Prime Minister Mark Carney’s much criticized ambiguity about the role of international law regarding U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran is more than an excusable stumble by an inexperienced politician operating in a challenging environment.
Carney is building a foreign policy “doctrine” that increasingly warrants a closer look.
Last October, Carney lavished praise on U.S. President Donald Trump for supposedly “disabling Iran as a force of terror” with U.S. strikes months earlier. While the prime minister has softened — but not withdrawn — his support for the current military campaign that began in spite of progress on peace talks, he has not explained why he has long disagreed with intelligence assessments that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Nor has Carney or his ministers refused to rule out some form of participation in the conflict that is rapidly extending to other Persian Gulf states.
An opportunity to provide clarity on such issues was rebuffed when Carney skipped an emergency debate in Parliament on the growing crisis. Meanwhile, the war continues to unleash enormous human suffering and chaos.
You’re just confirming you don’t understand the doctrine.
As a consequence, you don’t understand the significance of the initial statement or subsequent ones and how they create incoherence in Canada’s foreign policy.
Additionally, you also don’t seem to be aware that on the day Chretien publicly spoke out against the Iraq war the government provided private assurance to the US of support, did provide indirect support with naval and air assets, and had a Canadian general serve in a command position in Iraq, or that Chretien had an acknowledged political strategy of cultivating an appearance of independence from the US to maintain public support that would enable him to be more useful to the US.
Who’s naïve?
Criticize the actual specific point I made, or shut the fuck up.
You’re really holding yourself to a high standard, huh?
Show you actually understand the doctrine. You still haven’t.
I mean, you’ve shown you also don’t understand Canada’s foreign policy history, but that’s a bit tangential, even if it’s par for the course so far with you.
Do better.