blevkog

Can he do that without Parliament's approval? I'm not certain about the sort of powers that the neocons have on their own. That decision is a "Canadian" one, not a Party one, isn't it? How does that work? That looks more like they are just carrying water for Bush!

We certainly respect democracy abroad, eh? This kinda puts the lie to one of the stated reasons for our soldiers being in Afghanistan, and to the American soldiers being in Iraq. Our governments aren't interested in exporting democracy, unless the people involved actually vote for certain approved parties. That doesn't sound like democracy to me. There is another word for it...

To Anon: I'm pretty sure foreign aid budgeting is an entirely ministerial decision. They might debate it in the House, but the decision still rests with Mackay. Expect him to run back to the potato farm if this decision ends up being unpopular (which I doubt will happen).

Bri is right - foreign aid budgets are handled largely at the minister's level, though specific initiatives have to be passed in Parliament.

The real problem that I see here is that the western governments, like ours, are seeing this vote as a vote "for terrorism" rather than a vote against corruption, waste and ineptitude. This misinterpretation might well lead to problems if other governments are as short-sighter as ours, because if the situation in Palestine does not begin to get better we could see an increase in real terrorism.