In recent years, Canada on the international stage has become like the socially awkward, border-line retarded cousin who gets invited to Thanksgiving out of courtesy to grandma (Great Britten). You know the one he bums a ride with his cooler big brother (USA) and then stands in the corner with a face full of cheese puffs so nobody asks him anything important. He just smiles and nods at whatever big brother says half the time not understanding a word of it.
Gone are the days when Canada could take the lead on any international issues of note. Not since Lester B. Pearson was Prime Minister in the 60s have we led a major UN project, the UN Peacekeeping force. In more recent years we squandered our chance to lead the way on land mines even though the movement was spearheaded by a prominent Canadian business man. In fact we almost failed to sign the treaty at all.
In the last few weeks international headlines about Canada have made us look like a nerdy, dithering, buffoon.
I first noticed when Prime Minister Harper announced he would not be attending the UN Climate Change meetings in Copenhagen. He cited the fact that it is really supposed to be a meeting of environment ministers, not heads of state. A reasonable enough excuse but two days later Barak Obama said he would be there and in a pathetic bid to seem relevant, Harper changed his mind. The situation got worse a few days later when, as the only Commonwealth country not to have signed the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change a proposal was put forth to suspend our membership in the 53 member group of former British colonies. Never in the history of the Commonwealth Organization has a country been suspended over environmental policy. The proposal was ultimately defeated but the president has been set nevertheless.
Prior to the current climate change brouhaha, news broke that back in the early days of the Afghan mission our soldiers had turned prisoners over to local authorities with full knowledge that they would likely be tortured. It was a clear violation of the Geneva Convention done more to prove a point to George W. Bush that we were serious about role after having refused to send troops to Iraq than for any real militarily relevant strategy.
This week Prime Minister Harper is in China. It is his first state visit to that country in 5 years. China is our second biggest trading partner and Chinese authorities have called it a snub to the importance the two countries place on each other that it has taken so long for Harper to make the trip. I cannot say I blame them.
And finally yesterday, after the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) had already approved a $7 million funding request KIAROS, a faith based development agency, the minister responsible refused to release the funds. The reason, after nearly 30 years of helping to represent Canada in the developing world, KIAROS, which has been critical of the government on climate change, no longer fits with the government vision of international development. This is hitting below the belt. Now every organization that relays on tax payer funds, no matter how well established and respected has to be careful not to offend the governing party or risk their entire existence. Way to go!
See the full story here;
ottawa-ceases-funding-of-overseas-human-rights-group
If you read the Geneva convention, it applies to soldiers, in uniform, that fight as soldiers on behalf of an official government. Al Qaeda terrorists wear civillian clothes, blend in with local poulations and their method of attacks focuses on death tolls so they attack civillian populations. (To be clear, I did not support our invasion of Iraq because it was done in an idiotic manner, we watched all the WMDs leave on trucks for Syria during the pre-war buildup and did nothing to stop them. The Israelis (Mossad) and Jordanian government caught multiple truckloads of Iraqi Serin (a truckload of serin could wipe out the population of Jerusalem) in 2004 and 2005. Still, as far as Iraq goes, nobody but America paid to enforce the "no fly" zones. We had our planes shot at on multiple occasions, and we were attacked on 9/11. The UN passed 16 resolutions regarding a host of issues surveillance of suspected WMD manufacturing facilities, human rights violations as well as the firing on US planes enforcing the no fly zones. Hussein ignored and deliberately violated every resolution. Documents found in Iraq showed that all of the objecting countries to our invasion of Iraq including yours was involved in the "oil for food" scandal. That's the one where UN member nations violated sanctions much like the ones suggested for Iran currently by profiteering by trading larger amounts than allowed of food for Iraqi oil. Interestingly, several of those same countries were signers of the Kyoto treaty and did not have to count the oil received as part of their yearly carbon emmissions. Speaking of that, climategate has proven that the so called scientists were manipulating data to show something happening that was not. That's why "global warming" became climate change. The one country that tried to honor parts of the Kyoto treaty has enjoyed a decade of economic decline, huge unemployment which amount to a "lost decade" socially and economically. The founders of Kyoto admitted that it had nothing to do with climate, but was about transferring wealth from rich countries to the UN who would then "level the world playing field." I'd trust the title of my car to a crackhead before I'd trust the UN. Even the loons running the USA now realize that Kyoto or Copenhagen is an economic suicide pact and pushing the idea of signing our sovreignty to the UN on the American people would ignite a revolution.
ReplyDeleteIn the first and second world wars, Canada played a huge role. Especially in the first world war, the Canadien forces were considered the bravest and best of all involved. It is a century of "progressive" aka "liberal" leadership that has left your country in a weakened state, with far less say so in world events. America has been on that same path, but our Constution has slowed our decline, but Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and especially Obama have each accellerated our path towards similar decline. It is my hope thato all Americans will stand up and change we can see, not just change we can believe in, as the change we got was worse than what we had.
I didn't have time to say so, and I know you won't agree with much that I had to say here, but I hope you had a merry Christmas. (communists here are trying to ban that phrase by the way, I hope it's not like that in Canada)