'The people/nations with the most at stake should have the most say.'
That sounds very sensible ... how then would such a structure be organised to allow for varying situations over time, in which varying nations will have 'the most at stake' in different ever-changing circumstances? ... if frozen as a snapshot of any particular situation, the most-stake-most-say weight would become quite unfair to others in subsequent times [reflect how the french having veto power is effecting UN structure today] .... anyway the most-stake part of that is highly subjective, difficult to write into the charter in precise language, i should think
'We dont have the luxury of feeling that we are not the primary targets'
None of us do .... too small a world now for that, security is everybody's concern ... here is that list/map of countries again, both of mine appear on it, and by the way the premier of our province had both his sons in Manhattan that day, one working there and the other visiting, very close to the WTC - usinfo.state.gov
You're using the word 'we' there to signify 'US nationals', and therein lies the basic difference in attitude between us, perhaps .... there is a wider 'we', and i see many of your countrymen using it, to their credit ... it might really help this species to be a little attacked by another star system, more of 'us' would be using the wider 'we'
'The USA, Canada and Mexico cannot even agree on whether we should liberate Iraq.'
Mmm, i would restate that - We cannot agree on the manner and timing of how we should attempt to liberate Iraq ... [a tich presumptuous to call a simple short shoot-em-up a 'liberation' right off, perhaps] .... canadians have no more love for the Husseins than for the Abrams and Negropontes and Reichs of this world, be assured of that, and we're not strangers to action either, we fought the junger Kaiser and we fought Hitler from day one of those struggles, we have a long history of diplomacy as well - it was Lester Pearson who conspired with Eisenhower in the Suez crisis, whose plan was the one adopted in fact, and it was canadian army who literally wrote the book on the whole concept of peacekeeping in the planes on the way to that job in 1956 ... personally i may be a little more open to doing Saddam than the national average, but really you wouldn't have much trouble selling this nation on the idea, provided the project was done together with other independent democracies
México is another story, we've got half the nation occupied already, that will continue to colour foreign affairs for the mexicano for a long time to come, the average citizen doesn't want to start up with anybody, there is an intense isolationism here, no le busques cinco patas al fregado gato, i'm sure you're aware of it, and the many reasons why, you know how the mexicano views the entire idea of invasion of one nation by another, even were it not the US again .... but slowly this will change over time, it's been changing already, joining NAFTA was something unimaginable short years ago ... step by step, and i think the more contact with canadians and kiwis and irish et al,. the better
Both nations are uncomfortable with the unilateral attitude of the current administration between them ... this has shown up in a variety of ways, not just with the Bush II war plans .... with Kyoto they just gave the whole world the finger, blew em off ... no international criminal court, because US military have impunity, period .... with softwood lumber they're giving canadian forestry communities and US consumers alike the finger, and that's causing serious problems here ... it's an attitude that permeates all current policy, full of hubris and schoolyard bullying, an attitude seen here as trouble in the making, and it's an attitude with a whole lot more WMDs to hand than any set of ten thousands Saddams
Show us a truly Willing with whom canadians can join to form a real Coalition, that would be another story ... if we cannot do so on this continent, the three nations together in such things, then it does not bode well for the planet, no .... i'm not that hopeful either, short-term, but it's pretty clear that the further we can get away from the dictatorial and toward cross-border consensus, the better ... cheers quehubo, btw the questions to which Karen objected, i thought they were quite good actually, probing, a little chip on the shoulder sure, but there are a lot of such chips around lately, which is the problem eh |
