eCitizen Posted June 18, 2011 Report Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) The first stops for a new Canadian Foreign Minister should be, in this order.... Vancouver....Beijing... New Delhi.... Bruxelles....Washington... New York. Why on earth is John Baird going to Libya? Why does the Harper government continue to squander opportunities to be a world player? DISAPPOINTED ! Edited June 18, 2011 by eCitizen Quote
Topaz Posted June 18, 2011 Report Posted June 18, 2011 I hadn't hear about him going but I did find a small article on it. He may also go to Afghanistan, the US are holding peace talks with the Taliban. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Baird+will+meet+with+rebels+Libya/4967920/story.html Quote
Smallc Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 The first stops for a new Canadian Foreign Minister should be, in this order.... Well, he's already been to France at the G8. Quote
Shady Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 The first stops for a new Canadian Foreign Minister should be, in this order.... Vancouver....Beijing... New Delhi.... Bruxelles....Washington... New York. Why on earth is John Baird going to Libya? Why does the Harper government continue to squander opportunities to be a world player? DISAPPOINTED ! Really? The Foreign Minister's first stop should be in Vancouver? Quote
mentalfloss Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Really? The Foreign Minister's first stop should be in Vancouver? It was his attempt at being clever by committing to an equivocation fallacy. Quote
August1991 Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Why on earth is John Baird going to Libya?Uh, because he's Canada's MFA? Quote
Jack Weber Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 The first stops for a new Canadian Foreign Minister should be, in this order.... Vancouver....Beijing... New Delhi.... Bruxelles....Washington... New York. Why on earth is John Baird going to Libya? Why does the Harper government continue to squander opportunities to be a world player? DISAPPOINTED ! Would you prefer Gaza so he could tell us how wonderful Hamas is? Quote The beatings will continue until morale improves!!!
eCitizen Posted June 19, 2011 Author Report Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) It was his attempt at being clever by committing to an equivocation fallacy. No just an understanding of transpacific flight fuel logistics. Harper keeps telling us that he wants Canada to be a leader. Going to Libya is not leadership. You express leadership by connecting to leaders. Today on CNN's GPS, Fareed Zakaria cited Canada as one of the few countries enjoying growth at the moment. John Baird going to Libya is not a good example of seizing the moment(um) Edited June 19, 2011 by eCitizen Quote
eCitizen Posted June 19, 2011 Author Report Posted June 19, 2011 Would you prefer Gaza so he could tell us how wonderful Hamas is? Oh yeah. Hamas. Terrorism. Of course. I am going to slap my forehead as soon as the US Open is over. Quote
Keepitsimple Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 No just an understanding of transpacific flight fuel logistics. Harper keeps telling us that he wants Canada to be a leader. Going to Libya is not leadership. You express leadership by connecting to leaders. Today on CNN's GPS, Fareed Zakaria cited Canada as one of the few countries enjoying growth at the moment. John Baird going to Libya is not a good example of seizing the moment(um) You're talking about optics and trying to look good - something Canada has done too much of in the past. I like the substance of what they are doing. Canada is supporting the popular Libyan opposition but we're not sure that we can put all our support behind them as the next Libyan government. We need to look these guys in the eye and find out what their intentions are and what committment they have toward some form of Democracy. Quote Back to Basics
bush_cheney2004 Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 ...John Baird going to Libya is not a good example of seizing the moment(um) Why not...it was certainly good enough for PM Paul Martin back in late 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4109679.stm Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
bloodyminded Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 You're talking about optics and trying to look good - something Canada has done too much of in the past. I like the substance of what they are doing. Canada is supporting the popular Libyan opposition but we're not sure that we can put all our support behind them as the next Libyan government. We need to look these guys in the eye and find out what their intentions are and what committment they have toward some form of Democracy. I agree with this hypothetical of Canada's intentions--that is, that such behaviour sounds pretty good--but it remains a hypothetical. Quote As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. --Josh Billings
RNG Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Am I the only guy(ette) who fears much of the "Arab Spring" will result in a whole bunch more fanatical Muslim regimes? Quote The government can't give anything to anyone without having first taken it from someone else.
bloodyminded Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Am I the only guy(ette) who fears much of the "Arab Spring" will result in a whole bunch more fanatical Muslim regimes? It's a possibility, definitely. Or some could find themselves with worse regimes, and others with far superior ones (since each is bound to be somewhat different.) Quote As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. --Josh Billings
cybercoma Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Libya is a foreign country with oil and a void that needs to be filled. Of course it's one of the first places a Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister goes. Quote
RNG Posted June 19, 2011 Report Posted June 19, 2011 Libya is a foreign country with oil and a void that needs to be filled. Of course it's one of the first places a Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister goes. The fanatics really are short of ammunition. Canada needs Libyan oil as much as I need more grief. Actually. Libyan oil hurts the Canadian economy, so if you want to put on your tinfoil hat and say that he is going there to bolster the rebels so that the Libyan oil production is hurt for a longer time, I would have to work harder to combat that. Quote The government can't give anything to anyone without having first taken it from someone else.
cybercoma Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 The fanatics really are short of ammunition. Canada needs Libyan oil as much as I need more grief. Actually. Libyan oil hurts the Canadian economy, so if you want to put on your tinfoil hat and say that he is going there to bolster the rebels so that the Libyan oil production is hurt for a longer time, I would have to work harder to combat that. I'm sure none of their oil barron friends would benefit from having more resources at their disposal. Quote
Shady Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 I'm sure none of their oil barron friends would benefit from having more resources at their disposal. Which oil Barron friends are you referring to? And who are they friends with? Can you be specific? Provide names. Quote
RNG Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 I'm sure none of their oil barron friends would benefit from having more resources at their disposal. You, sir, are really stupid, it appears. Quote The government can't give anything to anyone without having first taken it from someone else.
Battletoads Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 The Cons are never ones to miss a good photo op. Quote "You can lead a Conservative to knowledge, but you can't make him think."
g_bambino Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 The Cons are never ones to miss a good photo op. Which party isn't? Quote
eyeball Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 Am I the only guy(ette) who fears much of the "Arab Spring" will result in a whole bunch more fanatical Muslim regimes? I doubt it. I also doubt that you can grasp the likelihood that it could be another century or more before the whole region settles down. It did after all take a century or so for outsiders to stir it up in the first place. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
g_bambino Posted June 20, 2011 Report Posted June 20, 2011 It did after all take a century or so for outsiders to stir it up in the first place. They were stirring it up on their own well before "the outsiders" came along. Quote
eCitizen Posted June 20, 2011 Author Report Posted June 20, 2011 You're talking about optics and trying to look good - something Canada has done too much of in the past. I like the substance of what they are doing. Canada is supporting the popular Libyan opposition but we're not sure that we can put all our support behind them as the next Libyan government. We need to look these guys in the eye and find out what their intentions are and what committment they have toward some form of Democracy. Optics? Visiting our most important trading partners is optics? If you say so, but really, isn't that what Foreign Ministers do? If Harper wants to, as he so often says, make Canada a senior player, then he needs to make sure he has the ear of countries like China, India (did I leave out Russia and Brazil?) Libya is going to be another Iraq. Whether Ghaddafi survives or not, we are looking at an ongoing civil war. Putting a foreign minister on the ground is not going to do a damned thing to stop it. Quote
eyeball Posted June 21, 2011 Report Posted June 21, 2011 They were stirring it up on their own well before "the outsiders" came along. That's no excuse for not owning up to the messes that resulted when so-called nations like Libya were fabricated - cobbled together out of disparate conflicted people's at the self-interested whim of distant governments that should have known better. The whirlwind we're now reaping as a result is actually a serious deficit of goodwill, a heinous form of inter-generational theft really - given how our planet's economy and the ecosystem's the economy is floating on are labouring away just to keep from collapsing completely the timing couldn't be worse. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
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