US Launches Attack on Newfoundland and Labrador
The headlines read, Americans to Launch Rocket, Hibernia to be evacuated.
Thats right, the American Government were planning, and almost carried out, a rocket launch that would have seen an 11 ton rocket booster crash into the ocean a stones throw away from the Hibernia platform. So close in fact, that if the winds of fate were blowing the wrong way, 2 million barrels of oil could have been ignited and the ecology of the area effected for decades to come.
What would possess America to do something like this? As I see it, there are only two possibilities.
The first option is that the American Government doesn’t realize that we were here. They don’t realize that the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Hibernia platform (which supplies oil to the US) and our fishermen are on the ocean in this part of the world.
NOT POSSIBLE. Until just a couple of decades ago the American forces had many military installations in the province, a surprising percentage of their oil is currently produced here and fish from our waters is marketed throughout the US. This scenario is not an option.
The second option is that the American Government is sending a message to the Canadian Government.
Just recently, Paul Martin and the Liberal government closed the door on the Americans when it came to missile defense. They were told that Canada wanted no part in a plan to blanket North America in a shield of radar installations and missile silos. Silos that would, according to the American Government, protect us from missiles falling from the skies. Hmmmm….. Missiles falling from the skies….. sound familiar? Missiles, Solid Rocket Boosters, hmmmm….
Maybe this is George Bush’s way of getting the point across that, other than begging and pleading, the Canadian Government has no way to protect it’s skies. Maybe, just maybe, this is the first step in a campaign to make the Canadian public sit up and take a second look at just how much sovereignty we really have in our skies and in our oceans. With the mentality of the Bush government it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.
If this is the case, then I guess our geography here in Newfoundland has played a role in our place in history once again.
Where else could Bush make such a move? Off the coast of BC wouldn’t work, the debris would have to fall so far off shore that it wouldn’t bother anyone. This would need to be done to ensure that it couldn’t possibly be perceived as a threat to the American West coast, California or Alaska. A difficult task if you still want to send a message to Canada.
Central Canada is out of the running of course since the debris would have to fall on land. Even Bush is not pissed off enough, not yet anyway, to actually cause an impact on land in a possibly inhabited area.
The rest of Atlantic Canada is out since it is clustered so close together and not that far from the US eastern seaboard. Very problematic.
Newfoundland and Labrador wins the prize!!!
Of course, having a Premier who is interested in taking part in the missile defense program and who sees it as beneficial to our province, doesn’t hurt in this scenario.
The Bush brain trust must be crazier than we have thought all along. I can picture George and his cronies hatching the plot and thinking, “I bet Williams will start bawling and screaming, ‘incoming, incoming. Lets get the shield’, Huh, Huh, Huh. Yeah boys, I can just hear it. Pass me another beer will ya Dick”.
Have a good weekend folks, and God bless America.
2 comments:
When I read about this yesterday I thought of a quote,
"America is not an elephant. For one thing, elephants never forget, whereas Americans don't really know much to begin with. Ninety per cent of them can't pick out their hometown on an unmarked map. We're bigger than they are and we're on top. If we were in prison, they'd be our bitch."
-- The great Rick Mercer.
As much presense as America has had in Newfoundland since the first world war, it would not suprise me that they forgot that people actually lived on this Island and that maybe, just maybe we would have some problem with a 10 ton piece of steal falling from the sky next to an Oil rig with a days notice.
I am starting to see more and more of the political savvy of Premier Williams. I'm not saying that there isn't a possibility of the booster causing problems for our oil rigs, but Mr Williams jumping on the topic is a politically smart move regardless of the real danger. If something does cause a problem he can always say "I told you so and look like prophet. Just by fighting the Americans on this he comes across as a strong leader and if he gets the Americans to alter trajectory it gives him the image of someone who is not only willing to take on the Americans in a fight, but that he can win. Always good selling points anywhere in Canada.
Who said he had no political sense?
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