Consider Canadian navy from global south point of view

 

Iran just labeled the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) a terrorist organization. To the surprise of many, it may be justified.

In response to Ottawa designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization last year, that country’s government labeled the RCN a terrorist group. While Tuesday’s listing may appear extreme to most Canadians — because our imperial history is not well known — the RCN has bombed and blockaded countries during wars of aggression as well as participating in international patrols designed to pressure countries.

In recent years the RCN has participated in US-led naval operations to monitor Yemen and run provocative manoeuvres off Iran’s coast. Alongside US ships, Canadian vessels have also repeatedly been involved in belligerent “freedom of navigation” exercises through international waters that Beijing claims in the South China Sea, Strait of Taiwan and East China Sea.

In early 2011, 15 days before the UN Security Council authorized a no-fly zone over Libya, HMCS Charlottetown left Halifax for the North African country. Two rotations of Canadian warships enforced a naval blockade of Libya for six months with about 250 soldiers aboard each vessel. On May 19, 2011, HMCS Charlottetown joined an operation that destroyed eight Libyan naval vessels. The ship also repelled a number of fast, small boats and escaped unscathed after a dozen missiles were fired towards it from the port city of Misrata. After those hostilities the head of Canada’s navy, Paul Maddison, told Ottawa defence contractors that Charlottetown “played a key role in keeping the Port of Misrata open as a critical enabler of the anti-Gaddafi forces.”

On one occasion a Canadian warship, part of a 20-ship NATO flotilla purportedly enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya, boarded a rebel vessel filled with ammunition. “There are loads of weapons and munitions, more than I thought,” a Canadian officer radioed Charlottetown commander Craig Skjerpen. “From small ammunition to 105 howitzer rounds and lots of explosives.” The commander’s response, reported the Ottawa Citizen, was to allow the rebel ship to sail through.  (more...)

Consider Canadian navy from global south point of view