TWEETS NOT DIPLOMATIC

International affairs can be a delicate, and sometimes dangerous, dance for world leaders. The steps and missteps come with the most serious of stakes — from security, to the economy, to matters of life and death.

As such, this weekend’s blowup between Canada and Saudi Arabia should be viewed with concern.

While most Canadians were enjoying a holiday long weekend, a days-old tweet from Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland escalated into a major diplomatic row with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Freeland tweeted out concern over the arrest of women’s rights activist Samar Badawi and urged her release.

There is much history with the Badawi family. Her brother, writer Raif Badawi, was arrested in 2012 on charges of insulting Islam while blogging.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. His wife now lives in Canada and received citizenship in July.

Soon, Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia was being ejected from that country, all “new business” between the two nations had been suspended, and plans were being drawn up to remove 20,000 Saudi students from Canadian post-secondary institutions.

To be clear, we do not doubt the federal government’s cause, here. The arrests in question are, without doubt, cause for grave concern.

It is, however, the tactics of the minister that give us pause. Canada has made many of its greatest contributions to diplomacy by acting as a sage, rationale player behind the scenes, taking part in back-channel conversations to improve the state of world affairs.

In the age of social media, we fear such understated tactics are being overshadowed by more clumsy tools or approaches.

Did this tweet achieve its desired result, whatever that might have been? We are doubtful.

The real-world consequences of social media should be all too familiar to this federal government. It was only in January of last year that the prime minister tweeted a statement about Canada welcoming asylum seekers. That online remark has been cited by many for the large influx of people trying to cross our border with the United States.

The righteousness of indignation is simply not a privilege we can afford our politicians in these matters. We need from them sober second thoughts and well-considered actions.

Preaching for the sake of hearing our own voice adds little to the conversation and even less in terms of meaningful action.

Now, as always, we must move carefully and watch our feet on a complicated world stage.