"Global domination? Whoa, Canada!
McGill University historian Gil Troy, in an essay
published last spring in the Canadian magazine Policy Options, he
argued that it’s no longer enough for Canada to be “the nice
nation”—that to fulfill its potential, it must rise up and become a
“leading player in the Western democratic West.”
For Troy, that means
passionately supporting Israel, denouncing Iran, and being willing to
stand up, militarily, for its ideals. The emphasis on peacekeeping, Troy
said in an interview, “curdled at a certain point—it turned, and became
too concerned with appeasing others. And in a world filled with some
seriously bad people and some seriously evil forces, that kind of
approach has its limits, and it has to be paired with what people
consider a more in-your-face confrontational style.”
This call to arms has been embraced and passionately promoted by the
Harper government, whose approach to foreign policy has been marked by
militaristic rhetoric and an emphasis on Canada’s martial history.
Perhaps the most overt manifestation of this effort has been the $28
million promotional campaign
to recast the War of 1812, when British forces in Canada fought off an
invasion attempt by the United States, as a defining moment in Canadian
history.
UPDATES: Canada sends signal to Iran by cutting ties
And signals its own people in the process.
That's not the first time the Globe has come up with some stupid ideas:
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: Investing at Birth
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: AmeriKa's Islamic Army
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: White Man's Burden
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: Shutting Down Free Speech
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: Nuclear Disarmament
The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: Slum Cities
I it is not really a mystery as to why I'm bored.
UPDATE: The Carter Doctrine: A Middle East strategy past its prime
