Mullahs on the Block

We live in the downtown core of Toronto and the children have attended an inner city elementary school that acts as a feeder school to two of the largest and toughest housing projects in the country. The Last Amazon being a reasonable practical person tended to avoid physical confrontations not because she was afraid or she could not fight, but she could not see the sense in fighting for free or without a just cause.

This served her well until one day one of the local bullies decided that because the Last Amazon did not have a reputation for fighting it must because she was easy prey. The Last Amazon and I discussed the situation. Being a modern parent (and worried of the so-called zero tolerance policy of the school) I advised her she should ignore all provocation and taunts. Either the girl would grow tired and give up or the Amazon’s passivity would act as a catalyst and spurn the girl on to violence. I suggested that The Last Amazon should be extremely circumspect in all her dealings with the bully and the minute the girl pushed her, she should not push her back but react with overwhelming force.

The seeming passivity of the Last Amazon did in fact ignite the bully's rage about a month later. The bully attempted to beat the Last Amazon. The Last Amazon reacted with overwhelming force of perfectly landed right-left-right crossover combination to the head and then dragged the bully to the principal's office. The end result was not only did the bully never again so much as looked at the Last Amazon, no one else wanted to risk the consequences of her wrath.

Margaret Thatcher led her country to war in 1982 over a tiny group of Islands called the Falklands. She felt that the principle of sovereignty of British people was paramount. When Argentina attempted to annex a British protectorate she reacted with overwhelming force. Thatcher shocked the whole world with her decisive action. Some nations condemned her; other nations grew wary of wrath of the Iron Maiden and her big stick.

Recently the Iranians kidnapped 8 British seamen. I am sure that mullah’s remembered the Argentine example and cooler heads prevailed with the result that the 8 sailors were returned unharmed to UK. Blair is no Thatcher, but he has shown that he will fight over principle.

The brutal murder of a Canadian citizen by Iranian government officials and the best our government can do is recall the Canadian ambassador, threaten to seek justice in the International Court and bring the matter before UN General Assembly the next time it meets. I am sure that mullahs are busy yawning.

The problem of being a "soft power" or using "soft power diplomacy" is that it is just not effective. The mullah’s on the block just do not care. Lincoln said, speak softly and carry a big stick. Without that big stick, your words have no weight in the currency of international relations. You do not have to speak softly, you can bellow out your rage at the top of your voice but everyone just writes you off as blow hard. Canada has plenty of trees but our government can't find a twig, let alone a big stick.

The mullahs on the block are nothing more than state sanctioned bullies. You can try talking to them, you can try reasoning with them, you can even threaten to tell the teacher but that will not stop them.

There was a time when Canada spoke and the world listened, it also coincided when we had the 3rd largest navy in the world and the government of Canada could mobilize a fighting force that punched far above its weight. There was a time when our Americans neighbors held us in respect, it was also the time our American neighbors knew we could be counted on to watch their back. Unless Canadians and their government recognize the importance of big sticks, the names of William Sampson, Zahra Kazemi and Mahler Arar are just the first names in a long sad sorry line about the decline of Canadian history.

Update: I attributed the "walk softly and carry a big stick" quote to Abe Lincolin. Jerry has kindly pointed out the error of my memory and it was Teddy Roosevelt and not Abraham Lincolin - but the Mullahs on the block are still the bullies.