OH CANADA, EH! [again] (fwd)

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               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK

Senior Fellow                                      Residence
World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@fiu.edu

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 22:37:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu>
To: franka@fiu.edu
Subject: OH CANADA, EH! [again]






    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK

Senior Fellow                                      Residence
World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@fiu.edu

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My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's -
                       We have met the enemy, and it is US
--------------------------------------------------------------

OH CANADA, EH! [again] 
SAVE THE WORLD AND THYSELF, -
A Three Act Play Written  for Immediate Performance on the World Stage .
Actually this was first written in 1999 for performance then in the NATO
"Kosovo" War  against Yugoslavia,  but it was not adopted then.

Today this plan is even more urgent, and maybe more politically practical,
since even Prime Minster Chretien has expressed public disdain at
following the United States mission creep from the arms control demanded
of Iraq by the resolution of the UN Security Council - to the proposed
''regime change" proposed by the United States. Moreover opposition to the
war proposed by the US and UK is today nearly universal, and SC member
France with Germany already launched a trial balloon for intervention by
the United Nations.

Lester Pearson saved the world from itself in the 1956 Suez crisis. It's
time for Canada again to save the world and itself in the present Iraq
crisis. As a then non-Canadian non-resident in Montreal, I offered a
modest proposal to resolve the present threat to peace in a way that only
Canada is in a position to implement, but the implementation of which is
also of vital interest and benefit for Canada.:

1.      ACT ONE
Canada should take the initiative to convene an Emergency Session of the
United Nations General Assembly to deal with the present serious crisis in
the UN system, the United States/UK against Iraq,  and  the world. For
the Security Council is paralyzed by the split down the middle of vetoes
by its permanent members, two of which  threaten a veto, while  two others
threaten to disregard it. This move sets a most serious precedent to set
aside the UN and its security and peace keeping institutions and mechanism
altogether and threatens to spell the deathknell of the UN, like its
League of Nations predecessor  regarding Manchuria in 1931 and Abessinya
in 1936  before WW II. And now the United States and the United Kingdom
seems unable to do anything better than to expand their already illegal
war in the self-declared ''no fly zones'' more and more and perhaps to
provoke WW III.

The important and relevant Canadian counter-move precedent was set by
Prime Minister Lester Pearson  when in face of a similar threat  in 1956
he convoked the UN General Assembly  to deal with the Suez Crisis, in
which Britain and France were the aggressors and also paralyzed the
Security Council by their veto power. Moreover, Pearson elaborated,
presented and got approval and implementation of a  United Nations
Emergency Intervention Force  [UNEIF], whose military planning and then
overall command were in the hands of a Canadian general. British and
French aggression forces were replaced by and naturally excluded from this
UNIEF. The establishment of such a UNIEF is foreseen by the UN Charter,
under whose Articles 41 and 42 such a UN military force can be used within
the scope of exiting international law.  Indeed, the Security Council
itself adopted a  "Uniting for Peace" Resolution 377 in 1950 that empowers
the GEBERAL ASSEMBLY to intervene on a moment's notice to safe-guard the
peace  if the SC  " fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security,"  because it is too
divided or for some other reason. A simple majority of votes in the
General Assembly is sufficient to activate this provision and procedure. 

That  is decidedly NOT the case of any and all allegedly 'UN sanctioned'
interventions, such as that assembled by the US under its own command  in
the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. That  violated more than a half  dozen
articles of the UN Charter, including some in Articles 41 and
42.  Unfortunately, nobody  has yet explained to the public that  a second
SC vote  that is now in dispute to ''authorize" war would, even if
successful and then acted upon, would still violate at least seven
separate article of the UN Charter.  The US claim that  failure to vote
for its war plans would destroy the legitimacy of the SC and the UN is
nothing but a charade whose intent is to turn the UN inside out.  The
mandate of the Security Council is to not to make or sanction war, and the
threat to its legitimacy is a failure to preserve the PEACE.  The same
goes for the UN General Assembly.

It was Lester Pearson's concern and merit to preempt war in 1956 by going
to the General Assembly and urging IT to act, which it then did; and he
was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.  Moreover
the GA has done so again since then on nine additional occasions.  Today
it should and can be Canada's role again to lead the General Assembly to
demand an immediate stop to the bombing of Iraq and the plans for full
scale war and invasion.  The General Assembly could and should respond by
establishing  a new  multinational UNEIF to go into Iraq  on the ground if
necessary to prevent war from  spreading further.  It would be difficult
indeed, if not impossible, for the United States then to proceed with its
aggressive intent.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien  surely has a mandate and perhaps an
obligation to respect and  act on the precedent  for Canada again  to
exercise a leadership role in the United Nations for peace, as Canada more
than any other country has done in the UN over the past half century. In a
word, history has placed Canada  in a privileged position to initiate and
take steps to save the world and the United Nations in this period of
crisis.  

ACT TWO
A second motion that Canada - and others - should bring in this Emergency
Session of the UN General Assembly is to move the United Nations out of
the United States. Under present circumstances, such a Canadian motion may
be considered with favor by  many member state delegations, and all the
more so if Canada garners prestige and shows some independence of
initiative and action [especially within North America] through its motion
in Act One.  An additional factor  that may incline some delegations to
move the UN out of the United States is that , after repeated requests and
agreements, the United States remains in arrears in its payment of dues to
the UN. Yet  the US wishes to use the UN it in its own interests whenever
it is convenient , but to disregard it  whenever it is not.

A third  motion that Canada could and should  then bring before the
General Assembly is to invite and welcome the UN to move to Canada in
general and to Montreal in particular. At this time, such a motion could
be welcomed by the General Assembly. 

Canada and Montreal can offer  the United Nations a whole series of
advantages that  would be difficult for others to match: 

-       It is close to where it is now and still to Washington DC, yet in
a country that is independent [if it has shown itself to so be in Act I!]

- It has the only cities in North  American with the necessary
infrastructure to house the UN

-        Montreal is  a truly bi-lingual city speaking two of the major UN
languages  and immigrants who speak many other languages. 

-   That is attractive for francophone delegations and for France itself
under present circumstances.
     
-       Montreal  has a centrally located  area on the site of the 1967
World Expo on Ilse St. Helene,  which is  already accessible by metro  and
has available space to  construct office and meeting facilities for the
UN. 

-       Montreal has more or less  abundant housing at low costs relative
to other major cities that could harbor the UN

-       It is also otherwise  relatively economical, given its present
price level and the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar
-
-  Canada has been voted the best country in the world to live in!

ACT 3

What's in it for Canada? Plenty

-       The prestige of reviving its traditional role of doing something
useful in and for the UN and the world.

-       The need of taking an independent line on this UN issue will not
only garner further international prestige per se, but it could serve as
an impulse for greater Canadian independence  and bargaining power in
other matters as well.

-       Bringing, building , and  running the  UN site in Canada  would
bring  hundreds of millions of dollars into Canada

-   The UN in Canada  would offer extra employment to the people of
Quebec and ROC Canadians , both highly and less skilled .

- Bringing the UN to Montreal is likely de facto to settle in one fell
swoop the issue [even if at present not so burning] of whether Quebec be
in-or-out of the Federation: With the UN in Montreal, Quebec could not
afford to and would not wish to secede from Canada any more. Moreover, the
Province of Quebec and the City of Montreal [like New York City now] and
the UN could make bi-lateral 'administrative' arrangements for their
co-habitation, so that these and the UN itself could serve as a
institutional and moral guarantors of Quebec as a distinct society. Of
course, Canada still could and should accommodate the Quebecois, but it
would not need to fall and drown in any more Meech Lake like swamps. And
with Quebec finally safe and sound in the Confederation of Canada , so
would the Maritimes, Alberta, and BC. That is, Canada itself would be
saved!

CURTAIN CALL

In three simple acts building on Canadian precedent and prestige at the
United Nations, Canada today again has the golden opportunity to not only
to save the United Nations itself, but The World, Quebec, and Canada
itself into the bargain. All we [I wish I could say 'we' ] need is a
little bit of the political will and leadership in the tradition of  Dief
and Lester. 

JUST  SAY YES!  LET'S DO IT!!