It's quite surprising, and a bit absurd, to read these lines in one of Canada's premier and most widely read newspapers: "The Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical US military invasion of Canada and the country’s potential response, which includes tactics similar to those employed against Russia and later US-led forces in Afghanistan, two senior government officials say."
This is widely believed to be a first in the history of Canada's military, given there's never been reason for this founding NATO member to be attacked by another founding member of NATO, Globe and Mail additionally stated.
The two neighbors also partner and closely coordinate in continental air defense via NORAD, or North American Aerospace Defense Command. But Canadians no doubt woke up shocked Tuesday when beheld the US President sharing the following on social media...
Trump has also lately raised eyebrows in publicly talking about Canada as a potential 51st state, also while expressing his desire for the US to take over Greenland, and coming fresh off the Jan.3rd military assault and incursion on Venezuela to overthrow longtime leader Nicolás Maduro.
According to the Globe report, Ottawa’s contingency thinking and 'model' of a hot conflict with US forces reads less like a conventional defense plan and more like an insurgent playbook - even borrowing from the same guerrilla tactics used in Afghanistan by fighters who bled the Soviets and later the Americans.
This would include clashes along the border focused on ambushes, sabotage, as well as classic "hit-and-run tactics," according to the report.
The Globe stressed that what's being mulled remains a "conceptual and theoretical framework, not a military plan, which is an actionable and step-by-step directive for executing operations." Naturally, Western media and tabloids are having fun with this one:
The two senior government officials said military planners are modelling a U.S. invasion from the south, expecting American forces to overcome Canada’s strategic positions on land and at sea within a week and possibly as quickly as two days.
Such an 'insurgency-style' response, as opposed to setting up a conventional battlefield 'front' - seems an acknowledgement that America's armed forces would be far superior to Canada's small military by comparison.
Officials featured in the Canadian media report downplayed the odds that Trump would actually order an invasion of Canada. Also there would be clear signs, probably very far in advance.
Obvious warning signs would including Washington pulling the plug on bilateral cooperation through NORAD, for starters. The neighbors' bilateral trade would also likely collapse, and a ban on visas would like result in spiraling relations.
The two NATO powers are nowhere near that point, of course, but Canada does risk Trump's wrath as it this week said it is considering sending troops to Greenland, to potentially join EU countries' own deployments as they signal Washington that Denmark is not prepared to give up the resource-rich huge Arctic land mass.
