the founding headline montage: coercion dressed as continental alliance — "MEXICO SIGNS ON FOR ‘ORGANIZATION OF…"
MEXICO SIGNS ON FOR ‘ORGANIZATION OF NORTH AMERICAN NATIONS’ CONTINENTAL ALLIANCE; BUT QUÉBEC SEPARATISTS RALLY AGAINST ‘FINLANDIZATION’ OF ‘O.N.A.N.’ ALLIANCE; BUT GENTLE TO CANADA: UNLESS ‘O.N.A.N.’ TREATY SIGNED, NAFTA NULL, MANITOBAN THERMS STAY PUT, INTRACONTINENTAL POLLUTION AND WASTE DISPOSAL EACH NATION’S ‘INTERESTS TO PURSUE TO THE BEST THEY SEE FIT’
Context
The founding as documented extortion: the "continental alliance" is sold as a natural sequel to NATO's collapse, but the headline's own "BUT... BUT..." structure exposes the coercion — Québec Separatists cry "Finlandization," and Gentle's terms to Canada are a threat ("UNLESS 'O.N.A.N.' TREATY SIGNED, NAFTA NULL, MANITOBAN THERMS STAY PUT"). Québec's grievance is born on-screen, in the same headline that announces the alliance; the resistance and the founding are simultaneous.