Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday.
Why now? Sponsorship of terrorism and nuclear weapons ambitions are nothing new.
What has Canada heard that makes them not want their diplomats in Iran?
UPDATE: Iran vows to retaliate:
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads Iran's influential parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said there could be an "immediate and decisive" response to Canada's action, Fars news agency reported.
"It is essential that the foreign ministry respond to this action by Canada on the basis of national interests."
One could wish we lived in a world where the Canadian decision would provoke a bout of "why do they hate us?" throughout Iranian society.
But that's not the world we live in.
UPDATE: Mad Minerva has more links--but alas no word on what Ryan Gosling thinks of developments in the mother country.
UPDATE: This writer thinks that while there are legitimate reasons for Canada to break relations, since their prime minister didn't say those magic words there is no justification. Huh.
And there are worse countries that Canada has not broken relations with. Huh, again.
But basically, the author thinks that Canada has "shot itself in the foot" by breaking relations. Why?
By its very nature, it prevents the possibility of further relations with the country in question, good or bad, influential or ineffective. Messages of protest, off-record moves to quell an eruption, clandestine efforts to build relations with reformists within the regime – all of these options are no longer possible. Once you’ve pulled the plug, you’re out of the game.
No offense to Canada, but just how big was Canada's effort to build relations with reformists within the regime? Are there reformists within the regime? Has Canada been "in the game"? If the Canadian embassy was truly a nest of spies on the cusp of sparking regime change, I'd be right with this guy.
But rest assured, if it's a sternly worded note that the author is concerned about, this isn't the 18th century. Canada can Twitter the King. Or de-friend them on Facebook.
Truly, this is the silliest analysis I've read in a bit that wasn't authored by Tom Friedman.
Srategypage says there was no particular action prompting the break. Just the accumulation of offenses. And Iran counts every embassy as a symbol of not being isolated in the international community.
