[flyGuyOnTheSly]

I am a Polish immigrant to Canada.

Canada very reluctantly helped the US with their air raid campaign over Afghanistan, but as far as I am aware we didn't have much say in Iraq.

And either way, I fail to see how that translates to having a closer relationship with their people.

If anything, it distances them from our psyche.

Obviously the invasion of Iraq was the wrong thing to do. I am not arguing that it was right in any way whatsoever.

[freeflight]

Canada is part of FiveEyes, thus aid was offered [0] and very likely taken.

The lack of Canadian large scale military participation was due to practicality and not moral objections to the invasion [1]:

"The weakness of the Canadian military had been a factor in its very limited role in the 1991 Gulf War. While the military had been asked about the feasibility of sending 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4 CMBG) from Germany to the Gulf to participate in direct combat operations, the Canadian Forces were forced to report that Operation "Broadsword", a theoretical deployment, would likely be a failure."

[0] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/weston-canada-offered-to-ai...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_and_the_Iraq_War

[flyGuyOnTheSly]

Again, I was not in the military in the early 90s.

I have no connection to Iraq personally.

I do not collectively harbor guilt and constantly stress about the horrible things that the country I choose to reside in has done in their past.

I have Hong Kong products in my house, and I interact with people who were born in Hong Kong all the time.

The same cannot be said for Iraqi products or people.

That is the point I am trying to make.

[freeflight]

As a German, I consider that a very weird stance to have.

I try to keep up with the military involvement of my country, I'd guess other people in other countries would do the same.

Tho I guess in contrast to you I actually get to interact with a whole bunch of Iraqis, Afghanis, Syrians, and other nationalities out of the MENA region.

People out of HK are a rather non-existing sight at the local refugee reception center.

[monetus]

The responsibilties and attachments of a superorganism like a society differ too much from that of an individual's. It is so easy to let communcation break down when people discuss both of those things at the same time.

[vonseel]

What’s made in Hong Kong? iPhones and electronics? I feel like most of the stuff in my house that has a “made in X” tag says something like China, Bangladesh, or Taiwan.

[flyGuyOnTheSly]

I own a lot of old video game systems that were made in Hong Kong, for example.

[TeMPOraL]

The invasion did have a lot to do with shaping the oil market to the US liking, so if you're a western consumer of petroleum industry - which you are - then perhaps you might find some connection with the plight of Iraqi people after all.

[ndarwincorn]

Lol pretending like Harper wasn't at the front of the pack right next to Blair hopping on the coalition of the willing