Thursday, November 29, 2012

Canada takes pride of place in pantheon of pariah states

Canada's foreign minister went all the way to New York City today to castigate the UN for the unseemly spectacle of a vote on Palestinian statehood.

Canada joined international power-brokers Micronesia and the Marshal Islands in voting against today's resolution.

Those would more properly be termed pariah statelets, as they are essentially US protectorates and know it's always a good idea to vote with the big dog at the UN.

Nauru, Palau, Panama and the Czech Republic round out the list of countries that voted against the resolution.

Other than the tail and the dog of course.

Insofar as there are grounds for doubt about the wisdom of the resolution, it would be simple enough to abstain from voting, as 41 UN members did. But Canada went so much further, not only voting against, but sending Baird to New York to speak against it.

As for the speech itself, it was beyond ironic that Baird referenced UN resolution 242 at least four times in his speech. Has he even read resolution 242? Has he ever, in any venue, spoken out about the fact that resolution 242 lies dead and broken at the side of the road to peace?

No.

And his dismay over "unilateral" actions by one side or the other is curiously absent with respect to unilateral actions by Israel.

The ever-expanding settlements, an explicit violation of 242.

The "separation fence" or apartheid wall, take your pick.

The siege of Gaza.

The list of unilateral actions by Israel could go on and on, and Baird has managed to remain silent on every unilateral action until this one by the Palestinians.

Whatever credibility Canada's foreign policy may have once had is long gone.

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