Mark,
"Canadians are all a-twitter about conditions in Afghan prisons yet the government is bashed for souring relations with China. Go figure."
One involves allying oneself with the United States and the other involves allying itself with communists. What's to figure?
Seems self-evident to me.
Let's try it again.
Cuba vs. Chile. Where did Canadian hearts generally a-twitter?
Canadian protests against US involvement in Iraq vs. well...anyone else's involvement in a third party's affairs. (Soviet's in Afghanistan, China in Tibet, Cuba in Angola, France in Cote d'Ivoire, etc.
How about nuclear proliferation. Remember the anti-Nuke protests of the 80's against the US. I don't recall many protests against Soviet SSs pointed at Europe or protests today over Iran or North Korea's proliferation.
Seems straight forward enough. You give it a try.