Frat-Boy Messes Up Again

How is one supposed to believe that the same China that wouldn't take its employee's call had a "constructive" meeting with him at the G20 conference in a matter of seconds?:

Justin Trudeau kept his cards close to the vest Saturday as he wrapped up this weekend’s high-stakes G20 meetings in Japan, acknowledging Canada’s protracted impasse with China but offering few details about the ongoing effort to liberate the two Canadians caught in the crossfire.

The arrest in China of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — victims, from Canada’s perspective, of a three-way diplomatic standoff rooted primarily in a dispute between the United States and Beijing — came up in sideline talks with President Xi Jinping, the prime minister said before jetting back to Ottawa.

But Trudeau would say little else about what he called a “challenging moment” for Canada, and it remained agonizingly unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump had made good on his promise to raise the issue in his own bilateral meeting with Xi.

(Sidebar: way to get the Americans to do your fighting for you, Justin.)

“I think it was important that I have an opportunity to have face-to-face discussions with President Xi on this issue,” Trudeau said. The two did not formally meet, but were spotted having discussions on the margins of the gathering — “constructive interactions,” in the words of the Prime Minister’s Office.

(source)

It's pathetic to watch.


Also - trying to supplant the US with China as the main trading partner is stupid to say the very least:

It was widely accepted around cabinet that courting China was Canada’s future, not the United States.

But then NAFTA had to be renegotiated and soon after Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou was arrested.

Suddenly the Trudeau government was caught in a rift between Canada’s traditional and natural ally led by a man it despised and “the next big thing” asking for a serious request. ...

Since the China crisis erupted, Trudeau has been cornered into, trying to play with Canada’s middle power role, caught between two growling beasts. 

The Chinese refuse to meet with Canadian officials and the United States just smiles and nods at Trudeau’s team. ...

Trump is playing Trudeau for a patsy.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland keeps telling the public that they have lined up this grand, global coalition to free the two detained Canadians. Freeland might be able to fool Trudeau with this message, but she is not fooling the Chinese.

Trump is refusing to withdraw the extradition request or to take steps to help the two detained Canadians.

Perhaps this is because Trump does not actually want Meng Wanzhou on trial in the United State because he does not want to replicate the breakdown in American-Chinese relations that Canada is bearing.

Trump still “wants a deal” with the Chinese because he sees himself as a dealmaker for his country, not Canada. So Trump is likely quite happy for Meng to stay stuck in Canada, and for Canada to endure retaliation and punishment, and for the US to avoid it by keeping her there.

By now, it is clear that Trudeau has no plan, save for awkward social interactions and games with Xi and Trump.

And - Trump's softening on North Korea is morally troubling and politically disastrous. One is shocked to see it from him. One is not so shocked to see this sycophancy, weakness and legitimisation of a dictatorship from Justin:

While Meng awaits her extradition hearing in one of her Vancouver mansions, in the rooms where Kovrig and Spavor are held the lights are reportedly never turned off. They are interrogated daily, without lawyers present; consular visits are restricted to once a month.

They had better get used to it, for all anyone in this country is prepared to do about it, or even seems to care. Were this the United States, Britain or any other country, their fates would be the subject of blanket media coverage and round-the-clock vigils, reflecting their fellow citizens’ concern for their well-being.

But this is Canada, where the response is to shrug and ask what else is on? Fellow citizens? What’s that?

I don’t doubt that behind the scenes government officials are doing everything they can, or think they are. But the pressure to bring the Canadians home is surely less for the conspicuous failure of other Canadians to give a damn.

Indeed, what is striking throughout this standoff is that most of the pressure has come from the other side. It is China, not Canada, that has used trade as a weapon, blocking imports of Canadian meat and canola. It was the Chinese air force that buzzed a Canadian warship in the East China Sea.

If Canadians truly cared about who led their country and the evils of communism, Justin would still be on the supply list.