corrente

What a surprise. As was clear from its initial reaction to the third inconvenient ruling in the Canadian softwood lumber dispute, the U.S. has officially declared its intention to blow off NAFTA when it doesn't rule its way:

Canadian anger boiled over yesterday at the U.S. government's refusal to comply with a landmark NAFTA ruling that should have spelled an end to punitive softwood duties on lumber from Canada.

Federal and provincial officials accused the United States of reneging on the 11-year-old North American free-trade agreement, with Ottawa renewing threats to slap billions of dollars of sanctions on American goods if Washington doesn't recant.

One senior Canadian government official called the U.S. dismissal of the NAFTA ruling a "slap in the face."
(via The Globe and Mail)

I hope Canada does retaliate. Force is the only thing these gangsters respect, even if it means pulling down the entire edifice of international relations that the rest of the world has struggled to create since WWII. From Florida to Gitmo to Abu Ghraib to Terry Schiavo to Valerie Plame to steel tariffs to this, I can't think of a single example of the Bush Administration submitting itself to the rule of law, so it's silly to think that further jawboning or appeals to decency will elicit anything other than contempt from them.

In this context, perhaps "Cindy Sheehan is [indeed] our Rosa Parks". What will be our Selma?