Canada and the Arab Islamists: Plus ça change...

Canada is a curious political animal. It is a stalwart democracy and a leading economic and energy powerhouse, a founding member of the UN, NATO and the G7/8, and a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations (i.e. the British Commonwealth) and its French counterpart,Organisation international de la Francophonie. It has built, on its own terms, a special relationship with most of the world’s great powers. And it stands proudly by its military history (from the First and Second World Wars to the 2011 Libyan intervention) but pays equal homage to the role it played in establishing the UN’s 'peacekeeping' function (which Canadian Foreign Minister and future Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, first proposed in 1956 in response to the Suez Crisis) and the UN’s Responsibility to Protect(R2P) principle (the product of a 2000 Canadian initiative co-written by Canadian scholar and wantabe[aspiring?]Prime Minster, Michael Ignatieff). In sum, Canada is a widely respected international leader. And yet, paradoxically, despite its ability to influence, direct, and lead global affairs, Canada rarely does. It remains a cautious nation with a small and tidy international footprint.