Movies of War

When the world woke up to a new war in Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, Prime Minister Mark Carney was in India on his world tour to drum up trade. Perhaps he’d already been alerted that the United States and Israel were about to attack, but, in any case, he chose his words carefully. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners The Tyee Is Recruiting Our Next Editor-in-Chief Founding editor David Beers is passing the baton to a new leader. Is it you? Justine A. Chambers and Lorna Brown Win the 2025 VIVA and Balkind Awards The two influential BC artists will be celebrated at the Vancouver Art Gallery on March 11. In an official statement, Carney invoked familiar anti-Iran tropes: “the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East,” “one of the world’s worst human rights records,” and “must never be allowed to obtain or develop nuclear weapons.” He went on to say Canada and other countries had repeatedly called on Iran to end its nuclear program, but Iran had failed to do so while continuing to support “regional terrorist proxy groups.” Having blamed the country being attacked, Carney went on to say that “Canada reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and to ensure the security of its people,” and endorsed the attacks as “the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security.” ‘Positive’ talks end abruptly What Carney discreetly failed to note was a glaring contradiction. How could the attacks be intended to thwart development of Iranian nuclear weapons when, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been “obliterated” in the 12-day war in June 2025? Even so, talks had been underway for weeks to reach a new nuclear deal like the one President Barack Obama had made with Tehran in 2015 — a deal that Trump had torn up in 2018. As recently as Feb. 26, those talks had been described as “positive.” So this was not a resort to war when diplomacy had failed; the U.S. diplomats were about as sincere as the Japanese who were negotiating in Washington, D.C., on the eve of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Carney also failed to note that Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, to which Canada has been a signatory for 80 years, says, “All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means.” Furthermore, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” The only exceptions to Article 2 are in the case of self-defence and when the Security Council authorizes states to maintain or restore international peace and security. No such authorization came out of the emergency Security Council meeting on Feb. 28. So the new war against Iran is illegal under international law, even if the regime is as cruel and oppressive as we all know it is. Is this Carney’s ‘new order that encompasses our values’? In his famous Davos speech, Carney called for “a new order that encompasses our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the various states.” Evidently our values in the new order also include assaults on various states we don’t approve of — even if we also disapprove of the assaulters. Is This How the War in Palestine Ends? read more Mark Carney chooses his words carefully, so his endorsement of Trump’s and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war is lukewarm at best. Evidently this was not a time to condemn the Trump hegemony; unpredictable in many ways, Trump is always predictably nasty to his critics. We can hope that behind the scenes Carney and his government are working hard to halt the war and restore relative quiet to the Middle East. Doing so in public might be more effective, but would surely result in more tariffs, insults and talk of Canada becoming the 51st state. RELATED STORIES Is This How the War in Palestine Ends? The war, like most wars, will not progress smoothly or result in a sure victory for democracy in Iran. Unpleasant surprises lie in wait, and chances seem very good that most of the Arab Gulf states will suffer damage and casualties. That in turn could lead to a regional war and destruction of both Iranian and Arab oil resources. The United States and other western countries have been meddling in the Middle East for well over a century. Every measure has been touted as an aid to “international peace and security,” and every measure has simply prolonged the agony. Mark Carney’s careful words may dull our own senses, but not the pain of those in the Middle East who must live the consequences of yet more forever wars. Read more: Politics