December 2017 – Ted Campbell's Point of View … an old soldier's thoughts on shoes and ships and sealing wax and many other things. I self describe as a classical liberal ~ which means, in 21st century Canada, that I’m a Conservative. I believe in four fundamental rights for each and every individual: Life, Liberty and Property, as described by John Locke in 17th century England, and Privacy, as defined by Brandeis and Warren in 19th century America. Your comments are welcome, but my views (and obvious biases) are pretty well established after 75+ years.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2018, it’s already here in several of the 70± countries in which people read this blog … … let’s all try to make it better than 2017 was.

As we close out 2017 and look forward, however gingerly, to 2018, two things caught my eye: First, as reported by my friends on Army.ca, the US RAND Corporation has issued a new report entitled “U.S. Military Capabilities and Forces for a Dangerous World; Rethinking the U.S. Approach to Force Planning;” and Second, the Financial TimesContinue reading “Sobering reality”

Good move …

… and Harjit Sajjan and General Jonathan Vance should follow suit. The Times reports that “Britain’s army is getting stronger because it has nearly halved the number of generals, the head of the armed forces has said … [and] … Responding to criticism that the army is top-heavy, General Sir Nick Carter said that the totalContinue reading “Good move …”

Grumpy neighbours

Paul Koring, writing on the iPolitics website, says that “Amid all the noise — including the fit of pique over Boeing’s dumping challenge to Bombardier’s C-Series sales resulting in Ottawa’s decision to buy more obsolete Boeing F-18s second-hand from Australia which are barely newer than the F-18s, his father ordered 35 year ago — thereContinue reading “Grumpy neighbours”

Anniversary …

It was 72 years ago today, on 27 December 1945, that the World Bank (then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and the International Monetary Fund were established. Happy Birthday, to them both … they have both done much more good than harm. The fact that neither is popular with the political left andContinue reading “Anniversary …”

And some even better news …

Congratulations to the men and women of Chantier Davie in Quebec who conceived the idea of Project Resolve and then converted the MV Asterix into a brand new AOR (supply and refuelling ship) for the Royal Canadian Navy. Over this Christmas week a crew of merchant seamen and Davie workers are sailing her to Halifax whereContinue reading “And some even better news …”

Some pretty good news …

It’s going on to 25 years since Jean Chrétien promised (in the 1993 campaign’s now famous Red Book) “zero helicopters” for the Canadian Forces because, he told Canadians, the Mulroney Conservatives wanted to replace the ageing but still serviceable Sea Kings (which entered service in the early 1960s) with “Cadillacs” … so they, the Canadian ForcesContinue reading “Some pretty good news …”

Merry Christmas …

… from me and my family to you and yours … … I know some of you don’t keep Christmas, not like many of us do, here in Canada, and that’s OK, of course, but I think that there is, also, a sort of secular even irreligious Christmas holiday that, for all of its crass commercialism,Continue reading “Merry Christmas …”

On Christmas Eve …

… I invite you to take just a moment to think about the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force who are spending Christmas on duty or deployed overseas … … the painting is by Silvia Pecota, an award wining artist and photographer who wasContinue reading “On Christmas Eve …”