Tribble wrote: ↑2018-07-05 01:47pm
Well Canada is a pretty easy target given we only have a nominal military, have no desire for nuclear weapons for deterrence and a good portion our population is pacifistic enough that they would likely just throw in the towel if attacked and welcome their new overlords. Canada has only remained a free and democratic country because the USA permits it.
I actually doubt that Canada would easily surrender if it were to happen, because pretty much no nation in history has simply laid down and accepted a military invasion, no matter how outclassed their forces were. Canada has a reputation for being "nicer" than the US, but it also has a military history that a lot of Canadians take pride in. Hell, given how hated Trump is in parts of the US, and how closely intertwined the US and Canada are, I wouldn't even rule out American resistance forces fighting alongside Canada, though that might be too much to hope for. Still, in my opinion, a war between the US and Canada would arguably be more akin to a civil war than a war between nations, in some respects.
But in this hypothetical, the more significant obstacles to America than Canadian resistance would likely be the economic damage inflicted by a conflict with a country who's economy and populace are so intertwined with theirs' (unless that had changed substantially in the interim, which would take considerable time or else likely cause a depression), and the outrage from the rest of the world.
As unlikely as it may seem, I think that if we
did get to the point where the US attacked Canada of all countries, that would pretty much be a do or die moment for the rest of the world. A US that had gone that mad would be an expansionist rogue state which would pose an immediate existential threat to
every other nation on the planet, since if they could attack Canada of all countries, they might just as easily attack anyone else. An attack on Canada would also trigger NATO Article 5, and obligate NATO (including nuclear-armed Britain and France) to come to our defense. It would very much be a Poland 1939 sort of situation, only worse because it would involve nukes, and Russia and the US would both be on the Axis side. And the choice faced by the rest of the world would effectively be to oppose it and risk nuclear obliteration, or submit and hope that the new fascist world government gets overthrown from within in a few generations.
That being said, IMO an actual war is extremely unlikely, this is just more pressure by the US to cave to Trumps demands.
Perhaps so, and I don't expect tanks to roll over the border tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even next year, so I apologize if I am overreacting.
But the fact remains that we have a President who openly emulates fascist dictators, who deliberately puts children into concentration camps to punish their parents, who is close to Russia, and has essentially manufactured major tensions with America's closest friend and ally for no real reason, while at the same time basically becoming an extension of Kim Jong Un's propaganda.
We are far past the point of what is "likely" or logical already. At this point, there is pretty much nothing (within what is permitted by the laws of science) that I am prepared to absolutely rule out as a possibility.
"Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes" When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy." - Lincoln.
