Saturday, January 26, 2019
McCallum Axed
Canada's ambassador to China, John McCallum, is out. Justin Trudeau asked for and received McCallum's resignation last night.
The Liberal stalwart succumbed to a bout of foot in mouth disease over the Meng Wanzhou/Huawei extradition fiasco.
McCallum stepped out of line earlier when he told Chinese journalists that Wanzhou had a strong defence against the American extradition bid because the crime alleged is an extraterritorial matter, i.e. the offence alleged would not be a crime in Canada. Unlike the United States, Canada has not turned on Iran. And Trump's careless remark about how Wanzhou would make a useful bargaining chip in Washington's trade war with Beijing suggests the American prosecution is political, not criminal. All of his points are eminently reasonable.
Apparently McCallum went too far for this prime minister when he told a local paper in Vancouver that it would be "great for Canada" if Washington dropped the extradition case.
McCallum served in the governments of Chretien, Martin and Trudeau.
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16 comments:
I thought to myself when I heard his comments on the extradition, wasn't this guy just a banker before he became a politician. Some people forget that they are not really that important.
Well, I'd say this represented something wrong with society/politics today, but not really. This is normal and traditional: You just can't let diplomats go around telling the truth!
Z,I thought his initial remarks were out of place in his diplomatic position although I think there is merit in his arguments. What I don't understand is why his boss, the prime minister, didn't rein him in. The second incident should never have occurred.
PLG, diplomats are supposed to be the type would wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful.
How many different ways will our federal CRAP parties try to bend this one? Has Ezra weighed in yet?
.. the McCallum Affair became a partisan political football.. I myself found nothing untoward.. aside from he had zero need to speak in public - which in itself is a no-win. Those on their fainting couches should look to the reality.. that being - the Chinese give not one fluck what Canada thinks, does.. They see us with a long game going back thousands of years.. they see Trump for what he is.. a posturing buffoon. Andrew Scheer is so inconsequential to them, he is invisible.. so wailing that we must 'convince' the Chinese of anything is hand wringing nonsense. Trudeau just looked after the domestoc & election issue here in Canada eh ' And Jagmeet Singh pondered aloud upon.. something.. or other
We gots so many REAL issues to resolve.. but we get blindsided by partisan mid wrestling in the media fog.. and pundits wailing the Chinese want us to appoint someone they like and trust.. Like and Trust.. hmm.. China.. Its like the mice squeak about who can be the delegate to convince the elephant herd to walk softly or around them .. fascinating !
Then again, Sal, we've had a quiet newsday or two on our side of the 49th.
John got fired for making sense, America's Embargo is not our embargo, why are we enforcing it on those of other nations.
That is the question, Gyor. A hearing on these points could have been expedited weeks ago. Were we afraid of angering Washington if we had this matter promptly dealth with or is it China we fear?
.. a couple of fine points - though I understand colloquialism.. am fluent in newspeak.. i prefer to observe Mainstream News comform to fact based reportage. When MainMedia goes all partisan venemous and sly.. I saddle up my war pony..
McCallum was not 'fired' - He resigned at the request of the Prime Minister.. yes yes.. I get the inference.. but the reverse holds true.. when somebody is actually & quite clearly told so.. I do not expect to read or hear he has resigned.. perhaps to spend more time his his or her family. Of course that is a standard dodge to mitigate contraversy.
Further, I resent so called adults, such as our Prime Minister in Waiting.. rising from his fainting couch to blurt this kind of horseshit to Mainstream and Social Media. Yes, dreary Andrew Scheer is quoted as saying, certainly tweeting (I read 'his' tweet) that ' Trudeau should have fired his Ambassador days ago' - I rapped his mealy knuckles back. Reminding him that our military for example is not Trudeau's military. It is 'ours' - Canada's. As is 'our' Diplomatic Corps. So was McCallum 'our' Ambassador. Further to Scheer, that 'his' finger pointy, blame gaming type of venemous behaviour was 'his' and his alone.. and not 'ours' ie Canada's in any way.
Words are important.. I can take being schooled, it happens a fair bit.. but I try not to swallow Scheer's mealy act, nor do I admire Jason Kenney hiding behind his mommy's skirt or under it .. while trying to deflect the obvious.. that he was caught and revealed, defrauding and misleading Canadian taxpayers seemingly for up to 20 years. That the Alberta Health Card and Driver's Licence he waves as partial defense were seeming fraudulent.. as he did not qualify for either. Nor did he have a valid licence to drive most of his years in Ontario shere he actually resided in his pricy condo that funded in part, walking distance from Parliament. Brazen stuff
.. what's that old Chinese saying, Mound ?
'he who rides the tiger dare not dismount'
The one guy who speaks truth to power gets turfed by Jr....
And then our execrable Fro. Min. joins the pile on in Venezuela.
Oh Canada indeed.
Oh, lord, Venezuela. Probably the most democratic country in Latin America, and here we are backing a proclaimed-though-not-actually-attempted coup by some dude that never even ran for president much less got elected to the post, in the name of democracy.
I have these ascending tiers of disgust on the whole issue of Venezuela. I have disgust for the Americans, for pushing this crap in the first place and generally thinking they have the right to forcibly take over any country that wants to do things its own way or own its own resources.
I have even more disgust for the Trudeau government, for willingly trashing a president who was elected via a process that election observers all agree was free and fair, unsurprising since they have the best vote-counting process in the world, as a dictator, just to curry favour with scum like Trump and maybe to back pseudo-Canadian mining companies who probably pay no taxes in Canada.
I have the greatest disgust for our so-called "news" media, who consistently refuse to report the simple fact that every time Trudeau or Bolton or whoever the hell open their mouths to claim that Maduro is a dictator or even authoritarian, they are lying through their teeth. Let us imagine for a moment that US Majority House Leader Steny Hoyer stood up in Congress, called Trump a dictator, declared himself president and called for the Russian military to overthrow Trump in favour of Hoyer. What would happen to Hoyer? Would he still be in Congress babbling treasonous bullshit days later? He would not. But Maduro is supposed to be authoritarian. This is a country where opposition political leaders routinely on the biggest national media call for the violent overthrow of the government and then, with their next breath, claim they have no freedom of speech. And our media then go ahead and parrot the latter claim without having a twinge of conscience if they ever let themselves realize, hey, these dudes aren't all in jail, which they would have to be for us not to be lying.
(all this is, or at least should be, totally separate from the question of whether one supports Maduro, his political party, or his economic vision. I hate Stephen Harper and I hate his political party; I did not pretend he was a dictator or advocate his violent overthrow. Similarly, Macri in Argentina is a creep, but he was elected as fairly as anyone else; Bolsonaro in Brazil was elected because they jailed the frontrunner, Lula, on trumped-up charges to stop him getting elected, so that's not very legitimate, and Hernandez in Honduras came in due to a flat out fraudulent, stolen election. So Hernandez in Honduras actually is a dictator and should be ousted, but both Maduro and Macri were elected legitimately and should not.)
Ugh, Trudeau is being used and manipulated by Bolton and his goons in regards to both China and Venezuala. Much like Trump.
Very much unlike his father, who resisted US imperialism in regards to nations like Cuba and Vietnam.
I imagine this is Bolton's work in both countries. It stinks of neo-con yellowcake. Canada's best course of action would have been to gently ignore the US' 'requests' in both cases. Such as it is now, Canada has no role to play except as a poodle of the US now.
Govt of China now controls many BC retirement homes:
https://business.financialpost.com/real-estate/property-post/the-chinese-government-now-controls-the-biggest-retirement-housing-chain-in-b-c
WTF?
I find our government’s (that would include our ambassador to the UN) parroting of the “dictator” characterization of Maduro to be particularly irksome. Is the guy who made the decision to use it really that stupid or does he just think that we are? Of course, it may just be a standard case of reflexive ass-licking to our friend the superpower.
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