Wesley Wark

Shi Rong’s emails suggest something more than a friendship with Bob Dechert. Wesley Wark sees a cautionary message and J. Michael Cole says some Chinese correspondents are selected by the Ministry of State Security, but Mark Bourrie says there’s not much to worry about. Paul Dewar thinks Mr. Dechert should offer his resignation, but Joe Comartin isn’t calling for Mr. Dechert to be removed from the committee vetting potential Supreme Court appointees.

The parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs has rebuked the CSIS chief over those allegations of foreign interference in Canadian politics and Mr. Fadden is now due to appear before the public safety committee next Monday. Wesley Wark, meanwhile, demands a mea culpa

Wesley Wark outlines the necessity of a lasting solution to our current predicament.

Stockwell Day says the government will not comply with Parliament’s demand for access to uncensored information on Afghan detainees. Wesley Wark, appointed to the government’s advisory council on national security in 2005 and reappointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007 (his term has since expired), suggests the government take a different approach.

Richard Colvin indicates at least some of his reports were sent directly to the Foreign Affairs Minister’s office, while internal e-mails show Foreign Affairs was worried that making too big a deal of a change to the detainee transfer agreement in early 2007 might compel some to ask why it took so long. The Star pinpoints the arrival of Colvin’s memos to Peter MacKay’s office in spring 2006. The Globe profiles David Mulroney. The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers issues a statement on the public treatment of Richard Colvin. And op-eds from Errol Mendes, Wesley Wark, James Ron, Lewis MacKenzie and Vic Toews.

Investigation should take place “outside the arena of partisan politics”

I agree with just about every word of Wesley Wark‘s piece in today’s Ottawa Citizen, in which he argues that Canada’s policy on Omar Khadr has finally run up against “a realpolitik wall.” The new administration in Washington will want the remaining detainees at Guantanamo dealt with once and for all, and that means, like it or not, that Khadr must and shall come home. So, Wark suggests, let’s get on with figuring out how best to manage that eventuality. (The government, naturally, will have none of it.)

So while the Globe advances the Berner/Couillard story on several fronts this weekend (see below), the Post opts for a single story. And then manages to bury the lede. For convenience, here’s the third sentence: “But a slim majority, 55%, also want the RCMP to investigate whether Mr. Bernier breached national security, and they want the Mounties to delve into his relationship with Julie Couillard, according to a new poll.”