Should Russia be kicked off international bodies like the G20? Canada says yes

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/04/2022 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada made the news this week — and so did a Canadian creation called the G20.

The news was the decision by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and other senior officials to walk out of the G20 just as a Russian delegate began to speak.

In effect, the officials — from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other western countries — were challenging the right of Russia to belong to the G20, a disparate collection of big and middle-sized nations.

As Freeland left, she reportedly scolded Russian officials who didn’t walk out for failing to take a moral stand on the war in Ukraine.

She has argued that Russia should be expelled from the G20 and similar international bodies as punishment for making war on Ukraine.

There is a certain irony in this. The G20 is largely a Canadian creation, and was designed to draw together and give voice to middle-sized powers that too often were left out of the global economy.

As former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin — one of the architects of the G20 — put it, the key to its success was co-operation among these middle powers.

In 2008, for instance, the G20 took the lead in attempts to deal with an international financial crisis. By all accounts, the organization, which includes South Korea, Canada, Indonesia, Turkey, India, China and the U.S., did well.

So it seems odd to see this venerable and largely successful body being taken apart by Martin’s successor.

There is a certain logic behind Freeland’s action. The idea is to punish Russian bad behaviour by kicking it out of the club.

The problem, however, is that Russia’s punishment could backfire and, by limiting co-operation, end up making matters worse.

Already, some involved in the G20 are hesitant about America’s decision to label Russia’s Ukraine war a “genocide.”

China is already accused of committing genocide against its Uyghur minority. It has little interest in dwelling on Russia’s alleged sins in this matter.

But the real problem with focusing on Ukraine to the exclusion of all else is that it excludes areas where real co-operation might be useful.

One example is the International Space Station, which currently includes Russians and Americans in its crew. Should we leave them all tumbling in space just to make a point about the morality of Russia’s war on Ukraine?

I’d be inclined to bring them all home as scheduled. But then I would be inclined to have Canada continue doing useful work through the G20.

This might not be as satisfying as taking an unyielding principled position against the evil Russians. But it may well be more useful.

Thomas Walkom is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Reach him via email: walkomtom@gmail.com