Thursday, June 18, 2009

Cannon the Meddler, Obama the Appeaser

President Obama on Tuesday explained his relative public silence with regard to the political situation in Iran, saying, "It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling" in Iran's internal affairs.

But apparently, Canadian Foreign Minister, Lawrence Cannon is not all that worried about meddling in Iran's internal affairs or challenging the Iranian regime:

From CBC News:
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canada will not remain silent on the political situation in Iran after Tehran added Canada to a list of countries that it says is meddling in its internal affairs.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Canada's chargé d'affaires in Tehran to a meeting on Thursday, reportedly complaining that Canada has been spouting meddlesome comments and decrying media coverage of the outcome of Friday's presidential election...

"He was told the same thing that every other chargé has been told: 'Stay out of our politics,'" Cannon told CBC News. "And we will not. We will continue to promote democracy. We will continue to challenge Iran on human rights."

"These are things that are extremely important and it’s incumbent upon us to continue to do that."...

Cannon had earlier denounced the "brutal treatment" of protesters while Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada "finds the behavior of the regime unacceptable in so many ways that I cannot even begin to name them."
From the AFP:
Canada is "extremely concerned by the brutality that is taking place in Iran at this period in time, and we have called upon the Iranians to cease this (violence)," said Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon.

Cannon also called for a full and "transparent" investigation of Friday's presidential election results.
But Obama, well, I suppose when it comes to rogue regimes, he's just not a "meddling" type of guy.......

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