

As Trust in the US Fades, Canada May Become a Nuclear Player | The Walrus Europe is debating a deterrent force less reliant on Washington. Should Ottawa take part?

Having our own nuclear weapons and relying on those of allies are two different things. As the willingness of the U.S. to protect Canada shrinks, we need a new nuclear umbrella with allies who respect our sovereignty. Peter Jones lays out what that could look like.
thewalrus.ca/canada-may-b...

New World Disorder from Tehran to Caracas with Ben Rowswell Épisode de balado · The Red Passport · 4 mars · 43 min

The one constant in all attempts at regime change is tremendous amounts of violence. Take it from someone who saw the violence in both #Iraq and #Afghanistan years after odious regimes in both countries were toppled. My interview on
@thecic podcast podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/n... #Iran

New World Disorder from Tehran to Caracas with Ben Rowswell Épisode de balado · The Red Passport · 4 mars · 43 min

The one constants in attempts at regime change is tremendous amounts of violence. Take it from someone who saw the violence in both Iraq and Afghanistan years after regimes changed through foreign military interventions podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/n...

Pierre Poilievre proposes new anglophone alliance that excludes Donald Trump’s America Conservative leader says Canada should link with Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Sigh, diaspora politics continues to plague Canadian foreign policy. Why would a grouping of isolated South Pacific nations and one self-isolating European power be good partners for Canada? Because of the ethnic composition of Canada? Please get serious.
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

Globe editorial: Iran is a new front in the fight against the authoritarian bloc There are many risks, but the U.S.-Israeli attacks could mean the end of a repressive regime allied with Putin’s Russia

Astonishing naivete from the Globe and Mail with this morning's editorial: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
I can understand that relief at the death of a hated dictator might lead some to blithely ignore history. But to ignore awareness for that that history as mere "niceties?"

Marco Rubio orders US officials to stop commentary that could strain Iran talks Exclusive: memo came after Mike Huckabee’s remarks about Israel sparked alarm inside White House

Signs of growing incompetence in U.S. diplomacy, after the purge of professionals these past few months. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026.... #Venezuela saw the same incompetence after Chavez purged the pros in the 2000s.

Canada has decided to dramatically reduce development assistance in 2028, effectively surrendering a source of national power. When threats to our citizens’ interests like pathogens are shared with others, we need to pool funds to fight them together. My argument to @theCIC event “When Aid Retreats”

Every country that falls to authoritarianism believes it is exceptional. It is the fairy tale that lulls a population to sleep while your defences are dismantled, that you don't need to act because it couldn't possibly be happening to your country.But it happened to Venezuelans, now happening to you

YouTube video by The Wall Street Journal Virginia Gov. Spanberger's Full Democratic Response to Trump's SOTU | WSJ

The democracy movement in the U.S. needs to do much better than Gov Spanberger's response to the State of the Union yesterday. Your country's constitutional order has been overturned but the Democratic Party representative still touts an "exceptional" nation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMEW...

Trump used the State of the Union to boast about the oil seized from the new U.S. colony of #Venezuela with the cooperation of his Chavista allies.The number he claims to have taken is the equivalent of all the foreign revenues the country takes in over two months. The U.S. is bleeding Venezuela dry

What should Canada do as U.S. oil blockade weakens Cuba? | Hanomansing Tonight Interim NDP leader Don Davies and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet have both called on the Liberal government to send immediate aid to Cuba, where people are facing blackouts and shortages...

With the growing human misery in #Cuba, this recent TV interview of mine is getting much more traction than I would have expected. Here it is ICMYI www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

It will have to include a military presence of course but Irvin makes a good point - we define what it is we want to protect first, then invest in protecting it

Intriguing proposal by @globalbrief editor Irvin Studin: Embrace the Arctic Ocean as the venue for trade, culture and discovery and build the norms and institutions for the rest of the world to participate. Build the world we want to see in our own region
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02...

Si le Canada veut se défendre des menaces qui suivent l’effondrement de notre alliance avec les Etats-Unis, il faut engager la population canadienne entière dans la défence national - bien au delà des soldats et des experts en défence. Heureusement ha irons in pays avec une longue histoire guerrière

Pour faire face au menace américaine, Elisabeth Vallet propose que le Canada adopte la strategie des acacias Zimbabweenes : de se transformer dans un matière amère afin de convaincre le prédateur d’abandoner son attaque

Selon Charles-Philippe David, sous un président kleptocrate et néo-royaliste, les Etats-Unis anime à nouveau l’ordre westfalien. Tous ses anciens alliés alienés, les Etats Unis est maintenant devenu “la nation DISPENSABLE”

Selon @laura-julie.bsky.social dans la Presse hier, la militarisation du Canada avance plus rapidement que nos concitoyens le comprennent. Commençons donc à inclure le public dans les débats militaires et stratégiques. Je suis au College militaire royal Saint-Jean au sujet aujourd’hui

Nouvelle stratégie industrielle de défense | Sommes-nous prêts ? Mark Carney a écarquillé les yeux mardi quand un collègue journaliste lui a demandé pourquoi la Stratégie industrielle de défense du Canada, que le premier ministre venait tout juste de présenter à Mo...

"En ce moment, sur la question de la défense, le gouvernement fédéral est l’équivalent d’une Mercedes neuve qui roule à vitesse maximale sur une Autobahn allemande. Tout le monde se tasse de son chemin sans poser trop de questions." www.lapresse.ca/actualites/c...

In his announcement of Canada's new Defence Industrial Strategy just now, PM Carney claims the goal is to build Canada's ability to act independently. Ambitious. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf-N... That is the hallmark of a great power, not a middle power.

“Canada must shift from a Euro-Atlantic to the Eurasian mindset” - former Amb to Jordan/Afghanistan/UAE at a CIC Toronto event

Hello Roman, Bob's Substack will provide part of the answer. In my remarks I focussed on the imperative of Venezuelan citizens regaining control over their government so that stability can finally return - without that the humanitarian crisis will continue and so will the theft of their oil revenues

His TL;DR: Davos speech was great, now it's time to implement. Mine: We have power, we have used it before, time to start using it agai

The fight for humanity’s future: now comes the hard part Now Comes the Hard Part

@bobbyrae48.bsky.social wrote about our joint event on the crisis in #Venezuela and what it means for Canada's imperatives in a hemisphere where our sovereignty is under assault: open.substack.com/pub/bobrae48...

Venezuela and After — Bill Graham Centre This conference will examine how Canada and the international community should respond to profound political changes underway in the United States.

Looking forward to join Bob Rae in discussing the quasi-colonial relationship that #Venezuela finds itself in with the U.S. today at U of T billgrahamcentre.utoronto.ca/events/a-cha...

I think we shouldn't rule it out, but worth considering from General Eyre here. Reminded of the line from Too Big To Fail: "We don't want to import your cancer."

Arme nucléaire au Canada | Sans arme nucléaire, le Canada sera « toujours dépendant des autres » Le général Wayne Eyre, ancien chef d’état-major de la défense du Canada, affirme que le gouvernement fédéral devrait être prêt à se procurer l’arme nucléaire pour des fins de dissuasion. Sans force nu...

De notre evenement cette après-midi avec le @cdainstitute.bsky.social: www.lapresse.ca/actualites/n...

Should Canada be worried about a U.S. invasion? “We need to worry less about them sending troops across the border and more about political toxicity across it” as their political system degrades

Gen Eyre suggests Canada respond to the Greenland crisis by proposing to NATO that we lead a sub-unified command of Arctic nations monitoring threats to our shared Arctic - based in Iqaluit and led by Canada. Smart idea

Gen Eyre: not a proponent of permanent military bases in the Arctic, but “we need a series of lilypads that we can rely on to get capabilities up, and back to create a persistent but unpredictable presence in the North”

“We need more than a defence I industrial base, we need a defence intellectual base” to think through the new role we are taking on as a military power, says Gen Eyre