text: Hand-raised to be a Russophobe from the cradle, Freeland has more personal baggage than an airport, and she's so out of her depth it's depressing. Diplomacy is an art, but in the west it has never been so judgmental, shrill and crass, all of which makes Freeland's appointment entirely understandable, if ultimately ludicrous and counter-productive. The PM needs to understand that he was voted in largely to purge the mean-spirited and blinkered Harper, and now that he's gone, the same immediacy to vote Trudeau is considerably diminished, especially with the very lackadaisical approach of this government so far.