El modelo de la hoja de arce

De Ramiro por mail, una editorial del WSJ. Y acá mucha gente lo quiere matar, creen que es un pichón de Bush. Horror de los horrores:

Maple Leaf Model

By all reports, President Bush and Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a meeting of the minds at the White House earlier this month. At their joint press conference, Mr. Harper got a tad carried away when he referred to the U.S.-Canada relationship as the strongest "in the history of mankind."

But even discounting for hyperbole, we think Mr. Harper deserves credit, and more media coverage, for his recent announcement that Canada will spend US$13.5 billion to upgrade its military. The money will go to purchase much-needed equipment, including 16 military helicopters, three navy supply ships, 2,300 high-tech trucks, and 21 aircraft capable of transporting troops and heavy equipment.

The Harper government had previously announced plans to add 23,000 troops to Canada's current force of 62,000 active-duty and 26,000 reserve forces, and to boost base military spending to C$20 billion over the next five years from C$14 billion. In May, the Canadian Parliament voted to keep Canadian troops in Afghanistan until 2009.
What a difference an election makes. Last year, before the Conservatives beat the Liberals in a close vote, Canada spent a mere 1.1% of its GDP on defense, the lowest in NATO after tiny Luxembourg. By contrast, the U.S. spent 3.8%, and the NATO average was 1.9% (a figure inflated by high levels of defense spending in Greece and Turkey, which are preparing for the possibility of fighting each other). Germany spent a mere 1.4% of GDP on defense last year; Italy, 1.8%; and Spain, 1.2%. Britain and France both broke the unofficial NATO expectation of 2% of GDP at 2.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

The Western European members of NATO have been pledging to modernize their militaries for more than a decade, but nothing seems to happen. Now Canada has given them a good example to follow.