There's no doubt sanctions need to be put on Iran. And at first, I thought John Baird had a lot of guts going for the jugular like this. But wasn't Canada suddenly cutting ties with Iran last Friday just a tad too rapid? No skeletal staff to handle outstanding visa and immigration applications. No warning this was going to happen. And even more important, no protecting power -- which country will act as the go-between on Canada's behalf. Only a warning that Canadians still in Iran get out as quickly as possible after contacting our embassy in Ankara, Turkey. (After the so-called "Canadian Caper" in 1980, Canada suspended ties until 1988 with the Netherlands acting as our "go-to".)
If Canada is smart enough to be Israel's "protector" in Cuba, doesn't it stand to reason we should ask one of our allies to step up -- perhaps, Holland again? Then again, with things changing so rapidly in that part of the world -- several NATO Allies, after all, have acting as protecting powers for the US or other countries in a few of the most volatile countries before they felt the need to leave and throw the hot potato to some other state -- we may need to rely on the good offices of Switzerland for stability's sake. (Among other things, this would allow our embassy to reopen, as the "Canadian Interests Section" of the Embassy of "X".)
I'll have more on this later in the week ... I've had too much going on so I apologize for the absence.
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