Canada and Iran, don't believe the press!!

Falling for the "spin"

The blurb below from maisonnueve, and the Canadian press, is discrediting the Iranians. There are legitimate concerns for the Iranian people and the Iranian government concerning Canadian ACTIONS.

First off, Iranians KNOW that international law has been broken. Canada is complicit in the use of depleted uranium weapons in the middle east - weapons that affect not JUST Iraqis but Iranians who are suffering their effects, and every other ARAB BROTHER.

Two, the treatment of Palestinians and Iranians inside of Canada enrages them.

Three, Does Canada represent CANDU or those who seek an end to nuclear dissemination?

Four, they are infuriated that weapons inspectors are not inside Isreal which has a minimum of 200 weapons; and Canada does not insist on an inspection of those, which no one knows how well they are maintained, what procedures are in place to transport them, nada. The Canadian behaviour in the United Nations has been duplicious at best; totally self serving at worst. To say that since Isreal is not an official signatory to international agreements is to beg the question of how to set up the Middle East a nuclear weapons free zone.

With the use of depleted uranium weapons no can argue that Canada is innocent of a great deal of nuclear damage already. The record on Canada's use of uranium, plutonium and furtherance of nuclear proliferation (particularly now that India seeks to enlarge its nuclear potential with Canadian help, is a matter of long-standing public record.

Canada employs safeguards to ensure non du shields against nuclear contamination, worn on individual soldiers, which indicates to Iranians (and those observing) that when it comes to nuclaer weapons of mass destruction there is OBVIOUSLY a double standard. Canada should clean up it own house.

Yes, it appears to Iranians that Canada is a key part of an Isreali, US, Canada access of power when it comes to CONTROL of the nuclear arms race, the nuclear industry and

worse, that Canada stepped in and supplies jet fuel to Isreal after Iran quit supplying fuel to Isreal; specifically to stop air attacks in Lebanon and Syria.

Further, the Iranian perception is that the Canadian media will never allow the Canadian citizen to know what exactly is transpiring.

I am sorry to see that you think this is just a "political" breakdown over some trivialities, because this is the crux of the real dispute.

They also are aware of the conclusions of the NEI and wonder WHY Canada did not pressure the US to release the findings before being subjected to all the saber-rattling. They were FORCED to go and buy more Russian weapons to protect themselves, thus being financially strapped even more in an ever-escalating arms race that Canada is not lifting finger to stop. This classifies as a war crime by the way.

A petty debate on the 1970's student student situation, I think NOT.

Bush has already been declared a war criminal in at least one international war crimes tribunal over behaviour in Afghanistan. Only Chretien's fortutious departure kept Canada from getting NAILED as well.

Canada's complicity in supplying uranium and employing du weapons is coming very much to the fore in international discussions and The Harper is quite wrong if he thinks Canada can stay out of the talk. See my entry on www.lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com on this. It describes the current state of "play" in Canada on this topic.

Iranians are much more apt to employ the legal scholars to stay informed on international issues than Canada is. Alfred Webre is aware of that fact, too. The Iranians have plenty of reason to be furious and what's worse, under international LAW (remember the rule of law?) it has every justification in attacking BOTH the US and Canada. But it won't. But it CAN expel Canada's ambassador and get headlines, so it does.

The matter of US Troops in Turkey, the diplomatic entanglements regarding Kurdistan, Armenia and IRAN is high on the radar, as well. Until such time as Canada pulls out of Afghanistan, things with any nation in the Middle East are going to be FRAUGHT.

See Linda McQuaig's excellent Holding the Bully's Coat will lead Canada into further quandires internationally unless it reviews its PRO NATO, pro Israeli policies as WMD get used and a useless defense shield over Europe is built.

The new NEI changes the entire power balance - because there is now no threat from EITHER North Korea exists or Iran - then the whole missile defense shield becomes a total nonsense. Iranians are also "hip" to that! And they are really angry. They've known all along, as has anyone who knew that Iran was correct in its assessments.

Virginia Simson


Maisonneuve MediaScout <mediascout@maisonneuve.org> wrote:

A NEW VIEW OF IRAN by Daniel Casey December 4, 2007 For months now, US President George W. Bush has made ominous noises about taking military action against Iran—whose regime has been accused repeatedly of attempting to build nuclear weapons—over the objections of allies who urge a more diplomatic approach. Fool us once, shame on us; try to fool us twice, and what in the world are you thinking? Bush’s own intelligence apparatus made a rare reversal of its previous opinion yesterday: The National Intelligence Estimate, a compendium of the analyses of the sixteen American intelligence agencies and organizations, concluded that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, an assessment that the Star wincingly headlines a “Nuclear weapons bombshell.” This directly contradicts the 2005 NIE, which asserted that Iran was aggressively pursuing its nuclear program, and the Globe quotes the current NIE as admitting that “the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure.” The Post (not available online) notes just how thoroughly the Bush administration is spinning this result, claiming vindication for the diplomatic approach with which the US had previously grown impatient. While a diplomatic rapprochement between the Iranian regime and the US now seems more possible, diplomatic relations between Iran and Canada are breaking down. Iran has expelled John Mundy, Canada’s ambassador to Tehran, although, according to reports this morning, Mundy remains in the country. The media can’t seem to get on the same page, however, about exactly how this conflict arose. The Post, the Star, La Presse (not available online), and the Citizen link the expulsion to Canada’s efforts to condemn Iran for human-rights abuses, and the continuing dispute over the murder of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi at the hands of Iranian police. However, CTV News alluded briefly to a different story last night, and the Globe gives greater detail this morning. According to these reports, in addition to the disputes over human rights and justice for Kazemi’s killers, Canada has formally rejected Iran’s last two ambassadors for their alleged links to the student radical groups that took US embassy workers hostage during the 1979 revolution. The formalities of diplomacy often reduce to a series of petty tit-for-tat moves that can get in the way of actual business getting done. Canada should be part of the diplomatic pressure that has successfully made Iran back off from developing nuclear weapons, and needs to build international support to force Iran to fully explain the Kazemi affair. If we are going to reject any ambassador who was part of the 1970s student movement in Iran, we will have a hard time negotiating with nearly anyone in a position of influence in the country, from President Mahmound Ahmadinejad on down.