The Houthis are a non-state Shia Islamist politically and military movement, and they have controlled key parts of western Yemen since the Yemenis Civil War broke out in 2014. In response to the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza the Houthis began launching missile and drone strikes at cargo ships entering the Red Sea (shipping destined for the Suez Canal). The Houthis claim to be aiming their strikes at Israeli shipping as a show of support for the Palestinians, but as it’s turned out they seem to be targeting a variety of shipping actors. This threat to global shipping prompted a significant response form the international community, including Canada. Yet, Canada’s contribution (or lack thereof) has highlighted some serious flaws in our current naval capabilities, and frankly in our general military capabilities. Today on the show, we have brought on Christopher Roberts from the University of Calgary to talk about the history of Canada’s involvement in Africa, with a particular focus on our naval contributions in the post 9-11 era. This is a fantastic discussion where we spend quite a bit of time talking about the current state of Canada’ s military in an increasingly volatile world and exploring some of the lesser known Canadian military operations in and around the African continent.
Christopher Roberts is a Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and an instructor in Political Science at the University of Calgary. For over thirty years he's worked on African-related security, business, and development issues. He's currently the administrator of the global African Navies Research Network and has an article coming out, with Rob Huebert, on Canada and African maritime security in the next issue of Canadian Naval Review.
You can follow him on Twitter/X at @cwjroberts.
The CGAI is Canada’s most credible source of expertise on global affairs. Established in August 2001 and based in Calgary and Ottawa the CGAI is a registered charity which comments repeatedly in the media and publishes extensively on defence, diplomacy, trade, resources, and development. You can check out CGAI at their website CGAI.caYou can also listen to their podcasts by subscribing to the show The CGAI Podcast Network.
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S8E3 The Honan Mission – First Generation Canadian Missionaries in China
S8E2 The Frontier Constabulary - Canada’s First Secret Police
S8E1 Kurt Meyer - A War Criminal in Canada
S7E21 - The Dakota War and British North America
S7E20 The Avro Arrow Part 2
S7E19 The Avro Arrow Part 1
S7E18 To Pass or Not to Pass - The Emergence (and Divergence) of North American Football
S7E17 A Thankless Task - Policing in New France
S7E16 The 1979 Binational Lesbian Conference
S7E15 Rise Republic Rise: The United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland
S7E14 The Guess Who
Announcement - Name Change!
S7E13 Gravenhurst: The Gateway City
S7E12 Nic Power - The Bad Detective
S7E11 To the Winner Goes the Spoils: The Origins of Lord Stanley's Cup
S7E10 More than Just Beads and Bannock: First Nations Women and the Fur Trade
S7E9 Viola Desmond: The Woman on the 10 Dollar Bill
S7E8 Ring the Alarm – The Japanese Attack on Canada’s West Coast
S7E7 – Gahoendoe and the loss of Wendake
S7E6 – Forgotten Battle: The Battle for the Scheldt – a conversation with Mark Zuehlke
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