Dear Editor;
Canada joined NATO 60 years ago when our allies in Europe were under threat from the Soviet Union.
NATO for the last decade is engaging in military action based of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, “the idea that if a country is unwilling or unable to protect its own people, if it’s responsible for ethnic cleansing or massacres, or if it’s denying relief aid to its own people, then another country should step in and help.”
The “Arab Spring” has seen protests against governments in a number of countries. Only in Libya has there been action. NATO was given the right to create a “no-fly zone” subsequently inflated to the point helicopter gun ships are aiding those now recognized as the legitimate government of Libya by Canada.
Canadians are expected to believe our Foreign Affairs Minister when he says, “Canada – through NATO – has been front and centre in the military mission to protect the Libyan people.” On the ground observers relate a different reality of bombing not limited to military targets.
Canadians are expected to believe our Foreign Affairs Minister when he says, “Canada – through NATO – has been front and centre in the military mission to protect the Libyan people.” On the ground observers relate a different reality of bombing not limited to military targets. - Joe Hueglin
Canada’s Prime Minister is quoted as saying “it’s not just good enough to say, ‘Everybody likes us,’... the ability of our most important allies, and most importantly the United States, to single-handedly shape outcomes and protect our interests, has been diminishing, and so I’m saying we have to be prepared to contribute more, and that is what this government’s been doing.”
In the view of one political science professor, “Harper downplays peacekeeping, bridge-building and mediation, and poverty-eradication, preferring a more robust or muscular foreign policy posture (think bombing runs over Libya and combat operations in Kandahar).”
Is what the Prime Minister values, that we have a “muscular foreign policy” in aid of United States foreign policies, as a Canadian value? I think not. Rather than this having our country acting on what Harper downplays, and being able to say ‘Everybody likes us.’
Joe Hueglin
Niagara Falls, Ontario
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