Russian Terrorists in Newfoundland Top Federal Agenda

You know, it’s funny sometimes how you can be heading in one direction and suddenly you end up going somewhere altogether different. Such is the case today.

Just as I was completing an article on a Coast Guard exercise off the coast of Newfoundland I received an email from one of our readers who wanted to bring a federal government press release to my attention. Amazingly, although the two items didn’t at first hit me as related, they are.

Initially I began writing about a recent news article on VOCM radio in Newfoundland and Labrador and ended up writing about Paul Martin’s upcoming visit to the UN. Go figure.

Anyway, according to the article, the Canadian Coast Guard and RCMP are conducting a search and rescue / terrorism exercise in Fortune Bay Newfoundland this week. The exercise will utilize Coast Guard vessels, a French Naval vessel and a Canadian Forces helicopter.

Here is the part of the story that immediately caught my attention: One of the scenarios involves a terrorism plot originating in Russia.

I have to ask, has anyone taken the time to inform the federal government that Russia is now an ally and that the cold war is over?

In an effort to help keep our federal leaders up to date, I personally searched the web for information on terrorist incidents stemming from Russia.

The results of my search show that yes, unfortunately terrorism is on the rise in that part of the globe, however of the 50 incidents which have taken place since 2000, none were on Western soil. In fact, they were all acts of domestic terrorism most of which were related primarily to Chechnya.

As unfortunate and heart breaking as these incidents are, they don’t appear to reflect a will by anyone in Russia to inflict pain and suffering in Western nations. In fact these incidents clearly show a country embroiled in an internal upheaval and a people much too pre-occupied to worry about attacking anyone in this part of the world.

It makes me wonder just how “on the ball” the Canadian government is when it comes to planning for these sorts of worst case scenarios. My thinking is that if anything ever did happen, by the time the authorities figured it out and responded, everyone involved in carrying out the attack would have died of old age. Does Air India ring a bell?

I also have to wonder how our new allies in Russia feel about being used in such a simulation. Did anyone discuss this scenario with the Foreign Affairs office? Surely it can’t be good for foreign relations between our two nations. How would the Canadian people feel if Russia began running exercises based on a scenario where Alberta cattle ranchers where invading the Russian steppes, or PEI potato farmers planned to blow up a consignment of Russian spuds?

In a post 911 world everyone needs to plan and prepare for a possible terrorist threat, but with so many terrorist organizations out there to choose from, couldn’t the brain trust in charge of this exercise have come up with a better scenario than a Russian incident off the coast of Newfoundland?

I just hope anyone covering this story gets the details straight about the fact that the plan and the exercise originated with federal agencies, not provincial ones. If they miss that point, this could turn into one hell of a newfie joke.

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with Paul Martin visiting the UN. Not a lot on the surface, other than the correlation between the stupidity of the federal government at home and the even stupider (is that a word?) actions of our representatives when abroad.

You see according to today’s press release, Canada’s Prime Minister will be attending the UN 2005 World Summit being held in New York from September 14-16.

According to the release, Mr. Martin will press for Canada’s priorities:

Promoting human rights and the responsibility to protect;

Improving UN performance in peace building;

Counter terrorism;

Responding to global heath threats;

Reaffirming the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for development;

Improving UN management and oversight mechanisms; and

On September 14, the Prime Minister will sign the new United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

All pretty heady stuff, but I do have to wonder, as the reader who submitted this release to me also wondered, where is the high priority item that the Honorable Paul Martin always speaks about when pandering for votes in Newfoundland and Labrador? Pressing the international community to help protect cod stocks on the nose and tail of the grand banks.

This particular item, which according to statements from the Prime Minister during an international fisheries conference earlier this year, is a key priority of his government, appears to be missing from his agenda.

One has to ask why this is. After all, this is a prime opportunity to move Canada's fisheries issues to the front of the agenda at the UN. An opportunity to stop his dithering and take a strong action for once in his Prime Ministerial career.

It appears that instead for pushing this important issue, our great Prime Minister would rather regale his audience with stories of how Canada, (wait for it folks), is working on the nations counter terrorism planning by preparing for a Russian attack in Newfoundland.

Hey, we shouldn’t complain, we did elect him. (Well, I didn’t elect him, but someone out there must have voted Liberal right?)

Hopefully the Russians won’t get too upset with us and start sending vessels across the Atlantic to surround Newfoundland. Oh, wait, that’s right, they already have. Russia, along with a dozen other countries already have us surrounded, but don’t worry, according to the Federal government if we just ignore them they’ll eventually go away. Once all the fish are gone.

If you are interested in letting Paul Martin know how you feel about his chronic dithering over fisheries issues and if you would like to see him table the topic at the UN, you can do so at:
Martin.P@parl.gc.ca

It may just stop him from embarrassing himself publicly again and bye the way, our Foreign Affairs Minister will also be at that convention. Someone might want to pass along the word to him that Canada’s homeland security forces are planning for a Russian invasion.