Inkless Wells

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NATO: MacKay's late-blooming Polish friendships

by Paul Wells on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:36am - 37 Comments

Polish diplomat touts “young, super-intelligent, dynamic and resourceful” Peter MacKay to (non-satirical) Polish newspaper for NATO secretary-general. (That’s “młody, superinteligentny, dynamiczny, przedsiębiorczy,” for those of you brushing up on your Polish.) And indeed, a Polish googlenews search shows considerable interest in “kanadyjski minister obrony Peter MacKay.” One doubts that a late-blooming Turkish/Polish alliance-within-the-alliance can save the MacKay candidacy, but it is fun to watch.

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Derek Pearce

It would be great if MacKay became NATO Sec-Gen, because he looks so medieval. He appears as though he’s a figure lifted right off of the Bayeux tapestry, come to life. He needs to don some chain mail and a metal helmet with a noseguard, and walk with a Whippet at his heels… that’ll put those Ruskies in their place!

Mike T.

Peter MacKay for NATO mascot!
Matthew Fletcher

Peter MacKay is taller, bigger, healthier and older, than most men of 10th-13th centuries would have been.

Perhaps you mean he looks as though he belongs in a Mel Gibson film.

PolJunkie

Mackay is “super-intelligent?”

MUAHAHAHA!!!!
Critical Reasoning

Poland’s support is significant, because NATO is a consensus organization. If Turkey absolutely refuses to accept the Dane as Sec Gen, then MacKay could find new support in the most unlikely places.

Paul Wells

But even then, asking everyone else to go from a settled preference for an experienced West European to an untested first-time-ever Canadian is like asking Henry Fonda to sway the entire rest of the jury in 12 Angry Men. I’m bemused that this MacKay thing has gone as far as it has, but his odds are still really long.

Wayne

I agree completely Paul. I honestly can’t remember a time when such and idea was even thought of let alone manouvered for .. this is interesting and who knows! Next stop though that will be even better is if we can get the seat on the UN Security Council – is anyone there looking into this and making notes?
Critical Reasoning

Sure, MacKay’s odds are long (I had him at 15% most recently), but stranger things have happened. What happens if Turkey simply refuses to budge on Rasmussen, due to extreme political sensitivity back home? One could imagine a scenario where the consensus shifts rapidly to MacKay (assuming that most members consider him to be an unobjectionable second choice).

Critical Reasoning

Is there any candidate aside from MacKay who would be a viable second choice, if Rasmussen cannot achieve a consensus vote?

Paul Wells

Well, this gets into how annoying large committees always are. A lot of names on the table should be broadly acceptable to just about everyone. Rasmussen is a Western European, so Europeans who simply don’t like to have to think about the weird new member countries should be able to stand a Dane. And he’s relatively Atlanticist (i.e. pro-U.S.), so the Eastern Europeans should like him fine too. In act I was told in February that the job would essentially be his if he wanted it. Radek Sikorski, the Pole, is urbane, not particularly provocative, should come across as “less Eastern European” than a lot of others. But apparently he’s still too spicy for Paris and Berlin. There was a Bulgarian guy, but apparently no dice. And so on and so on. It’s the sort of thing that eventually leads people to start taking second looks at that brilliant young Canadian fellow.

CAPS

Are you saying Peter MacKay is Stéphane Dion?

Mike T.

Does the position require signing any important documents and treaties and then being expected to keep them? Because I see a big negative for him if it does.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Whatever could you mean?

Critical Reasoning

Good thing that most NATO members don’t care about the intricacies of Canadian politics. In fact, any Europeans who take a second look at MacKay’s bio will probably see MacKay’s brief tenure as PC leader as a positive. He built alliances, adroitly maneuvered through a political minefield, and was instrumental in crafting a successful merger that would soon become Canada’s new government. It may not be as impressive as being the Danish PM, but it certainly displays an understanding of realpolitik.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Cf. Machiavelli’s The Princeling, Chapter 8: “On Breaking Your Sworn Word in a Fully Documented and Provable Fashion.”

I dunno if a willingness to break written agreements and sell out your nominal friends is what the various NATO factions are looking for in a SG. It’s an alliance of consensus, not revolutionary France.

http://coyne kc

But he did it adroitly Jack – as opposed to unadroitly – that’s what counts for political ethics these days.
Critical Reasoning

Please, these are Europeans we’re talking about here. If anything they’re more likely to see the Canadian candidate as being refreshingly free of guile. Every successful politician has moments in their career that could be construed as Machiavellian. This is especially true in Europe.
http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

You’re right, kc, and by way of Realpolitik I take my hat off to him. I’m just wondering, if you’re Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff — and aren’t we all, deep inside — and you see this Canadian SG candidate who’s got a history of selling out the little guy for his own greater glory, wouldn’t you go “Hmmm”?
http://coyne kc

CR
Refreshingly lacking in guile – yr being ironic right. Europe hasn’t changed as much as you might like to think. One thing that amused me from my stay in Germany was how much they still don’t like each other. The west German’s look down on the ossies [ E Germans], and both despise the poles and on and on. The E. europeans probably look at Canada as some sort of place that’s a little more civillized than Russia but poorer than America , a sort of more honest but backward US.
http://coyne kc

JM
If i were Putin i’d be coaming my files for a rich, well connected blonde who’s not too choosy and doesn’t mind helping out in the potato patch.
Critical Reasoning

Jack – Bulgaria must be terrified of being somehow “sold out” by a NATO Sec Gen. This is the same Bulgaria who lobbied so vigorously to join NATO and finally achieved its goal in 2004, three years before it joined the European Union. I’m sure Bulgarians are much more suspicious of Western Europeans than those benign Canadians. They even have a large Turkish minority who were undoubtedly riled by the Danish cartoons.

kc – exactly, Europeans are not a big happy family… there is a lot of inter-European discord, in contrast to everyone’s generally positive impression of Canada.
http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

CR — I’m happy to agree with you that as a nation we probably have a good reputation with the Europeans, and that’s all to MacKay’s credit, but don’t you think they’re also looking at the guy’s personality / past history? I don’t know what Rasmussen’s personality / past history is, but if there’s one country in Europe that could give us a run for our money in terms of benignity, it’s surely Denmark. I don’t recall any bitter Bulgaro-Danish Wars . . .
Critical Reasoning

Haven’t you heard the rumor that Rosencrantz was a political instigator of Bulgarian origin? ;-)

Bulgaria took a stand against the “intolerance” of the Danish cartoons, and is considered one of the most pro-Islam countries in Europe.

Arab Envoys: Bulgaria Real Tolerance Model
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev received a letter from the Arab envoys in the country expressing their gratitude for his balanced position over the problem with the contentious Danish cartoons portraying Muhammad.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=59137
http://coyne kc

CR’s right about one thing.P. Mac’s “adroit” betrayal of the PC’s, will probably be regarded in Europe as making a virtue out of a vice. One of the reasons i prefer not to live in ye olde country anymore!
http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Once again, Bulgaria points the way forward to a happy, peaceful future.
Critical Reasoning

I’m sure that country’s cartoons have been purged of offensiveness and Bulgarity.
Mike T.

If MacKay was a slick political operative, he’d be PM right now. Instead, he was happy to follow the orders of the financiers to put the parties together, then stood by and got gobsmacked into the second tier. For the son of a chief Mulroney lieutenant to be outplayed? Shameful.

Nope, if other countries look to close they’re gonna find someone not dumb enough to be honest but not bright enough to play his cards right.

http://www.tennisvagabond.com BigDaveS

When they make their pick, do they announce it to the world with a mushroom cloud?

http://coyne kc

Only if Peter Mac get’s the codes.

Lord Kitchener’s Own

“if you’re Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff — and aren’t we all, deep inside”

lol

Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff sounds SO dirty!
http://coyne kc

“young, super-intelligent, dynamic and resourceful”

I ‘ve only just noticed Paul’s link . What’s the converse of ” damning with faint praise”?
Maybe it’s a cultural convention in Poland to set you up on a pedestal, all the better to mock you? Hang on, that would be us wouldn’t it? Perhaps that Mac thing does it for them, means honourable man, or something like that…doesn’t it?

archangel

Son of Kay. Kay means champion I think.

archangel

The role of the NATO Secretariat (and SG):

http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/chapter15.shtml

Fairly straightforward, no?
Critical Reasoning

Turkey has officially come out in favor of MacKay, but there are conflicting reports whether Turkey might use its veto power against Rasmussen. Here’s a quote from a senior Turkish official that sums up Turkey’s objections:

“It is unacceptable that a person who loutishly disrespected our faith and holy values in the past will head the Alliance. (…) The Danish prime minister is a troublesome person for Turkey. There are three reasons of this: First of all, he was captured by cameras as saying after the EU Summit in 2003 that Turkey would never become a full member of the EU; then, he assumed an irresponsible and unsentimental attitude during the cartoon crisis, and lastly, he failed to prevent broadcast of Roj TV from Denmark”
Paul Wells

As one colleague with a lot of international experience pointed out, NATO has two working languages, English and French. If you’re Polish or Turkish, don’t look:

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Whaddya mean, “Don’t look”? I thought his Polish was excellent. I mean, I don’t speak Polish, but I can appreciate good Polish when I hear it.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

I had a brusque South African for a Latin prof at one point too — great guy. I wonder if he’s the same? He just retired, unfortunately. McGill? If so, his replacement is also a very fine fellow, old friend of mine.

What would it take to bring me home to the Tory fold? I dunno, fewer inflammatory speeches to the Roman mob? I’m an old Optimate, and if Pompey’s the only thing standing between me and the Alberta Catilines I’m willing to back him; Harper may be descended from Venus, but he sure doesn’t act like it. Remember what happened to the Gracchi.

You think there’ll be a split in the Tory party? On patriotic grounds, I rather hope not: I much preferred Chretien to Harper, but I don’t like divide-and-rule. I wish the Tories would just stop seething with populist rage, the Bloc would wither away, and we were back in 1982 or 1986: two major parties squaring off on big issues, the NDP the nation’s conscience, etc. I keep thinking this fractured, dysfunctional Parliament is unsustainable, but then it miraculously . . . sustains itself.

BTW, quite O/T, but I’m finally watching the Rome HBO series. It’s awesome, & highly recommended if you haven’t checked it out already.