The slaughter continues to this very moment, and the screams of tortured children echo in Syria. Russia and China (the owner of big chunks of our tar sands and the main customer of the planned Northern Gateway pipeline) are swimming in the blood of Syrian civilians.
Neither, of course, are unused to mega-massacres—several have happened on their own soil. Both have historically bloody hands. But a boycott against either country would be virtually impossible to organize.
We might start with Syria itself, however, and our heavy, continuing investments in that country. We’re getting our share of blood for oil, the form of a $1.2 billion Suncor/Petro-Canada gas project, partnering with Assad’s Syrian Petroleum Company. The Syrians—at least the ones who are still alive and on the government side—love us.
Bad enough that Harper is spending our money by the millions on sleazy foreign buccaneers like Caterpillar to enable them to plunder us while throwing our citizens into unemployment. But by taking no action on the massive Suncor/Petrocan project, he’s doing his bit to prop up the rotten and murderous Assad regime.
Our “sanctions” are a charade: it’s still business as usual for the Harper government:
Welcome to the Canadian Embassy in Syria. Our mandate is to promote Canada’s economic interests in Syria and, in this context, to support the efforts of Canadian companies who have selected Syria as a target market for their products, services or technologies. The Commercial section also provides assistance to its local contacts by matching their needs with the appropriate sources of Canadian products and services, and by offering help in pursuing investment opportunities in Canada.
When all is said and done, two barbarous world powers got in the way of…a paper declaration. That’s just words: R2P is dead, and everyone on the Security Council knows it. But our country is putting hard money where the other side of its mouth is. And that has Harper’s Canada splashing in the red waves right alongside Russia and China.