Bismillah [hidayahnet] Missile Counter-Attack (Two articles by: Mr. Axworthy a former Canadian foreign minister and In Press by By LAWRENCE MARTIN Globe and Mail)

[International News]

Title: Missile Counter-Attack

Missile Counter-Attack   (Two Articles)   Ø      Missile Counter-Attack, An open letter to the U.S. Secretary of State from Mr. Axworthy a former Canadian foreign minister. Ø      In press v. people, the Liberals take a bruising By LAWRENCE MARTIN Globe and Mail   Missile Counter-Attack Axworthy fires back at U.S. -- and Canadian -- critics of our BMD decision in An Open Letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thu Mar 3 2005 By LLOYD AXWORTHY http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/westview/story/2610442p-3026695c.html   Dear Condi,   I'm glad you've decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It's a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more. I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defence system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results. But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can't quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game. As our erstwhile Prairie-born and bred (and therefore prudent) finance minister pointed out in presenting his recent budget, we've had eight years of balanced or surplus financial accounts. If we're going to spend money, Mr. Goodale added, it will be on day-care and health programs, and even on more foreign aid and improved defence. Sure, that doesn't match the gargantuan, multi-billion-dollar deficits that your government blithely runs up fighting a "liberation war" in Iraq, laying out more than half of all weapons expenditures in the world, and giving massive tax breaks to the top one per cent of your population while cutting food programs for poor children. Just chalk that up to a different sense of priorities about what a national government's role should be when there isn't a prevailing mood of manifest destiny. Coming to Ottawa might also expose you to a parliamentary system that has a thing called question period every day, where those in the executive are held accountable by an opposition for their actions, and where demands for public debate on important topics such as missile defence can be made openly. You might also notice that it's a system in which the governing party's caucus members are not afraid to tell their leader that their constituents don't want to follow the ideological, perhaps teleological, fantasies of Canada's continental co-inhabitant. And that this leader actually listens to such representations. Your boss did not avail himself of a similar opportunity to visit our House of Commons during his visit, fearing, it seems, that there might be some signs of dissent. He preferred to issue his diktat on missile defence in front of a highly controlled, pre-selected audience. Such control-freak antics may work in the virtual one-party state that now prevails in Washington. But in Canada we have a residual belief that politicians should be subject to a few checks and balances, an idea that your country once espoused before the days of empire. If you want to have us consider your proposals and positions, present them in a proper way, through serious discussion across the table in our cabinet room, as your previous president did when he visited Ottawa. And don't embarrass our prime minister by lobbing a verbal missile at him while he sits on a public stage, with no chance to respond. Now, I understand that there may have been some miscalculations in Washington based on faulty advice from your resident governor of the "northern territories," Ambassador Cellucci. But you should know by now that he hasn't really won the hearts and minds of most Canadians through his attempts to browbeat and command our allegiance to U.S. policies. Sadly, Mr. Cellucci has been far too closeted with exclusive groups of 'experts' from Calgary think-tanks and neo-con lobbyists at cross-border conferences to remotely grasp a cross-section of Canadian attitudes (nor American ones, for that matter). I invite you to expand the narrow perspective that seems to inform your opinions of Canada by ranging far wider in your reach of contacts and discussions. You would find that what is rising in Canada is not so much anti-Americanism, as claimed by your and our right-wing commentators, but fundamental disagreements with certain policies of your government. You would see that rather than just reacting to events by drawing on old conventional wisdoms, many Canadians are trying to think our way through to some ideas that can be helpful in building a more secure world. These Canadians believe that security can be achieved through well-modulated efforts to protect the rights of people, not just nation-states. To encourage and advance international co-operation on managing the risk of climate change, they believe that we need agreements like Kyoto. To protect people against international crimes like genocide and ethnic cleansing, they support new institutions like the International Criminal Court -- which, by the way, you might strongly consider using to hold accountable those committing atrocities today in Darfur, Sudan. And these Canadians believe that the United Nations should indeed be reformed -- beginning with an agreement to get rid of the veto held by the major powers over humanitarian interventions to stop violence and predatory practices. On this score, you might want to explore the concept of the 'Responsibility to Protect' while you're in Ottawa. It's a Canadian idea born out of the recent experience of Kosovo and informed by the many horrific examples of inhumanity over the last half-century. Many Canadians feel it has a lot more relevance to providing real human security in the world than missile defence ever will. This is not just some quirky notion concocted in our long winter nights, by the way. It seems to have appeal for many in your own country, if not the editorialists at the Wall Street Journal or Rush Limbaugh. As I discovered recently while giving a series of lectures in southern California, there is keen interest in how the U.S. can offer real leadership in managing global challenges of disease, natural calamities and conflict, other than by military means. There is also a very strong awareness on both sides of the border of how vital Canada is to the U.S. as a partner in North America. We supply copious amounts of oil and natural gas to your country, our respective trade is the world's largest in volume, and we are increasingly bound together by common concerns over depletion of resources, especially very scarce fresh water. Why not discuss these issues with Canadians who understand them, and seek out ways to better cooperate in areas where we agree -- and agree to respect each other's views when we disagree. Above all, ignore the Cassandras who deride the state of our relations because of one missile-defence decision. Accept that, as a friend on your border, we will offer a different, independent point of view. And that there are times when truth must speak to power.   In friendship, Lloyd Axworthy   * Lloyd Axworthy is president of the University of Winnipeg and a former Canadian foreign minister.     In press v. people, the Liberals take a bruising By LAWRENCE MARTIN, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thursday, March 3, 2005 - Page A21 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050303/COMARTIN03/TPComment/TopStories   Not one!" the Liberal chief of staff said, arms in the air in despair. "Not one medium supported us." It was hardly an exaggeration. The media, to the tune of about 90 per cent, ripped the Martin government to pieces over its decision to reject Washington's missile-defence plan. The people went the other way; they favoured the decision in polls by a 20-per-cent margin, which, in political terms, is a landslide. Flashback to the mid-1980s. Like today's Liberals, the Mulroney government said no to Ronald Reagan's Star Wars. The people applauded and, unlike today, there was no collective media hissy fit. In those times, the press tended to be on the same centre-left wavelength as the people. Not now. Today's press, most strikingly on the question of U.S. relations (missile defence, Iraq, defence spending, taxation etc.), has become concertedly conservative, moving to the right of the people. Since media trends are underreported, the development is seldom discussed. But it is of far-reaching consequence. The conservative media tend to favour a closer embrace of the United States and its values. Canadians themselves show little inclination to go that route. It is a storyline -- the press versus the people -- that runs right to the heart of the debate over the future of the country. It runs right to the heart of politics, too. The Liberals, who meet in Ottawa this weekend, are losing their traditional media support base. Though it hasn't been reflected in the polls yet, the thrashing they are taking on issues such as missile defence is bound to have an effect. The journalism culture underwent dramatic change in the mid-1990s when the country's biggest newspaper chain, centrist-leaning Southam, changed hands. The media empire is now owned by CanWest Global, which makes no secret of its pro-American, conservative tilt. Another big change from the days of liberal media came with the continuing expansion of the conservative tabloid Sun chain to become Canada's second-biggest newspaper group. The end result is two large newspaper chains on the right, none on the left. National newspapers are major agenda-setters, both for print media and television. Canada has two. One, the National Post, is firmly on the right; the other, The Globe and Mail, is slenderly conservative. The portsiders can always boast of having the Toronto Star. But even it pummelled the Martin government on missile defence, and some see the paper as moving to the centre. At Maclean's, a former editor of the National Post is now taking charge. At Policy Options, formerly a very liberal magazine, two former cronies of Mr. Mulroney run the show. The country undoubtedly needs its share of right-wing voices. It is locked into a statist time warp on issues such as health care, where more competition -- bring on Ralph Klein -- is sorely needed. But how many is too many? In traditionally liberal Ottawa, policy-makers wake up to four newspaper choices: Citizen, Sun, Globe, Post. They all tack conservative. Such is the ideological trend in the print media -- broadcast has more balance -- that the largest segment of the population, centre-left Canadians, are at risk of losing their voice. On missile defence, the media tone was remarkably hostile. The issue was examined not so much on the basis of what Canadians think but on what the Bush administration would think. It was as if -- after 138 years of existence -- we were still strapped down to a client-state mentality wherein the driving imperative was approval from a higher authority. Canadians, as evidenced by the polls, had a different take, a more home-grown perspective. Paul Martin can take some solace in that and in the willowy performance of the Conservatives on the issue. But the disconnect between the press and the people is hurting the Liberals, and it is not something that can easily be rectified. There is growing talk about the creation of a new national paper -- The Canadian or Canada Today -- to balance the scales. It would be an Internet on-line product, as the costs of any other would be too prohibitive. It would be a modest beginning but, for the left, it couldn't come too soon.         http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/ Please visit also:  www.apm-ram.org Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish. We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and any typing or grammatical errors. We act because we believe in this quote: “ You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time” Disclaimer This material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. 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