Canada has been making plans in case civil war breaks out in the US, as the nation’s polarization reaches an all-time-high ahead of the presidential election.
A think tank within Trudeau’s government called Policy Horizons Canada surveyed hundreds of experts and government officials about potential disruptive events and proposed to the Canadian government they should consider preparing for civil war in the US.
In a 37-page document covered by Politico, researchers included the possibility of ‘U.S. ideological divisions, democratic erosion, and domestic unrest escalate, plunging the country into civil war.’
As the rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump nears, the report’s authors claimed an American civil war is ‘an improbably but ultra-high impact event.’
The ‘high-impact’ category included the proliferation of homemade biological weapons, antibiotic-resistant pathogens leading to mass death and food shortages, and the outbreak of World War 3.
Canada has been advised to make plans in case civil war breaks out in the US, as the nation’s polarization reaches an all-time-high ahead of the presidential election. Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Brookings Institution scholar John McArthur told Politico the report could reflect how concern the Canadian government is about American politics.
McArthur explained that former president Donald Trump’s isolationist approach to foreign politics might have ‘rattled the Canadian psyche and upended decades-old economic relationships.’
Trump’s general demeanor towards Canada, including when he trashed Trudeau after a G7 meeting, have left a lasting impact in Canadians, according to McArthur.
The report emphasizes the urgency of developing new technology to deal with the threat of cyber attacks that could disable critical infrastructure or emergency services being overwhelmed.
The report does not specify how civil war in the US might materialize, but Politico’s Alexander Burns theorizes that, ironically, it could look like the Quebec separatism battle in the 1960s.
That conflict was not a full-blown civil war, but a prolonged, sustained attack on the federal government which saw bombings, kidnappings and robberies for a decade.
As Burns points out, the US is a ‘heavily armed country with a contested federal system and proud, powerful provincial identities’ in states like Texas and California.
Meanwhile, ‘The next president is sure to be loathed by much of the country, and likely seen as illegitimate by at least a large minority,’ he adds.
‘It does not take a kaleidoscopic imagination to see how that set of conditions could lead to our own October Crisis.’
Civil War, released to chime with the U.S. election this November, invites the viewer to reflect on the troubling extremism of contemporary US politics
This is the approach of the movie Civil War, released to chime with the U.S. election this November.
The film invites the viewer to reflect on the troubling extremism of contemporary US politics. One chauvinist character kills another just for being Chinese. There’s a reference to a legendary ‘Antifa Massacre’, plus several nods towards the infamous storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
One chauvinist character kills another just for being Chinese. There’s a reference to a legendary ‘Antifa Massacre’, plus several nods towards the infamous storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Worrying about the break-up of the United States has become a national obsession. Recent surveys show that more than 40 per cent of Americans think a new civil war will be fought within the next decade.
More than four-in-ten US voters say the country is likely to get ripped apart in a second civil war within five years, according to a poll released last month.
The Rasmussen Reports poll shows that 41 percent eye a civil conflict, compared to 49 percent who say it’s not likely. Another 10 percent said they were not sure.
That amounts to 106 million US adults saying civil war is on the horizon.
