I met Lloyd Axworthy in the sixties, when he was an executive assistant to Liberal Cabinet Minister Arthur Laing. The minister’s gatekeeper was an impressive man who was rather imposing to a naive university student visiting parliamentary offices for the first time.
Axworthy moved from being a ministerial assistant to sitting as an MP. He then served a dozen years as a Cabinet Minister, rising to be Minister of Foreign Affairs. Since leaving politics, Axworthy has had a distinguished career in the academic world. He is now Chair Emeritus of the World Refugee & Migration Council.
Today Axworthy commented on Mark Carney’s pathetic response to Donald Trump’s Wag the Dog effort. Thousands will die as the American president seeks to divert attention from his political troubles. Axworthy’s statement was published by The Star newspaper.
Read the entire article at The Star.
Canada’s response to the U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a fault line at the heart of our foreign policy.
We invoke international law and the “rules based international order” when adversaries engage in unlawful actions, but abandon those same rules entirely when it’s the Americans — whose current government 60 per cent of Canadians now see as a threat — doing the bombing. For a country that depends on law more than force for its own security, that is not realism; it is recklessness.
…Under the UN Charter, cross-border uses of force are prohibited except in two narrow cases: collective decisions of the Security Council, or self defence in response to an actual or truly imminent armed attack. Operation Epic Fury, as the U.S. has dubbed it, fits neither. There is no Security Council mandate, and Ottawa has not tried to argue that Washington and Jerusalem are responding to an attack that is “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means.” Instead, it supports bombing to “prevent” Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon — the classic logic of preventive war.
…Iran is also not an isolated case. It is the seventh country against which President Trump has ordered unilateral use of force while in office. That should be a blaring alarm for a middle power like Canada. We are a trading state beside an increasingly unpredictable superpower that claims the right to intervene wherever and against whoever stands in their way. We have neither the military heft nor the economic leverage to dictate outcomes alone. Our security lies in a world where power is constrained by rules.
…The contrast with our language on Ukraine is stark. For four years, Canadian officials have rightly called Russia’s invasion an “unprovoked,” “unjustifiable,” “illegal” violation of the UN Charter and of Ukrainian sovereignty. Yet when the United States and Israel launch large scale strikes without UN authorization, Ottawa drops the legal vocabulary entirely. No talk of aggression, no warning about Charter erosion, no insistence on emergency debate in New York. The double standard is obvious: when Russia uses force without lawful grounds, it is condemned as an outlaw; when the U.S. does something legally analogous, we kowtow in an effort to curry favour.
I am one Canadian truly ashamed of Mark Carney’s government.
Categories: International, Liberal Party of Canada
in-sights.ca 
Good Morning or “Good Grief”?
As always, your insights are much appreciated! As was the recent
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Cheers and Happy March to you ….. MARCH – ONWARDS!
Roger Bryenton
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Mr. Axworthy is absolutely correct in calling out Canada’s hypocrisy. It is head-snapping how easy it is for us to come to a judgement based on who is dropping the bombs. This is called “living-the-lie”. It is not just the politicians that are guilty of this, but a great many Canadians as well. It is easier to look the other way than risk having your comfy lifestyle disrupted.
I called Carney out over his support for the US invasion of Venezuela. I thought his press release needed a few corrections. See below.
I do support a regime change. The people of Iran have been brutally oppressed for decades. However, I do not understand how this plan of bomb & leave will result in a better outcome for the people. The power void will likely be filled by equally brutal military oppressors. They have all the guns. In addition, the US always has an endgame. What is in it for them and their corporate masters. This is not a benevolent operation. Prepare yourself for a massive amount of spin.
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It is hard to imagine the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) relinquishing power without a fight. The IRGC has a long history of extremely harsh oppression. Handing over power to a more moderate regime would most certainly result in a death sentence for senior members of the IRGC and long prison sentences for the junior members. Much more blood will flow. Stay tuned.
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Regardless of what or when the Iran war ends the void created by the assassination of Iran’s leader will lead to instability in that geographic are for decades.
Syria and Iraq stand as testimony to that.
What comes next is anyone’s guess other than a media frenzy of hopes and prayers; winning the hearts and minds, but wait!!
First we have to destroy the enemies weapons of mass destruction, perhaps even a re incarnation of Tora Bora? the list is much longer than the TV brain dead elaborations!
To be honest as fucking dumb as the average American is to world affairs so are the fucking dumb average Iranians, Syrians and many western countries who have orgasms’ at shock and awe! providing its on their side?
As I approach my 80th birthday I’m thankful I will not have to endure the results of USA politics for too much longer.
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Call it for what the attack is, the Epstein War.
As the Epstein scandal envelopes Trump he must have a major distraction.
Carney is ill advised by the Trudeaunian bureaucracy and he needs to clean house fast or lose all momentum to the Wee P.
As I write this, Trump has no plan and his weak “regime change” will not happen with the massive and oppressive theocracy that runs Iran.
The only bright light I see with all this is that Putin will not be getting new deliveries of he Shahed Drones and other items of war.
The next Trump outrage will be the stopping of the mid term elections because if the Democrats win the house, not only will Trump be deposed, he and his cabinet may end up in jail. They know this and will do everything to stop the midterms.
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Further Down the rabbit hole we go.
For reasons beyond comprehension Melania Trump lectured the UN Security Council
https://apnews.com/article/un-melania-trump-security-council-children-conflict-iran-da7c8e4537b2d6b2697a2795c2aab041
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. first lady Melania Trump presided over a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday focusing on children in conflict, one of her signature issues, and acknowledged she was doing so at “challenging times” as the United States has joined Israel in attacking Iran.
“The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world,” she said, speaking generally and not specifically about the new war in the Middle East. “I hope soon peace will be yours.”
Hanging over Monday’s meeting was what Iranian state media says was an airstrike that hit a girls’ school in southern Iran, killing at least 165 people and wounding dozens more. The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area. The U.S. military said it was looking into the reports.
Shortly before Monday’s session began, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, said it was “deeply shameful and hypocritical” for the U.S. to convene a meeting on protecting children during conflict while launching airstrikes on Iranian cities.
“For the United States, ‘protecting children’ and ‘maintaining international peace and security’ clearly mean something very different from what the U.N. Charter provides,” he told reporters.
While the first lady spoke of a need to protect children and their access to education and technology in conflict, her husband’s administration has cut funding for a number of U.N. agencies and other international organizations that address these issues.
Among them is the U.N. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict, which provides detailed reporting on the impact that conflicts have on children around the world. This information can help trigger action to prevent rape and violence against women and children. President Trump withdrew U.S. support in January.
The U.S. has also dramatically cut funding for the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, and has withdrawn from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
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Miracle how Mr Trump elevates the masses and saves money
Trump’s actual rank at Wharton… not as advetized
Hilary testifies about who isn’t testifying
Ms. Bondi ditches the rules
BBC gladly censors itself
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A new Magna Carta? That would be news.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ed-davey-magna-carta-britain-donald-trump-b2938846.html
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/davey-demands-magna-carta-protect-140640993.html
Sir Ed Davey has called for Britain to adopt a new written constitution, arguing it is essential to make the nation “resistant to authoritarian creeps like Donald Trump”.
Speaking at the Liberal Democrat spring conference, the party leader advocated for a “new Magna Carta” to safeguard the UK’s fundamental commitments to human rights, the NHS, and freedom of expression from potential erosion.
During his address, Sir Ed also urged Britain to decouple its nuclear deterrent from its reliance on American maintenance, asserting that Trump has demonstrated the United States is no longer a consistently dependable ally.
He also criticised Reform UK and its leader, Nigel Farage, in the context of his constitutional proposals.
Drawing a parallel to the original Magna Carta, a foundational document that historically checked the power of King John and bolstered parliamentary authority, Sir Ed suggested the current political climate “demands” a similar new settlement.
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