Harper’s Princples: As Directionless As The Rest of His Policies

Don't bother me with this now. I have principles to stand up for.

When we lost the UN Security Council seat Prime Minister Stephen Harper was undeterred in his stand for principled issues. “Our engagement internationally is based on the principles that this country holds dear; it is not based on popularity,” he said, following up with “We take our positions based on the promotion of our values — freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, justice, development, humanitarian assistance for those who need it. Those are the things we are pursuing…” Apparently this principled stand for human rights and the rule of law doesn’t extend to the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mass rapes have been condemned the world over.At a recent convention for La Francaphonie Harper commented that raising human rights issues is a “delicate” matter. He stated that the 40 year old Francaphonie is less open and receptive to outside opinion and admonitions then the British Commonwealth of Nations. He followed up these “principled” comments by saying that we should wait two more years to address the mass human tragedy that is occurring in the DRC. “We see (the 2012 summit) as an opportunity for Congo to further address some of these issues…” he said, stating that he has discussed the situation with the President of the DRC

Where are the Conservatives principled stands now? I thought we weren’t getting on the UN Security Council because we stuck by our morals and values, no matter the pressure? But it turns out that only those strategic interests are the ones that matter. Nevermind the hordes of raping madmen in the DRC. They don’t figure into Harper’s “principled stand.” So again, the only conclusion we can draw is that the Harper and his Conservatives are as aimless in their foreign policy as they are with their domestic policy. It’s a shame to. You think unilaterally condemning mass rapes and human atrocities would be a no-brainer.

This is crossposted from Progress Now!!