God Bless Bob Fowler, Or What Happens When One Leaves the Sunlight, Reenters the Cave and Tries to Talk Sense

You wanted the truth? You can't handle the truth. Liberal Realist Meets Cdn Sheep & Mules. Hilarious to watch reactions. Canadians so rarely hear someone speak the truth clearly and openly, the chattering class in particular, we just mouth the usual bromides, playing for praise over interpretation of false shadows of the truth, it freaks everyone out. As noted by squeamish reaction of someone like BCer, which is understandable given mush Cdns are fed and partisan desire not to offend crucial voting blocs, and outright angry mulish refusal of Coyne, which is unsurprising given his history of a completely ideologically blinkered view of foreign policy. Everything Fowler said was a comprehensive refutation of Coyne's simplistic, ideologically rigid view of foreign policy and our interests, about which Coyne has been proven badly wrong, over and over. Iraq? Non-existence of American torture? Remember Coyne holding on to fairytale about links between Saddam & Al-Qaeda? Remember WMD? Remember hysterical Afghan cheerleading? Even now, no matter what, "we must let ourselves be killed, and spend billions, for, well, basically, forever"? Coyne's strength as a columnist, completely rigid principles, coherent conclusions, is enlightening, as one vector of investigation, and also frequently entertainingly mad. But that's what makes him an excellent columnist - interesting good fun. But as a serious voice on foreign affairs? Everything that is good about Coyne as a columnist is what makes him bad at foreign policy.

Every single word Fowler uttered, and Kinsman, was just the plain truth, but as Kinsman noted, our media are so parochial and second-tier, we get coverage of foreign policy that is vapid, when it isn't driven by need to comfort the comfortable and reinforce existing sterotypes.

Fowler's intervention, his open note of the pandering to diaspora politics, Jewish, Sikh, Tamil, etc., and the profoundly negative effect this has, the complete folly that is our Afghan mission, where we have no vital national interest, the cost-benefit comparison with what we could and need to do in Africa, forestalling misery and violent chaos, and the absolute central need to do what everyone knows is needed in the Middle East, and have two VIABLE states, both sharing Jerusalem, will probably be remembered as one of the greatest speeches in recent times, a shock to the system, waking everyone up, from someone whose reputation is beyond reproach, who has actually suffered greatly from Islamic terrorism. I have been sceptical of CAN 150, but this one speech made the whole thing worthwhile. Historic, even.

It's a pity that such basic truths, which should be uncontroversial, will stir up so much reaction. But there you are, that's Canada. All the more credit to Fowler, and Kinsman. It shows just how necessary these interventions were.