Posted on 05/20/2004 6:37:38 PM PDT by quidnunc
Canada has successfully constructed a public sphere predicated on the ethic of respect for human dignity. It recognizes and builds on difference, enables a spirit of compromise and consensus in public and legislative policies, and marks out a healthy space for the role of civil society as a sound (indeed, essential) bulwark for democratic processes.
Canada has an experience of governance of which much of the world stands in dire need. Ours is a world of increasing dissension and grave risks for the future relationship between the industrialized world and the developing world. We must create stable states with self-sustainable economies and stable, inclusive forms of governance.
Recently world attention has been focused on the phenomenon of so-called failed states. But apart from nuclear war or HIV/AIDS, the most urgent global threat is not failed states. It is the failure of democracy in the Muslim world, in Latin America, in Eastern Europe and in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nearly 40 per cent of UN member nations are failed democracies. They are the greatest risk to the West and its values. It is essential, and in the West's own interest, to admit to itself that democracy is as fragile as any other form of human governance, and to help correct the situation, rather than referring dismissively to failed states. To my knowledge, democracy can fail anywhere, at any time, in any society — as it has in several European states. It's self-evident that the existence of political parties and elections do not alone produce stable governments or competent leadership.
Three concepts seem to me to be essential in creating, stabilizing and strengthening democracy around the world: meritocracy, pluralism and civil society.
What role can Canada play, drawing upon her national genius, in creating or enhancing these great underpinnings of democracy in the developing world?
A recent UN audit of democracy covering 18 Latin American countries warns that stagnant per-capita incomes and growing inequality — in access to civil rights as well as income — are producing doubt, impatience and civil unrest. The primary, daily concern of peoples everywhere is their quality of life, which is intimately connected to their value systems. The UN report recognizes a crucial fact: "An important relationship exists between citizenship and organizations of civil society, which are major actors in the strengthening of democracy, in the oversight of government stewardship and in the development of pluralism."
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(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
It's Islam that doesn't play well with others.
So who is supposed to protect us a bunch of Molsen swilling Mounties?
Hey! Sgt. Preston was a mountie, and he always got his man. Nelson Eddy, too. Maybe Sgt. Preston's man WAS Nelson Eddy. So watch it.
Da way ta heal da world - beer eh!
I just can't seem to get the Mackenzies out of my head with there beer commercials.
What!! I just saw the headline. When is Canada to become unclaimed lands?
Sheila: Time's have changed
Our kids are getting worse
They won't obey their parents
They just want to fart and curse!
Sharon: Should we blame the government?
Mrs. Cartman: Or blame society?
Dads: Or should we blame the images on TV?
Sheila: Heck NO, blame Canada
Everyone: Blame Canada
Sheila: With all their beady little eyes
And flapping heads so full of lies
Everyone: Blame Canada
Blame Canada
Sheila: We need to form a full assault
Everyone: It's Canada's fault!
Sharon: Don't blame me
For my son Stan
He saw the darn cartoon
And now he's off to join the clan!
Mrs. Cartman: And my boy Eric once
Had my picture on his shelf
But now when I see him he tells me to fuck myself!
Sheila: Well, blame Canada
Everyone: Blame Canada
It seems that everything's gone wrong
Since Canada came along
Everyone: Blame Canada
Blame Canada
Guy on TV: They're not even a real country anyway
Mrs. McCormick: My son could've been a doctor or a lawyer it's true
Instead he burned up like a piggy on a bar-b-q
Everyone: Should we blame the matches?
Should we blame the fire?
Or the doctors who allowed him to expire?
Sheila: Heck no!
Everyone: Blame Canada
Blame Canada
Sheila: With all their hockey hubabaloo
Mrs. Cartman: And that bitch Anne Murray too
Everyone: Blame Canada
Shame on Canada
The smut we must stop
The trash we must smash
Laughter and fun
must all be undone
We must blame them and cause a fuss
Before someone thinks of blaming us
Wow....there's a ton of nuthin in that article.
Canada's gay.
Italian television on June 6 1997 broadcast photographs of Italian troops torturing detainees during the US-led United Nations “Operation Restore Hope” occupation of Somalia in 1993.
The photographs, which were also published in the weekly news magazine Panorama, were taken by an Italian paratrooper who served with the Italian contingent. The photographs show troops attaching electric wires to the genitals of a prone prisoner.
The unit involved is currently serving in Albania. The now-retired paratrooper said Italian troops tortured detainees with electric shocks, burnt them with cigarettes, threw them into razor wire and left them in the sun for long periods without water. He had heard rumours that Somalis had been tortured to death.
The former paratrooper said that Italian troops, including officers, in Somalia brazenly displayed fascist symbols and gave the Roman (Nazi) salute at parade in the mornings.
In 1993, the Italian magazine Epoca in 1993 published photographs of Somalis being tied up and hoods being placed on their heads. A military inquiry at the time found the measures taken were “appropriate”.
In recent years, evidence has emerged that troops from the Canadian and Belgian contingents also tortured and murdered Somalis during the US-led “Operation Restore Hope” mission. Belgian troops roasted a child over an open fire and killed Somalis accused of stealing. Canada's elite airborne regiment was disbanded after its members were found guilty of murder and torture in Somalia.
Canada is a hair's breath away from being surrender monkeys. Right now they believe their own PR as peacemakers, translation: we have no army please don't hurt us.
Wow...canada is willing to export their form of government...just what we need, more socialist nations that grovel to the french.
Can any less possibly have been said with any more words?
Maybe the guy who wrote this was on acid at the time of its penning.
With homosexual marriages in Canada, "getting his man" is now an embarassing joke in Canada.
Take off, eh -- you hoser! Now I've gotta go watch that stupid movie again!
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