A fascist has come to power in the US, in an election marred by voter suppression, foreign interference, and compromised electronic voting machines.
This time it was not an accident. His backers have had 8 years to prepare. They have assembled a cohort of like-minded oligarchs, traitors, and fundamentalists to do their bidding.
Fascists tend to follow a very predictable playbook, which is how I knew to register this site before the very first suggestion of Canadian annexation.
Trump's "jokes" about liberating Canada must be taken seriously. Like most fascists, Trump is not known for his sense of humor. His cabal believes strongly in the tenets of American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny.
The risk of Canschluss is upon us.
We face an existential threat to the survival of our free and democratic nation. The magnitude of the threat is no less than that faced by our nation during World War II. Failure means falling to a fascist empire.
Canada will never be able to repel a US invasion. Our best hope at deterring annexation is to make the cost of seizing and holding Canada so high that it is not worth risking. This strategy has been successful in the past: even the mighty American military has been repeatedly deterred by adversaries' nuclear arsenals and defeated through asymmetrical warfare. We can increase the probable cost of Canschluss if we immediately:
We can immediately establish a citizen's militia and begin providing basic training and training in assymetrical warfare to all fit and willing Canadians. To ensure access to arms in the event of annexation, we can establish civil defense caches throughout the nation.
As allies with independent nuclear weapon arsenals, we can prioritize the signing of mutual defense treaties with the UK and France. Existing NATO defense commitments do not apply to inter-member conflicts. Our allies will likely require us to significantly increase our defense spending and commitment, which we should do regardless.
As a further deterrent against American aggression, and particularly against quasi-legal annexation attempts via foreign interference, we can apply to join the European Union. Joining the EU would greatly increase the political and reputational cost of Canschluss, which would then involve annexing an EU member nation.
In order to rapidly secure a nuclear deterrent, we should seek the assistance of our allies in the United Kingdom and France to license existing weapon designs and, if they are willing, obtain weapons on loan as part of mutual defense treaties. Canada made essential contributions to the development of British nuclear weapons, and we remain a loyal part of the Commonwealth, so the United Kingdom may be willing to help defend Canadian sovereignty. If not, we could seek directly the assistance and intervention of the Crown, who has ultimate authority over the UK's nuclear arsenal. France may also be sympathetic, given our large Francophone population and the sacrifices that Canadians made in fighting for French freedom during the World Wars.
As a very last resort, if the alternative is a fascist takeover, we could consider signing a mutual defense treaty with China. Due to our advantageous geographical position, it is possible that China may be willing to assist in defending our nation militarily while allowing us to retain our independence. This would likely require Chinese troops on the ground, and our independence would by no means be assured. However, becoming a CCP vassal may still be preferable to falling to fascism.
Deterring American annexation will incur an unprecedented economic cost and, should it result in civil war, a large cost in lives. As Canadians, we need to collectively decide whether we are willing to bear this cost, or whether we would rather live (and die) as second class citizens under a fascist dictatorship. A significant number of Canadian citizens and some of our political leaders appear to support annexation over resistence.
We must decide quickly. If we do not launch an immediate war-time effort to defend our freedom, our fate will be out of our hands.