Wesley Wark
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warknsi.bsky.social
Wesley Wark
@warknsi.bsky.social
61 followers 25 following 3 posts

Expert on national security and intelligence in a Canadian and allied context. Senior fellow Centre for International Governance Innovation. Writes a substack newsletter at wesleywark.substack.com

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Wesley K. Wark is a Canadian historian, an associate professor emeritus of history at the University of Toronto, and an invited professor at the University of Ottawa.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 85%
Sociology 6%
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Substack
You’ve got a friend in me

Or, all good with the Trump National Security Strategy Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 14 2d

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Waiting for one more shoe to drop

Or, the Carney government's response to Trump's national security strategy There has been some excellent commentary on Trump’s national security strategy, by former Canadian officials and experts. My best-of list includes the following:Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 7 4d

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Atlas Shrugs, and gets down to business

Or, the new “eternal interests” of US global policy under Donald Trump 2.0 Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 23 6d

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Pistol Pete Hegseth takes aim at Canada's Franklin the Turtle

Or, what's wrong, Pete? Much has been written about the bizarre, batshit meme posted by Trump’s Defence Secretary (a.k.a. “Secretary of War”), Pete Hegseth, on his X account on November 30. It features the children’s book character, Franklin the Turtle, as a warrior, wielding an RPG from a helicopter against armed drug smugglers in open boats below. The meme didn’t feature the…

Reposts 2 7d

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Putin the killer

Or, the terrible story of Dawn Sturgess Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 7 9d

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The F-35 decision: Canada getting pregnant in the Norway way?

Or, bring on a mixed fleet Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 14 19d

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European leaders, and Carney, go full mealy-mouth on the Trump/Russian Ukraine peace plan

Or, let them fight their little hearts out Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 3 20d

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Has the real Donald Trump just stepped forward?

Or, see the latest White House peace plan for Ukraine Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 10 22d

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Chinese Foreign Interference started with Pierre Trudeau; Who Knew?

Or, how not to assess the evidence There is a new book out, published by Random House, with the crowd-pleasing title: Under Assault: Interference and Espionage in China’s Secret War against Canada. [1] It arrived from my local bookstore, yesterday, and I began reading it, curious about what I might learn in the aftermath of all the studies devoted to PRC foreign interference and espionag…

Reposts 4 23d

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The first annual CSIS speech on threats

Or, Dan Rogers steps up to the podium CSIS has decided to follow a model used by its counterpart agencies in the UK and Australia, to deliver an annual public address by the Director on threats to the security of Canada. It’s an important initiative and allows CSIS to deliver an in-person, targeted message compared to the more wide-ranging, institutional report published annually.

Reposts 7 Nov 13

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Meet the new NSICOP

Or, out with the old gang, in with the mostly new Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 0 Nov 12

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Down comes the budget guillotine on the review bodies

Or, why? And counting the harm. Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 2 Nov 10

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Masterclass for all

Or, end the year looking ahead Dear Readers,Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 2 Nov 8

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The curious fate of “Lawful Access”

Or, what happens when a tree falls and no one notices? Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 2 Nov 7

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Canada Strong: big words, big spend

Or, what is missing Budgets are made of two things—words and promissory money. “Canada Strong, Budget 2025” spends a lot of both.[1] On the word side, it weighs in at over 400 pages. On the money side, new spending commitments total $141 billion over the next five years. Proposed defence spending amounts to a staggering 50% of that total (c. 72 billion).

Reposts 5 Nov 6

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A House of Dynamite

Or, the intelligence sucks Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 5 Nov 3

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Stop the Petro state (Russia’s)

Or, the new sanctions push How do you limit the war-making capacity of a petro-state like Russia? For Ukraine, the answer can be targeting its refineries and plants by drone and missile attacks.Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 4 Oct 27

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A Chinese spy case goes poof

Or, an abandoned prosecution refuses to die Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 4 Oct 22

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The national security and intelligence beat

Or, looking back after three years of substacking Or, looking back after three years of substacking

Reposts 1 Oct 21

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What is the JEF and where is Canada?

Or, making good on NATO’s northern flank Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 10 Oct 19

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MI5 straight talk

Or, the changing nature of threats to UK national security The Director General of MI5 (the British security service) now makes a practice of delivering an annual public speech summarising the service’s perception of national security threats. They typically pull no punches, even if they don’t quite match the saltiness of the Australian security service (ASIO) annual speech. Canadian versions, when given, are, …

Reposts 4 Oct 18

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Covert (not very) ops in Venezuela

Or, check the history books The New York Times broke the story on October 15, that the Trump administration had authorized covert operations by the CIA against Venezuela. [1] What form those operations might take is a closely guarded secret, but the general aim of the Trump administration, to oust the government of Nicolas Maduro, is well known.

Reposts 8 Oct 16

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A Chinese container ship sails through the Arctic

Or no, not our Arctic A Chinese container ship, the “Istanbul Bridge,” has just completed a voyage from a port on the east coast of China to Felixstowe in the UK, where it was welcomed with a huge banner display. The ship made the news because it avoided the usual sea route through the Suez Canal and instead sailed through Arctic waters using the coast-hugging Russian Northe…

Reposts 7 Oct 15

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“Borders” Bill split, pain doubled!

Or, Look out for Baby Bill C-12 The Government introduced the original version of legislation it misleadingly called the “Strong Borders Act” on June 3. [1] It was the first piece of national security law crafted by the new Carney government, and it was, to put it politely, not politically artful or well thought-out.

Reposts 2 Oct 11

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Hungary plays Karla

Or, spying on the EU An investigative report from a consortium of European media outlets, based in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Hungary, contains a starting expose on Hungarian intelligence operations targeting the European Union (of which Hungary is a fractious and frequently off-side member under the Orban government).

Reposts 2 Oct 10

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Canada is Not for Sale?

Or, Can I still wear the hat? PM Carney began promising to forge a new “comprehensive economic and security relationship” with the United States, e.g. Donald Trump, back in March.

Reposts 4 Oct 9

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So you want an Arctic Trade Corridor?

The allure and challenge of Churchill, Manitoba Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 3 Oct 8

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The Drones are Coming

Or, Look up (doesn’t have to be way up) Drone sightings are ramping up across Europe, interfering with airport operations in Munich, Olso and Copenhagen. Drones are apparently surveilling military installations and critical infrastructure. In Germany, the authorities are sorting out who is responsible for counter drone measures, police or military, and how information might be shared. Very Ge…

Reposts 3 Oct 6

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The Saga of the Pirate ship “Boracay”

Or, what Putin’s shadow tanker fleet looks like Thanks for reading Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Reposts 4 Oct 4

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So you want a Drone Wall?

Or, think Battle of Britain Europe has a history of building walls to keep out invaders. Few worked. The walled fortress of Troy fell to a ruse de guerre. Hadrian’s Wall proved a drain on Roman imperial resources, was an unpopular post for garrison troops (windswept, rainy and cold), and failed to protect the northern reaches of Roman Britain. During World War Two, there was the f…

Reposts 2 Oct 2