World Statesman of the Year - Top 10 Reasons

Diogenes's picture

Stephen Harper was in New York to accept the World Statesman of the Year award from some obscure organization called the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, founded by an equally obscure New York City rabbi.

The award was presented by Henry Kissinger. Both Kissinger and former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien are previous recipients of the award, which goes to show how little this award has to do with any notions of integrity or principle.

From the CBC report

"Prime Minister Harper has played a very important role by developing his own views, having the courage to affirm them, even when they are not shared by all the consensuses that exist, and being proved correct by events," Kissinger said.

From the CTV report

During his acceptance speech, Harper also condemned the recent wave of anti-American violence worldwide...

but Harper said nothing about the anti-muslim video that sparked the violence. Freedom of speech, after all, is freedom to fabricate the truth, which must be protected to to keep Canada safe from its greatest threat -- rising Islamicism.

From the National Post

“I say these things not to counsel any particular action, not to wish any additional hardship on the long-suffering Iranian people and certainly not to advocate war, but rather so that we not shrink from recognizing evil in the world for what it is,” he said.

What is missing from the media coverage of this event are the reasons why Harper was awarded this prestigious honor.

Kissinger served up a few empty bromides. He probably had to be briefed before the dinner on just who this guy Harper was. Just read the notes, Henry, it'll be fine. Oy vey!

The Top 10 List

Here my top reasons why Stephen Harper has been awarded World Statesman of the Year.

  • Canada prevented a British Member of Parliament from entering the country to speak to a church group after that same MP had successfully organized a large humanitarian aid convoy to Palestine following the Israeli Gaza massacre of 2009.
  • Kyoto Accord? Fuhgeddaboudit! Like it never happened. OK?
  • Canada refused to issue an emergency passport to a Canadian stranded in Sudan until ordered to by the Federal Court. Another Canadian was denied assistance until she provided DNA proof (which came from her son in Canada) that she was a real Canadian. Both of these Canadian were black; both were muslim.
  • Canada was the only country to vote against a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution deploring the construction of new housing units for Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
  • The Harper's Government conducted a brilliant character assassination of one of its foreign diplomats after he suggested that Canadian forces were derelict in their duty by transferring prisoners to the Afghans "authorities"; knowing full well that those detainees might be tortured. Then Harper suspended parliament to avoid answering questions on the matter. Contempt of Parliament. Oh well. Shit happens.
  • At the G8/G20 summits in Toronto, Harper showed the world how to arrest and detain peaceful protestors and what an unlimited security budget and judicious amounts of police brutality can achieve. He showed those losers -- Mubarak and Ghaddafi how it's supposed to be done.
  • While Lester Pearson, a previous prime minister of a Canadian minority government, won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in establishing the UN peace corps; Harper has managed to lose a vote to for a seat on the UN security council. Own the podium, anyone?
  • Harper was instrumental in dropping support for UN recognition of Palestine from the final G8 Communiqué in 2011. The message generally confers a unanimous agreement in principle among members. Guess who "didn't go along just to get along"?
  • The Harper Government has engineered an ingenious voter identification suppression/fraud system that Vladimir Putin might want to consider.
  • The Harper Government was a Champion of the World for the export to developing nations of industrial asbestos with no warning labels.
  • Canada remains the only country that has not repatriated it's own citizen from the disgraceful Guantanamo Bay military prison. Even President Obama would be happy to send Omar Kahdar home.
  • Canada is Israel's staunchest ally according to Avigdor Lieberman, former Israeli deputy prime minister, West Bank settler, racist, and past winner of the World Cockroach Politician of the Year award, which is even more obscure that the Appeals of Conscience Foundation.

Now, even though the United Nations General Assembly is meeting this week and Harper had been invited to address the assembly, he decided to pass on this opportunity.


As current World Statesman of the Year, he is a busy man.

He will be meeting with Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu for his latest briefing on supporting a preemptive war on Iran.

Later on, he will be meeting with with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. No doubt, Harper will offering the same friendly diplomatic advice as Mitt Romney.

"If you would only change your culture, give the Israeli settlers the land they need (because they do a better job with it), then peace will have a chance.

Here, I offer you this -- an autographed CD of mine. I perform a John Lennon cover - Imagine. That's all we are saying, just give peace a chance. I hope you can draw the same inspiration from this as the millions of people in Canada who voted for me in the last election did (nudge, nudge, wink, wink say no more, know what I mean?)"

Of course, the last time Harper made a pitch to the UN, it did not go so well. This may have been factored into his priorities. I suspect he will not miss the sound of one-handed applause.

Now one might wonder why Harper, who is a Christian, would be so obsessed with Israel. After all, less than 2% of Canada's population is Jewish, and many of them are appalled by the behavior of Israel.

But as any World Statesman of the Year can tell you, some people are way more important than others. Get used to it.