Assholes of the world, unite!
A turbulent week in Canadian politics was capped off by a speech to parliament by noted racist Australian PM John Howard.
The other highlights?
-A chick got killed while preforming her duty as an FOO (forward observation officer). This is an extremely dangerous job so why the breast beating? Should local insurgents have given her some slack or whatever because she is female?
-Harper demanded a snap vote on extending Canada's involvement in keeping Afghanistan safe for US oil interests, and barely won, 149-145.
-Harper's choice for the new Public Appointments Commission chariman was voted down by the Government Operations Committee. Apparently not understanding that this sort of thing will happen when one is running a minority government, Harper in a fit of pique has decided to disband the Public Appointments Commission. It seems I was wrong. Even if you are a minority government, you can still fuck up Canada plenty!
BTW, let us all pray to Allah, or what ever figurative deity(s) you pretend to worship, that Christine Blatchford catches a stray one in Afghanistan. Also, inshallah, maybe Leah McLaren and Margret Wente might decide to sample the Afghani lifestyle for a week or two.
5 comments:
A wannabe Bush...
Please allow me to play devil's advocate. Afghanistan is not about defending America's oil interests (a student of realpolitk would argue that their interests is the West's interests and I must admit I don't stray too far off from this assertion) but rather about keeping the international system stable. The terrorist problem is real and unfortunately this is the only way to begin subduing it. The west is awfully good at appeasement and this is why we end up in the sort of predicaments we find ourselves in. It should have been dealt with 40 years ago. Bernard Lewis is MUST read about Middle Eastern history. As for Canada's role, Afghani leaders have personally asked Canada to remain and committ. A word lost on our leaders over the last 15 years. They believe in Canada's role and we Canadians should too. It's too important a mission; regardless of negative short term considerations. Harper is LEADING the nation. The Liberals were politcally and morally bankrupt in their indecisive stances. They corroded the civil service with their arrogance. Far from a partisan loyalist of any kind, I'm just glad we changed things up again. Canada's reputation was destroyed under Chretien and Martin. It's already on the mend under Harper - perceptions notwithstanding - as world leaders are finally listening to Canada once more. Love a good debate!
That is an interesting perspective, my friend. You mention realpolitik, but you talk very non-realpolitik.
"Afghani leaders have personally asked Canada to remain and committ"
These afgani leaders you speak of are the hand-picked stooges of the US. I still don't believe Canada should be sepoys for US imperial wars. We were for the UK in WW 1 and 2, and look what we ended up with! Liberal corruption!
I will search out "bernard lewis" at the toronto public library and do some more reading, thanks for the tip.
I attempted to illustrate that Canada applies neither a realistic nor a committed approach to its foreign policy. 87% of our economy is already tied to the U.S. This can be interpreted as 87% of interests are tied with America. We're already a branch plant economy. This reality is what should, in part, dictate what we do. Since America is a friendly ally, they will not go to economic war with Canada. Lucky for us. Had China been our principal trading partner they would be less understanding of our decisions in the Mid-East. When it comes to foreign policy, Canada is a joke and Harper is finally fixing it. How's that for reapolitik, eh? Canada should do what is right for its own interests indeed but by not standing by the U.S. - or at the very least not make an effort to undertsand its needs - it does not serve us well. Just because we ally with them does not necessarily mean we are stooges. Afghanistan may turn out to be a success story yet. Good debate.
And how is that Afghanistan thing going now?
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