Mohamed Fahmy doesn't get it

Mohamed Fahmy still seems to be under the impression that the Canadian government should be working feverishly behind the scenes to get him out of Egypt. He is, after all, a Canadian citizen.

Obviously, they haven't been, or he'd be free by now. Problem is, the vindictive racists in Harper's Ottawa don't see him as a Canadian at all. They see him as an Egyptian, and not a "good" Egyptian like Generalissimo al-Sisi, but a highly suspect Egyptian who most likely harbours thoughts sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and, God forbid, Palestinians.

While he may technically be a Canadian, he's not really one; he's just one of those "Canadians of convenience" who keeps a Canadian passport in his back pocket as an insurance policy of sorts. The Middle East is full of those kind of Canadians, and frankly, the Harperites are sick of them.

Unlike the many folks who successfully hold dual Canada-Israel citizenship, Arab Canadian loyalties must always be suspect. It's yet another manifestation of what, over the last ten years, has become the dominant characteristic of the face Canada shows to the world; our hypocrisy.

Omar Khadr is another sterling example of that face. A lot of worthy-sounding do-gooder initiatives get serious traction in Canada, because most Canadians fancy themselves as kind and compassionate people. The campaign to free and rehabilitate child soldiers was one of these initiatives, at least so long as the problem of child soldiers was confined to primitive nations teeming with barbaric brown people. Then a 15 year old Afghan-Canadian kid gets caught in a fire-fight with US troops in Afghanistan, and all that compassion flies out the window faster than you can say "just kidding," and the Harper gang have spent untold millions blocking every legal move aimed at freeing and rehabilitating our own child soldier.

Again, it's because while he may have been technically a Canadian, he wasn't considered a "real" Canadian, because his daddy was a "terrorist" and his mommy wears a Niqab, and the dirty little shit personally threw a hand-grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, and any Afghan defending Afghanistan from the tender mercies of the US/NATO liberation is not worthy of inclusion in a modern civilized society like Canada.

Now this most virtuous of the Nations of Virtue has committed to spending half a billion dollars bombing Syria, a mission with only the fuzziest of rationales, no explicit goals, and no exit strategy. What we're seeing is Harper using foreign policy and the Canadian Forces to paint himself as some ersatz Warrior King in time for the coming election.

Let's hope enough voters see through the hypocrisy.

Fahmy wonders why Canada won't "bring him home"

Mohamed Fahmy, the Canadian-Egyptian journalist ensconced in a Cairo prison for over a year, for allegedly aiding and abetting the Muslim Brotherhood, wondered aloud today about why Canada has not done more to bring him home.

The Muslim Brotherhood, as you may recall, won the last free election held in Egypt. Many would argue that they won the only free election ever held in Egypt.

When the reactionary blowback from al-Sisi's forces shuffled the democratically elected Morsi off to prison, nobody applauded longer and harder than the Government of Canada.

At last the people of Egypt had an opportunity to pursue true democracy by overthrowing a democratically elected leader. In hindsight it looks like a trial run for the Ukraine coup.

The Nations of Virtue are all about democracy till the people in some foreign land elect someone who does not have the stamp of approval from the Nations of Virtue, and suddenly deposing a democratically elected government becomes a virtuous blow for democracy!

Ya, I know; I can't follow the logic either...

Fahmy, the think-tank here at Falling Downs has nothing but the best hopes for you, and we hereby extend an invite to our famous Canada Day celebration on July 1. Hope you can make it.

(Just hot-dogs, burgers, and lots of beer, but if you can make it we'll bust the budget and throw on some steaks!)

However, we are driven by duty to explain why Canada isn't doing more for you.

The Harper gang doesn't like Arabs, unless they're buying stuff, especially Arabs who don't dance to the tune of the great democratic Emirs of the Gulf statelets and the King of Saudi Arabia.

Let's not pussy-foot around; Fahmy, in official Ottawa circles, you stink.

And if you think your 400 plus days of confinement was a tough row to hoe, think about your fellow Canadians Maher Arar and Omar Khadr.

Their respective ordeals make your 400 days a cake-walk in comparison!

So buck up, stop whining, and we hope to see you July 1st!

Fahmy family lashes out at Canadian govt

Mohamed Fahmy's family in Canada has had some rude things to say about the Harper government's utter disinterest in the case.

Can't say I blame them.

Have to admit the think tank here at Falling Downs believed Baird was going to make Fahmy's release his swan song. Apparently five millions wasn't enough to seal the deal. After all, what's five million from Canada when Mad-Dog-Putin shows up a week later and puts a multi-billion nuclear energy program on the table?

Canada under the Harper gang has never missed an opportunity to poke Putin in the eye. Had we been but a tad more diplomatic in our "diplomacy," it's not hard to imagine Putin lobbying for the release of our Canadian journalist. (Interesting to read the comments for the NP article and see how many Canadians don't consider Fahmy a "Canadian.") The non-stop anti-Putin vitriol out of Ottawa for the last decade could give al-Sisi a motive to keep Fahmy just to suck up to Putin.

Ironically, at the time al-Sisi was deposing the democratically elected Morsi, he was getting nothing but accolades from Canadian media and the Harper gang. The praise was virtually universal.

And there he is today, holding hands with Putin.

Obviously we've had some shortcomings in the world 'o diplomacy...

As for the Fahmys, I understand their confusion. The Canada they thought they moved to when they arrived here twenty-five years ago isn't the Canada they live in today.

Sorry about your luck, folks, but you'll get more sympathy from the Egyptian embassy than from the government of Canada.

Globe and Mail reports Fahmy to be released imminently

That's nothing; we reported that Fahmy's release was imminent two weeks ago.

Five million dollars goes a long way in Egypt!

Canada pays $5 millions baksheesh to grease release of Mohamed Fahmy from Cairo prison

While Foreign Minister John Baird's government jet was taxiing down the runway, destination Cairo, his department issued a press release announcing a surprise five million dollar gift for an obscure youth employment project in Egypt!

Expect to hear some very good news about Fahmy soon!

Qatar climb-down signals imminent release of Jazeera journos

In the front office and on the front page, the Emirs of Qatar have officially turned their backs on the MB. That means those three Jazeera journalists who have been cooling their heels in a Cairo prison for the past year will be coming home soon.

Meanwhile, who knows what's going on in the back rooms? Just because Qatar has left the MB to hang, does that mean their support for the far more radical IS types in Iraq and Syria is over?

And would somebody, anybody, please make sure those three guys are released very soon, otherwise the ever-unctuous Canadian FM will take credit for their release!

Canada FM Baird smears critics with "anti-semitism" slur

Ferry de Kerckhove had a long and distinguished career in Canada's Foreign Service, culminating in Egypt where he served as Canada's ambassador from 2009-2011. As such we might have some cause to assume he knows what he is talking about when he questions Canada's non-chalant handling of the Mohamed Fahmy file. Specifically, he had the temerity to suggest that Ottawa's lethargy may be related to the fact that our very best friends in Israel are quite enamoured of the al-Sisi regime, and neither Harper nor Baird are willing to go against the Likud party line.

To which the Foreign Minister replied with this appalling non-sequitur; "There are some people in this world who want to blame every single problem on Israel, the Jews... it's deeply offensive and ridiculous."

Fans of Israeli PM Netanyahu will recognize this strategy as coming straight out of the Likud playbook. When rational debate fails you, seize the moral high ground by calling your critics names. Not a particularly sophisticated strategy, but it works. 

If Mohamed Fahmy was in an Iranian jail, would John Baird be "working behind the scenes", or would he reach for his bullhorn?

Foreign Minister John Baird's cowardly claim that Canada is "working behind the scenes" for the release of Mohamed Fahmy, as quoted in the National Post today, belies the truth behind Canada's efforts on behalf of citizens who run afoul of the law in foreign countries.

Can anyone have any doubt that Baird's bullhorn would be going off at full volume were Fahmy incarcerated in Iran or Russia? The denunciations and condemnations would be flying loudly and often. No "working behind the scenes" nonsense from Baird when he's got a quibble with those empires of evil.

But when al-Sisi overthrows a democratically elected government we applaud him for returning hope to the people of Egypt.

When he wins an election in which the main opposition party is banned from participating, we congratulate him on his triumph.

When hundreds of leaders in that opposition are sentenced to death in show trials, we say nothing...

Or is Baird "working behind the scenes" for them too?

Canada joins free-speech bastion China in failing to condemn Egypt journalists' verdict

The Hindustan Times takes China to task for failing to condemn the verdict in the show trial of the three Al Jazeera journalists.

They forgot to mention that Nation of Virtue extraordinaire, Canada, has also been remiss in critiquing this grave violation of journalistic freedom.

But according to Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird, it's not because we don't care about freedom of speech, it's because we're working "behind the scenes" to mend the error of al-Sisi's ways.

So really, Canada is doing more than anyone to sort things out, and this "quiet" approach has a proven track record.

After all, that's how Baird and Harper got their best bud Netanyahu to shut down his illegal settlement-building enterprise.

How CSIS could get Mohamed Fahmy out of that Cairo prison real fast *

* (If they were so inclined.)

There are hundreds of Egyptian students pursuing advanced studies at Canadian universities. CSIS knows who they are.

Most of them come from the elite of Egyptian society. Some of them come from the uber-elite with direct ties to the military leadership. CSIS knows who they are too.

So we play by Egyptian rules for a few days. Make a few arrests. Make a few phone calls;

"Hello dear parents of Egyptian student studying at U of T. I am very sorry to inform you that we have uncovered your son's very un-Islamic activities. As you may not realize, we take the viewing of certain images very seriously here in Canada, as you do in Egypt, Allah be praised! We are very terribly sorry for the burden of shame your little Abdul has brought on you...  but for a small favour we can make this story go away."

That should do it!