The two principal foreign and strategic crises of this year, Ukraine and Israel, the federal government has a defensible record on the first but not on the second. In both cases it appears to be motivated entirely by domestic political equations without a glance at strategic requirements, let alone the course of national honour. For a country where Prime Ministers Chrétien, Harper, and Justin Trudeau have allowed our military capabilities to atrophy so badly that the chief assurance of our national security is to keep the telephone number of the Pentagon constantly at hand when we need the Americans to protect us, this government’s policy toward the Gaza war, in addition to being completely mistaken, is also extremely pompous. (Paul Martin wanted to explore the possibilities of Canada taking responsibility for its own defense, but his government was defeated before he could get to grips with this issue; the fact that he even thought of it should not be forgotten.)