John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Within minutes, Global Affairs confirmed Canada will recognize Guaido in the role. U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement doing the same, and encouraging other Western governments to recognize Guaido as interim president.”
"Venezuela's Opposition leader takes oath as interim president, endorsed by Canada, U.S."
The timing tells us that it was all pre-planned.
You might think Trump would be more sensitive about behavior which truly shows no respect for the laws and internal politics of another country.
After all, he and his political followers have never stopped yapping about Obama and the FBI and Hillary Clinton trying to deprive him of Constitutionally lawful office.
And remember, too, all that noise in Washington about Russian interference in an American election? Unsubstantiated nonsense, of course, but this isn't nonsense. This is about seriously interfering in another country's internal affairs.
Well, I just read on another major news site that the country's military has come out in support for President Maduro, as they very much should. He was legally elected to office for a second time.
Imagine Canada’s Andrew Scheer, Conservative Leader of the Opposition, declaring himself Prime Minister and taking such an oath?
We would laugh him out of Parliament. He might even be required to undergo an evaluation for mental competency.
But this event in Venezuela is no different at all, and no one is laughing. It’s being supported by some foreign political leaders, and our mainline press treats it with no sense of the bizarre or inappropriate.
It is just stunning that Trudeau is a participant.
But it does serve as a sharp reminder of the kind of political world in which we now find ourselves living. If America wants something changed somewhere in the world, nothing – not national laws, not international treaties, not ethics, not decency, not diplomatic tradition – is allowed to stand in the way of getting it.
Canada has long had a kind of unofficial colonial status vis-à-vis America, deriving from the facts that so much of our economy is owned by American corporations and that our major borders are all shared only with America. But still, we had our moments from time to time. Lester Pearson stood up to Washington over Vietnam. Pierre Trudeau stood up to Washington over Vietnam and Cuba. Jean Chretien stood up to Washington over the invasion of Iraq.
But now, Canadians must accept that their country’s leader, Justin Trudeau, has accepted a role much resembling that of Tony Blair vis-a-vis George Bush, a role widely described years ago as that of lapdog.
