Monday, June 11, 2018

Even the Globe Stands Up



Years of watching the Globe & Mail prevaricate, duck and weave stripped me of the respect in which I once held Canada's national newspaper. Its milquetoast non-endorsement in last week's Ontario elections did little to change that.

Yet finally the Globe has rallied to the defence of Canada against Trump's thuggery.

Canadians watching Mr. Trump and his officials, post-summit, insultingly call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “dishonest and weak” and accuse him of stabbing the President in the back can rest assured that none of that is true. 
What did happen is that Mr. Trump set an antagonistic tone for the summit by announcing, just prior to it, steep tariffs on Canadian and European steel and aluminum. He again raised the stakes on the first day of the summit when he said Russia should be readmitted into the informal group (it was expelled in 2014 after its illegal annexation of Crimea).

In that chilly climate, the leaders of the G7 countries were nonetheless able to produce a communique filled with the usual boilerplate about a wide range of earnest aspirations. 
But then Mr. Trudeau, in a post-summit news conference, reaffirmed Canada would impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. on July 1. He also called the American tariffs on our steel and aluminum “insulting,” an accurate comment given the U.S. is imposing them on the grounds of national security.

What the vain and delicate Mr. Trump apparently expected Mr. Trudeau to say was that the summit was a success due entirely to the President’s generous participation, and that a grateful, moist-eyed Canada would no longer retaliate against his unjustified tariffs.
Instead, the Prime Minister stood up for Canadian interests, and against Mr. Trump’s wanton unreliability as a trading partner and ally. Hence the outrage and amateurish name-calling, and the disavowal of the communique. 
Relations between two of the world’s closest allies are now at a perilous low. The fault rests entirely with Mr. Trump and his advisers. Our government has been patient with the President and his protectionist agenda. So too have Canadians, but this is getting tiresome. We are a polite people, but the President will learn that, when roused, we don’t roll over at the request of an insulting bully, no matter how big.

6 comments:

  1. Perhaps Mr. Trump is getting a much-needed lesson in what the rest of the world thinks of his puerile tactics and outbursts, Mound. Of course, on someone so prodigiously moronic, I doubt the lesson will take.

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  2. We may have underestimated Trump as an ignorant, mentally challenged buffoon, Lorne. The Jeffrey Goldberg article from the Atlantic suggests that Trump is pursuing a deliberate effort to destabilize America's allies. Then I read a report published by Chatham House detailing how Trump has his sights on subverting the World Trade Organization. Meanwhile Henry Giroux is calling for a popular resistance to block America's descent into outright fascism. I've posted on all of items.

    Trump is Putin's wet dream. Canada needs to stop pretending and take Trump America at face value. That means, at the very least, recalibrating our longstanding relationship while exploring new alliances with Europe and, possibly, Asia.

    The damage Trump is doing may leave lasting scars. It does us no good to ignore that.

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  3. It is not good for Canada to ignore anything about Trump. Anyong

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  4. @ Mound
    We may have underestimated Trump as an ignorant, mentally challenged buffoon, Lorne.

    Trump came to power in a storm ( pardon the pun) of deceit, outright lies hate and ,likely, some outside influence.
    To suggest that he 'may' have planned or conspired to affect US and world politics or even that he has an end game other that personal profit is giving him much much more credibility than he deserves.
    The mere suggestion that Trump has a plan that is more than a few hours old plays into the hands of those that profit by his 'mis' behaviour.
    Taking Trump as a serious person and not an irrational clown or worse will do us no good.
    Trump has to be treated as the deranged mentally inadequate false profit that he is.
    He is either the either the emperor without cloths or Chauncey the gardener, take your pick.
    Do not think of him as the evil genius, NFW.

    TB

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  5. On today's morning agenda: Two Minutes Hysteria followed by Two Minutes Hate.

    AHHHH! AHHHH! DONALD TRUMP DIDN'T SIGN THE G7 COMMUNIQUE! AHHHH! AAHHH!

    OH THE THUGGERY! OH THE HUMANITY! AHHHH! AHHHH!

    And now for something completely different:

    OOH I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY HATE THAT ORANGE ORANGUTAN!!

    I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM!

    Remember when LBJ grabbed Lester Pearson by his lapels and shouted: "Don't you come into my living room and piss on my rug"?

    Those were the days!

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