Major Acid's E-Rag
Of Historical Interest
Looking
for Bear in Kananaskis
There are
grizzly bears in Kananaskis, but not to worry. There are sporting the
finest in high tech jewelry, otherwise known as tracking collars that
transmit their location 24 hours a day to the G-8’s security mavens.
Having a grizzly bear mistake George Bush for lunch would make for a
highly entertaining monologue on The Tonight Show, but Jean Chretien
would not be amused.
For all the
real good the G-8 summit will do, the bears might do the world a favour
by snacking on a leader or two. Mr Bush has decided that Yasser Arafat
is past his due date. He has decided the Saddam Hussein should go, too.
He seems to be telling the world that the way to deal with troublesome
foreign heads of state (or pseudo-state in Arafat’s case) is to get rid
of them. It’s an interesting doctrine, and one that Jean Chretien might
consider.
Between the
softwood lumber duties, and the unblushingly handed out farm subsidies
in the US, Mr Bush is definitely an annoyance to Canada. The PM could
sic Canada’s best spooks, CSIS, on Mr Bush. Of course, they wouldn’t try
to assassinate him, but in their activities to overthrow the US
President, they could be expected to defend themselves with extreme
prejudice. Or not. We’re very politically correct in Canada, and extreme
prejudice is generally unacceptable. Sadly, Mr Bush will remain safe
from that particular threat, and the G-8 will roll along untroubled by
protestors, CSIS assassins and bears alike. Business as usual.
But just
what is the business of this year’s G-8? Mr Bush will be pushing for
anti-terrorist solidarity. England’s Tony Blair, who thinks the world
should call Mick Jagger ‘Sir’, will be trying to support the US while at
the same time trying hard not to look like a White House hand puppet.
Russia’s Putin will be busy trying to look presidential enough to make
his people forget that Russia is ruled by an oligarchy of super-rich
criminals. Mr Chretien will be on his NEPAD.
NEPAD – the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development – is another in a long line of
Western driven African aid initiatives. There are some differences with
this new program. The program emphasizes private development and tries
to orient projects to regions rather than individual states. This is
problematic, however, because for NEPAD to operate, some “priorities”
must be kept in mind: “good public governance” is number one on a list
of 10. In real terms that means NEPAD will operate only where western,
liberal-style democracy operates.
In theory
this is fine, but theory won’t put food in hungry mouths or water down
parched throats. Quite unwillingly, many millions of Africans suffering
hunger and drought are ruled by criminals who have absolutely no use for
democracy, liberal or otherwise. For reasons beyond their control, these
millions will be deprived of even the limited good that Mr Chretien’s
NEPAD might deliver.
Still, the tie to liberal-democratic principles will appeal to Mr Bush,
Mr Blair and the rest. Mr Chretien, in return, will push the American
agenda on anti-terrorism. There will be grandiose announcements and more
photo ops than the stomach can handle. So it is that the G-8 is likely
to end.
Nothing
significant will be accomplished, and tricky questions over who gets
access to NEPAD will not be addressed. Unless a reporter gets frisky and
asks, the whole G-8 is likely to pass without mention of, say, Robert
Mugabe who openly manufactured his last election ‘win’ in Zimbabwe. Mr
Mugabe even became something of a hero in the process by telling the
Western world to butt out of African affairs. He remains a hero for some
even as he goes about destroying the lives of thousands of his citizens
(mostly black) and threatening millions more with famine.
Maybe the
G-8 should sanction Mr Bush’s doctrine of taking out troublesome
leaders. They could start with Mugabe and work their way up. They won’t,
of course, because ultimately they would have to take themselves out.
Mr Bush is a
target because he, like Mugabe, stole the election that made him
President. Mr Putin is in danger because of Chechnya. Mr Blair should be
a target if for no other reason than Mick Jagger.
And Mr
Chretien? Like Mr Arafat, Mr Chretien is long past his due date. Also
like Mr Arafat, he won’t give up power even if the majority of the
citizenry wants him to go, which clearly they do. Instead Mr Chretien
will champion NEPAD and pretend to be a benefactor of mankind in
general, and of Africa in particular. He will continue to think he is
indispensable.
Grizzly
bears don’t care about indispensable. They care about food. Which makes
it too bad that the bears all have electronic collars. Without the
collars, the bears might well have been able to snack on a world leader
or two, and thereby render the world a far greater service than those
preening few inside the safely isolated walls of their Kananaskis
conference rooms.
