Pride and Prejudice

It's a natural enough fallout when you make enemies. If they happen to have more friends, colleagues, supporters than you do, then you will pay the price. Snub someone or some entity, criticize them because of their bankrupt morals, support their adversary who might happen to be small and seemingly defenceless and you have taken a stride in the direction of pay-back.

Canada, under the current Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has done just that. Previous, mostly Liberal-led Canadian governments have always found it more politic to be 'diplomatic', not to rock the boat, not to bring untoward attention by leaning too heavily in support of globally unpopular principles. Or principals.

This government, however, portraying itself as having a conscience it is prepared to live with and place in evidence, has supported an unpopular principal and in so doing upheld its principles. Which just do not happen to have wide appeal and support elsewhere. It is offensive to the world of the Muslim bloc countries, like the Arab League, like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation - and by extension the non-aligned bloc within the United Nations that Canada is so intensely supportive of Israel as an ally.

Nor did it help when the Canadian federal government gave a thumbs-down to the wish of the United Arab Emirates to have permission to increase the Emirati airlines flights within Canada, particularly wishing to have more frequent landing rights in Toronto. A move that did not sit well with Air Canada, hence a refusal by Canada to entertain the UAE's wish.

Causing a diplomatic rift, with the UAE expressing its anger by pulling permission for Canada's 'Camp Mirage' site on its territory, used as a site-convenient base for supply by the Canadian military for its Afghanistan mission.

That simmering resentment from the UAE and the overall anger with Canada in defending Israel within the United Nations and most particularly at sessions of the UN's Human Rights Council, led to Canada losing for the first time ever, its bid to sit on the revolving United Nations Security Council roster.

"Canada's principled foreign policy is not for sale for a Security Council seat", John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade recently pointed out to his Parliamentary opposition critics.

"We are aggressively working on humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable, including Syria; we are taking real leadership when it comes to standing up against the evil that is Iran; and no one is standing up stronger against the regime in Colombo, Sri Lanka, than this prime minister and this government", he responded to accusations by the opposition that the government was failing Canada in its expressed disinterest in competing at the next UN Security Council opening.

In making reference to Sri Lanka, it was the issue of Canada being the only Commonwealth government opposing Sri Lanka's human rights abuses against its Tamil minority, to the extent that there may be no Canadian representation at the next Commonwealth heads meeting taking place in Colombo, a meeting designation opposed by Canada.

All the more so that it follows that Sri Lanka will automatically lead the Commonwealth for the following two years between summits. Sri Lanka's abuse of its minority Tamils represents a very obvious and vicious example of a government oppressing and threatening a segment of its own population. For Sri Lanka, under these circumstances, to head the Commonwealth, represents a corruption of its ideals.

And now yet another UN-related, international issue has resulted with Qatar opposing Montreal continuing to host the International Civil Aviation Organization, another UN agency, based since its inception in 1947, in Montreal. Qatar is interested in having the ICAO moved to Doha, vacating its position in Montreal. Montreal's mandate ends in 2016; Foreign Minister John Baird heads negotiations at the UN to maintain the ICAO in Montreal until 2036.


All of these issues for the most part, come back to haunt Canada through the influence of the Arab and Muslim blocs in the United Nations. Canada's immutable stance in the defence of a country and a nation held in low esteem by all too many countries of the United Nations, spurred on by the demonizing efforts on the State of Israel, of the Arab/Muslim influence has brought rancour down on Canada.

On the other hand, this government is under no illusions with respect to the many failures in human relations, human rights, equality and security that take place within the United Nations. The world body and its many offshoots simply have not lived up to the potential that was vested in it as a moderating, balancing influence on the world scene, whose mandate was to uphold human rights and work unstintingly to achieve peace worldwide.

It has become an ethics-insipid, morals-compromised, bloated and complacent bureaucracy, pleased to lend itself to the intolerant political, social and religious manipulations of a wealthy and unprincipled and often dangerous demographic within its global membership. Unworthy, by and large, of the full measure of respect and belief in virtues vested in its capacity to lead the world.