John Ibbotson writes yesterday in the Globe And Mail;
With yesterday’s landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada’s foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.
[If this had been Stephen Harper, the press would have been falling all over themselves to condemn questioning the existance of the UN as “scary and extremist” ]
The Prime Minister’s proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN’s bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.
It is a bold, though perhaps unworkable plan. But however it is ultimately greeted by the world community, Mr. Martin’s proposal at least recognizes and sets out to correct a fundamental flaw in Canadian foreign policy, one that has left us hostage to a dysfunctional world body whose interests are often irrelevant to Canada’s.
I think there may be another reason. With Adscam wearing down the Liberal fortunes, Martin may be worried about the looming UNSCAM investigation steamrolling into the media news cycle during a federal election, and is trying to distance himself from the multi-billion dollar financial scandal that parallels his own.
This is what bloggers do
that changes the way people look at the world.
This is what bloggers do
that changes the way people look at the world.
“It is a bold, though perhaps unworkable plan. ”
???
As opposed to the UN, which isn’t bold, and is nonetheless unworkable.