Harper officially cut Canadian ties with Iran.
Story here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/09/harper-iran-apec.html
To get the ball rolling here:
-Start researching this issue by reviewing a variety of sources. The above is a CBC story, find a few more from different countries (Note: Yahoo news and pop-ups after you log out of your personal email accounts are typically not as detailed sources. Find different newspapers from a variety of countries and media outlets to round out your perspective).
-What are the issues in Iran? Why would Canada have issues with Iran
-Why would Canada decide to close their embassy now on this particular date vs. a year ago or a year from now.
-Will this move lead to increasing tensions? Does this put Canada at more or less risk? Explain
-Do any other countries have issues with Iran?
-Why is the Iranian president making comments that refer to Israel? How is Israel connected to this issue? Are his comments valid?
This is my weekly post: I believe Canada decided to close their embassy in Iran at this time is because of one word Safety. As Iran continues their nuclear project, more people begin to get worried and concerned that there may be and attack on a nation. Earlier in the year there was an attack on the British embassy in Iran and I feel the Canadian government did not want to put its citizens working in its embassy at risk. Many other countries are having issues with Iran on their nuclear project, Iran now only has three allies according to CNN and those are; Syria, Russia and Bolivia. Cut Syria and Bolivia out of the picture because their is to many problems in their own country to help Iran out. I feel the Iranian president making comments about Israel’s president will just urge Israel to move their troops into Iran, as they already want to very much. Do I think Canada is at risk because of cutting their ties? No because there would be to many countries backing Canada up in any threat of an attack.
ReplyDeletethis story from an Israeli point of view,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/iran-by-suspending-ties-canada-has-sacrificed-its-national-interests-for-israel-s-sake-1.463511
This is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteThe issue in Iran is that in Tehran, the capital of Iran, has a nuclear plant which has recently undertaken research and experiments geared towards nuclear weapons. Many countries are threaten by this with Iran's neighbour, Israel, being threaten the most as it is a country surrounded by many Arab countries who have different views than Israel. The countries surrounding Israel also have a growing hate for Israel, which is why Israel needs support of other countries. Canada would have issues with Iran and their nuclear power plant as it threatens not only Israel but potentially the whole world. I believe Canada would close their embassy now rather than a particular date because day by day Iran will be one step closer to building nuclear weapons and Canada is setting awareness that this need to end now before it is too late. This move by Canada does put more tension on the situation and it does put more potential risk on Canada because if Israel does decide to move into Iran it will possibly put an impact on the middle east and their views of Canada. I believe the United States also sees the potential danger right now as U.S. has supported Canada on its move to stop the nuclear program in Iran (See link below). This is also a big help to Israel because if Israel decides to move into Iran it has the U.S. - currently having one of the strongest military army in the world (See link below) to back them up. Israel is connected to this issue because of the troubling relationship between the two leaders, and the fact that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons should open Israel's eyes to the potential threat.
Sources:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/09/20129814399526977.html
http://www.globalfirepower.com/
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteI believe that Canada's decision to close it's embassy in Iran, was undoubtedly the right choice. The issue with Iran right now, is that they are researching and conduction experiments regarding nuclear weapons.While doing this they have repeated threatened Israel's existence. The United Nations has stepped in, and tried to fix the problems between Israel and Iran. However, Iran refuses to corporate and listen to the UN. This has caused growing concern with other countries around the world, and has lead Canada to this decision. By Canada cutting their ties with Iran, they are sending them a message that what they are doing needs to stop. They cannot continue with their nuclear weapon research. Israel is trying to get more countries to follow Canada's example, because the government feels that Iran needs a clear red line that they know to not go over. I completely agree that more countries need to stop up, and let Iran know they will not support what they are doing. As John Barid said, " the Iranian government is the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today". I agree with this statement, because if Iran is able to create nuclear weapons who knows who all they would attack. Even if they were to only attack Israel, it would cause a lot of problems throughout the rest of the world as well.
Aside from Canada cutting ties with Iran to let them know it is not okay, I believe Harper also did it to protect Canadian workers in Iran. Harper even made a comment during an interview where he said, " the biggest reason is the growing concern of the embassy workers, due to Iran's increasingly bad behaviour". It was also said that the Canadian embassy is located on a busy road, which puts it at a higher risk of attack. With Israel concerned that Iran will attack, who's to say that Israel will not just attack Iran? If that were to happen, the embassy workers would easily be caught in the cross fire. There is also no way to know that people in Iran would not just attack the Canadian Embassy for whatever reason.
I do believe that these events will cause more tension. Iran officials have made comments that Canada is hostile and racist. Also that they are under Britain and Israel control. It is clear that officials in Iran are angry, and feel that Canada has made a bad choice. Three Canada's in Iran are now on death row, and I believe it is because of Iran's anger towards Canada. I feel that Canada will be less at risk now that their workers are out of Iran, but we cannot be sure what Iran will do in retaliation. All in all though, I do believe that Canada has made the right decision in regards to closing the embassy in Iran, especially since three United States embassies were attacked earlier this week in the Middle East.
Sources:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1254591--canada-s-decision-to-cut-ties-with-iran-sent-the-right-message
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/09/harper-iran-apec.html
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/11/why-did-canada-cut-ties-with-iran-now
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-iran-canada-relations-idUSBRE88917W20120910