{"id":20200,"date":"2014-07-29T02:22:10","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T18:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=20200"},"modified":"2014-07-29T02:22:10","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T18:22:10","slug":"canada-must-not-falter-in-the-face-of-aggressive-militarism-by-russia-harper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/07\/29\/canada-must-not-falter-in-the-face-of-aggressive-militarism-by-russia-harper\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada must not falter in the face of ‘aggressive militarism’ by Russia: Harper"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Canada<\/a>
Canada PM Stephen Harper. Photo courtesy of Harper’s official Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the western world can’t soften its tough stand toward Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, even at the expense of the economy.<\/p>\n

In an unusual move, Harper has written an editorial on the situation in Ukraine that was published in Saturday’s Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n

He writes that although militants in eastern Ukraine are referred to as ‘pro-Russian separatists,’ there is no doubt they are “an extension of the Russian state.”<\/p>\n

Harper accuses Russia of “aggressive militarism” that he says is a threat to not only Ukraine, but Europe and the values that bind Western nations.<\/p>\n

Some Canadian companies, notably aircraft maker Bombardier, have expressed concern about doing business in Russia in the face of increasing Canadian sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.<\/p>\n

Harper says Canada’s national interests must come first.<\/p>\n

“The steps Canada has taken have not been made without careful consideration of their potential impact on Canadian business interests abroad and at home,” Harper writes.<\/p>\n

“We will not allow business interests alone to dictate our foreign policy.”<\/p>\n

Bombardier said Friday that Canadian sanctions could affect the timeline of the company’s plans to set up a plant in Russia to build regional jets in a project estimated to be worth $3.4 billion.<\/p>\n

Harper’s editorial also raised the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane this month, killing nearly 300 people including a Canadian.<\/p>\n

He pointed the finger at militants in the Ukraine and said whether accidental or not the blood of the victims is on their hands.<\/p>\n

Canada is sending an RCMP officer to the Netherlands on Sunday to determine how Canada can assist Dutch authorities in their investigation of the Malaysian air disaster _ they’re taking the lead because many of those aboard were from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson offered the support on Saturday when he spoke with his Dutch counterpart, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.<\/p>\n

A statement from Nicholson’s office said Canada will take part in a meeting this week hosted by Dutch officials regarding the next steps for victim identification and the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the western world can’t soften its tough stand toward Russia over the crisis …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":19808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145],"tags":[512,273],"class_list":["post-20200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","tag-russia","tag-stephen-harper","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}