December in Ottawa

摘要

In scenic, rural vermont, we sometimes call Canada "the giant to the North." Canada's effort to propel the nations of the world toward a treaty banning the production, transfer, use, and stockpiling of anti-personnel land mines truly gives her a stature worthy of that title. Unfazed by arms control "experts" who ridiculed their initiative as a "sideshow," the Canadians have methodically crisscrossed the globe seeking support for a fast-track land mines convention. By the "pre-Ottawa" meeting in Brussels in June, 97 countries had pledged to sign the treaty at the Ottawa convention in December, erasing any doubts that the effort will establish an international norm against which all natiqns will be measured in the twenty-first century.