{"id":84355,"date":"2013-04-28T01:14:46","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T19:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=84355"},"modified":"2013-05-01T17:16:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T11:46:42","slug":"whats-sauce-for-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/whats-sauce-for-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Sauce For Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Canada, it is reported, has joined the United States in calling for the removal of Richard Falk, a UN human rights rapporteur who opined that American policies were the impetus of the Boston Marathon bombings<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird officially called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC<\/a><\/span>) to remove Falk from his position, arguing \u2018Falk\u2019s consistently mean-spirited comments cast a dark shadow over the United Nations and what it can accomplish. Comments like these do a great disservice to the fundamental values of the United Nations and to all freedom-loving people.\u2019<\/p>\n

A few days later, grudgingly giving three UN rapporteurs permission to probe Canada\u2019s record on human rights, treatment of aboriginals and discrimination against women, Canada complained, \u2018Some countries, like Iran, reviewing Canada have abhorrent human rights records. Canada stated that Iran \u2018hangs guys and stones women.\u2019<\/p>\n

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper<\/a><\/span> and his Government have objected to Falk because he has been mean-spirited. Now is Richard Falk the first UN official to utter mean-spirited opinion?\u00a0 Have they not heard of the boss-lady of UNHRC, Navineethan Pillay<\/a><\/span>?\u00a0 When she was mouthing the mean on Sri Lanka (while being \u2018tokenist\u2019 on the USA and EU), wasn\u2019t Canada listening?\u00a0 What then of the much vaunted \u2018fundamental values\u2019 of the UN?\u00a0 What then of service and disservice, did Baird and Harper ask themselves?\u00a0 Or is it all about \u2018You can be mean to anyone but not to my friends and certainly not to me\u2019?<\/p>\n

Now Falk may have outdone himself in bypassing perpetrator and picking on Washington, but there\u2019s no denying that incidents (even bomb explosions) and people (including marathon-bombers and drone-bombers) have histories. Weapons have manufacturers and require markets (to be created if necessary). And the world has known \u2018our terrorists\u2019 and \u2018their terrorists\u2019, the former being \u2018ok\u2019 and the other responded to with \u2018license to kill\u2019.<\/p>\n

But what of the second gripe, that of moral authority?\u00a0 Canada objects to Iran.\u00a0 Canada does not object to the USA, though.\u00a0 Sure, the USA is not exactly investigating Canada, but the principle must be observed across the board or abandoned altogether, wouldn\u2019t Canada agree?<\/p>\n

The United States hangs people (and let\u2019s not talk about the scandalously monumental profits that corporates obtain from the US prison-industrial complex).\u00a0 The USA is not known to stone women, but what they toss on innocent men, women and children are not exactly pebbles.\u00a0 We are talking about all the wars in the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> Centuries. We are talking about Kissinger\u2019s infamous defence of President Richard Nixon (\u2018He wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn’t want to hear anything about it. It’s an order, to be done.\u00a0Anything that flies on anything that moves.)\u00a0which in all fairness to the man is applicable to many who came before and everyone who came after Nixon, right up to Barak Obama, the drone attacks, rendering, sanctioned torture, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and the arming of terrorists.<\/p>\n

So when such a country brings a motion against Sri Lanka, what does Canada do?\u00a0 Canada cheers!\u00a0 So does Harper and his Government wonder why few are commiserating with Canada in her hour of anguish?<\/p>\n

Canada has shown displeasure about the UN team.\u00a0 If the UNHRC wanted \u2018untrammeled access\u2019 (meaning hordes of investigators, rapporteurs and Channel-4 like spin-masters), would Canada say \u2018ok\u2019 in subdued tones? Probably not.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has cooperated with the UNHRC within the norms of the UN Charter and global standard practices as exemplified by \u2018developed\u2019, rich, \u2018respected\u2019 Governments such as Canada.<\/p>\n

So Canada is boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting<\/a><\/span> (CHOGM).\u00a0 It\u2019s about Sri Lanka\u2019s position with respect to moves orchestrated by the USA in the United Nations.\u00a0 Is Canada confused or just self-absorbed?\u00a0 Has Harper not heard about sauces, about the goose and the gander?\u00a0 We wonder\u2026<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019 and his articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":78746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s Sauce For Canada - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/whats-sauce-for-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s Sauce For Canada - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/whats-sauce-for-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-27T19:44:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-01T11:46:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"923\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1112\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/whats-sauce-for-canada\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/whats-sauce-for-canada\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s Sauce For Canada - 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