40,000
I feel bad for civilians every time they get caught up in the middle of a war, but this most recent surge of events in the middle east has left me more puzzled than concerned - and for a number of reasons, not the least of which is why we are having an all out war over two kidnapped soldiers. Haven't the two sides [Hezbollah [I won't say Lebanon] and Israel] kidnapped and traded prisoners before?
With a Canadian focus though, and what also has me puzzled, some of the media have estimated that we have about 40,000 Canadians currently in Lebanon seeking evacuation. Now the total population of Canada is 33,098,932. In comparison with our American neighbours the total number of Americans currently in Lebanon: 25,000, total population of America 298,444,215.
If you did the math you'd probably be wondering why we have so many Canadians currently in Lebanon, are they all vacationing at this point? I hope so, 'cuz honestly I'd really hate to think that they are all holding Canadian citizenships merely for convenience, of travel or otherwise, or in times of sickness, all without working or paying into the same tax fund that will now be used to bail them out.
I hope a resolution comes quickly before this escalates into something that neither side is probably prepared for.
posted by Michelle Hopp at 11:07 AM
10 Comments:
This stat concerned me too.
As someone with a helluvalot of recent immigrants in my family tree, this story is hitting home for me (unprecedented, I normally don't give a rats @$$ about world politics and wars). Is this a situation where Canada is expected to act?
I probably would demand such a thing, were a similar situation occurring in the Philippines, but I can simultaneously acknowledge that it would probably be an entirely emotional response, rather than a rational one, and I generally think that political action by a nation based entirely on an irrational (let's face it) minority is very unwise...
I'm probably just showing my ignorance, but I like you all enough to do that. :)
1:49 PM
I think the G8 issued a statement yesterday, I think they've been trying to find a common ground as France/Russia views differed from the ones held by US/UK/Canada.
Something about stop the fighting and asking Hezbollah to give the kidnapped soldiers back. Bush has said on national television that Israel has a right to defend itself which initially says the US agree with Israel's actions... which isn't helping things.
The whole middle east is a mess, it's been a mess for a while and no doubt what is happening now is a result of long held grudges and deep rooted conflict between these countries, but if you were to look at the current mess it seems that Hamas [depending on who you ask Hamas can be described as either a democratically elected government or a Palestinian terrorist group] has alleged that Israel is holding civilian prisoners and that Israel has also stopped trading with them, most of the world has also cut off aid to the Hamas run gov't.
This has apparently led to an economic crisis for them.
In retaliation they've kidnapped an Israeli soldier and is demanding Israel release some of the Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier they have. Israel have decided to launch an offensive against the Palestinians as their way of saying "no thanks".
Hezbollah on the other hand, a terrorist group that was founded after Israel had invaded Lebanon many years ago, absolutely hate the Israelis so when Israel stepped up their offensive against the Palestinians they decided to sneak into Israel and kidnap some Israeli soldiers. Israel then started an offensive against Lebanon, who in turn fired rockets at Israel, which lead to an increased offensive by Israel.
The big issue with all this is that innocent Lebanonese citizens are dying, and seven Canadians are also dead as a result of Israel's attack on Lebanon. The Lebanonese gov't doesn't seem to have any control over Hezbollah and can do nothing more than plead for a ceasefire and for intervention from the UN.
As to whether Canada is expected to act, well after a few days of doing nothing I think they've now decided that they are going to act, it took seven dead Canadians for it to happen but whatever. Coming from a country of increasing violence myself my heart goes out to everyone caught in the crossfire over there and I hope they stop the fighting soon before more innocent lives are lost.
2:51 PM
I understand that the Lebanese gov't doesn't have any control over Hezbollah but you have to put it in perspective. If Quebec decided to start launching an offensive against the US, the Canadian gov't would be expected to do something about it and put a stop to it. If they didn't... and the US then bombed the crap out of Montreal... would we have any right to feel put out by the whole thing? If you can't keep your own people under wraps and stop them from assaulting other countries, then you have to expect the retaliatory measures that are going to result.
3:04 PM
Right, but what if the Canadian gov't under rule at that time had no control over the guerillas in Quebec and the US decided to bomb all of Canada including our major ports and our airports?
No control over them means no control over them.
What if this "no control" theory meant they were bombing your backyard and your neighbour's apt buildings into rubble?
Yeah sure I'd understand the US position, which would be "kill them all" and flush out the guerillas but how exactly is this diplomatic and what about innocent civilians caught in the US's revenge and retaliation strategy?
Basically if that ever happened we'd all be screwed so let's hope those Quebecers aren't up to anything ;)
3:47 PM
You know... I'm not so thrown by the stats of Canadians vs. US citizens there right now (after all Canada's a hell of a lot friendlier to folks from the Middle East in the last decade or so), but more by the fact that Canada really has no idea how many Canadians are there... they can confirm 20,000.. . they can GUESS 40,000... but they don't really know for sure.
Oddly enough for Bush, he's on record (although he wasn't aware of it at the time) as having expressed more than a little exasperation over Isreal's actions in this matter. Even Bush can recognize that there's a big difference between "the right to defend ones borders and citizens" and "let's use the capture of 2 soldiers to justify something we've been looking to do for years on end and now we finally have the chance to take a step towards dominating the entire region". (ok, over-simplifying, but still)
I'm just wondering how they're going to get these Cypriot cruise ships close enough to pick up the U.S. and Canadian citizens being evacuated, since the port of Beirut has already been bombed to hell.
I can't remember... was Canada held responsible when the Fenians invaded and torched the White House? Did they try to beat the crap out of us for that one?
4:37 PM
Seriously? We had a group that tried to burn the White House?
I've just GOT to know more about this, I'll try googling it.
10:23 AM
August 24th or 25th 1814... apparently I mis-remembered and it was British troops (which at that time would likely have contained Canadians as well) that sacked it, stole artwork, and burned it. They lost most of the artwork during their flight to Montreal after the raid when several boats sank ;)
11:38 AM
I had a good laugh this morning whilst reading that Doris Madison grabbed, and so ending up saving, the portrait of George Washington on her way out the door.
Who knew Canadians can strike such fear in the hearts of others? *LOL*
Apparently the British retaliated because the US was constantly trying to invade us and the british army was basically our army.
There's actually a thread about this:
http://www.canadaka.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=624
12:44 PM
Here's a well-written article on this subject in the Sun.
12:44 PM
Heh. And from such a reputable source at that. ;)
8:04 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home