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Canada’s Prime Minister Stephan Harper went to China. Fascinatingly enough it was to encourage economic relations between Canada and China. Previous relations have been described as cool as Canada has been pushing the issue of China’s human rights record, dampening Chinese enthusiasm toward our diplomatic and economic overtures.
I’d like to do a little comparison of similar dealings with China and our plucky PM. 2006 and 2009.
In 2006 our benevolent leader said:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will not abandon “important Canadian values” by toning down criticisms of China’s human rights record to improve trade relations with Beijing.”
In 2009 Harper said:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government would not let the pursuit of expanded economic ties with China lead to silence on human rights issues.”
Okay well, I’ve seen our PM say less auspicious things, so really we are still in ‘win territory’ here.
“Canada-China relations have been frosty since Harper became prime minister in 2006, particularly because of his past comments on China’s human rights record and his public support of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who has been living in exile since China annexed the region in 1958.”
Showing ethical backbone is so unlike our PM. Time in power will often fix that:
“The Conservative government has backed off in the last year from publicly chiding China, opting instead for more quiet diplomacy, a recognition of China’s growing importance as an economic power.”
There we go, dilemma resolved! We simple will not discuss human rights anymore to any significant degree. Why? Because we can make some money! And as we all know, economics trumps morality.
“They [Harper on Canadian’s preferences] don’t want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar.”
Huh. It is almost like in 2006 when the stability of the minority government was in question it made political sense to at least make noise about caring for human rights. Now in 2009 we get the ‘realistic and pragmatic’ conservative version of enlightening Canadian foreign policy:
Thursday’s statement only briefly mentioned the issue of human rights, saying the two sides agreed they had “distinct points of view.”
Checkmate human-rights. Although our point of view is getting much closer to China’s every day.
According to Richard Colvin, since 2006 (and probably earlier) the Canadian Armed Forces have had a hand in facilitating the torture of afghan prisoners. Richard Colvin said:
“According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured. For interrogators in Kandahar, it was a standard operating procedure,” Colvin said.
He said the most common forms of torture were beatings, whipping with power cables, the use of electricity, knives, open flames and rape.”
Let me state this right now. Torture does not work. For an in depth analysis of exactly how bad torture is for nation states see Alflred McCoy’s book: A Question of Torture.
So torture is neither viable nor productive in terms of gathering information. Unless of course you are the church and are just trying to save the poor heretic’s souls.
It was only a matter of time as the slaughter and abuse of civilians goes hand in hand with imperial misadventures. We avoided the Iraq fiasco, but now are fully mired in Afghanistan. Colvin expresses his regrets about our foreign policy:
“As I learned more about our detainee practices, I came to a conclusion they were contrary to Canada’s values, contrary to Canada’s interests, contrary to Canada’s official policies and also contrary to international law. That is, they were un-Canadian, counterproductive and probably illegal.”
I agree with Mr. Colvin. But did our government? Of course not, the denials and spin began almost immediately.
“Defence Minister Peter MacKay also questioned the credibility of the allegations earlier this week. Hillier and Conservative officials denied Colvin’s assertion that he reported prisoner abuses as early as 2006.”
To expect a different response from any political party would be silly. That is the sad fact of the realpolitik of our times, we sanction horrible practices, and then when public scrutiny arrives, the government does its utmost to deny, deflect and discredit the bearer of the news of its malfeasance. Witness our feckless Conservatives in action:
“Last week, Colvin was accused by Conservative MPs of being a Taliban “dupe” for believing and broadcasting claims of prisoner abuse — and testifying he’d relayed those concerns to an unreceptive government.”
Mr. Colvin’s assertions were corroborated by a Afghani MP Malalai Joya she said:
“What he has been saying is what I’ve heard from my people,” she said.
Many of the victims are women and children detainees who have been raped, she said. “It’s not new for our people.”
Whoops! A outside confirmation of what is happening in Afghanistan? The Conservatives could not possibly be lying could they?
“The Conservative government was aware of concerns about the state of prisons in Afghanistan in early 2006, prompting it to negotiate a new prisoner transfer agreement, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday.”
Wow, getting caught in a lie misunderstanding (again) sucks does it not Mr.MacKay? The caliber of the verbal casuistry being spewn forth by the Conservative government leaves me gobsmacked.. The party of ‘law and order’ and ‘family values’ and morality in general. I remember with the Conservatives were rallying against the Liberals during the Adscam – debacle, oh how shrill they were. Good thing the Conservatives are above such antics now that they are in power.
It looks like we are at least partially responsible for people being tortured. A government that was actually dedicated upholding human rights and ‘canadian values’ would at least admit to their part in this ugly little affair.
Michal Coren gets it wrong even at the best of times. I can always count on the Sun Newspaper to annoy me enough to blog about the inanity that fills its pages.
I really want to agree at least once with Coren before I die and with the opening sentence of his article I though today would be the day.
“These are sad days for the American right.” intones Coren.
My eyebrow twitched, would this be the day? Naa… It would be easier to smash an atom with my shoe then agree with Mr.Coren. Case in point – next sentence (italics mine):
“The Republicans have no credible leader, Rush Limbaugh has conquered the art of perennial outrage and the men in smart suits and women in shrinking skirts at Fox try to outdo each other in their use of hyperbole.”
Very nice ass-hat. ‘Smart’ men and sexualized women. Isn’t institutionalized misogyny great?
“The tragedy is that all this comes at a time when we have one of the most worrying presidents in American history. Then, just as we think it can’t get any worse, comes the dream ticket of Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean, both former beauty queens and both proving that jokes about beauty queens are somewhat justified.”
Ah, yes. Beauty queens are always stupid. Check. Throwing a “somewhat justified” does not fix the message. Just like after punching someone in the face then saying ‘sorry’ does not mitigate the initial transgression.
“Actually she is an ordinary, nice woman blessed with beauty, a devoted husband and a good family. It really should end with that. But no.”
Bra-vo! She should be constantly pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen too. Sex class! Back to the galley with you and make me a sam’ich bitch.
“Palin wants power and is willing to close her eyes to the facts as she marches forward in glorious denial. Perhaps most chilling is how so many conservatives refuse to accept the obvious and twist into awful shapes trying to justify the woman’s failings.”
The ‘facts’: You are a woman and should never ever aspire to power. The public sphere is not your domain and how dare you even contemplate running for the highest office in the land. How could the Right even think of backing a female candidate? Patriarchally speaking, we have not gotten past the archetypal feminine “built in” flaws! The horror.
“Her daughter Bristol’s pregnancy,[…] Yet, where was your relationship with your daughter, one that would have indicated to you in numerous ways that the girl was hiding and doing something that was wrong?”
Because mother daughter relationships are always open and communicative, if only you’d just play your role and tend to the children. I guess Mr.Palin does not get the whole ‘girl’ thing and could not spend the extra time strengthening his role and bond with her daughter, his culpability is never questioned, while hers is immediately put front and center.
Awesome. Could this patriarchal values 101 lesson get any worse? Of course it does, the ass hattery kicks into overdrive as Coren trashes Carrie Prejean. What follows is his cogent response against her arguments(insipid as they my be). Hmmm…calculating the possibility my previous sentence being true…err… did I mention the smashing atom thing with my shoe… ?
“Carrie Prejean is an even more frightening example of right-wing hypocrisy. Her now famous defence of genuine marriage — only between a man and a woman [Wow, parroting the hetronormative standard. You go girl!]. […] she has posed almost-naked for photographs and that she made at least one graphic sex tape for a former boyfriend. We’re also supposed to believe that her recent relationships with young athletes have all been entirely celibate.”
What?! Pose nekkid for pictures? How dare you, whore! You are a public figure and you go off parading your sluty-slut-slut-lifestyle for all to see? No, no. You keep your sexuality ensconced in terms of patriarchal expectations or it will be a extra slut-shaming lightning round for the likes of you, after-all it isn’t your sex life for heavens sake.
“What she does on her own time is her business, but a moral position demands consistency and so should the response of social conservatives. This woman has even less right to speak for the American right than does Sarah Palin. And that, I’m afraid, is something I thought I’d never say.”
If only the italicized phrase applied to women…
So the calculus is in. If you have taken nekkid photos of yourself, and/or had sex with more than one partner (outside of marraige…ohhh the vapours take me now) as a woman that is an automatic disqualification from being in the ‘moral’ category.
The burning nuclear stupid burns! No Mr.Coren the morality of women is not intrinsically tied to their ranking in the Sex class. Women are autonomous beings capable of thinking outside of their imposed gender roles.
You should try it sometime.
I do not endorse what Mrs.Palin or Ms.Prejean represent, it is social conservatism of the most repugnant variety. Would it be too much to ask that we tackle their arguments as opposed to their gender?
Twisty, from the blog I Blame the Patriarchy opines on the recent passage of the healthcare bill in the US with the Stupack amendment:
“What I’m getting at is this: my lack of surprise at this Stupak shit proceeds from irrefutable evidence that state ownership of women is among the most beloved of our violent culture’s violent traditions. Social conservatives appear to believe that God made patriarchy in his own image, and that he will withdraw his complimentary concierge services and cancel Christmas, NASCAR, and life everlasting if the state stops oppressing women for even one second. So-called progressives just want uninterrupted access to pussy.”
I lack the the colourful verbiage that Twisty uses, but in this quote she deftly describes the atrocious nature of this particular amendment.
Abortion is not a crime in Canada. Abortion is under siege by anti-choice zealots, par for the course, but a good portion Canadian women have access to reproductive health services.
A woman’s right to make reproductive decisions is foundational in women being recognized as autonomous beings. It is paramount that we keep abortion, safe, legal, and accessible in Canada.
As far as I am concerned the Stupak Amendment is one compromise too far.
This just in: Stephen Harper cares about Climate Change:
“Full global participation in cutting greenhouse gases is necessary to tackle global warming, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said at an APEC summit in Singapore on Saturday.”
There are just a few problems with all this tackling and cutting. When it comes to Canadian treatment of actually cutting greenhouse gases we need to consider a new adjective, ‘glad-handing’ for instance.
The reality of the situation:
“Ottawa will soon exceed its Kyoto limit by about 30%, yet it will face no penalty for doing so because the Kyoto parties never agreed on any meaningful punishments,” so says Michael Levi in the National Post article.
Climate change is a challenging problem perhaps we are just getting ‘up to speed’ on a Canadian solution. We need qualified scientists to lead the charge. Harper appointed Mark Mullins and John Weissenberger to key posts in the government’s science sections.
The Globe and Mail says this (this is a meta-link as the actual article is safely out of the public domain, earning a extended middle fingered salute to the asshats at the G&M):
The 18-member NSERC already includes another Harper government appointee, mathematician Christopher Essex, who wrote a book challenging the “myth of climate change.”
On the same day Dr. Mullins was appointed to NSERC, April 23, another skeptic of global warming was appointed to the board of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which funds large research projects. John Weissenberger is a close friend of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a former chief of staff in the Harper government and a geologist who works for Husky Energy in Alberta.
Dr. Weissenberger has written opinion pieces in the media and on his Internet blog expressing his “skepticism about global warming.” That and other comments by the two appointees on the public record were compiled by NDP researchers and verified by The Globe and Mail.
So we are committed to climate change, yet we seem to be appointing people who are climate change deniers. You wonder why we have no credibility on climate change, just look at the annotated Frasier Institute report.
In a time where things are hyper sensationalized and denuded of any real meaning Remembrance Day has done remarkably well to maintain its somber demeanor and sense of decorum. (I’m sure some budding capitalist is contemplating a remembrance day sale, just before being cuffed upside the head for being so vulgar)
I’d like to put forth the notion that we should change the focus of Remembrance Day; from the armed forces to the civilian populations that suffered the brunt of the casualties during those special times where we leave our empathy and rationality at the door and engage in wholesale slaughter.
This is by no means a comprehensive listing of all civilian deaths due to war – just the low-lights that I could find.
World War I – 6.8 million civilian deaths.
World War II – 42 – 58 million civilian deaths.
Korean War – 2.8 million
Vietnam – 2.0 million
Nicaragua – 78,000 and counting due to landmines.
Iraq – 93,000 to 102,000 and rising.
Afghanistan – 32,000 and rising.
We should take this day to remember our humanity and to work toward understanding each other from across a table, not the barrels of guns.
We should remember those innocent victims of war, they certainly did not deserve their fate, yet war claimed them anyways. We should remember the Armenian Holocaust, we should remember the Jewish Holocaust not only to remind us of depths of human depravity but to remember that tragic events such as these happened because ordinary people did not speak up and call out the injustice as it was beginning to happen.
It is our responsibility as human beings not to look and then turn away, but rather, we must face our ugly past to prevent an ugly future.
So, on this November 11th, I choose to remember our common humanity and weep for our losses due to the depredations of war and unrest. I will remember that I will always have a choice whether or not to perpetuate evil, I will remember the past and hope I have the courage to make the right choice if faced with the grim situations that have marred our bloody history.
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