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Justin Trudeau’s reaction to the Paris attacks has been oddly tone-deaf

November 17, 2015

Here is the second Canadian focused article that I would love to hear what everyone thinks. I do not normally post political articles but this one has me concerned…

For those who do not know, Canada recently elected a new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr Trudeau who won a majority with his Liberal government is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Some people, including I are more than a bit concerned about his lack of experience and policies but I want to focus on his reaction to the Paris attacks. The G20 was supposed to be his coming out party in the global spotlight however there are already some concerns. The article below outlines what he did, and did not do.

It will sure be interesting to see that direction my Country goes in over the next 4 years.

Click here to visit the posting page over at the National Post.

Justin Trudeau didn’t sign up to be a wartime leader but that’s what he is. At issue now is whether he will be good or bad in the job, a rallying point or a failure. The jury, it’s fair to say, is still out.

FO1116_Paris_C_JR

To begin: What an enormous load of hogwash Twitter has become. Friday, as the mass murder of innocents in Paris was still unfolding, U.S. President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande had addressed their respective nations, but Prime Minister Trudeau hadn’t. Twitter exploded. Where was he? How could he disappear at a time like this? Then later after his statement, made at the Ottawa airport at about 8:30 p.m., before he headed to the G20, more purple-veined social-media apoplexy. How weak! How awful! Deer in the headlights!

Over the weekend, several Conservatives who fancy themselves security savants emerged from their post-election torpor, dusted themselves off and joined the fray. It was like an episode of The Walking Dead, Canadian politics-style: Jason Kenney! Chris Alexander! Julian Fantino!

The wiser Tories — whose numbers would appear to include the party’s new interim leader, Rona Ambrose, as well as possible permanent leadership contenders Lisa Raitt and Tony Clement — either kept off the interwebs, or limited their contributions to expressions of shock, outrage at the perpetrators, and solidarity with the French people. Ambrose’s response has been particularly impressive: Measured, sober, critical of the Liberal pledge to pull Canada’s CF-18s out of Iraq and Syria, but constructively so. She’s off to a good start.

Which brings us to Trudeau, and his apparent intention, reiterated by officials on the weekend, to end the so-called “combat mission,” which is actually a modest contribution to an insufficient (so far) U.S. effort.

Is it an outrage Trudeau didn’t immediately reverse himself on the back of an envelope, while en route to Turkey? Ah, no. The CF-18s continue to fly missions in Iraq and Syria as we speak. Surely this provides a window for reflection. Any reassessment should be done carefully, after consultations with the United States, France and other allies — not in the heat of the moment.

That said, Trudeau’s initial reaction to Paris, though it did cover the basics and was certainly not the cataclysmic botch-up it has been purported to be, has been oddly tone-deaf. And his policy of retrenchment will look increasingly untenable, as the French and American responses become more clear in the weeks ahead. Geopolitical circumstances change. Effective leadership adapts.

First, tone: Enough passivity, already. It’s not adequate for a head of government in a G7 democracy to express worry, solidarity with the victims, but not unbending resolve to help defeat those responsible. The Liberal party’s policy, before the Oct. 19 election and now, is to contribute to the war effort, to play a greater part in the training of allied local forces, namely the Peshmerga, and to do much more to help refugees displaced by the war.

It would be perfectly consistent for a leader with such a policy to name the enemy, denounce his barbarity in graphic terms, and declare he must be defeated. Trudeau has not yet done this explicitly that I am aware of. He should. Civilized people are not just sad when civilians in the world’s most civilized city come under attack by sociopaths. Many are also viscerally furious, as we should be. The prime minister’s tone should reflect this, as well as the rest of the range of emotions.

Second, the CF-18s: It would be irresponsible, in the wake of these attacks, for the government of Canada not to reconsider the decision to withdraw, in consultation with allies, for reasons strategic as well as practical.

First, the much-criticized air campaign in northern Iraq and Syria is showing signs of success, as it has allowed Kurdish forces to begin retaking territory, most recently the Iraqi city of Sinjar. Second, it is not at all clear a bigger Canadian ground contingent — which is obviously required if training of local forces is to be ramped up — presents less peril for Canadian forces than does the air campaign. If anything, the reverse is true. There is a reason why the Clinton administration in the late 1990s launched its campaign against Slobodan Milosevic entirely from the air. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, a veteran of three tours in Afghanistan, likely knows this.

Beyond that, and most importantly, Paris brings home with horrifying impact that ISIL is not something with which civilized people anywhere can co-exist. It must be obliterated, divested of all territory, and its adherents killed, captured or routed. Canada is on the target list and is in this war regardless. Full-on military support for our allies on multiple fronts, as much as the country can muster, is the moral and right thing to do, and this is obvious. It is the hand Trudeau has been dealt.

However much he might prefer to preside over peace and plenty, he should get on with it.

 

Discussion
10 Comments
    Nov 17, 2015 17:34 PM

    get on with what….?

    Nov 17, 2015 17:36 PM

    Maybe Trudeau is smart, judicious.

    “There’s No Such Thing As ISIS”: Journalist Destroys West’s Terror Narrative, Warns Of Crackdown On “Dissidents”
    Tyler Durden’s pictureSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 11/17/2015 13:55 -0500

    France Iran Iraq Judicial Watch Saudi Arabia Turkey

    inShare
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    On Saturday, the day after the massacre in France which turned the streets of Paris into a warzone and left some 130 civilians dead, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had a message for the West.

    While condemning the attacks and branding the perpetrators “savages”, he was also quick to note that Syria has been dealing with this brand of terrorism for nearly five years straight. In what amounted to an “I told you so” moment, Assad also said the following: “We said, don’t take what is happening in Syria lightly. Unfortunately, European officials did not listen.”

    Assad also took the opportunity to once again suggest that the West’s sponsorship of the regional powers who support (both explicitly and implicitly) Sunni extremism in Syria is the root cause of the problem although the language he used was a bit less harsh than that which he employed in September (presumably because he was trying not to inflame tensions less than 24 hours after the Paris massacre). Here’s what he said: “The question that is being asked throughout France today is, was France’s policy over the past five years the right one? The answer is no.”

    Presumably, Assad was referencing the West’s support for the various militant groups seeking to oust his government. Those groups, including ISIS, have received money, guns, and training at various times from the CIA, from Turkey, from Saudi Arabia, and from Qatar. The situation on the ground is of course so fluid that it’s nearly impossible to keep track of where the guns, money, and fighters end up, meaning that even those observers who shun conspiracy theories would be hard pressed to contend that the US has not at least indirectly armed and trained ISIS.

    Perhaps the most overlooked passage in all of the leaked documents that have surfaced thus far is the following from a declassified Pentagon report dated August 2012 and obtained by Judicial Watch:

    …there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).”
    That’s it.

    That’s the smoking gun and nobody seems to care.

    The passage above clearly states that the US knew this was coming and viewed it as “exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want” on the way to not only “isolating” Assad, but also to breaking Tehran’s Shiite crescent.

    Although that’s such a critical excerpt, it has been habitually overlooked, and ironically, tragedies like that which occurred in Paris only serve to galvanize public opinion around an ideal rather than around the search for answers and that, is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

    In that context and (importantly) in the context of French President Francois Hollande’s push to alter the French Constitution, we bring you the following interview with journalist Gearoid O’Colmain who pretty much blows apart the entire charade in the space of ten minutes.

    “There is no such thing as ISIS. ISIS is a creation of the US, we know that from official sources of the US military themselves and declassified documents”…

    Nov 17, 2015 17:17 PM

    But then again, perhaps the new PM may be overly influenced by his nitwit mother’s genes……

    Nov 17, 2015 17:35 PM

    …Justin Trudeau didn’t sign up to be a wartime leader

    What dog does Canada have in that fight?

    If they had any sense he would defend Canada, not the New World Odor.

    Don’t be a New World Odor puppet so you don’t make foreign enemies, bring the troops home, close foreign bases and abolish the welfare state so those from overseas would not flock to Canada for free goodies.

    That is the way you defend Canada.

    Nov 17, 2015 17:51 PM

    Hopefully he follows the advice below. And BTW, France had been bombing Syria for several weeks from their aircraft carriers before the terrorist attack.

    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/11/ron-paul/done/

    Nov 17, 2015 17:14 PM

    They hate us for our freedoms…

    Or perhaps they hate us because we bomb the shot out of their countries, kill hundreds of thousands of inncocents, take their oil, support thug oligarchies like in Saudi Arabia that have raped their citizenry, destablize their countries by supporting “moderates”. The list goes on and on. You f*** with people, at some point they are going to f*** with you. Not sure why people are so damned ignorant.

    Nov 17, 2015 17:32 PM

    good point ebola
    this korelin site Im not sure gets the political picture…

    Nov 17, 2015 17:49 PM

    Them french can’t fight ’em alone.

    Nov 17, 2015 17:22 PM

    Trudeau doesn’t know what it’s like to support a family or be Canada’s Prime Minister, it’s a sad state of affairs when a party appoints a leader who they know has little experience in life but will help them assume power based on his father’s name, what can anyone say about a political party that endorses a person with no experience so they can assume power. Shame, shame, on the Liberal Party.

    bb
    Nov 19, 2015 19:35 PM

    I have been waiting for Justin for years. So far so good.
    I think Mulcar got it right, and Justin may know it, cut of their funding.
    Putin says g 20 nations are supporting isis…..DUH.
    Was good to see he bombed the oil trucks, finally.

    If Justin really wants to hit isis with f 18s, they should take direction from the Russians, that way they would have an actual effect.

    Anyone hear what happened to the Chinese carrier that was supposed to be heading to Syrian waters?