On the day Stephen Harper will receive the Statesman of the Year award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Yves Engler writes a Swiftian op-ed, suggesting that Harper should really receive the first ever Richard Nixon Prize. "The decision to grant Harper the Richard Nixon Prize," Engler writes, "was made after a thorough review of his foreign policy:"
The grantees cited Harper’s “consistent backing of the interests of North America’s top 1% of income earners, with a special emphasis on supporting those who make their billions from resource extraction, weaponry and banking.”
The committee applauded Harper for bombing Libya into democracy. It took special note that this was probably also good for certain oil and gas interests.
“In the best tradition of Richard Nixon, who could always keep a straight face,” the committee praised Harper for at the same time “standing by Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak until the final hours of his 30-year presidency.”
Lawrence Martin long ago pointed out the similarities between Harper and Nixon. Engler savagely mines those similarities:
The Richard Nixon Prize will be given to Prime Minister Harper the next time he visits Honduras, where he helped overthrow the elected president, who was such a pain in the ass.
Jonathan Swift would have approved..
12 comments:
Everything said in the piece is too painfully true, Owen. As Canadians, we should all be outraged at this award to a man deserving only of our contempt.
Lester Pearson must be rolling in his grave, Lorne. He understood what it meant to be a statesman. And so did the Nobel Committee.
Owen Gray,
You are a gentleman and a scholar and I do not say that without forethought...
I have enjoyed your blog immensely and am moving to a rural area so won't be able to keep in touch, but please keep up the great work on reporting on the issues that you do?
Thank you sir.
Mogs
Thanks for the comment, Mogs. Drop by when you can.
There was an earlier article at The Guardian aptly entitled "The Canadian Nixon": http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/24/thecanadiannixon
Interesting that other authors have apparently independently argued that Harper is Canada's Nixon (Wente supporters must be dismayed at the lack of evidence of plagiarism between these two articles, LOL).
Thanks for the link, Anon. It's an excellent piece. I remember reading it sometime ago.
It was written by a Canadian. But it's interesting that the Guardian picked it up.
Canada is Harper's Fourth Reich.
The statesman of the year award, has now been dirtied. There is no longer any honor, for winning that award. Giving the award to dictator Harper, took care of that.
Harper's favorite henchman Gordon Campbell, arranged many awards for himself. Some of the awards were given to Campbell, because he harassed them non-stop. They gave the awards to Campbell, just to shut him up. Campbell has the dirtiest, most corrupt and foul, political history, in this Nation ever. Campbell's theft and corrupt sale of the BCR, is still the sleaziest crime of Canada's history. He, of all the scum of the earth, was awarded, the Order of BC. Campbell wouldn't even come to BC, to pick up his award with the others. That's how furious the BC people are at Campbell. The order of BC, now means nothing, not even considered an award anymore.
That scum such as Harper, was even remotely considered for that award, is turning everyone's stomach. Good grief!!! What's next, in this putrid corrupt country??
It would appear that the scoundrels get the awards these days, Anon.
Owen I believe that this government under Harper is collapsing under it's own weight.
Mogs...
As Lorne -- who also comments here occasionally -- says, "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Comparisons between Nixon and Harper have been made for a while now, and many of them are very fitting. Yet somehow, as much as I disliked Nixon, comparing him to Harper probably raises Harper to a level far above what he deserves. Harper is a global laughing stock and he is only the leader of a relatively small country. Could you imagine what kind of mess he would make of things if he had the power of the US president?
I take your point, Kirby. Perhaps we should be grateful that Harper is the prime minister of a middle power, not a superpower.
On the other hand, it would be wise to remember that Nixon came close to undermining the American political system. Harper has the potential to do the same to our political system.
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