CANADIAN DIPLOMACY

Re Canada Caught Off Guard By Exclusion From Security Pact (Sept. 17): Oh how I wish the headline had read, “Canada opts out of U.S.-Britain-Australia deal.”

This new partnership is condemned by the Stop the War Coalition in Britain as an unnecessary and provocative move which “can only ratchet up what is already an alarming Cold War with China.” Although I’d be heartened to learn that Canada intentionally declined to participate, I hope our defence officials will resist any push by our allies toward military confrontation with China.

As in Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout Latin America, surely Canada’s leaders can see that fearmongering and foreign military intervention most often do not result in security, but rather in economic, environmental and humanitarian disasters.

Marguerite Warner Winnipeg

Re Sidelined (Sept. 20): A letterwriter and former diplomat points out that the U.S. government was opposed to Brian Mulroney’s decision to purchase a fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines in the late 1980s. But it was always my understanding that Ronald Reagan, a close confidante of Mr. Mulroney’s, had eventually approved the transfer of sensitive submarine nuclear propulsion technology to Canada.

Hardly anyone could argue convincingly that Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Reagan were on the outs, or that his relationship with George Bush was strained. Having said that, the bilateral relationship during the Mulroney years was too cozy for my liking.

Peter McKenna

Professor, department of political science, University of Prince Edward island; Charlottetown