Every now and again, a weird little subplot turns up in Canadian politics centred around anxiety about our place in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Lately, this has been heightened because of the AUKUS agreement, which is mostly about Australia buying American nuclear submarines, and that’s the reason why Canada wasn’t invited to join. We as a country have not been having the necessary dialogue around replacing our submarine fleet (which we absolutely should be), so us joining AUKUS would be particularly ill-timed.
Nevertheless, this bit of anxiety crept up again over the weekend, whereby an American intelligence official needed to go on television in Canada to assure us that no, the leaks from national security personnel to media over allegations of foreign interference are not going to jeopardise our Five Eyes membership. But cripes, people—we have had far worse leaks in recent memory, be it Jeffrey Delisle, who was sending information to the Russians, or the allegations surrounding senior RMCP intelligence official Cameron Ortis (who is still awaiting trial). Are these leaks to the media damaging? Yes, of course, particularly because they seem very much to have a partisan focus to them. Is it going to get us kicked out of the Five Eyes? Hardly.
And if any Brits get smug, ask them if they have seen the latest of many Kim Philby movies/tv shows.
Lots of glass houses.
So, no, the latest brouhaha does not affect Canada's 5 Eyes position.
2/2
— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) March 26, 2023
Ukraine Dispatch:
As Russian forces pound the town of Avdiivka, shifting away from Bakhmut, Ukrainian leadership is calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after Russia said it would be transferring tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1639971295113670656
The village of Blahodatne in Mykolaiv oblast. No intact buildings after Russian shellings have left pic.twitter.com/hHxGddJ1ec
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) March 26, 2023
Russian occupiers hit Kramatorsk in the Donetsk Oblast with rockets at night, the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Honcharenko, said. #RussiaIsATerroristState #RussianAggression pic.twitter.com/3yKpzwmIP1
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) March 25, 2023