...while I strongly hope for a more powerful EU [...] I think that as it gets more powerful, it will slowly become less benign. As with [America], it too will be likely to have powerful vested interests throughout the world, and the means (and very possibly the will) to promote or defend them.
In a similar vein, I think that Canada is good to the world in some part because this is its best way of gaining influence, and a voice. (Sweden punched way above its weight internationally under Olof Palme for similar reasons, even becoming known as the conscience of the world.)
Canada is too small to intervene militarily in Bolivia, or employ trade sanctions to change domestic policies in Myanmar, but aid and peacekeepers can be used to build a good rep and improve the situation on the ground in certain trouble spots. However, these methods aren't nearly as powerful as some of those that the US has at its disposal, and indeed often uses. Who could Canada really influence by being mean?
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Canada, on the world scene
Date: 2004-02-12 10:37 am (UTC)From my post at http://www.livejournal.com/users/lctrc_gtr_dde/7366.html?thread=5830#t5830 :
...while I strongly hope for a more powerful EU [...] I think that as it gets more powerful, it will slowly become less benign. As with [America], it too will be likely to have powerful vested interests throughout the world, and the means (and very possibly the will) to promote or defend them.
In a similar vein, I think that Canada is good to the world in some part because this is its best way of gaining influence, and a voice. (Sweden punched way above its weight internationally under Olof Palme for similar reasons, even becoming known as the conscience of the world.)
Canada is too small to intervene militarily in Bolivia, or employ trade sanctions to change domestic policies in Myanmar, but aid and peacekeepers can be used to build a good rep and improve the situation on the ground in certain trouble spots. However, these methods aren't nearly as powerful as some of those that the US has at its disposal, and indeed often uses. Who could Canada really influence by being mean?