Dispatching International Diplomacy to Putin

"I haven't been briefed on what happened. I'm not sure if Mr. Chretien has chosen to brief our mission in Moscow. We would be curious to know what was discussed."
"All I can tell you is that the government of Canada has taken whatever opportunity we've had in meeting Mr. Putin, such as Prime Minister Harper's brief encounter with him at the margins of the G20 in Melbourne, to be very clear about our insistence that Russia get out of Ukraine."
"We would hope that Mr. Chretien would have taken -- availed himself -- of the opportunity to convey the same message."
Defence Minister Jason Kenney

"Mr. Chretien was clearly not representing the government of Canada at this meeting."
"Our government's position on the Putin regime is clear."
Stephen Lecce, spokesman, Office of the Prime Minister

"[President Putin and former Prime Minister Chretien] discussed the painful points of current international situation."
"It's well known they have friendly relations or I'd even say relations of partnership."
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman

Alexei Nikolsky/RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP    Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 30, 2015.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien distinguishes himself yet again. An old political war horse meeting with the latest incarnation of Soviet-style imperialism, lending an understanding ear to the unfairness of condemning actions of a government powerful in its instinct to protect its own, by the chorus of critics from the democratic West. Chretien is the man, who while Prime Minister of Canada, feathered his financial nest proactively by establishing close business contacts in China.

This is a man not all that particular about his moral conscience, in an event, having reduced the Liberal Party to a fraction of its former influence by cavorting too frequently at the public trough, both personally and for the Liberal Party. The Little Man From Shawinigan whose swift reaction when confronted in a public place by a poverty activist was to throttle the man. The man who spoke deep from his heart when he found it amusing that the RCMP was pepper-spraying protesters.

It is unheard of in the Canadian political arena for a former prime minister to take it upon himself to ignore the current government's official position on a matter of international importance, such as Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, let alone Moscow's arming of Ukrainian Russian-speaking rebels, encouraging them with the aid of Russian military personnel to defy the Ukrainian government in violent assaults to claim their right to administer east Ukraine and taking it into the political orbit of the Kremlin.

What Jean Chretien has done is to deliberately attempt to undermine the authority of the current Conservative-led government, through an act that comes very close to political sabotage at the least, and bordering on a traitorous iniquity of commission. The international community; which is to say most of Europe and North America, has chosen to sanction Russia over its interference in Ukrainian sovereignty and its clear criminal actions. It ill behooves Mr. Chretien to throw his spanner into the works.

And nor can Ukraine be very impressed at this surprising turn of events. Ukrainian Canadians, of whom there are enough to help wobble election aspirations of the Liberal Party of Canada, will not be amused. Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister, visiting Ottawa, spoke rather disparagingly of the Russian embassy criticizing Canada for deploying 200 Canadian Forces military to Ukraine as trainers.

Their purpose, stressed Mr. Klimkin was clear enough; not the "counterproductive and deplorable" decision that the Russian embassy claimed, but meant to aid Ukraine's military and national guard to realize a higher standard of self-defence operations to better enable them to repel Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Chretien the diplomat? The InterAction Council of former world leaders has chosen rather unwisely.