U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a rare public rebuke to close ally Canada on Monday, criticizing it for excluding key nations from a meeting to discuss the resource-rich Arctic. . . .
“Significant international discussions on Arctic issues should include those who have legitimate interests in the region,” Clinton said in a statement issued before the meeting had even begun.
“I hope the Arctic will always showcase our ability to work together, not create new divisions.”
The United States would like Canada to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2011, the year Canada is scheduled to end its combat mission in the country, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told [the CBC].
Tuesday, March 30, 11:14 a.m.:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan will end in 2011.
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Now perhaps we shouldn’t be too quick to judge. Maybe this was an orchestrated pantomime by Clinton and Harper, with the Americans giving Harper cover to make withdrawal look like an assertion of Canadian sovereignty and independence. Or perhaps Clinton, in pursuit of American interests, wanted to goad Canada into a reaffirmation of its withdrawal commitment. But if we take everyone at their word, and assume no ulterior motives, this certainly seems like a diplomatic gaffe by Clinton.
Oh, and finally, it should be noted–and strongly emphasized–that the conduct of our foreign policy should not depend, in the slightest, on the pronouncements or mis-pronouncements of the American Secretary of State, or anyone else. Clinton was wrong to make her Arctic point the way she did, but Canada’s big enough to shrug it off, and it should have absolutely nothing to do with our decision to withdraw from Afghan military operations.
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