Canada makes it showdown time for Obama at UN General assembly

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives September 23, 2009

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

God bless Canada for its moral courage in turning its back on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN today. The Land of the Maple Leaf is showing its collective back to Ahmadinejad, because his ongoing rants and temper outbursts about the Holocaust and Israel are in a word, “shameful”. Ahmadinejad, who has made the boast that he was surrounded in a magical green light that held his audience spellbound in 2005, may be able to cajole President Barack Obama but cannot con Canada.

“Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon will be at the world body to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly’s annual debate, but officials signal he and other members of the Canadian delegation will vacate the Canadian seats when the Islamic republic’s president approaches the podium,” ([url=http://www.ottawacitizen.com]http://www.ottawacitizen.com[/url]., Sept. 23, 2009. Today’s intended snub of Ahmadinejad is symbolic as Canada, which plays a large role in the UN, is home to top UN poster boy and Barack Obama fan, Canadian Maurice Strong. Today’s walk-out is the first diplomatic show of disgust at the UN for its thinly veiled allegiance to racist dictators and one that will perhaps show Obama as a weakling. “President Ahmadinejad’s repeated denial of the Holocaust and his anti-Israel comments run counter to the values of the UN General assembly, and they’re shameful,” said one Canadian official. “He uses his public appearances to provoke the international community, and that is why Canada’s seats will be empty.” Unlike Germany, whose Foreign Ministry has asked other European Union member states to walk out of the General Assembly chamber IF Ahmadinejad goes into another one of his anti-Semitic rants, Canada is showing the spine of its political will. Iranian officials have been spreading the spin that their president will use his UN address to offer a message of “peace and friendship”. Sounds like he’s on the same appeasement page as Obama. Indeed in the “peace and friendship” spin, Ahmadinejad seems to be giving Obama a run for his money. In pre-UN media interviews, the Iranian president is making overtures for Obama to see Iran as a “potential friend”. While he wants the United States and other major nuclear powers to give up their weapons and to expand opportunities for all countries to make “peaceful” use of nuclear power, he is not budging on his locked up position of keeping Iran out of any negotiation on its own nuclear plans. Canada, which is on the public record for criticizing Iran’s poor human rights record, is taking a stand for the hundreds of missing Iranians arrested and otherwise after the violent crackdown Ahmadinejad ordered after his recent disputed re-election. In taking a stand against Ahmadinejad, Canada is tossing the proverbial ball back into Obama’s court. Big question as the UN assembly gets underway: Will Obama show courage or cowardice at the UN General Assembly?