United in Service of Defence and Security since 1920 |
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Dear Visitor, Welcome to the February 2022 issue of our monthly e-newsletter - Dispatches. We are excited to keeping you informed about RAUSI and our upcoming events and news. 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. |
| Look for the next RAUSI Dispatches in your mailbox Tuesday, 1 March 2022. Content submission deadline is Friday, 25 February 2022. Questions or submission? Write to admin@rausi.ca. |
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Message from the President
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 Interesting times. It is now February 2022 and Eastern Europe is once again on the brink of war. Ukraine, which was part of the Russian empire for centuries before becoming a Soviet republic, won independence as the USSR broke up in 1991. Most Ukrainians now want closer ties with the West. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and began supporting a separatist rebellion in Ukraine’s east resulting in accusations of Russia of sending its troops and weapons to back the rebels.
Russia has criticised the US and NATO for providing Ukraine with weapons and holding joint training. They do not want Ukraine in NATO and want a halt to any NATO training exercises near Russia’s border. They also want NATO to withdraw from Eastern Europe. Ukraine is not a NATO member, but it wants to be. It is considered a partner of the alliance. The West is accusing Russia, which has massed 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, of preparing to invade its pro-Western neighbour. The US have put 8,500 US troops on standby for an Eastern European deployment and NATO said it was sending ships and jets to bolster the region’s defences. Russia denies it has any plans to invade Ukraine and accuses the West of aggravating the situation. Western nations have thrown their support behind Ukraine, but some responses have been tougher than others. The US and UK have supplied weapons, while Germany plans to send a field medical facility next month but will not transfer military equipment. Canada has yet to decide.
All of this is certainly of interest to the RAUSI membership and future discussion is guaranteed. Be sure to attend our upcoming RMCSD presentation by Dr Sean Maloney on this very topic (details below).
United Through Service, Maj Kent Griffiths, MMM, CD (Retired)
President
The Royal Alberta United Services Insitute (RAUSI)
president@rausi.ca
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RAUSI introduced the inaugural Rocky Mountain Conference on Security and Defence on 27 January. The Conference comprises a series of hour-long online dialogues between subject matter experts and the audience to analyze a full spectrum of global security and defence issues. >> Did you miss the event? Watch the full video on YouTube (57:16)
RAUSI Presents Dr LJ "Joe" Howard
What Constitutes Security and Defence?
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Strategic Nuclear Moves During the Ukrainian Crisis of 2022Mark your calendar — our next event will take place on 24 February 2022 with Dr. Sean M. Maloney, Professor of History at the Royal Military College of Canada. Registration is now open. |
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International Law and State Practice in Geopolitics; Part II
By LJ Howard
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Throughout global affairs, a state distinguishes itself in adopting its unique ‘state practice.’ State practice projects national values that endure over time and advances vital national interests that evolve over time. Diagnostic analysis of a state’s models of interpretation of international law is one of several means by which to delineate its state practice. Reverse engineering these models can expose and then either confirm or refute perceptions of underlying values and interests. This enables follow-on predictive and prescriptive analyses to increases confidence levels in other states’ cycles of planning and executing responsive policies and programs, and favourably shape future negotiations in multilateral diplomacy. This multipart study presents such a diagnostic analysis and affirms that the security of a coherent international legal system directly informs debate on security and defence.
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The Polar Trap: China, Russia, and American Power in the Arctic and Antarctica |
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RAUSI has noted for some time the perceived lack of focus and/or attention which the Government of Canada and the DND/CAF have placed on the Arctic Region. RAUSI has called for increased awareness and informed discussion with Canada’s political leaders. | |
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| Who’s to blame in the Ukraine-Russia standoff? It depends on perspectiveBy Dr. Alexander Hill, Professor of Military History, Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary |
| In the West, the current standoff between Ukraine and Russia has typically been presented as one in which a righteous Ukraine is standing up to bullying by a scheming, even Machiavellian Russia. |
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| Russia has reached the point of no return in its conflict with UkraineBy Dr. David Roger Marples, Distinguished University Professor of Russian and East European History, University of Alberta
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| The international crisis created by Russia over NATO’s eastern expansion has brought Europe to its most critical moment since the dissolution of the state of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. |
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EUSI 2022 Security and Defence Symposium: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in War & Peace
Saturday, 5 March 2022
Alberta Aviation Museum (11410 Kingsway, Edmonton) |
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RAUSI is a Canadian-based forum for global civilians, humanitarian, military and international police communities to present original thought on trending issues, in their formative stages, as they relate to global security and defence. Formed in 1920 as a think tank, RAUSI later evolved into a service organization for veterans in the decades following the World Wars. In this new era, RAUSI has evolved back into a think tank, publishing original content, curating extant articles, and sponsoring speaker’s symposia which amplify cross-disciplined models of 21st century security and defence. |
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Copyright © 2022. The Royal Alberta United Service Institute, All rights reserved.
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