Would Canada’s military defend against U.S. invasion? (youtube.com)

submitted 3 days ago by NightOwl@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 20 points 3 days ago

I've said before, if the Canadian military has any threat modeling of an American invasion force, the best move is to slow things down a bit, get critical military material out of bases, and have the military become the leadership of guerilla forces. We won't win toe-to-toe, no matter how brutal the American losses are. But we look enough like Americans that we can blend in, we have a 5000 mile long border, and a very strong 'not American' national identity. We couldn't stop them from taking our country, but it would cost them every day they stayed.

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

But we look enough like Americans that we can blend in, we have a 5000 mile long border,

And a lot of us have been to their cities enough times to be able to navigate without a map.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

The French knew how to resist. We have some French. 1+1=2

[-] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

The French resistance spent years to get started and relatively few of them were able to obtain a functional firearm, let alone other weapons.

We need to have a home guard that is basically a ready made defense force made up of people willing and able to be trained for it. Former or current military, police, and civilians trained for it but kept undercover that they were.

[-] codydodd@lemmy.ca 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I used to think this. Until our 1 million drones a year deal with Ukraine. Who is beating Russia, a similarly supposed asymetric power. The US is actively losing to Iran. Times and war has changed and the US is gutting their own productivity to fuel corruption.

[-] non_burglar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Yep.

And we have a lot of smart people up here and even more stubbornness.

The folks who migrated to Canada from Europe instead of to the USA and remained were obviously tough enough not to be trifled with in ww1.

[-] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 10 points 3 days ago

They also wouldn’t have the unified support of the US citizenry. It’s very likely they’d face some turmoil from within.

Also hitting infrastructure to make life more difficult for the oligarchs like Ukraine did with Wildberries and oil depots would be very effective.

[-] bowreality@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

While I would hope so, I doubt it. They can’t even fight for themselves. Too apathetic and manipulated. I don’t believe for a minute that Americans would stand up for us. Maybe they would say so but action? Nope.

[-] morbidcactus@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

From A CBC article about follow up on Carney's comments on contingency plans

There is, however, an increasingly puzzled reaction among some Americans who have grown accustomed to Trump's threats, taunts and trolling.

Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and a former instructor at the U.S. Army War College, said many Americans, including himself, are unaware of how Trump's words affect people in other nations.

"I don't think I have a visceral sense of what Canadians are feeling about the United States," Schmidt said. "We really don't have a sense of the impact of what the president is saying has on other places."

He dismissed the notion of the U.S. military taking action against Canada, but said Carney has taken the prudent, responsible course of a leader and measured the risk.

I fall on the same side as you, I hope so, but doubt it, and while this snippet isn't surprising at all to me, it still disappoints me. Yanks would probably see military action as just a joke or something at this point, or because it's outside their borders, they wouldn't care.

I'm being (hopefully) exaggerative and frankly antagonistic towards the Americans, but I'm increasingly annoyed by some of them (any time someone comes around to appolgise about how they're not one of the bad people and it's not all Americans, it's tone deaf, ignorant and seems self-serving) and despise their government. They need to be aware of how they're seen from outside, we do too.

[-] nyan@lemmy.cafe 3 points 3 days ago

He dismissed the notion of the U.S. military taking action against Canada,

Three years ago, he would probably have dismissed the notion of the US fighting a half-assed war of aggression against Iran, too. Guys, unless you get the nutcase out of the driver's seat and ensure no one comparable can rise to power in your country again, everyone else has to plan for the worst.

[-] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com -3 points 3 days ago

They can’t even fight for themselves. Too apathetic and manipulated.

I’m sorry you believe this but if you truly do then you’re falling prey to the same manipulation.

[-] bowreality@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago

Why? What are they doing? Three fair weather protests on a Saturday afternoon with 1% of the population? That’s an outing not a protest.

[-] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 1 points 3 days ago

Lawsuits, protests, grass roots political campaigns at the state and local level to weaken the far right base.

If you want a violent revolution feel free to strap up and head south. Or maybe Canada could put more focus on their own increasing far right groups, or the UKs, or France’s, or Italy’s, or Germany’s, or Australia’s, or Austria’s, or the Netherlands’, or Finland’s, or Sweden’s, or Hungary’s, or Czechia’s, or Croatia’s.

Or maybe realize this isn’t an American problem but a human one and we all need to come together to quash it once and for all.

Or keep being distracted by the global elite’s shell game and media control and focus all your energy in being angry at a population being kept center stage through manipulated news coverage. They’ll appreciate it so they can continue to shore up the coalitions they have across the globe to make them harder to root out.

One thing is for sure; being sarcastic and pissy on the internet isn’t going to help. Better to build bridges than walls.

[-] bowreality@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

I never suggested violence. But there is not even remotely enough push back from people. Still shopping, still buying entertainment (sports, concerts, streaming etc). No protests. Don’t tell me the American do everything they can and it would take violence. Sure, all other countries have problems too but the USA better be quiet because no other country has a mess like that. Canada didn’t vote for PP and it shows.

[-] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 0 points 2 days ago

But there is not even remotely enough push back from people.

Based on what? What you’re seeing in the billionaire controlled media? Or maybe you’ve been traveling through the US and seeing for yourself?

Sure, all other countries have problems too but the USA better be quiet because no other country has a mess like that

Yet. If you don’t understand this you will soon.

https://mjps.ssmu.ca/fringe-or-growing-movement-right-wing-extremism-in-canada/

[-] grte@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yeah, the US is coasting on an impression of their might that used to exist but is now only a product of decades of Hollywood propaganda. Capitalism has enshittified their military the way it has everything else. A trillion dollar+ military budget that has never passed audit and pretty much isn't expected to is actually just a corruption budget.

That said, I do agree with the video that Carney is using the threat of Trump to push for things that people might push back against without that threat hanging overhead.

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 days ago

Yes the whole supper power thing is in queation. I think America has coeuoted itself out of military might. Sure they spend a lot of money on military but I thibkntheir ROI has seceely decreased over the years.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 0 points 3 days ago

The US is mostly losing to Iran due to logistics helped along by badly underestimating their enemy. Logistics are much simpler should they attack Canada.

That said, I have a hard time assessing how much drones would help here. I don't expect they would do as well against a better supplied military than Russia has, and a lot of our bases and population centers are very close to our border, but America has shown they are also unprepared to deal with drone warfare effectively. They have also shown strong signs that their more effective leaders are either out of power or being forced to follow bad directions from their civilian leaders. After all, they are in the process of dismantling their foreign bases while waging a war halfway around the world, which only complicates the logistical challenges they already have. I expect drones are also very effective in guerilla warfare, not just the brand of asymmetrical warfare Ukraine is fighting.

[-] impairedimperator@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

Around January 2022 I said something similar about Ukraine if Russia invaded.

Keep in mind that there will almost certainly be Americans that are willing to sabotage their own.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 4 points 2 days ago

I'll admit Ukraine performed better than I expected, and Russia performed worse. Ukraine got a lot of foreign help, due in no small part to Russia's imminent threat to the rest of Europe, real or perceived. I don't know if the response if Canada was attacked would be the same, or greater, but I hope it is.