Saturday, September 15, 2012

Canada has made a mistake

Being a peaceful person is not an easy path. Often you get labelled as being soft, weak or not understanding the reality of the world. Such has been the label I have encountered these past few weeks, while talking about the manner in which the Canadian Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister have been conducting themselves. In particular the closing of the Iranian Embassy, strongly backing Israel, complaining about the United Nations, telling Russia how they should act in regards to their Middle East policy and the situation in Syria.
Within these events the Prime Minister of Canada is being awarded a Statesman of the Year award. Now it so happens that on that very day, the Prime Minister of Canada has decided to snub the United Nations. It seems a bit ironic that someone would receive such an award while actively work to enrage Iran, Russia and the entire Arab region. A true statesman would be able to work more effectively and been seen as an asset to world peace rather than a thorn. The amount of damage this government has caused in the past month has certainly made every Canadians life that much more insecure. Even more so if a Canadian is working in the Middle East.
The closing of the embassy in Iran does have its merits. There is some truth that Iran has threatened Iranian-Canadians, has executed Iranian-Canadians and is known to support terrorism. The reality is that the RUSA has done the exact thing yet we still keep very strong ties with them. Of course we do not live in a world where equality based on law, reason and action is all that common.
A peaceful person would have sat down with the leaders of these countries and worked to solve problems. But that is usually laughed at with the reason being, “You can not talk to these people”. That is true, especially when you do not even want to. That stream of reason for not talking to the leaders becomes even more insane when put into the reality of how any peace agreement is made.
To get any peace agreement at all, at some point you have to talk to warlords. It has been my experience that a peace agreement is much easier if you are understood as a person that is willing to understand and work with the others ideology. At this time it must be understood that you can disagree with the methods a leader is using. What you can not do is break off communication, no matter how frustrated you get. Without face to face discussions, peace is nearly impossible and often chaos results.
There is also an element of trust that has to be addressed. There are very few countries I trust to act with Canada’s interest in mind. In, turn that leads to the security threat to our country as well. That is a very disheartening situation to live with but that is the reality. I would rather live within a reality where I can trust others to act peacefully so that I am not constantly being on guard, alas violence is an option used quickly and too often.
Looking at the closing of our embassy in Iran is understandable yet I do not agree with such tactics. Again I know that it sounds terrible but peace is only made through great efforts and at some point you must work with the worst people imaginable to secure peace.

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