In response to the editorial about Canada's supposed threat, I don't understand how anybody on the Board of Opinion is not able to see through Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's threats to the U.S. and to President George W. Bush ("Arctic Waters: U.S. should watch treading in Canadian waters," Jan. 31).

It is obvious to me that Harper is only playing a game with international politics. He is the first conservative prime minister in Canada for quite a long time, and everyone on the left in Canada was whining about how President Bush and he would partner up on everything together. Now that he is in office, he wants to prove the other side wrong, so he's making harmless threats to the U.S. to distance himself from the likes of President Bush.

This way, he appears to be independent -- a free thinker who doesn't go along with the lone superpower of the world like everyone else thought he would. But I'm willing to bet he was on the phone with Bush for hours this week and having the last laugh about how they've fooled the rest of the world into believing Harper's threats. I just don't buy that he actually means anything by it.