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A bridge too far?: by Hugh Holland | Commentary

By Doppler Online On March 17, 2023 Commentary

Globe and Mail reporter Robert Fife loves to stir up controversy.  He’s done it many times and he’s very good at it. But when he broke the story about the CSIS leak, he may have taken a bridge too far. The March 14 edition of the Globe and Mail carried two important opinion pieces you may have seen. 

Story 1 – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute said, “While we may wish to believe that foreign authoritarians would prefer one Canadian political party over another, the truth is that they seek out and exploit issues that have the greatest potential to divide us—regardless of political affiliation. The Kremlin has exploited and amplified both sides of many socially sensitive issues in order to intensify divisions.”  

There are many signs China has done the same, and it’s working for them both. In their zeal to get something on the government, some opposition politicians are now clamoring for a public inquiry in which everyone who testifies is compelled to tell everything they know. The outcome of that could be the exposure of diplomatic and trade representatives we have in Russia or China. Those brave people could go to prison or ‘accidentally’ fall out of a 10th storey window.  Remember the two Michaels who were imprisoned in retaliation for Meng’s detention and extradition to the US over the G5 affair?  You can bet there won’t be any public inquiries anytime soon in Russia or China. On matters of national security, it’s time to set partisan politics aside and work together. The extreme right and extreme left politicians cause more problems than they solve. It’s time to work together in “the practical center”.  

Story 2 – A former ambassador to China said, “Setting up a registry of foreign agents is in no way racist. But assuming it would contain only Chinese names is.”  That should be done ASAP and work has already started. Better late than never. The irony is that both China and Russia want to influence Canada because they consider Canada to be an extension of their US rival.

Also, expecting the G20 to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not likely to work in the short term. In their November 15, 2022, meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the G20 passed a strongly worded declaration calling for an end to Russia’s invasion. It’s all the same big players with Russia and China in both the UN Security Council and the G20, but Russia and China were never given a veto in the G20. However, Putin ignored the G20 declaration the same as he has ignored several declarations of the UN General Assembly. The G20’s power lies in their ability to impose and enforce economic sanctions. But it takes time for sanctions to bite. While ordinary Russians were living very frugally, oligarchs were buying yachts and lavish foreign properties, and Putin was amassing a war chest. China and India are still buying Russia’s oil and gas, so it will take more time before Putin runs out of money. But when that happens, it will be 1917 all over again. 

Can the brave people of Ukraine last that long? Ukraine has done much better than Putin expected. Ukraine has been helped by NATO resources and Russia may be stopped by its own mismanagement of resources. What else can be done to help Ukraine in the short term? 

In the meantime, Xi Jinping has just secured a third term in office and brokered a peace deal between long-term enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran to secure his energy supply from the Middle East. It is now expected that Xi Jinping will try to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. That could make him a peacemaker and boost China’s status in the world, while the US is consumed by extreme internal partisan politics.  

Hugh Holland

Hugh Holland is a retired engineering and manufacturing executive now living in Huntsville, Ontario.

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