Faced with Russian aggression in Ukraine and the responses of NATO countries, Canada shows the weakness of its foreign policy, according to Ferry de Kerckhove, former Canadian ambassador and professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.
• Read also: [EN DIRECT] 36th day of war in Ukraine: here are all the latest developments
Asked by Benoit Dutrizac about Canada’s presence on the international scene, the former ambassador returned to Mr. Harper’s policy, saying that since Justin Trudeau came to power, there is simply no policy. and that the country is shrinking in terms of its influence on the world stage.
“There is no thought, there is day-to-day management,” lamented Mr. de Kerckhove, who believes that foreign policy simply does not interest the prime minister. “Unlike his father, he realizes very well that it won’t get him a vote to do things abroad.”
In the context of the crisis in Ukraine, he believes that Canada is waiting for the other diplomatic leaders to make announcements to make some in turn a few days later.
“We have relatively weak military resources, we cannot contribute much to the Ukrainians, we have been slow to provide lethal weapons (…). We are still behind,” he said on Qub radio.
He believes, however, that this is not a “bad intention”, but rather “a lack of ideas, a lack of commitment”.
What is happening in Ukraine is ‘maddening’
The former ambassador also believes that it is China that will prevent the world from falling into a third world war. “It is China, much more than the United States and NATO, which will prevent this”.
“Every day I talk about these issues, and I can’t even believe what I’m saying, as I can’t believe what I see on television screens,” said indicated Kerckhove Ferry.
“[Vladimir Poutine] massacre even in the Donbass and in the Lugansk, that is to say even those he supported, because he wants to bring the territory together. It’s maddening,” he added.
- Listen to Ferry de Kerckhove on QUB radio:
For him, Mr. Putin is a megalomaniac “who has gone off the rails” and who wields so much power that no one dares tell him the truth.
“I am not a psychologist, I am not a psychiatrist (…), but I will tell you that when you have a 10-meter table on which you install the neighbor and you taunt Macron and others, there has something wrong. (…) This is the tragedy of dictatorships, and they only fall when all of a sudden the truth turns out to be even more serious than the myth in which they live.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com