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Our nation fails to differentiate between democracies and despots
 I see Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew as a Trudeau-style dilettante and a fob. Basically, a wine-sipping boulevardier, without Maurice Chevalier's talent or charm. Within a week or so, Pettigrew is set to release a new policy review on where our nation should stand in world affairs. Do we hypocritically continue to treat both free democracies and brutal dictatorships with "moral equivalency" -- closing our eyes to the evils of dictatorships -- or get some backbone and start forcing dictatorships to respect human rights? Conservative Foreign Affairs Critic Stockwell Day, who knows Pettigrew reasonably well, will be looking intensely at where the newly-appointed minister stands on the issue. In the column "Day shines." (Jan. 11) I talked about my recent chat with Day and how the former Canadian Alliance leader is appalled at shipping tycoon Paul Martin's lackadaisical performance on all issues, and especially foreign affairs. Martin's regime has been going down the same road in foreign affairs as his predecessors Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien. The mantra of all three: Ignore our friends; embrace our enemies. Sacrifice Israel, curry favour with the sheiks. Posted by: Fred 2005-01-25 |
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