Saudi Arabia Feud With Canada Heats Up

someone is feuding with canada? that's just...weird....

*cough*Kushner*cough*

...Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser,had access to the briefing , a highly sensitive intelligence update meant to be seen by only the president and his top advisers, before being stripped of his top-secret security clearance last month. ...
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Alessandra Kelley said:

And Canada has tended to fall rather more on the human rights and decency side of things than otherwise.

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And Canada's government is still selling arms to the Saudis and so needs to make themselves look a little better at home because right now, the Liberals look like hypocrites willing to sell guns to anyone.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-saudi-arms-deal-1.4579772

"The $15 billion agreement was given the further blessing of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government in the spring of 2016 when it began issuing permits for the export of the combat vehicles."

Canada is not the only one taking heat from Soudi Arabia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/03/20/sweden-stood-up-for-human-rights-in-saudi-arabia-this-is-how-saudi-arabia-is-punishing-sweden/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.83579945dbf0

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-saudi-trade/saudi-arabia-to-exclude-german-firms-from-government-tenders-spiegel-idUSKCN1IQ2GF

It's a knee-jerk response to criticism over abuse of human rights.

-cb

Here's my post on this from yesterday in the "thread for important news happening under the cover of the Great Distractor."


Edited to add, I think it needs its own thread.

All I can say is: go, Canada!

Someone has to stand up for human rights, and too much of the rest of the world has abdicated on this.

(And, yeah, I'm sure there's some face-saving and backroom deals - no country has clean hands in this world, near as I can tell - but still...)

Brightdreamer said:

Someone has to stand up for human rights, and too much of the rest of the world has abdicated on this.

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Hmmm. Right.

On the down side Raif Badawi and his sister Samar are not about to be freed anytime soon.

-cb

Brightdreamer said:

All I can say is: go, Canada!

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Go Canada on selling Saudi Arabia military vehicles that they use against their own citizens? I linked the article above, but the things that Trudeau described as "jeeps" are actually:

"The order also includes 119 LAV 6 vehicles of the "heavy assault" type, with powerful 105 millimetre canons affixed to their turrets, which were still under development at the time the documents were written. Another 119 are configured as "anti-tank" vehicles and a further 119 are designated as "direct fire" support, with a two-man turret and 30 millimetre chain gun."

and then goes on to describe:

"images surfaced online that showed Canadian-made armoured vehicles, manufactured by another company, being used by the Saudi state in its long-running conflict against the Shiite population in Qatif, a restive portion of eastern Saudi Arabia."


So, no, not impressed with this at all.

jennontheisland said:

Go Canada on selling Saudi Arabia military vehicles that they use against their own citizens?

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We're not exactly filled with joy about this Harper-era snafu.

-cb

cbenoi1 said:

We're not exactly filled with joy about this Harper-era snafu.

-cb

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Trudeau had his chance to correct it. He didn't.

jennontheisland said:

Trudeau had his chance to correct it. He didn't.

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Pulling out from agreements from made by past administrations is easy. It's dealing with the consequences that's often more difficult. Recent examples: the Iranian deal, the Paris accord, Brexit, and the TPP.

-cb

cbenoi1 said:

Pulling out from agreements from made by past administrations is easy. It's dealing with the consequences that's often more difficult. Recent examples: the Iranian deal, the Paris accord, Brexit, and the TPP.

-cb

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I'm comfortable with the consequences of not trading with Saudi Arabia. Liberals, not so much.