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EU Floats Canada Becoming the Bloc's First 'Associate Member'

83 points · 170 comments · helsinkiandrew

  1. rapnie · · focus · HN ↗
    The other day in a Dutch geopolitics podcast (Boekestijn en de Wijk) it was mentioned that if there's one country that could be added to the EU "at the stroke of a pen", it would be Canada. In terms of state of the democracy, shared values, etc. And I agree with that perspective. But at the same time I thought that if there's one way to get into conflict with the current US administration - who declared EU their only adversary in the US National Security Plan - this is it. It would be like a mirror image of Russia feeling encroached by NATO, but then in the Western hemisphere. And perhaps a red cloth invitation to the frothing bull(ies) of the Trump administration to invade their neighbor.
    1. WinstonSmith84 · · focus · HN ↗
      The US-Iran war is very unpopular and it's not even that the US is winning it.

      Going against Canada would mean .. what? Having tanks roll in Toronto downtown? Assuming it would be a military success, which isn't guaranteed after what happens in Iran,that would be unpopular beyond anything we've seen.

      Tough words, that's the worse we may expect from the US gov realistically.

      1. nolok · · focus · HN ↗
        From what I read about what they wanted Canada to sign (the "new deal" Canada walked out of), they want to give them strict conditions and no abilities to make new deals with someone else to make them fully dependant. So the goal was not really military conquest but economic stranglehold. All the while apparently asking to tone down their minorities including the french one.

        There is an alternate timeline where Canada signed that, and it looks much bleaker for them down the road.

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