Never found a bad US idea he didn't like

[chickenfeet]

This article in the Globe and Mail is more interesting for what it says about how the Harper government operates than for what it says about detainees and Afghanistan. If I read this right Harper has gone the American route of removing the diplomats from diplomacy and giving control of key aspects of foreign policy to DND and the generals. We all know how well that strategy has served the US! Converting the armed forces into the uniformed wing of the Conservative Party is a fundamentally anti-democratic strategy and entirely contrary to Canadian political tradition.

Comments

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

I think the thing that feels more American about this scandal is how much the reaction to it is about making it someone else's fault, rather than trying to actually, you know, do something about it.

In Flanders field the poppies grow

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is anything specifically American about that. What is interesting about the government's "defence" is that it's playing the old "You are betraying our brave soldiers by suggesting it might be better not to get them killed off for no good purpose". That's been a standard militarist response down the ages. It's really astonishing that anyone still falls for it.

Re: In Flanders field the poppies grow

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

*shrug* Yeah, that's true. I guess I'm just getting really pissed off at a government that claims to care about human rights, but not, you know, universally.

(I haven't been so upset about being Canadian since I became Canadian.)

Re: In Flanders field the poppies grow

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

What's upsetting me is that the opposition are letting them get away with it. If commission of war crimes isn't sufficient grounds for turfing the government out, I don't know what is.

Re: In Flanders field the poppies grow

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that be, "the Liberals know they'd lose the election"?