Time to redefine ties with U.S.

[CHIMO]

Time to redefine ties with U.S.
Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy blasts Washington's ` imperial attitudes' to international agreements

Outrage over the duplicitous diplomacy used to avoid treaty obligations on Devil's Lake is not enough.

Cancelling a meeting of trade bureaucrats in defiance of a NAFTA trade ruling on softwood lumber is blowing smoke in the wind.

Telephone tag between the Prime Minister and President George Bush is a sop, not a solution. Huffing and puffing will neither impress nor influence the Bush administration in Washington, nor their regional allies like the governor and senators of North Dakota.

The reality is that we are dealing with an American political system currently steeped in the ideology of "empire." It recognizes few rules, adheres only to those treaties that are expedient to basic interests, and believes that the only political currency that counts is the exercise of raw power.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1124489412363&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

[Maple]

1. Patience grasshopper

This too will pass.

[CHIMO]

3. Theories

May be nice and simplistic.

Empirical evidence is fact and in one's face.

[Maple]

5. The softwood lumber dispute

predates NAFTA.

[Spazito]

6. Yes, true, NAFTA will go away, as it should

now that we see it only benefits corporatists at the expense of the ordinary citizen. It has only become glaringly obvious since bush was 'elected'.

It is time to serve notice to withdraw, the sooner the better.

[tocqueville]

2. it's not the first time I hear that

[wli]

4. Yes. The US' fascism should not be tolerated.

Not within US borders. Not outside them. The Canadians should absolutely defend their sovereignty, and aggressively.

[Spazito]

7. I LOVE Mr. Axworthy, he pulls no punches!

Here is another article with his open letter to Condi, written in March of 05, it is a must-read, imo:

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.

snip

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.

snip

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.

more, much more

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/westview/story/2610442p-3026695c.html