Canada appeases Israel on Iran

On Friday, the conservative and strongly pro-Israel government in Canada announced that it was cutting off diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and put the Middle East country on its list of "terror-sponsoring" states, a move that instantly won the praise and admiration of Israeli leaders and condemnation from Tehran, as well as many Iranians living in Canada, who are now impacted by the absence of consular service.

Intent on achieving maximum global attention, the decision was announced by Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird when attending the summit of Pacific Rim nations, citing Iran as "the

most significant threat to global peace and security", ie, a direct jab at the 120 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement who recently gathered in Tehran for a summit (under the theme of "sustainable peace under shared global management") and bestowed Iran with NAM's leadership for the next three years.

In light of Baird's failed attempt to convince the UN secretary general not to attend the NAM summit, Tehran has reacted to this sudden decision, which does not cite any intelligence finding on any imminent Iranian threat, as a favor to Israel and a reaction to Iran's diplomatic coup at the summit, widely regarded in Western media as a "major setback" for Western strategy of isolating Iran.

The Canadian government's action has been called into question by a growing number of Canadian experts and academics, who have pointed out that even the United Kingdom did not go to this extreme after an attack on its embassy in Tehran. John Mundy, former Canadian ambassador to Iran, has stated that breaking off relations is a strategic mistake. On the other hand, as expected, the government's mouthpieces have been busy rationalizing this uncalled-for decision, which clearly sets a new low standard for severing diplomatic relations.

Source and full story: Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times, 11 Sept 2012