Introduction
Charlie Angus, a longtime Member of Parliament from Northeastern Ontario, has published his observations about recent NATO meetings in Brussels which have been edited, reformatted, highlighted and abridged below.
I Didn’t Think It Would Be Like This
“I was sure that when Donald Trump started shooting off his mouth about Ukraine and kissing up to Putin, the combined voices of NATO would speak up as a strong deterrent. When he began undermining his allies:
- I was convinced that Germany, the UK, France, Poland, etc., would rally together to remind the Americans that Europe would not be pushed around, and
- I was also hoping that our big European cousins would be there to reassure Canada that everything would be okay
but that’s not how it went down at the NATO meetings in Brussels. Even as Trump was tearing down the European peace around them, the senior delegations were trying to tiptoe around the obvious.
- They sat politely as American MAGA bros lectured them about their failure to defend democracy and
- They listened politely as they were told that the United States was a superior country because everybody had access to a gun but
- They didn’t expect that Project 2025 would be aimed at them and the future of liberal democracy.
- They were rattled – they were freaked out – they just couldn’t believe that right before their very eyes the clock was being pushed back to the 1930s….
Blunt Language Changed the Order of the Day
Coming from Canada- where our very right to exist as a nation has been called into question – I had a few choice exchanges with American Republicans over the course of the meetings, I went hard at the duplicity of Trump and the need for allied nations to stand up for the rule of law. My blunt language opened doors for representatives from many countries to approach me to discuss what could be done. I told them that:
- now was the moment where we either stood up for the vision of a democratic West or allowed it to be torn apart…
- and pointed out that while we were talking about our shared values, two criminal leaders were meeting in Saudi Arabia to sell out the people of Ukraine.
[After hearing my comments]…the Latvian delegation completely dropped the gloves and went hard on Trump. The hall erupted in cheers. Afterward, the lead Latvian delegate came up to shake my hand, saying: “We decided it was time to start acting like Canadians.”
Conclusion
Trump is being reckless on so many fronts, and he will trip and fall, and this will be the opportunity in the United States to begin pushing back but my advice to fellow Canadians and our international allies is that we can’t wait or hope for America to get its act together. The resistance must start now and I am hoping that a coalition from around the world will join Canada but, if not, we will stand on our own.
Defending ourselves from a gangster state is going to be an expensive and long-term commitment. We will have to hunker down and make tough decisions about our economy and national defense.
Bottom Line
Canadians will never kiss the gangster ring, no matter how hard the fight.”
