The only credentials that Justin Trudeau had before becoming the Prime Minister of Canada a few months ago was working as a ski instructor and drama teacher. That’s all he had, and yet he won a majority government and unseated Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. It’s, indeed, a sad state of affairs when a man becomes elected because of his hair and hipness.
Whether it’s because he’s a real-life Zoolander or because he makes anyone with even the slightest understanding of economics cry themselves to sleep every single night in the Great White North, CBS decided to interview the prime minister for a segment on “60 Minutes.”
The interview touched upon a variety of subjects, but the one comment made by Trudeau that’s dominating the headlines is his criticism of the United States and its perception of the world.
Here is what Trudeau told “60 Minutes”:
“It might be nice if they [the U.S.] paid a little more attention to the world,” he explained. “Having a little more of an awareness of what’s going on in the rest of the world, I think is, is what many Canadians would hope for Americans. I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time, too.”
But here’s the thing, Justin, the U.S. already pays too much attention to the rest of the world. It should start to pay less attention.
Since the Second World War, U.S. foreign policy has been defined by adventurism and interventionism. Everything for the last 60 years has been about “America’s interests.” The U.S. has been the policemen of the world for so long, and it shouldn’t be that way. When someone says the U.S. doesn’t pay attention enough to the world doesn’t know their history.
Whether it’s a Republican administration or a Democratic one, a GOP Congress or a Democratic chamber, Washington’s main directive for the past half-century has been to intervene into any country that may pose difficulties for the U.S., either economically or strategically.
The Libyan War, for instance, has been discovered to have been about Moammar Gaddafi’s desire to start a regional dinar currency backed by gold. The U.S. and its allies didn’t like this idea so the leadership was taken out. The blowback to this, and to the intervention in Syria, has been the formation of ISIS. Libya has essentially become a breeding ground for terrorists.
The overthrowing of a democratically elected government in Ukraine was aided by the U.S. and its European allies because the new government didn’t want to be a part of the European Union. Instead, the Ukraine leadership instead wanted to align itself with the Russian government. America’s coup of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych provided a glimpse into the idea that there’s no difference between the GOP and Democrats. Obama is just as much of a warmonger as his predecessor, George W. Bush.
And U.S. involvement in Canada’s affairs has also been apparent since the 1960s.
John Boyko, author of “Cold Fire,” wrote an account of Canada’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. He explained that then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy was jubilant in assisting in the end of the Prime Minister John Diefenbaker government. Lou Harris, a chief pollster for Kennedy, told The Canadian Press that Kennedy ordered him to help Diefenbaker’s opponents, Lester B. Pearson’s Liberals, dethrone the sitting government.
“(Kennedy) hated Diefenbaker… He obviously couldn’t say anything publicly. But every day or two he would want to know how the election was going,” Harris said.
Of course, these are just a few examples of U.S. paying attention to the world. Too much attention, actually. U.S. has been imposed itself into the internal affairs of a lot of countries: Chile, Iran, Grenada, Congo, South Vietnam and the list goes on and on. Today, U.S. special operations forces are operating in 81 countries, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The last thing Trudeau, or any other national leader, should want is the U.S. to pay even more attention to the rest of the world. If the U.S. looks in your direction then you should be frightened, terrified, petrified. If the U.S. government even utters your country’s name then be prepared for America’s influence, an excuse to invade your country in order to the protect world for democracy and a new government you never elected in the first place.
But one can’t fault for Trudeau for not studying up on matters of foreign policy and history. He’s too busy taking selfies and giving his wife, Sophie, singing lessons.
He was talking about American voters, not American foreign policy. Way to miss the point, Alex. :)
Basically, “realize how your vote might effect your country’s approach to international affairs.”