About-face

Domestic politics, placating Trump behind Canada’s Syria position

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s sudden about-face on the Syrian gas attack last week had politics and appeasing the Americans written all over it, an expert in Middle Eastern policy says.

University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau said U.S. President Donald Trump’s own “chaotic” position on Syria left America’s allies to react on the fly last week when the man who campaigned on a promise to off being the world’s police force suddenly started dropping bombs on a Syrian airfield.

“In this case we had no choice but to be reactive, and if anything we reacted more slowly than some of our other allies,” said Juneau, a former Middle East analyst with the Department of National Defence.

America wasn’t asking for Canada’s help militarily, it just wanted political backing from its allies for airstrikes which may have been illegal, he added.

Trudeau’s preference for multilateral co-operation on international issues and affinity for the United Nations is well known, so Juneau said it was no surprise Trudeau’s initial response to the attack was to press the UN to investigate. Less than 24 hours later, following a telephone call with Trump, Trudeau said publicly Canada now believed Assad was to blame and backed the airstrikes.

This week, the Canadian government is calling outright for Assad to be removed, and for Russia to stop supporting him.

Canada’s position has everything to do with staying on side with Trump and little to do with influencing anything internaswear tionally, because the only role Canada has to play is as part of a U.S.-led coalition, Juneau said.

Debate now is turning to imposing additional sanctions on Russia to force Putin to come on side, or whether additional military interventions are needed.

Trudeau still tends to favour a United Nations effort, but Juneau said the UN is paralyzed by a Security Council impasse as long as Russia isn’t on side with removing Assad. Russia proved that point Wednesday when it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to condemn the gas attack.