A pressing question

Canada isn't the only country struggling with issues of will in conflict situations, as outlined in a recent Jane's Intelligence Review article entitled "Mission fatigue - The future of military interventionism." The article asks a pressing question:

Combined with other long-running peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions that have returned mixed results, a creeping 'mission fatigue' may be weakening support for such operations, with countries involved in multilateral interventions increasingly questioning their commitments. This has raised the question of whether interventionism is now less feasible than prior to 2003, and if isolationism is likely to become more influential in decisions concerning expeditionary warfare.

The use of force as a legitimate means of protecting one's own selfish national interests has lost currency in the West, and the idea of using military force to protect any other interests (Responsibility to Protect, anyone?) remains speculative at best. Which leaves the citizenry of Europe and North America floundering in a philosophical void: what is a military to be used for at all these days?

In Canada, we've actually rebounded somewhat from that persistent ennui in recent years, in my opinion due to our desire to feel like we're "punching above our weight" in international affairs. The slogan "the world needs more Canada" resonates with us. But our resolve is being tested - or perhaps our attention span:

Similarly, Canada has more than 2,500 troops serving in Afghanistan, but lacks critical tactical helicopter and close air support assets, and the magnitude of the effort is seriously straining the armed forces. Public support remains strong but less than certain, particularly given that 53 Canadian soldiers have been killed since 2002, including seven in two separate attacks in April. This appears to underline the insurgents' focus on killing Canadians in order to trigger the withdrawal of one of the largest and most effective NATO contingents, while potentially unravelling public support elsewhere. [Babbler's italics]

I used the word "test" intentionally, as the testing is purposeful: the insurgents in Afghanistan don't think we have the stomach to see this mission through. Personally, I'm not convinced they're wrong, although I hope to heaven they are.