Friday, August 26, 2005

 

The Mouse that Roared

Canada was pretending to be a manly nation recently by showing the flag with a substantial portion of its mighty navy, that is, not one but two warships, the Shawinigan and the Glace Bay. This martial gesture took place near an uninhabited, God-forsaken, frozen rock called Hans Island and was a figurative throwing down the gauntlet in order to warn warlike Denmark to back off, Jack, that's our God-forsaken rock, eh?

Actually, to call the Shawinigan and the Glace Bay warships is being rather kind. They are both Kingston class Maritime Coastal Defense Vessels armed with two .50s and one 40mm Bofors gun. I've got almost as much firepower as that in my garage. There were armed Russian trawlers a few years back that could sink those doughty boats in a stand-up fight. And given the name of the island (Hans), something tells me the Danes might have been there first.

Canada, having been too long liberal, can't really afford to defend itself any more, and is reduced to relying on the kindness of strangers, like us. I read about a year ago that the combined might of the Canadian Armed Forces numbered around 50,000 men and women (mainly men).

We could take 'em; but who wants the headache of Quebec?

Comments:
No, the story said nothing, neither oil, nor minerals there.
Canada has twelve of the Kingston class patrol boats and three destroyers at 5,000 tons each. My dad was on an older version destroyer in WWII and it was 16,500 tons, three times as big. I tell you Canada lies open and unguarded and as Michael Moore proved in his last movie, they don't lock their front doors.
 
Dreams of Nunavut. Wasn't that a song on Foo Fighter's last album? Maybe I'm thinking of a name of one of the band members. Never mind.
 
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