Stephen Harper says Canada will stand against “anti-Israel rhetoric” at international organizations like the United Nations as long as he is prime minister — “whatever the cost.”

Ignatieff doesn’t get it.

The Opposition leader also levelled criticism at Harper for Canada’s failure to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, saying it was not a “moral victory” to lose out on a position from which Canada could have defended Israel on the international stage.

“If Canada wishes to defend Israel against Iran, as it should, it would have been nice to be on the UN Security Council,” Ignatieff said.

So Ignatieff is suggesting that Harper should not support Israel because we don’t get to be in a symbolic role at the UN with the other Israel haters? Or is he saying we should flip-flop between being a Israel supporter when we have a seat and a hater when we don’t?

A U.S. law enforcement source said Monday the men may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles with electronic devices attached in checked baggage.

But two U.S. government officials Tuesday said an initial U.S. investigation into the men shows no evidence of terrorism and no indication the men even knew each other.

“This looks like nothing,” said one official, saying both men missed flights in Chicago due to a gate change and their airline rebooked them onto the same plane.

“We see no evidence of a dry run or a connection to terrorism,” said the source, who is not authorized to discuss the case with the media and asked not to be named.

I think I’m going to have to trust the US law enforcement source rather than a couple of US government officials who were potentially involved in this decision and disobey orders like not talking to the media. I sure hope this was a trap to catch the officials in the act so they can be fired.

In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O’Hare.

Jeepers, I have to take off my shoes and undo my belt but these crazies can bring a knife thrower’s luggage into the airport and not miss a flight.

This world is bass ackwards.

Sikora, medical director of CancerPartnersUK, was hired by Libyan authorities to help determine al Megrahi’s life expectancy in July 2009, The Sunday Times reported.

“It was clear that three months was what they were aiming for. Three months was the critical point. On the balance of probabilities, I felt I could sort of justify [that],” Sikora said, according to The Sunday Times.

…

He said he wasn’t pressured. “There was a 50 percent chance that he would die in three months, but there was also a 50 percent chance that he would live longer,” Sikora said, according to The Sunday Times. via CNN.

So the Libyans pay a doctor to write a report that a terrorist will die within three months. The terrorist actually may live 20 years but hey, it is a coin flip these days on whether Dr. Sikora’s life expectancy estimating racket is accurate or not.

Dr. Sikora should serve the rest of al Megrahi’s life sentence.

The head of Iran’s soccer federation issued a public apology and a member of his staff resigned after the federation mistakenly sent a New Year’s greeting to its counterpart in Israel, Iranian officials announced Sunday.

There are dozens of editors working overtime at the CBC, trying to figure out how to blame this on George W Bush.

My favorite part is this paragraph:

ALISON LECLAIRE CHRISTIE (Canada) said that her delegation had taken note of the request made by the Palestinian delegation, during the last session, to defer consideration of a resolution on the Goldstone Report until the next regular session in March 2010. The lead co-sponsors had believed that this would allow for more time for broad-based and comprehensive consideration of the report. Canada was very concerned that this Special Session had been called so soon after this assessment had been made. The Council’s credibility depended on its preparedness to confront violations of human rights and Canada strongly supported the use of a Special Session to address grave violations of human rights wherever and whenever they occurred but was concerned at the continued and unbalanced attention given by the Council to Middle East issues. This Special Session was considered by Canada as a very poor precedent for the Council which undermined its integrity.

Here are the voting results which should highlight the integrity of the UN Human Rights Council.

In favour (25): Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, and Zambia.

Against (6): Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine, and United States of America.

Abstentions (11): Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, and Uruguay.

I almost thought better of it, but I had to ask: “Have you ever been to Israel, Tom?�

“Yes!� he said, beaming. “It is my country. It is beautiful. I have family there. The first time I went to Israel, after the 1967 war, I was afraid the Jews might eat my flesh. But they were so nice to me in Haifa. They welcomed me into their homes even though I am Palestinian. We hated them, you know, after all that had happened. But I was welcome as a Palestinian. The Jews are good people. Like you.�

Of course, saying something like that is going to make him a target.

Tom is a 60 year old Palestinian who lives in Jordan, and his real name isn’t Tom. He, like all the other interpreters I’ve met in Iraq, goes by an American name to conceal his identity. There is a chance he could be hunted down by terrorists and murdered in Jordan if he could be traced.

Read the whole thing. [via]

Why he agreed to talk to CNN at this moment remains a mystery to me.

Well let’s see. You buy everything he said hook, line and sinker.

I do have to say that this line shows the quality of writing we can expect these days.

We sipped coffee uneasily as we waited for Meshaal to emerge for an interview that was more than three years in the making. Suddenly and without warning, the Hamas leader appeared.

What do you mean “without warning”? Were you not waiting for him to emerge? Did you expect trumpets to blare and his security guards to start dancing?

Thanks CNN.

If Bush can be blamed for anything, it’s following the longstanding and always fruitless American assumption that there is a “Palestinian society� rather than a death cult who has taken on the trappings of a society.