Great. The news from Canada:

Martin will sign U.S. missile-warning program

Washington � The Martin government has agreed to sign on to an aerospace early-warning system for North America, smoothing the path for almost certain participation in the U.S. missile defence shield � but the Liberals had hoped to keep it under wraps until after a federal election expected in June.

Sources said yesterday that the Bush administration has been pressing Ottawa for a decision on the warning technology, a crucial stage in Washington’s timetable for beginning deployment of missile defence systems in California and Alaska this fall.

The Martin government’s willingness to take this interim step was made clear to Washington in the past two weeks, sources say. It comes on the eve of tomorrow’s White House meeting between Prime Minister Paul Martin and President George W. Bush, where missile defence is not on the official agenda.

It approaches criminal negligence to be pushing missile defence – which doesn’t work, and diverts precious resources from initiatives that do work – at a time like this.

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Well, bust my boots! Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin finally screwed up his courage and announced he would meet with the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese government is upset about it. They can go to hell, as far as I’m concerned.

Howls of outrage (3)

I spend a lot of time on this site criticizing the U.S. It has been pointed out in the comments section, not unreasonably, that this can really end up giving a distorted picture of a) various global problems; and b) plausible solutions to them.

I promise to try to do better on this issue. As a first instalment, let me turn my attention to the cowardly Canadian government.

For fairly obvious reasons, the Canadian government lacks the flexibility in setting a foreign policy agenda that the United States enjoys. Sometimes, alas, we Canadians have to keep our heads down, waiting for the right occasion to pick this or that fight.

Fine. But there are a lot of things that Canada could do within these limitations which it doesn’t do. Moreover, the best explanations for inaction, or harmful action, usually involve some combination of avarice, lassitude and cowardice.

Today I’ll just name a modest example. The Prime Minister could meet with the Dalai Lama, something he has so far been too afraid to do.

This should be a no-brainer. Trade with China may be valuable, but so is holding on to our dignity. If the Chinese want to maintain the stupid lie that their conquest of Tibet was all for the good, let them do that in their own controlled press. Our Prime Minister should either stand up to the Chinese or resign.

The general point here is that smaller actors need to start taking responsibility for some of the things that we wish the U.S. would do, like promoting democratic values and so on. We’ve waited long enough for the U.S. to get its act together. It hasn’t, so it’s time to get to work.

Hat tip to Spaz.

Howls of outrage (3)

This from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:

CANADA CONGRATULATES RWANDA ON HOLDING
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham welcomed Rwanda’s first pluralist
election since its independence and its first election since the 1994
genocide.

“Although irregularities were noted prior to the elections, we are pleased
that Rwanda appears to have committed itself to the path of national
reconciliation,” said Minister Graham. “We are all aware of the legacy and
consequences of the tragic genocide perpetrated nine years ago. This
election marks the end of the transition period and is a new step in the
country’s democratization process.”

Canada’s team of observers in Kigali confirmed that the August 25
presidential election went relatively smoothly with no major incidents and
that the electoral process was followed. The high participation rate at the
polls deserves mention, as the observers indicated that over 80 percent of
Rwandans turned out to vote.

This is silly. Is an election only marred by what happens on polling day? The “although” that kicks off the penultimate paragraph is insulting to the reader’s intelligence. You can’t fix serious irregularies in the leadup to an election with a peaceful turnout.

Kagame seems to have passed up the chance to hold a genuinely open election, as and that’s what Canada should say.

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Now Jean Cretien is being threatened with eternal hell-fire for his position on same-sex marriage.

Really, now, isn’t the Church busy enough these days protecting sex-offenders?

I suppose that there’s nothing wrong, in itself, with a religious organization appealing to a political leader to act on presumably shared principles which include a recognition of the religious organization’s authority. But the idea that the Church has any legs left to stand on when it comes to moral authority seems outrageous.

I suppose that they’re free to say what they want, and I’m free to withhold any respect I might have had for them.

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I haven’t commented yet on the outrageous story of the death of the Canadian journalist in Iran recently. The whole thing is disgusting, and a confirmation that Iran has a long way to go.

Or rather, what has happened since the death of the journalist has confirmed that Iran has a long way to go. People die in custody as a result of poor treatment in a lot of places. This is not to deny that different countries have very different records, but even in the best of circumstances elements within a criminal justice system can get out of control and behave very badly. What distinguishes different systems after something like this has happened is the reaction to it – in the press, and in the government ultimately responsible for the incident.

Unfortunately, the response from Iran has been terrible, and it implicates not just an out of control interrogator, but rather the entire governing class in Iran. The latest outrage is that Iran has now decided to turn the tables and accuse Canada of killing an Iranian.

See? Everyone does it.

I hope the Canadian government makes a stink about it. They’ve been taking a fairly soft line in public so far, but clearly they’re not making progress. I want a damn international campaign over this. I want to see Canada get tough.

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This is from a recent Central Asia Report (produced by Radio Free Europe):

HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS, CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS OVERSHADOW KAZAKH
LEADER’S VISIT TO CANADA… On 27 June, Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbaev wrapped up a five-day trip to Canada. The visit
showed Canada trying to balance concerns about Kazakhstan’s
worsening democracy and human rights record, which is too egregious
to disregard, and its interests in Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon
resources, which are too vast to ignore.
Strengthening bilateral economic cooperation was the main
subject of talks between Nazarbaev and Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien in the Canadian capital Ottawa, Khabar news agency reported
on 27 June. Chretien pledged to consider increasing investments in
Kazakhstan, especially in the high-technology sector, and to help
develop its small and medium-sized enterprises. Bilateral agreements
were signed on strengthening economic partnership and on mutual legal
assistance in civil and criminal cases. Furthermore, Nazarbaev
obtained Canadian agreement to assist in reforming his country’s
judicial system and training Kazakh peacekeeping specialists (see
“RFE/RL Newsline,” 27 June 2003).
According to state-controlled Khabar TV, Chretien praised
Kazakhstan’s economic and political reforms and opined that they
should serve as models for other post-Soviet republics. If true, such
remarks set the prime minister painfully at odds with critical voices
among Canadian human rights groups, local press, and even some
politicians. Jason Kenney, shadow finance minister of the opposition
Canadian Alliance, protested in a 19 June letter to Chretien that it
was “unacceptable that the government of Canada intends to welcome
this man [Nazarbaev] to our nation’s capital with open arms. The
only result of this visit will be to strengthen the dictator’s
rule by providing him with another useful propaganda tool.” A
statement by Human Rights Watch’s Toronto Committee was similarly
scathing about Ottawa’s friendly reception of Nazarbaev.
“Kazakhstan’s vast energy wealth has made it an important
geo-strategic partner for many countries, but it has not made the
country more democratic,” the statement said. “As the country’s
wealth grows, the government is misusing revenue, consolidating
power, and closing political space. Kazakhstan is starting to look
like another case study in how oil windfalls bolster dictatorships
rather than foster democracy.”
On a side note, Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev
was also pressed on the need for human rights, press freedoms, and
election reforms during a meeting in Washington on 1 July with U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, Reuters reported. Kazakhstan was
urged to redress “last year’s downturn” in the field of democracy
and human rights, according to a senior State Department official.
Toqaev said his country was committed to go forward, but “to go
forward probably slowly…. We cannot do things overnight while the
democratic build-up in some countries took more than 200 years.
It’s not so easy.”
The Canadian government clearly shared some of the concerns
about Nazarbaev. According to the Russian daily “Vremya novostei” on
27 June, the Kazakh president was received in Ottawa at a lower level
than would have been expected for a foreign head of state. He was
granted a “working visit,” rather than a “state visit” due to
Canadian reservations about Kazakhstan’s human rights record and
the so-called “Kazakhgate” scandal, the newspaper commented (see
“RFE/RL Newsline,” 27 June 2003). The scandal encompasses allegations
that Mobil Oil Corp. (now ExxonMobil), which obtained a 25 percent
stake in Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oil field in 1996 for $1.05 billion,
arranged for bribes totaling $78 million to be paid into the bank
accounts of two unnamed top Kazakh officials, generally assumed to be
Oil Minister Nurlan Balgymbaev and Nazarbaev himself. Merchant banker
James Giffen, chairman of the New York-based Mercator Corporation,
stands accused of handling the payments. He was arrested on 30 March
and charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A
pretrial conference with prosecutors has been scheduled for 5
September, eurasianet.org reported on 1 July, adding that the
arraignment of Giffen is only part of a wider corruption probe by
U.S. law-enforcement agencies to investigate the dealings of oil
conglomerates in Kazakhstan.

Nada (0)

A break from American news to print a letter I’ve just written to Joe Clark, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada. Clark, who has a decent record on the issue of homosexuality, is dealing with criticism over his deputy’s recent remarks about homosexual marriage, etc.. Here is my letter:

Mr. Clark,

I am a Canadian graduate student living in the United States. I would like to express my outrage at Elsie Wayne’s recent comments about homosexuality.

I am aware that you have taken a sensible position on this issue in the past, but I am also disturbed by your failure to repudiate Wayne more emphatically. According to the National Post, you said:

“Elsie has extreme views on that issue. She does not speak for me. She doesn’t speak for the party. She is free to express her views.”

This is a good start, but it falls well short of an appropriate response. You’re perfectly right to say that Wayne is free to express her views. But you, as leader of the party, are free to kick Wayne out of it, or demote her within it.

I have voted in the past for the PC party, but I will not consider doing so again unless I have a clear reassurance that the party will not tolerate this kind of bigotry.

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