And Canada blows up the Ivy Lea Bridge, which those troops would need to get into Canada.
Next?
Oh, and Canada’s House of Parliament is on Wellington Street in Ottawa, not Queen Street.
See just another example, were is necessary, to prove the politeness of Canadians … even when faced with invasion they will give the misdirected interlopers the correct directions to their seat of government.
Which is exactly why the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment will blindly follow the instructions from the customs agent, purporting to take them to the Prime Minister’s summer residence, which will in fact strand them into a remote region of Alberta known only as “the barrows”.
In any context where there are American troops who have the proximity, means, and capabilities to fire on Canadian resisters/protestors/unarmed civilians, then we are dealing in a scenario where American troops are willing to fire on Canadian resisters/protestors/unarmed civilians.
I struggle to come up with any reason why anyone (let alone a solider) would carry an armed gun if they were NOT willing to use it. Whether the Canadian civilians get fired upon, all depends on the exact conditions on-the-ground.
Its like questioning a suspect who claims that they didn’t mean to kill/shoot someone. “If so, why were you even carrying around a loaded gun?”
You might want to read this interview with Steve Bannon to get further insights into what Project 2025 is thinking.
Short summary: with global warming, the Arctic will be the new frontier in the Cold War / Great Game with Russia and China. The US can’t trust Canada to keep the area secure, so will have to take it over.
All in the name of the US’s national security, and when has that card failed to take every trick in US politics and popular support?
Let’s just stop here at this hilarious claim.
There will be no raids across the Alaskan border. The Alaska/Yukon and Alaska/BC borders are, with very few exceptions, wilderness, and there is nothing of consequence there.
You are apparently looking at a map of Canada and saying “that’s big” and assuming the USA would have to invade all of it. That’s absurd, man. It is completely, totally at odds with the fact.
An American invasion of Canada doesn’t have to invade the Yukon, or Labrador, or most of the country. That is not at all how things would go, not at all what the Americans would plan to do or would have to do. w It’s fucking crazy, and you need to look at what the actual situation and targets are.
An American invasion would consist of a decapitation strike on Ottawa to take the capital and kill the government, and taking out any bases that could possibly react. Ottawa - an undefended city - an hour from the border and helicopter-borne troops could be there at least that quickly. The United States could literally do that two weeks from now and it wouldn’t take two days. You really do not seem to understand how totally undefended Canada is; we have effectively no way of resisting by way of conventional military defense. The CF bases within even a day’s drive from Ottawa - Petawawa, Valcartier, Kingston, Trenton - could be bombed into submission with ease, because they have no air defense at all. Airports at Toronto and Montreal, also within easy reach, could be taken by a hundred guys, maybe less; neither is defended. Our bases are training and organization centers, not active bases with a real defensive capability, because Canada has not, and hasn’t been at any point in the last century, organized its armed forces for the purposes of defending against an American attack. The only fighter base in range, Bagotville, could also be blown off the map with ease. We have zero ability to defend against an attack. A very small portion of available US forces could hold Ottawa in 48 hours, maybe 72, tops.
Canada has two naval bases of consequence, Halifax and Esquimalt. Both would be blown to smithereens within a few days if not on Day 1.
After that, what does Canada do? What you’d see is the US announcing a fait accompli and telling what’s left of the CF to give up, the war is over. They could keep fighting from bases elsewhere in Canada but they’d be subject to incessant aerial bombardment against which we have next to no defense. Our best battlegroup - our only really armed battlegroup - is in Latvia.
The war wouldn’t last a week. Canada’s only hope is guerrilla insurgency. It would be very easy for the USA to win the initial war. The AFTERMATH would be a terrible mess that would last years, involve bombings and shootings everywhere in the USA, and make the USA a pariah, but what makes you think the Project 2025 guys care? Or that Trump does? Dude, they don’t care if elementary school children are shot to death.
And nah, US soldiers would go along with it. Of course they would. Soldiers follow orders.
Really? And who does that?
Aside from the fact they could also cross at the Seaway bridge, and have more than enough airlift capability to just fly over bridges, who is going to be able to react fast enough to blow up a bridge? That’s not as easy at it sounds, you know; it takes a lot of expertise and a lot of demolition charges to bring down a bridge that huge. I have zero confidence anyone could get tothe bridhes and rig them to blow fast enough to react.
If they could it’d be a huge blow to an American invasion to be sure, but it wouldn’t stop it. Again, they have a level of ability to move forces by air we can’t even begin to match. They would seize Ottawa Int’l with heliborne troops and start hauling in men by plane.
I agree completely with the overall thrust of your post. But as to this
I’ll point out that the very same thing is true of all the US bases within tactically relevant distances for Army, USN, and USAF. The CF around Ottowa could do a very thorough number on the nearby US forces given good luck and some surprise. Likewise, given some strategic warning, both sides could up their defensive measures around their important assets, both civil and military. CF does own air defenses for their bases. They just don’t have them deployed and active on a day to day basis. Likewise USAF.
The huge difference of course is the US has a much larger depth, so is much more able to prosecute rounds 2, 3, and n if needed. While the CF isn’t quite one-and-done, but is maybe two-and-done.
Still and all, a horrific scenario to contemplate no matter which flag is flying over your local city hall.
It does for now, yes. Hegseth [del]thinks[/del] feels otherwise, and the longer he’s SoD the more chances he has to steer the military away from such policies and training.
I agree with you now, but I wouldn’t make any bets on a couple of years out or so. By late 2027-early '28, Trump will be looking for a dog to wag* for the approaching elections and Hegseth will have had time to shape the military towards his antediluvian barbaric “thinking”.
*IMO, Trump hasn’t consolidated control, public opinion, etc. to the point of going to war; that is, invasion. Mexico and Canada will resist, with the latter too sympathetic sentimentally to ignore, and Panama would destroy vital canal works. Wars where guerrillas or insurgents are attacking our troops end up unpopular even when they start off popular, a war “too soon” increases the odds of a flipped Congress in '26, and a war going badly greatly increases those odds. IMO, Trump will beat the propaganda drums, increase tensions, and engage in economic warfare to lay a groundwork for war but, with the possible exception of Greenland, not actually invade anywhere until after the '26 elections.
Exactly.
You need to look at a population density map of Canada, not a simple geographic map.
Research from the Civil and World Wars suggest hardened troops often did not fire their weapons even when their lives were at risk and they were ordered to do so. But given modern training methods I think a high percentage of soldiers would follow orders with even a minimum of justification.
Russia may be interested in the Arctic but their military has been shown to be a lot less powerful than people thought five years ago. China may be interested, but the North is a bleak place a long way from home and they have more local priorities. Of course Canada should do more, and sneezes if the US catches a cold. We should learn from Ukraine and their advances using drones.
Powerful people in America are interested in Greenland and its potential. Northern Canada too. But the United States can essentially get what it wants from Canada without resorting to military invasion. One must keep an open mind, and weigh actual current events, but I can’t see Canschluss happening. What is occurring now is not a deep strategy where all aspects have been well thought out. It may be extensive and multipronged, but it is still superficial and scattershot.
A lot of it amounts to poking fingers in somebody’s eye because you can, then wondering later why it is hard to see, having to backtrack on some of the bigger unforeseen consequences, and alienating many of the people who voted for some of this without thinking things through. Even if the Courts intervene this will take time. But many of the decisions will be unpopular since some of them are not well considered.
‘Who cares about a million “traitors” and 800,000 “enemy aliens?” Surrender pronto or we’ll level Toronto!’
Some sustained artillery shelling should do the trick.
Bailey bridges. Lots of Bailey bridges. And helicopters. The US 101st Airborne alone has more helicopters than the entire Canadian military
Correct. It’s wilderness. Which means it’s undefended. It doesn’t matter if there’s nothing of strategic value if the goal is to create terror and divert resources. Fly in some drones and drop a couple bombs into some villlages and force the military to spend time defending them. And this is happening across the entire US-Canada border. Point Roberts is under siege. Detroit is getting shelled. Fishing boats need a Coast Guard escort to get in and out of Puget Sound. Farmers in North Dakota are having their livestock shot at.
Meanwhile the government has retreated to Edmonton and the bases are empty because the soldiers have gone to ground in plainclothes and are sniping Americans while they try to sweep for mines on the highway.
The insurgency IS the war. Not the invasion. How long do you suppose the American people will tolerate living under a war economy while our soldiers are fighting a guerilla war in every single city in Canada at the same time?
By whom? Using what?
Canadians using guns, one would assume. Do you think Canada is going to just sit there doing nothing when they notice that the US embassy staff are all leaving and US citizens are being advised to leave the country and National Guard units are being called up for combat duty and social media is full of videos of convoys going north on I-95?
I assumed by “shelling” you meant the use of artillery. As far as I can tell, there is no artillery regiment within 40km of Detroit, the range of the M777 howitzer used by the Canadian military. Others here can more reliably estimate how long an artillery unit would remain functional when it has no air cover.
Not right now there isn’t. If war were imminent that might not be the case. You cannot assume that Canada is going to do nothing but sit there and wait to be invaded. If there were indications of an impending invasion - which, again, would be impossible to hide - they’d be making preparations to hit back.
Long enough to inflict unacceptable losses on civilian population centers. Ask South Korea. Ask Ukraine, for that matter.
South Korea? Do you mean the 8,600 artillery pieces North Korea has? Compared to the 33 M777 units Canada has?