Tweeting for UTSC at the 2011 G8/G20 Youth Summit

On Saturday I will be travelling to Paris, France for the 2011 G8/G20 Youth Summit, to represent Canada as the Minister of Defence.

Given all that is transpiring in the Middle East and internationally, this is an incredibly exciting time to be discussing global affairs with potential future leaders of the most powerful nations on earth. After my experience at last year's Youth Summit in Vancouver, I can confidently state that the delegates selected for the event are some of the most accomplished, intelligent and well-read people I have ever met.

It is an honour for me to be among these fellow student leaders, as we seek to reach consensus and compromise on the most pressing issues facing the world community. Further, as a graduate of the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), I am pleased to announce that I will be blogging and Tweeting about my experiences for UTSC while at the Youth Summit in France. I hope to provide current and future students an inside perspective on negotiations, and encourage these students to aspire to achieve their full potential.

The Canadian Delegation has been actively meeting and preparing over the last two months in the lead-up to the Youth Summit, and I look forward to meeting each of them. Check out my article published in the Windsor Star based on my experiences at last year's Youth Summit. Bon voyage everyone! - R.O.

Can America Block Iran's Drive for Regional Hegemony?

A profoundly straight-forward, sobering assessment of geopolitics by Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, in his article titled: "Can America Block Iran's Drive for Regional Hegemony?"

Blunt and to the point: this generation's war is between the United States and Iran, with Israel caught in the middle. Whether the West is successful in stopping Iran's nuclear program could very well determine the stability of the global order and the fate of this century. Meridor's assessment is spot on: Iran's nuclear program absolutely must be stopped.

On that point, I am happy to report that I successfully lobbied to have "Stopping Iran's Nuclear Program" as the number 1 agenda item for the Ministers of Defence at the upcoming G8/G20 Youth Summit in Paris, France this May. The question is: can the real G8 leaders agree to the same agenda before it's too late?

-R.O.

Minister of Defence for Canada at the 2011 G8/G20 Youth Summit

I am very pleased to announce that I have been selected to represent Canada as the Minister of Defence at the 2011 G8/G20 Youth Summit being held this May in Paris, France. I am looking forward to representing Canadian interests at this international gathering of graduate student leaders from around the world, especially at such an interesting time globally.

Check out the Canadian delegation here.

After participating in last year's G8/G20 Youth Summit in Vancouver as the Minister of Finance, I know I will bring principled leadership experience to our discussion. I cannot wait to return to Paris after visiting last spring, and will be sure to write updates about my experiences there as it happens.
-R.O.

Iranium - The Documentary

Check out Iranium, a documentary about Iran and its nuclear weapons program released today.

"In approximately 60 minutes, Iranium powerfully reports on the many aspects of the threat America and the world now faces using rarely-before seen footage of Iranian leaders, and interviews with 25 leading politicians, Iranian dissidents, and experts on: Middle East policy, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation.

Iranium documents the development of Iran's nuclear threat, beginning with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the ideology installed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
Iranium tracks Iran's use of terror as a tool of policy, beginning with the 444 day seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, through Iran's insurgent actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iranium details the brutal nature of the Iranian regime to its own citizens, and the Iranian people's desire to rejoin the international community.
Iranium outlines the various scenarios the greater Middle East and the Western world may face should Iran cross the nuclear threshold."

Tony Blair: West must be prepared to use force against Iran

Tony Blair: West must be prepared to use force against Iran - Haaretz.com, Jan. 22, 2011

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says what today's world leaders are too afraid to admit - that the West must be prepared to use force against Iran. As published by Ha'aretz, Blair "urged the West to be prepared to confront Iran with force in order to face the "looming and coming challenge" from the Islamic republic."

Blair continued, saying "[Iran] has to be confronted and changed. Iran is a looming challenge. It is negative and destabilizing. It supports terrorists," Blair, who currently serves as the Quartet envoy to the Middle East said at the Chilcot inquiry, the U.K. inquiry into the war in Iraq."

As yet another round of talks with Iran (predictably) stall and collapse in Istanbul, the West must ask itself: at what point will diplomacy be deemed to have failed? When will the line be drawn? When will Iran's leaders be held to account for their continued defiance of international law? These are grave questions that must be answered.

The United States recently deployed the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier into the Gulf off the coast of Iran, carrying over 6000 sailors and armed with 80 attack fighter jets. Certainly this is a sign that the U.S. is serious about its calls for Iran to come clean about its covert nuclear program, and Iran's likely ongoing production of nuclear weapons. But will U.S. defense planners match their words with action?

We may be about to find out.
- R.O.