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RAUSI Dispatches: Time to Engage, March 2021

United in Service of Defence and Security since 1920

Dear ,

RAUSI encourages you to become engaged in current event discourse. In addition to RAUSI Research Briefs, the new RAUSI Takes Note of ... features offer the ability to comment, and engage in debate on current issues. We want to hear from you -- visit the website to see what your colleagues are posting, and have your say!

Go to Research Briefs

Go to RAUSI Takes Note of ...

If you ever find that this e-newsletter is not for you, simply click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter to unsubscribe. All members are warmly welcomed to contribute newsworthy matters to future monthly issues of Dispatches by e-mailing us at admin@rausi.ca.

Allegations of Misconduct in the CAF

Maj Mark Soehner, CD (Ret'd)
President, The Royal Alberta United Service Insitute (RAUSI) 

It is with grave concern that the RAUSI Board of Directors has learned of the most recent allegations of misconduct against a senior officer of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Having only recently been appointed to his current position, Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Art McDonald, has now stepped aside pending the outcome of an investigation by the CAF National Investigation Service (CFNIS). This most recent allegation of misconduct comes only weeks after the previous CDS was also accused of misconduct.

These allegations raise specific concerns vis-à-vis the current cultural environment and practices within the CAF. While it is somewhat reassuring to Canadians that no member of the CAF is beyond the reach of the CFNIS, RAUSI proposes that the time has come to either appoint an independent outside agency to investigate these allegations or to institute the office of CAF Inspector General who is responsive and responsible to an authority outside the CAF chain of command.

Additionally, RAUSI believes the means by which CAF General and Flag officers are appointed must be improved. For example, these appointments would be confirmed through a Parliamentary Committee, in similar manner to the US where for many years the United States Senate has ratified General and Flag officer appointments and undertaken investigations of misconduct within the American Armed Forces. The Senate has worked diligently to ensure that the nominees it confirms meet the highest standard of military professionalism, ethical behavior, and accountability, and has been largely successful.

Public confidence in the leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces is critical. RAUSI and the Canadian public whom it serves are rightly concerned about and disappointed in that leadership when grounds for allegations of misconduct against the CAF’s most senior members arise repeatedly. RAUSI endorses the statement from the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) cited below and looks forward to learning how the outcomes of these various misconduct investigations will help to reinforce the efforts of Operation Honour.

Finally, RAUSI strongly encourages a robust yet sober public discussion as it relates to improving the appointment process for the senior members of our Armed Forces and encourages the public to share its thoughts on RAUSI’s website, www.rausi.ca. This is an issue we all own and must settle; government is apparently unable to do so.

Read CDA Statement

Join the Discussion

RAUSI Takes Note of...

Countermeasures and Reprisals in Naval and Land Engagements

International incidents often involve a threat or use of force, such as the US’ killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani on 03 January 2020. While the US claimed this an act of self-defence, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions cited the incident as an extrajudicial killing, hence reflecting different interpretations of law. The duration, scale and gravity of effect of such incidents may be considered minor in a larger framework of geopolitical analysis. Nevertheless, smaller scaled and less grave threats or use of force breach international law and should be placed inside a framework of legal analysis. This note introduces the issue of legal interpretation of another model of smaller scaled use of force, countermeasures, and invites its readership to comment and inform the debate at www.rausi.ca.

Read Article and Debate

RAUSI Membership Renewals

In accordance with Article 15(b) of the Institute’s Bylaws, renewal payments must be received by March 31, 2021 for accounts to remain in good standing. After this date, applicants need to be reapproved.

Ordinary Members in good standing may stand for election and vote in the upcoming AGM.
Active members receive monthly emails, quarterly newsletters, and access to resources on the RAUSI website.
Active members receive privileges with RAUSI’s affiliate organizations, such as registration discounts.
Membership supports ongoing development of educational resources, research and communications.
When safe to do so, members enjoy social events and a sense of community with fellow members.

If you have not renewed yet, please do so as soon as possible to maintain your membership status and support the Institute.

Please feel free to share information about RAUSI with friends and colleagues, encouraging new members to sign up.

From the Archives

"BETSY" — Six-pounder Anti-Tank Gun (1981)

‍A photo of LCol. Mark Tennant and his old friend "Betsy" the six-pounder anti-tank gun, now preserved in the National War Museum in Ottawa, taken during his visit, in the Fall of 1981, for investiture as a Member of the Order of Canada.

"Old Betsy" came to the Calgary Highlanders in July 1943, the first gun of her kind issued to the Regiment. Her first gun Sgt. was Sgt. H. 0. Larsen who won the MC as a Company Sergeant Major in Germany.

Betsy was one of the two-gun team with which the Anti-Tank Platoon won the Second Division's anti-tank gun shoot on the ranges at Lydd, winning ten "quid" and a party for the boys.

In February 1944 she fell into the River Ouse from a kapok float but was recovered, cleaned of mud and water, repainted and went on to better things ... landing in Normandy with the Regiment on July 6th 1944. On July 18th Betsy and another gun supporting C Coy in the attack on Hill 67 were attacked by Panther tanks and although none were officially credited to Betsy the attack was broken up and at least one Panther was seen on fire. Read more...

Good Reads

‍BOOK REVIEW

"Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance and Why They Fail"

By Amy Chua

Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance and Why They Fail is an extremely easy to read and easy to understand dissection of eleven geopolitical empires that have evolved over time and failed, as empires inevitably do. Authored by Amy Chua, who teaches law at Yale, the book explains why the necessary condition for success in building empires, namely, ‘strategic tolerance,’ paradoxically becomes the necessary condition for their failure. Success breeds failure.

Each chapter assesses one of the empires under review in about twenty-five to thirty pages and may be read independently of the others. The research horizon runs from the Persian empire and Alexander the Great in 550 BC through the empires of, for example, Rome and the Netherlands, to that of China and the EU in the 21st century. To better understand the trajectories of empires of the past, readers might enjoy plotting the respective territories of empires on a map and then question whether and how that geographic location correlates with underlying demographics and the socio-political model in question, such as the nature and extent of legal institutions, whether the economy was agrarian, trade-based, industrial, etc.

The reason for reading the book is not only to apply diagnostic analysis to empires and defence of empires in terms of a military context, but also to begin predictive analysis of future trends. By identifying common factors and outputs that may be correlated or causal, readers might identify trends that will assist in predictive analysis of present and future empires. Must empires always be built on asserted claims of territory by sovereign states? Can modern empires be built from organizational strength in for example, technology (Microsoft), e-commerce (Amazon), information management (Google), social media (Facebook), singularity artificial intelligence? Whether these new-age empires must eclipse or prefer to co-exist with territorial ground-based is an outstanding question. However, common to all empires is the currency of power. If power is the obverse of threats, then understanding how power projection of any sort is competently managed becomes useful in building institutions that can deliver effective national defence and international peace and security.

Amy Chua Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance and Why They Fail (Doubleday 2007) is available at Amazon or on a PDF file.

Review by LJ Howard

Canada, NATO & The Nuclear Ban Treaty

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the first legally binding international agreement to prohibit nuclear weapons with the end goal being their elimination. It came into effect on January 22nd, amidst a significant acceleration of the development of nuclear forces by all nuclear weapons states and increased nuclear saber rattling and bellicose rhetoric coming out of Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, and Washington. This activity been underscored by the Trump administration’s expanded rationale for nuclear weapons use under its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, as well as its repudiation of several nuclear treaties.

Upcoming Events

RAUSI website's Event calendar is being filled with more events. Keep checking back for updates!

Future of the Canadian Coast Guard

Navy League of Canada Maritime Affairs Virtual Speaker Deputy Commissioner Chris Henderson, Canadian Coast Guard, speaking on the "Future of the Canadian Coast Guard".

To register, email rsvp@navyleague.ca. You will receive an email confirming your registration and the meeting link will be sent out on 1 March 2021.

Wednesday, 3 March 2021 10:00 - Wednesday, 3 March 2021 11:00

The Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University presents "The Americas Series". Session 4 brings us further south in the Americas. Our panelists will discuss maritime security challenges in Latin America and in particular the Colombian naval strategy.

Speakers: Dr. Samuel Rivera Páez & Rafael Uribe-Neira

Sunday, 7 March 2021

About RAUSI

Building a bridge between uniformed and civilian communities, the Royal Alberta United Service Institute's vision is to be the premier organization in Alberta linking the public with members of the Canadian military and their role within and beyond the border of Canada.

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