P+Canada,+the+United+States,+and+the+World+1970+-+2000

The End of the Cold War Canada's Military Role


 * __Introduction__**

Canada today as we know it is a large part of the United Nations or the UN. Although many people don’t realize Canada was part of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO which is still a working company today and Canada is still associated with. All of the missions Canada participates on proposed by the UN are handled by NATO to determine weather Canada will aid in the mission or not. NATO and the UN are very determined to help the world. They both have the similar view of “Policing the World.” All of the missions they participate on are considered dangerous and hostile until dealt with or resolved meaning they are pretty daring. The UN and NATO have participated on many missions and have not only ended up solving them but on a negative note have caused deep depression. As I will mention later Lt. Romeo Dallaire was very depressed from Rwanda, this was one of the UN’s largest failures. The time period at the end of the Cold War was about 1948-1992. This was one of the UN’s and NATO’s busiest times. There were a total of 27 peacekeeping missions proposed in this short time. There were 13 missions in 1948-1987 and 14 in 1988-1992. This was the most missions ever presented in the previous forty years combined. The recent collapse of the Soviet empire is what really made this rapid increase in missions. Canada was a partcipant in all.


 * __The Fall of the Soviet Empire__**

The recent fall of the Soviet Empire not only increased in the amount of missions but because the West was free from the death grip it was also free to impose its will on regions around the world. The West was backed by the military although. The UN needed to step in to help stop this. The West was attacking and killing people and the UN needed to stop them. Even though they used some debating, it failed and the military was immediately sent in after to get the west to move back. The peacekeeping missions were in the middle of being changed, not because of the fall of communism. The West was killing and massacring many people the UN wasn’t sure if intervening was possible or even allowed. The West was concentrated in one Country making the UN wonder is intervening was against the rules. The difference with ethnicity and religion brought horrible deaths. They decided to intervene anyway.


 * __Agenda for Peace__**

The “Agenda for Peace” was created by General Boutros-Ghali. This would outline all the peacekeeping rules and regulations. It describes peacekeeping as follows:
 * Preventive Diplomacy:** UN diplomats must mediate disagreement before force.
 * Peacekeeping:** Non-partisan troops can carry out and enforce the terms of an agreement like returning refugees to their homeland or removing weapons from the opposing force.
 * Peacemaking:** UN forces participate in a conflict without consent of all parties then take sides and used force to settle it. This, for example, usually happens when there is a humanitarian crisis.
 * Peacebuilding:** This is the stage where the UN helps to rebuild the area that was attacked after the dispute has been solved.


 * __Main Battles__**

There were three main battles in the 1990’s that Canada participated in. The three battles were the Persian Gulf, The Balkans, and the African Nations.


 * __The__** **__Persian Gulf__**

This will be the main battle to be focused on because it was one of the largest. Iraq used to control a small area called Kuwait. They had lost control and wanted it back. They decided to invade Kuwait and the UN immediately went to their defense. This applied to their laws because it was an act of aggression toward a smaller “neighboring” state. This was a large battle and during that time a large military coalition was formed with the Canadian forces. The Canadian diplomats from the UN and the forces tried to stop Saddam Hussein although he would not refuse his attack. Saddam refused to step down any of his forces or to show any sign of retreat or withdrawal. Air and Land attacks were sent in to attack Iraq forces for many days once Iraq was left in ruins, 120,000 soldiers were dead, and forces from the UN still operating the battle was over. The root cause to this was found later to not be an act of aggression to retake power or authority but because they were of a different ethnicity. The mass murdering that took place was because of ethnic cleansing.


 * __A Crisis Unfolds__**

As the previous fall of the Soviet Empire had happened European communities were also starting to struggle because of this political instability. Europe started to fight Sarajevo and the UN immediately stepped in and stopped this. The population of Sarajevo was in desperate need of help during this time. The UN needed to attempt another approach. They tired threatening countries in hope of them backing off but unfortunately this wasn’t going to happen. So NATO stepped in and realized there was no hope in debating so they implemented military action. This solved the problem.


 * __Louise Arbour__**

Louise Arbour is a Canadian woman who was appointed to the UN post a little while after the previous battle with Sarajevo. She previously wrote articles on world peace and was chief justice minister making her a great candidate. This appointing was very amazing and many Canadians were proud to see Louise appointed. She then took hold of directing the UN.


 * __The Balkans__**

In 1998 just after Louise Arbour was appointed to the UN post hostiles broke loose and started to attack the Balkans. This conflict was concentrated within Kosovo Siberia. Kosovo was a very important area for two opposing forces the Kosovo’s and the Serbs. They both had their reasons to want it. In 1989 the Serbian leader stripped Kosovo of its independence and left all the jobs to the Serbian minority. All rules in the land changed and not only did the laws change along with them the language changed too and people were murdered if caught not speaking the proper language. The Kosovo’s used to live in that area until the independence was removed and they were being murdered and kicked out. The Kosovo people wanted their land back because it was their ancestral home for as long as any one could remember. The Serbs on the other hand also wanted to keep it because it was “the cradle” of civilization to them and was also equally important. Sharing the land was not going to work. The KLA joined to fight the Serbian forces although they were failing. The refugees not fighting were fleeing from this area and flooding the other neighboring states until the states closed there borders and no refugees could escape. The Serbs has once again started ethnic cleansing and the states closing their borders gave them an easier target. The UN stepped in with negotiations and instead of working they became futile. In fact even though the negotiations were failing the Serbian leader managed to keep them long enough to gain time. Milosevic the Serbian leader used these to buy time. Over 300 000 refugees escaped. Milosevic refused to stop the cleansing and NATO cam in with the military. NATO released a bombing campaign that pounded the Serbian forces for 78 days. This was the second time western forces were involved in military action since the end of the cold war. As The Balkans were attacked Canada played a significant role of bombing and watching to make sure the Serbian forces were removed and as they were Canadian jets flew over to isolate the forces incase of another outbreak. Canada accepted more then 5 600 refugees and spent over $5 million to contribute to this crisis. Canada was thought to be anti-Serbian making them have a bad reputation and they were purposely killing Serbs.


 * __UN and__** **__Canada__** **__are questioned__**

Canada and the UN are seen as war making areas and they have even failed for example in Rwanda. There was a Lt. who was so devastated he tire to commit suicide and he though t he was fighting evil spiritual beings in Rwanda and that is why the UN needs to execute there plans more carefully and try different tactics.


 * __? Should__** **__Canada__** **__Continue?__**

I believe that even though Canada has had some failures they should still continue. They have had many successful attempts to create peace too. Although the UN needs to lay down some restrictions first they need to have a limited group size that goes on missions to observe what is happening, they need to stay in constant contact, and they need to exhaust all other opportunities. I think that they need to have a limited group size because the larger the group the more space is covered but the less secretive the missions are. If a smaller group is sent they can take out certain important points and then work from the inside out instead of raiding the whole city and causing a dangerous chaotic scene. The size sent out will need to change depending on the missions though. They need to stay in constant contact so that if conditions change adjustments can be made logically and not under pressure in the hands of the officers already on duty. An important decision they need to make is to make sure to exhaust all opportunities’ and observe what is happening to see if anything is working and once this is done they may implement military action if unsuccessful. This is why I think Canada should continue but only because these additional rules are to be implemented.

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