Two governments trying to look tough and decisive are facing legal cases that are causing all kinds of political headaches. Things are way out of hand with Pussy Riot - a political statement/publicity stunt that should have merited at most a slap on the wrist and some discouraging words has seen musicians treated like terrorists and their children left as collateral damage. Where Omar Khadr is concerned, the jury of political opinion has largely condemned a man on hearsay; the facts don't matter when your emotions lead.
The broader legal ramifications are less of a concern in Putin's Russia than they are in Harper's Canada. Although there is much in common between the political approach of these two men, we have a much stronger domestic legal system here. Despite what polls and pundits might be telling us, Canadians are far less receptive to legal rights being trampled in the name of security. When we are made to question the stances we have taken on Khadr - and we will be - I can guarantee there will be some displays of cognitive dissonance across the nation.
Which is a good thing, because there is much to question. We Western countries like to believe we are bastions of free speech and tolerance; some pundits have, in essence, told those who took offense to The Innocence of Muslims to calm down or get a life. Yet we are happy to vilify a child-soldier in the absence of fact and we are willing to lock up young women performers because they offended someone's religious sensibilities. Here in Canada, we even threaten activists whose opinion we disagree with and attack officials who try to shed light on uncomfortable facts.
Both Harper and Putin are praying that their little legal bundles of joy will just somehow go away. That's not going to happen. The choices they have made or refused to make will have consequences, which is as it should be. Justice is supposed to be blind, but it seems it's our leaders trying to block out inconvenient truths.
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