Steelcitygrit [in exile]

Ruminating on all things Canadian and political.

 

Friday, August 04, 2006

Liberals to Re-evaluate Middle East?

This is a bad loss for Liberals. It is, in part, the fault of some questionable poses struck by the Bob Raes of the world.

But it is not a failure of our foreign policy. Such thinking is innate of exactly the sort of party we don't want. This is the sort of thing we deride Stephen Harper on - consolidating obtainable political support through policy.

For the most part, this is all academic. We've landed in a pretty popular place on the Middle East question. But those who wish to advance political costs as reason to re-evaluate our position are wrong in spirit and practice.

posted by SteelCityGrit at 11:02 AM

6 Comments:

Blogger Lord Kitchener's Own said...

I think you mean re-re-evaluate. The Liberals (and Canadian politicians in general) were anything BUT neutral until 1993, but suddenly the thought that we have been neutral forever has caught fire, the truth notwithstanding.

I do agree that the Liberals shouldn't become more pro-Israel because they've lost some powerful backers. They should do it because it's the right thing to do. It's not popular though, so I won't hold my breath.

1:37 PM  
Blogger ottlib said...

What you do not seem to understand Lord Kitchener is Liberals who have been critical of Israel, like myself, are not anti-Israel.

I have yet to see a Liberal say Israel does not have the right to defend itself. The problem we have is what we perceive as their over reaction.

Hezbollah do not have and have never had the ability to do real damage to the State of Israel. So reacting to a provocation by them by destroying another sovereign state seems excessive.

And yes I realize that Lebanon should have been the ones stopping Hezbollah but considering its army is not much better than a glorified police force it was incapable of doing so.

So on the surface that would seem to justify Israel's response. After all if Lebanon could not do it then the Israelis had to. However, I would point out that demonstrations in support of Hezbollah have sprung up across the Middle East. So now instead of being a two bit terrorist group hunkered down in Southern Lebanon they have become heroes and their influence it only going to grow beyond Southern Lebanon.

I would think that such a situation would decrease Israel's security in the medium to long term, not increase it.

I said this yesterday on another blog but I will say it again here. I want Israel to survive for my lifetime and beyond. I want the people of Israel to be able to live in peace and security. However, in order for that to happen the Israelis have to deal with their hostile neighbours with much more subtlety and finesse than they have shown during this crisis.

4:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe that Bush was the one that wanted this war and used the two soldiers as bait.
Bush would find it easier to get to Syria and Iran this way..Iraq is not enough for him..he wants more of the Middle East, and this is a good way to start.

8:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bob Rae? What do you base that on ?

9:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As ottlib so succinctly said, the various Lib candidates, almost to a man/woman, never questioned israel's right to defend itself. Nor did they embrace hezzbollah as anything but a terrorist organization. But the bombs are falling on Lebanan and Lebanese citizens (and a few canadians, too). For this, along with the general strategy, israel is showing an amazing lack of foresight and vision when it comes to building a sustainable and peaceable situation. You don't need any more 'Hezzbollah recruiting fodder' than the devastations that have occurred in the last couple of days. People who were fine with israel as their neighbour are now reconsidering, listening to the amams and thinking. Suicide bombers weren't born in a vacuum -- it took some personal discovery and trauma to get to that point. If you suddenly think Harpor's endorsement of continued 'measured' responses is the light at the end of the tunnel, i'm thinking your overall commitment to liberalism wasn't that strong before, anyways. Likely they are enjoying that 1% saving off the new lexus a little more than jane and joe average's savings on a fan and a cup of coffee...

12:32 AM  
Blogger Jacques Beau Vert said...

Bob Rae??

Come on - I've been pretty disappointed in an entire flank of Liberals here, starting from Martin, then Graham, and then a lot of the candidates.

Reismann didn't take hike because of a guy in the running for maybe possibly being leader.

8:59 AM  

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