A lot of folks claim to know exactly why Canada lost the Security Council vote. On the left, it’s because we’re too pro-Israel. On the right, it’s because of Trudeau’s preachy virtue-signalling. Others insist it’s because we don’t spend enough on foreign aid, or peacekeeping…

But we don’t actually know why UN members voted as they did. We might find much more prosaic, not to say grubby considerations were at work.

Or not. The point is there is no necessary reason why it should neatly coincide with one’s own criticisms of Liberal foreign policy.

Is it such a big deal that we didn’t win? Objectively, no. The Security Council is in a perpetual stalemate, hamstrung by the permanent members’ vetos; temporary members have no real power.
I didn’t think it was a big deal when we didn’t win the seat in 2010, and I don’t now…

The only reason it seems like a big deal now is because the Libs made such a fuss over it last time, and because they vowed to do better — thinking, I suppose, that their own superior charm or good intentions would carry the day. So it’s news that, for whatever reason, it didn’t.