Spreading the CF's footprint abroad

Sensible preparation for an uncertain future:

Canada's military is locked into the Afghan mission until 2011, but is preparing for the next war or peacekeeping mission by establishing a series of supply depots around the world, The Canadian Press has learned.

Germany this week became the first country to agree to host a small detachment of Canadian military and civilian supply clerks, who will share space with the U.S. forces at an air base in Spangdahlem.

Ottawa is also negotiating with other NATO allies and plans to approach governments in Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, the Caribbean and South America for similar ventures.

"We've learned a lot through transformation and the operations of the past few years," Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the country's top military commander, said in a recent interview.

The supply depots, essentially small warehouse operations located in strategic regions, would allow for the stockpiling of equipment and ammunition for future missions.

Natynczyk said if the Canadian military is to play a role in hot spots around the world – as Defence Minister Peter MacKay recently suggested – then "we need significant bilateral relations with countries (where) we can pre-position combat supplies and equipment."

The plan envisions both sea and air bases, staffed in some cases by as many as half a dozen Canadians, located in friendly countries but close to potential trouble spots.

The depots could be used as jumping off points for military or humanitarian missions, said a senior defence official who spoke on background.

Critics have long complained the Afghan war has hamstrung the Canadian army, tied up resources and prevented it from undertaking other armed interventions – or peacekeeping assignments.

New Democrats, for example, have lobbied for an intervention to stop the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region...

Trust the Star gratuitiously to bring up the Darfur non-starter. Some sense from, guess who? Michael Ignatieff, the new Liberal (officially interim) leader:

...
China has delivered similar messages about Darfur. It grudgingly acquiesces in a failing UN military presence in the Sahara, but it will certainly stand against any political dismemberment of Sudan that would allow the Darfurians to break free of the regime in Khartoum. The combined resurgence of the Russians and Chinese makes it unlikely that the Security Council will authorize humanitarian interventions again, at least in regions vital to their interests...

One awaits the response from Mr Ignatieff's potential coalition government partner, the NDP.