CPC Trashing Canada's International Reputation

Or:

Peter MacKay's Levantine Misadventures.

Despite Harper's best efforts to make an optical ideological shift in many quarters, the Minister of Foreign Affairs's cool reception by Mahmoud Abbas is just further evidence that the damage has been done. Decades of global goodwill and international respect as a balanced middle power destroyed in just under a year.

From the article:

'In any event, Mr. Abbas's top aide suggested beforehand that there was little riding on the talks. He suggested that Canada's decision to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won control of it in elections last year, and its refusal to allow diplomats to meet with PA officials, has diminished whatever influence Canada once had in the region.'

To make matters worse, the CBC has just reported that on a visit to a West Bank refugee camp, directly in the shadow of the security barrier, MacKay refused to comment on the conditions in the West Bank, refused to comment on the wall and refused all questions from the journalists following him through the camp. To his dubious credit, he did visit a UN-run girls school to remark on the importance of education.

This is deeply disturbing.