It's in our collective interests when international law is respected.
And we should be more forceful in defending it.
Like many of you, I’ve been reading and watching a great deal about the absurdity and illegality of Trump’s actions in Venezuela.
Bob Rae had a good piece about might making right making a comeback. And Dan Gardner has been spot on about the major rollback of international rules.
Here’s my short take on it, for what it’s worth.
A fake pretense of drugs to impose illegal tariffs one day, and a fake pretense of drugs to oust a dictator the next.
But of course, the pretense was dropped immediately. There is no quiet part anymore.
“We’re going to take back the oil that frankly we should have taken back a long time ago.” - Donald Trump
As former UN Ambassador Bob Rae aptly put it: leaders unhinged from the rule of law and morality pose a threat to us all.
It’s in Canada’s interest when international law is respected. When might makes right, we are at greater risk.
Prime Minister Carney rightly emphasized the importance of respecting the will of the Venezuelan people and of upholding international law, though he also carefully avoided the obvious fact that the US has no intention of doing anything of the sort.
Too many other world leaders similarly offered lukewarm reproach.
We should, of course, be more critical of unilateral, pre-emptive, and unlawful actions undertaken by the “very stable genius” in the White House. Yes, even when it comes to deposing awful dictators who should be held to account on the basis of natural justice.
And yes, for Venezuelans, the outcome here could be a positive one in the end. If, that is, the dictator responsible for countless human rights abuses wasn’t being replaced by one of his cronies. If, that is, free and fair elections take place. Which of course they should, immediately.
But apparently those can wait until the oil starts flowing?
Now, it’s no surprise that the conservative leader offered uncritical congratulations to the President, as if it was “mission accomplished.”
As if he’s completely forgotten the last year of our lives, where we’ve been on the receiving end of threats to our sovereignty. As if he can’t see that the same disregard for any semblance of international order has led to crippling illegal tariffs on important sectors of our economy.
Those applauding should consider the record of unilateral and unlawful US actions and perhaps hold their applause until we see where this all goes.
What next? Greenland apparently. Cuba, Colombia, maybe Mexico. It’s all arbitrary. We should stand in solidarity with Iranian protesters and with Ukraine if we are serious about values and democracy, yet Putin received a warm Trump welcome despite his genocidal war.
It’s obvious enough that international norms mean little to unconstrained American power. Even if it undermines our collective ability to promote democracy and human rights without irony. Even if it gives cover to other strongmen and opportunity for soft power to authoritarian regimes.
And if the MAGA base isn’t a constraint on Trump, then it’s not clear that anything is. As Marjorie Taylor Green put it: “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.”
But hey, we’re not talking about Epstein anymore right?
It's not a good precedent at all.
I have noticed distress, anxiety, rationalization and denial, amongst my immigrant and first generation Canadian friends.
This is the whole bully tactic in a nutshell: activate a traumatic response by whatever means, and take whatever you please while the victim remains in freeze.
It's certainly not a 'genius' move by any stretch, and people who call it that are fawning.
Thank you Nate for reminding us that humanity has survived as a species because of cooperation not force, not power-over. In light of the systemic dismantling of the rule of law and other key principles of our imperfect democracies, our elected representatives cannot afford to be lukewarm in using their spheres of influence to call out, "Enough. "