Are we to be satisfied with the pompous strutting out of an important UN meeting by our foreign minister and his expenses-paid toadies because they don’t like what just ONE of the speakers has to say?
Are they planning to repeat this performance if they get a whiff of any other leader planning an impromptu Flat-Earth rant, or even worse, a religious one?
Pres Ahmadinejad differs from all the rest only because he’s prepared to run with his loopy views while the microphone is on.
Don’t you think the likes of Sarkosy and Merkel harbour dark thoughts and fantasies about their political betes-noir?
You bet they do. But they keep them for other ears.
What they say at UN assemblies is coiffed and politically-corrected to the point of irrelevance.
But not Aj. That boy loves the podium.
This is an abdication of responsibility by our elected reps and they’re getting away with it because it’s in a faraway place. They wouldn’t dare in their constituencies.
Their #1 job is to LISTEN.
Are we getting value for our tax dollars, having flown and hoteled this bunch into wherever-it-is, to absent themselves from the process?
Make no mistake the champagne will flow regardless.
Thanks to CBC and others who choose not to behave so irresponsibly, we hear President Ahmadinejad also addressed the dumb-ass invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel’s brutal conduct in Gaza.
Are these issues of no interest whatsoever to Canadians?
Even if he adds one molecule of sensible context to these agonising debates he is doing his job, unlike the pouting grandstanders sent to represent Canada.
One more time…. shame on us.
Unlike Iggy, Harper is not well traveled. His views are formed by those who bring them to him – and they often have the motive of persuasion. He has limited intellectual capacity to begin with and its easily overwhelmed by his strong religiously-based emotional make-up. (Harper was the first PM to use his own personal bible to be sworn in – faith comes first?). So in issues pertaining to the Middle East, Harper comes across more as an Israeli than a Canadian citizen. So walking out showed support for Israel even though what Aj said about them regarding the Occuaption is completely true, as is his allusion to the influence of the Israeli lobby. Harper is not a listener, or rather he is a selective listener. It is time to ditch Canada’s first American Prime Minister.
Amen to the article and Shazam’s comment.
The Occupation is wrong. Everyone knows that. The Occupation is illegal and violates the United Nations Charter as well as a plethora of U.N. Resolutions which are routinely ignored by Israel. The Occupation is also immoral and represents to many observers…including many Israelis…the thin edge of the big wedge of ethnic cleansing.
I can’t agree with the above commenter that Harper is an Israeli or an American or anything but a narrow-minded and ignorant Canadian of whom there are a great many.
Just because you think another leader may be wrong about something…or ignorant…or stupid or whatever…doesn’t mean that you have to descend to the same level.
Unfortunately shooting off their mouths and making dumb-ass “statements of principle” like walking out – seems to be a hallmark of our Prime Minister and our government officials like Mr. Cannon.
Far more would be gained by having a quiet private chat with whomever…and telling the person nicely that he was out of line.
That would be the way a rational adult would approach this issue.
Wasn’t there a saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” Can our government keep tabs on Iran if they don’t keep the president of Iran in their sights. Aren’t there Canadians working in Iran? I wonder how they feel. I agree it doesn’t seem very professional. I think the president of Iran should be tiring of his belief that there wasn’t a holocaust, though. Maybe, when he started bringing it up everybody could have stood up and sung a song or just said “boooooo!” It’ll be interesting to follow how global etiquette at future G8 and G20 will be observed.
Me too. But as we’ve discussed before…language and understanding of language is very important.
Despite all our wonderful knowledge, ability to communicate and philosophical analysis, we’re still pretty primitive when it comes to understanding the meaning of words.
As for Ahmedinejad…I’m not entirely certainly that he believes the Holocaust never happened…surely no one with a reasonbly rounded education could suggest there was no Holocaust.
I found it interesting that Gideon Levy – writing in the Israeli Daily Newspaper, Ha’aretz, said bluntly that Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu – in his speech at the U.N. – “cheapened the Holcocaust” by using it for political purposes.
That’s what I think Ahmedinejad does. Like Netanyahu, he cheapens the Holocaust by suggesting that the rest of us pay too much attention to it.
Frankly, I don’t see a whole lot of difference between those two men.
The challenge that faces humankind is far greater than the crass politics played by crass politicians for the crass purpose of increasing their political popularity.
My guess is that people aren’t that stupid.