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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S6E5 John Labatt’s and the Windy City
S6E4 Bert and Ernie Eh? The Canadianization of Sesame Street
S6E3 A Century of Service: The Life of Nova Scotian Provo Wallis, Admiral of the Fleet
S6E2 Clio’s Treats: Culinary Connections to Canadian History
S6E1 Chaos in the Cariboo Sky: The Crash of Canadian Pacific Flight 21
S5E20 The Underground Railroad
S5E19 A Lost Cause? Canada’s Diplomatic Involvement in the Vietnam War
S5E18 Nuns on the Frontier – The Ursulines of Quebec
S5E17 The Dutch Food Crisis and Operation Faust
S5E16 The Wabanaki Confederacy
S5E15 The Coloured Corps and the War of 1812
S5E14 – Un-Canadian Content? Bryan Adams and the Waking up the Neighbours Controversy
S5E13 Leo Major – A French-Canadian Rambo
S5E12 Kicking in the Door – Canada Invades Nazi Germany
S5E11 The Mad Trapper of Rat River
S5E10 An Uphill Skate – The Women of the Hockey Hall of Fame
1867 & All That
S5E9 Cougar Annie – The Wild Woman of Vancouver Island
S5E8 Little Stalingrad – The Battle for Ortona, December 1943
S5E7 Tricky Bob and the 1917 Federal Election
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