Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian scholar, writer, journalist and lifelong Liberal." [1] Michael Grant Ignatieff, M.P. (/ɪgˈna.tʃəf/) (born May 12, 1947 in Toronto) is the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (elected Jan. 2006). He is an author, journalist, documentary film-maker, and academic who has held positions at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard.

Edward S. Herman noted in 2006 that "Michael Ignatieff is a skilled trimmer, who has adjusted his principles and thoughts to the demands of the U.S. and Canadian power elite, and advanced accordingly—from academia to preferred commentator on human rights and other political issues in the U.S. mainstream media, and on to becoming a member of the Canadian parliament." He also adds that "One would have thought it might be problematical for a professor of human rights to vigorously support two wars (Kosovo, Iraq) carried out in violation of the UN Charter and hence “supreme crimes” in the view of the judges at Nuremberg." (Herman ranks Ignatieff among what he refers to as The New Humanitarians) [2]

"He was born and raised in Toronto, the son of a Russian émigré father and a Canadian mother, and received his undergraduate degree in history at the University of Toronto. He continued his studies at Oxford University and then at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in History in 1976." [3]

"Ignatieff, meanwhile, has helped turn human rights into a ‘disreputable slogan’, posing as their standard-bearer while condoning imperialism and equivocating on torture. His politics amount to a slippery slope, with nuanced arguments at the top and the horror chambers of Abu Ghraib below. Ignatieff, born and raised in Canada, has an impressive CV. The Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, he has also been a professor at Oxford, a prize-winning author of fiction and non-fiction, a prolific print journalist and a BBC broadcaster – a well-established pop intellectual." [4]

"In January 2006, Michael was elected as the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore. He is married to Suszanna Zsohar, and has two children." [5]

"Michael Ignatieff joined the [Carr] Center in September 2000 as a Visiting Professor, and became both Director and Carr Professor for Human Rights Practice in February, 2001." [6]

• Institute for War and Peace Reporting – Advisory Board
• Canadian House of Commons – Elected 2006
• Center for International Development – Faculty Associate
• Carr Center for Human Rights

External links

• Edward S. Herman, "Faith-based Analysis: Michael Ignatieff on Israeli Self-Defense and Serb Ethnic Cleansing", Counterpunch, 22 August 2006.