What the above title means by nothing is that a good portion of the world largely thinks nothing much, or little in the larger scheme of geopolitics about many of Canada’s international positions. Also, that Canada is doing little to meet India’s request for urgent action on many important serious security issues to it. While some main observers may see this all as an exaggeration, it unfortunately seems not too off the mark from not only this author’s perspectives but even some key Canadian journalists and likely foreign officials from main nation players, but not exclusively so.
Disappointedly, it appears the Trudeau government’s trajectory is additionally headed to expose Canada’s declining geopolitical status. But embarrassingly, its sometimes, hyper-insecurities to Canada’s global self-esteem and even its present prime minister’s may further get damaged by the fall-out over Trudeau’s approach to India. The key tensions are now centering around protestations by Canada trying to drag New Delhi in on being directly responsible for the killing on Canadian soil of an extremist of whom India had red-flagged as a terrorist. No one who is decently informed is forgetting Canada had done little, including not extraditing him back to India, as well as various other Khalistan extremists and gangsters.
Incidentally, part of this article’s title, “Much Ado about Nothing” is borrowed from a Shakespearean comedy. While the issue of Khalistan terrorism and who killed Hardeep Singh is serious, the related diplomacy of Justin Trudeau to borrow on another title is sadly increasingly looking more like a comedy of errors. But somewhat contrastingly, one growing impression, as outlined by Toronto journalist Arjun Singh…”Trudeau’s failed foreign policy is a tale of tragedy,” rather than being comical.
Further, by Trudeaus scrambling around the globe be it on the phone and beyond looking for friends to support Ottawa’s position against India’s tough, but fair positions on the Khalistan issue, does not enthrall him to global leaders. Rather, more of the impression is that Trudeau is looking globally, desperate for Canada to get attention, worried that it is not getting enough respect and overly self-absorbed with the two formers. Now, who would say this emanates possibly from and/or parallels to some leader’s personality? Try that of Justin Trudeau’s. And possibly when the head of a country is a model for the collective insecurities of quite a few of his citizens about where its international status is headed, it just all compounds the problem of a Canadian identity crisis but splattered all over its response to New Delhi and the global stage.
Interestingly, no one else other than Canadian, Dr. Jordan Peterson, ex Harvard professor, top bestseller of books worldwide on personal development and lead researcher at a clinical level, described the Canadian prime minister as a narcissist and a liar. This may seem contradictory to my thesis but according to WikiHow, “Yes, some narcissists are insecure and hide feelings of inferiority.” Peterson’s views on Canada’s leader are well demonstrated in an interview on YouTube by the British media source, the Telegraph which I recommend many should watch. The worrying question is whether all this manifestation of narcissism, identity crisis and pure excessive woke follies not only connects to Trudeau but large segments of his constituents at a collective cultural level are madly being played out to the world, instead of better done on a “couch”. And “poor” India is having to deal with this Canadian /Trudeau psycho-cultural disarray. With Peterson, he makes no bones about it, he thinks too much of Canadian culture has attached itself to wokeism (political correctness).
It is an Alice in Wonderland world where no matter the facts, India’s or anyone else’s, the “wokeists” never budge on their self-righteousness and entitlement to be right. Sounds like Trudeau? And these people really can get really deluded, over sense of victimhood along with the attached narcissism making Global South poverty look like a marginal issue to getting “asexuals” enough human rights and separate bathrooms? Or giving Khalistan separatist and extremists so much kindness and free speech as part of Ottawa’s post-modernism, mixed in with liberal interventionism if you do not geopolitically comply.
No wonder the Global South feels that the West socially has had a “lobotomy” on getting most of its priorities (or others’) right. Trudeau is just the hyper roving, though generally ignored rendition of this. Call a lot of this a psychological disorder underlining this Liberal leader’s perspective on Khaistan issues, if you will -or not. But at least most global leaders can see how distorted Trudeau’s priorities and judgements are or are not really listening much at all to him. My additional suspicion is in part, the Canadian prime minister far from being a horrible person, just in part reflects the Canadian “chip on the shoulder” mentality at least reinforced by proximity to megalith dominating neighbor America, if not across the board in some other key areas.
By being beside one of the most powerful countries in the world that has increasingly dominated it over decades, means that some Canadians feel too much sense of a fading global limelight. Now India comes along with growing independence (but partnership) to America, of 1.4 billion people with its new emerging superpower status and dynamic economy that reinforces Canada’s increasing decline in global influence. This is reminded by not even Ottawa’s strongest ally standing up for it -at least enough, against New Delhi’s position. How bad is this. Let us document it. From Foreign Policy, the journal, “The Biden administration has refrained from issuing a strong statement about allegations that the Indian government was involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist.” Or from CP 24 a Canadian news channel and subsidiary of BCE, a huge Canadian multinational, “White House rejects reports of tension with Canada over India interference allegation.” Then in a recent meeting between foreign minister of India, S. Jaishankar with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken there was no joint statement about Canada-India tensions. Then, try the Australian prime minister when first asked by a reporter about the issue, he told the journalist to “chill out.” Now, as reported in a major opinion piece in this paper, Trudeau has even “bothered” Middle East leader(s).
Shall we say that region is more preoccupied with other more important pressing matters like the breakout of war and millions at the edge of a humanitarian crisis than Trudeau’s perspective of India violating Canadian sovereignty. Narcissist Trudeau may have not noticed anywhere near enough. Nor that so many Canadians are not rabid against India’s position but more so to get him out of office. No one in Washington is going to tell Trudeau to shove off but they might have said so and further to tell him to settle it primarily with India on bilateral basis. But there may be some growing risk (but not by that much) Canada’s prime minister is going to whip up as much maple leaf flag waving indignity as he can muster and play to the globalists like George Soros type billionaires, as well as his voters the image of so-called honest, progressive, multicultural, free speech, liberal democratic Canada is being walked over by nasty Prime Minister Modi of big bully India. Can you imagine such gall against India, a developing country focused on bread-and-butter issues on growth and poverty reduction being called out for trampling G7 member Canada. We all cannot wait for the next diplomatic soap opera directed by Ottawa productions and former drama teacher, Trudeau.
Peter Dash writes extensively on geopolitics and has lived in 12 countries, including in much of the South and has visited India. He was a former Canadian civil servant based in Ottawa dealing with Canada’s international image.