reed writes

Henry Siegman, director of the U.S./Middle East Project, is a visiting research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a former Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations and, before that, was national director of the American Jewish Congress from 1978 to 1994. Here is what he wrote in Ha’aretz, Israel’s largest daily newspaper.

By Henry Siegman

Following Israel’s bloody interdiction of the Gaza Flotilla, I called a life-long friend in Israel to inquire about the mood of the country. My friend, an intellectual and a kind and generous man, has nevertheless long sided with Israeli hardliners. Still, I was entirely unprepared for his response. He told me—in a voice trembling with emotion—that the world’s outpouring of condemnation of Israel is reminiscent of the dark period of the Hitler era. (more…)

Liberals have been having troubles ever since the so-called sponsorship scandal. It was indeed a scandal, but not the fault of the Party itself.

In fact Paul Martin convened an open public inquiry at the earliest opportunity. There was transparency, accountability and perpetrators were punished. However the party was tarnished and the stink of scandal clung.

But – let’s not ever forget the most important stat of all – the opposition still has 63% plus of the popular vote according to all the polls.

Plenty to form a coalition.

Now here’s what the Liberals ought to do in order to improve their own prospects and also the outlook for our country.

A message from the leader of The Liberal Party of Canada

Voice Over:  Here now is the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Michael

“My fellow Canadians.  I recognize that I have failed as Leader of the Official Opposition.

I blame no one for my lack of popularity, except myself.

Believe me…I love my country dearly. For many years my Father represented this nation as an international diplomat.

I learned a great deal from him…but not enough to provide effective leadership for this great country.

It’s clear to me that I cannot continue for much longer in my present role at the helm of the greatest political party in Canadian history.

Therefore I have made the following decision:

I am announcing today that I will continue as leader until the next election, which I believe is coming very soon.  Perhaps sooner than any of us know at this moment.

You have elected many highly capable and dedicated women and men to this Liberal caucus.

In your great wisdom you have denied any party a majority. Nevertheless, damage has been done. I recognize that and I recognize that to some extent, I am responsible.

On the day following the coming election, regardless of the outcome, I will – in consultation with the Party and the country – set a reasonable date for a leadership convention.

Together with our Caucus and general membership I will continue to lead, until an open and democratic Convention chooses a new leader. In this way, I intend to maintain continuity.

By making this announcement now – I am giving ample time for leadership candidates to prepare.

This has been a painful decision for me. It is however, my decision and mine alone.

I believe it is a decision that is in the best interests of my chosen political party – the party of Laurier, Pearson, Trudeau, Chretien, Martin and so many other great leaders.

The Liberal Party was hurt by the sponsorship scandals, by internal division and more recently by my own lack of appeal to Canadian voters.

My great hope is that my decision will put the Liberal Party back on track and help put Canada back on track.

Thanks to all who have supported me; I will continue to work for those millions of Canadians who believe in and want a nation that will serve them and preserve their ideals.

I will work with and support the next Liberal leader.

In the meantime I will work with this Parliament to serve the best interests of us all.

Thankyou.

I have no way of knowing what goes on in the backrooms of our government.

But I do know this – P.M. Harper seems more concerned with clinging to power than with moving forward on matters of policy. Our government does not seem to be connected to the rest of the world in ways that can help us and others – understand the fundamental principles of Canadianism and international responsibility.

The cyclical rash of advertisements attacking the opposition, denigrating other political leaders and appealing to the baser instincts of the electorate – are evidence that the thinking process in Ottawa is shallow and self-serving.

Our government has  taken a shotgun approach to policy. It has enunciated no clear goals that the average citizen can identify. There is the sense that in Harper’s court, power trumps everything else. There seems to be a mentality of “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead”.

But we exist in a world where the torpedoes are coming at us fast and furiously; they must be identified, tracked and dealt with. This cannot happen if the leadership believes its main goal is to hang onto power, rather than to identify problems and take steps to help solve them.

Government is about much more than just exercising control…it’s about being engaged as an active player on the world scene as well as on the domestic political scene.

Politics ought to be about ideas, vision and how to make our country and the world a better place. The true purpose of responsible politics is about inspiring the citizenry to believe that there’s a better way to do things and that an educated, developed nation like Canada has a real role to play on the global stage.

Our government needs to have clear objectives, well-defined goals…and it needs to move forward carefully…to achieve those goals.

Part of the problem Canada faces – could just be the comfort level of our society. We’ve allowed ourselves to be lulled into a state of mind that could be defined as, “I’m alright Jack”…or as…”What? Me Worry?”

We happen to live in one of the greatest countries on this planet. Our standard of living is one of the highest and our future is bright. But we’re mesmerised by our good fortune and too often we seem to overlook the foundational principles on which the country was built. Some things to remember:

• we separated from imperialism in a peaceful and constructive way.
• we developed a co-operative approach to social welfare partly out of necessity, but also out of compassion for others.
• we built a tolerant country of two cultures.
• we have always opposed Fascism and dictatorship by promoting the ideals of democracy and freedom…and we have fought and bled for those ideals.
• our wars have almost always been defensive ones and we have – as a nation – opposed the idea of planning and waging aggressive warfare.
• we opposed the illegal war in Vietnam because we believed it was irresponsible and wrong and our Prime Minister spoke out against it.
• our commitment to justice was clear and we provided safe haven to those who refused to fight.
• we supported the United Nations, because we have traditionally believed in taking responsibility for international fairness and justice.
• we supported the International Criminal Court for the same reason.
• we were once the poster nation for Peacekeeping in the world. (Now we rank somewhere around #50 in terms of contributing peacekeeping personnel – on a par with Mali).
• our efforts to come to terms with the wrongs committed against Native People and against Japanese Canadians are clear evidence of our humanitarian outlook.
• our refusal to participate in the illegal invasion of Iraq is evidence of our historic commitment to rational behaviour on the international scene.
• we entered the Afghanistan conflict only after the U.N. formed ISAF – the International Security and Assistance Force.

Since then, we have lost our way it seems.

Our leadership no longer speaks out against injustice. We have allowed Canadian citizens to be held in secret prisons, mistreated and even tortured. We accepted the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war, which goes against everything we have stood for throughout history. Our leadership has failed to speak out and promote the most basic Canadian beliefs. And for all those things and more, we must feel a measure of national shame.

Oddly enough – our government embraced the worst excesses of the Cheney/Bush administration in the U.S. and has failed to see the positive steps being taken by the new Obama administration, elected overwhelmingly by a majority of the American people.

Perhaps it’s time for Canadians to do some reassessment of what their country stands for.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon says he’s troubled by reports of intimidation of opposition candidates offices by Iran’s security forces.

Cannon claims that he has ordered Canadian embassy officials in Tehran to be vigilant. He has called on Iranian authorities to conduct fair and transparent counting of all ballots.

Incumbent President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been declared the winner. Was there fraud? Possibly. Does it matter? No.

Mr. Cannon is allowed to criticize other countries when Canada, the U.S. and other western nations have reached a level of democracy that is without flaws. Until then, it is appropriate for him to keep his nose out of other peoples’ business.

Let’s not forget that in the year 2,000 it was the U.S. Supreme Court that decided the outcome of the presidential elections in the context of reports of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation.

If I remember correctly, in that election Al Gore polled a majority of the popular vote, but lost the election.

Enough said.

Mr. Cannon ought to keep his mouth shut.