The Canadian Defense (or Defence, if you're part of the Commonwealth) Minister Peter MacKay recently called the Somali pirates "financial terrorists." He then said: "piracy is not unlike acts of terrorism that we see in other parts of the world, whether it be kidnappings, whether it be issues related to fanaticism and extremism in places like Afghanistan."
Since when has Canada thrown caution and thoughtful engagement to the wind, and transformed into the "Bush of the Great White North"?
McKay was apparently pointing to the terrorism pretext to justify Canada's decision to move away from its policy of "catch and release", ie. releasing pirates they've captured because they can't (or don't want to be bothered with) prosecuting them.
What a cheap and stupid invocation of "terrorism". If you have a political agenda to push, the temptation just seems too great for politicians to dress it up like a terrorism issue. In this case, "financial terrorism" doesn't walk like a duck or talk like a duck.
1. The pirates aren't terrorists. They're just poor villagers who are taking advantage of one of the few economic opportunities available to them. Despite some very tenuous ties to local political groups, these pirates have no political agenda - a sine qua non for terrorism.
2. Don't make this something that it's not. The main dangers today are in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and N. Korea. Somali piracy is a problem, but transforming it into another front on the war on terror is just a stupid dissipation of resources and energy.
Some good insights from the National Post on this too.
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1 comment:
Good point about a political agenda. Also worth noting that the pirates act strictly to make money, not to cause terror or unrest.
After all, if sailors were to scared to sail off the coast of Somalia, then the pirates would be hurting their own source of income.
The Canadians aren't the only ones to use the terrorist label on something they don't like. The Russians and the Chinese have done it too. (Although the Chechens scare the bejeezus out of me, and some of them probably are honest to god terrorists.)
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