Friendship with the United States, as several friends of the US are learning the hard way, doesn’t mean what it once did.
Israel and Saudi Arabia feel abandoned as the US flirts with Iran, whom both anxious countries see as a mortal threat intent on developing nuclear weapons.
Now Canada has new reason to feel abused by US foot-dragging over the Keystone XL pipeline.
The day before an important trilateral meeting on North American relations, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made his aim clear.
“If there’s one message I’m going to be promoting on this trip, it’s this,” he said in a Jan. 16 speech to the US Chamber of Commerce. “The time for Keystone is now.”
TransCanada, the project sponsor, filed its original application for a presidential permit for the Keystone XL border crossing in September 2008. If not expanded, transport capacity will constrict production from the Canadian oil sands.
“I’ll go further,” Baird told the Chamber. “The time for a decision on Keystone is now, even if it’s not the right one. We can’t continue in this state of limbo.”
In the tender contexts of diplomacy, this statement carries unusual force.
The US response? Limbo will last awhile.
“I can promise our friends in Canada that all the appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly,” said US Sec. of State John Kerry in a Jan. 17 press conference, as reported by CBC News. “An analysis will be made with respect to the national interest ultimately, and we’re just not at that point yet.”
Does Kerry expect anyone to believe that after 5 years of study the government still can’t decide about Keystone XL? The clear fact is that President Barack Obama doesn’t want to anger environmental activists committed to obstructing oil-sands development in service to their campaign against oil.
Condescending dishonesty is no way to treat a friend. And consistent acquiescence to extremism is no way to manage national affairs.
(This article appeared first online at www.ogj.com on Jan. 17, 2014; author’s email: [email protected])