Richard Shimooka

Jan 17, 2025 | thehub.ca | Richard Shimooka

It has become somewhat of a tradition among observers to write a retrospective on an outgoing leader’s foreign policy “doctrine.” Recent examples include the Bush, Obama, and Harper doctrines. This tradition started with Casper Weinberger, Ronald Reagan’s longtime secretary of defense, who annunciated six clear points that should guide the use of military force. It has since come to be used to describe a government’s entire foreign policy approach in office.

Dec 3, 2024 | thehub.ca | Richard Shimooka

Donald Trump’s recent threats to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods have upended the political discussion in Canada and provided a renewed focus on how to best manage the two countries’ bilateral relationship. While the president-elect’s comments were ostensibly made in regard to illegal immigration and illicit drug smuggling, an increasingly discordant part of the bilateral relationship has been Canada’s lacking defence spending.

Nov 21, 2024 | thehub.ca | Richard Shimooka

Canada’s military and its entire national security and defence apparatus are in dire straits. If fixing the problem was an urgent priority before November 5th, it is even more so now that Donald Trump will once again be occupying the Oval Office down south. Trump has made his ambivalent attitude toward stable international order abundantly clear.

Oct 30, 2024 | thehub.ca | Richard Shimooka

The increasingly prominent story of foreign interference in Canada’s democracy grows bigger and stranger by the day. As the Hogue Inquiry continues to conduct its investigations, more and more reports of various state actors attempting to influence events and undermine our institutions are coming to light.

Aug 28, 2024 | warontherocks.com | Richard Shimooka

Sometime next year, the Royal Canadian Navy will take delivery of its first of two new Joint Support Ships, HMCS Protecteur. The project is about a billion Canadian dollars over its anticipated cost and a decade late. Moreover, the ships that the Protecteur and its companion will replace have long retired. The problematic programmatics of these joint support ships belie the vital role they will play for the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Armed Forces.