there's been some concern in the canadian press recently about canada being left out or left behind in international agreements, and the trudeau pmo has reacted characteristically childishly in reaction, most recently by picking a fight with india because they didn't want to sign a bilateral trade agreement, in parallel with what the american press calls the "quad". canada seemed to think that the us pulling out of the tpp was political, rather than strategic, as though the united states is actually a democracy, or something. the fact that the two parties always act in lockstep on "free trade" because it's actually run by the state department and the cia didn't seem to click. the truth is that trudeau didn't get the memo.

now, in addition to the quad in east asia (which excludes canada, because it tried to carry on with the tpp without the united states), we have the quint in europe. there's a parallel in strategy, here; instead of asserting us hegemony through inclusion, america's new strategy is to hone in on key allies (japan/australia/india and uk/germany/france/italy) that it feels are reliable and have something to offer it. this may have happened under trump, but the united states doesn't dither or flip flop on it's tactics due to politics, they remain consistent despite changes in power. i'd expect something similar in africa.

canada's not invited. have we been left out or left behind?

no; we've been declared irrelevant because we tried to be too independent. they've consequently sent us back to the kids table; we're a colony, we're a client state. 

the shift in policy that occurred with the nafta 2.0 is that we're not special anymore, we're to be treated like mexico. this is a total shift in policy, and it makes sense. why are we special?

read the monroe doctrine.

(edit: this was re-edited today because somebody vandalized the initial post that is still in my archives to make it make trudeau less dumb. the point was to make trudeau look dumb because he is dumb. i'll need to rewrite this, but i also may be able to find the initial post.)

sept 22, 2015

*rrrring*

trudeau: hello?
obama: i'd just like to call to congratulate you on winning the election.
trudeau: thanks.

obama: you got the memo, right?

trudeau: what?

obama: the memo.

trudeau: what memo?

obama: the memo. on empire.

trudeau: i...don't.....

obama: well, about those f-35s. i don't want to have to do it, but if you won't buy them, i'll have to sic newt gingrich on you.
trudeau: what?
obama: newt. we'll release the newt.
trudeau: i....don't...
obama: boy, you need to understand what empire is. we're the empire. you're the client. you got that?
trudeau: i was raised to believe that canada is a middle power.
obama: they had you hanging out with castro, didn't they? middle power? don't give me that shit. don't you start thinking you can talk to the russians without us, either. we're the empire. you ain't no empire. and, because we're the empire, that means you buy our stuff. we make it. you buy it. that's empire.
trudeau: i think...
obama: ...i think you'd better stop thinking and start listening. you're getting the memo.
trudeau: what?
obama: the memo. on empire. i'm not going to release newt on ya yet, i'm not that heartless.

*click*