International

Wednesday August 8, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 8, 2018

Saudi Arabia expels Canadian ambassador, freezes trade in human rights dispute

April 14, 2016

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it is ordering Canada’s ambassador to leave the country and freezing all new trade and investment transactions with Canada in a spat over human rights.

“We consider the Canadian ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia persona non grata and order him to leave within the next 24 hours, ” Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said on Twitter. And the ministry said Saudi Arabia is recalling its ambassador to Canada in a dispute that appears to be over a tweet from Global Affairs Canada.

“Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi.

“We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists, ” the Canadian tweet said on Friday.

March 31, 2016

The Saudi foreign ministry called the use of “immediately release” in the tweet “unfortunate, reprehensible, and unacceptable in relations between states.”

It called Canada’s characterization of the activists “an incorrect claim” and called Canada’s attitude “surprising.”

“Any other attempt to interfere with our internal affairs from Canada, means that we are allowed to interfere in Canada’s internal affairs, ” it said.

Global Affairs Canada said it was aware of the issue.

Saudi Arabia also said it was freezing all new trade and investment transactions with Canada .

It said that it will not accept any form of interference in its internal affairs and considers the Canadian position “an attack” requiring a firm stance to deter “attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the KSA.” (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

SaveSave

Friday July 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 17, 2018

Mexico and Canada insist on NAFTA as a 3-way deal

June 29, 2016

Canadian and Mexican officials insisted on Wednesday that the North American Free Trade Agreement remain a trilateral pact  and reiterated their opposition to U.S. calls for a so-called “sunset clause” that could end the deal after five years.

After a meeting in Mexico City, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said they remained optimistic about negotiations to revamp the 24-year-old trade pact.

Talks began last August but stalled in the run-up to the Mexican presidential election. That was due, at least in part, to U.S. demands for sweeping changes in the auto sector and for a sunset clause, which would put the deal forming one of the world’s largest trading blocs up for renewal every five years.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the pact if he cannot renegotiate it to better serve his country’s interests.

Freeland and Guajardo struck an upbeat tone, with Guajardo saying about two-thirds of the agreement has been ironed out.

January 24, 2018

In Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue raised the prospect that NAFTA could be negotiated separately with Canada and Mexico, in order to reach an agreement first with Mexico by September.

Although Mexican officials are heading to Washington this  week to meet with their U.S. counterparts, Guajardo stressed  that a deal between all three countries remained the goal.

“The fact that we are going to Washington to participate in bilateral talks is to reinforce the concept of the trilateralism of this agreement,” he said. “The essence of this agreement is trilateral, and it will continue being trilateral. (Source: CBC) 

 

SaveSave

Wednesday 18, 2018


Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday 18, 2018

After Putin summit outrage, Trump says he accepts that Russia meddled

July 16, 2018

After outrage over his failure to hold Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did in fact meddle in the election.

At a joint news conference with Putin after a summit in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stunned politicians back home by shying away from criticizing Putin for Moscow’s efforts to undermine the election, contradicting the findings of American intelligence agencies.

After outrage over his failure to hold Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he accepts the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia did in fact meddle in the election.

April 8, 2017

At a joint news conference with Putin after a summit in Helsinki on Monday, Trump stunned politicians back home by shying away from criticizing Putin for Moscow’s efforts to undermine the election, contradicting the findings of American intelligence agencies.

On Monday, when asked about the meddling, Trump said that while his intelligence officials had said “they think it’s Russia” that Putin “just said it’s not Russia.”

“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said.

But back at the White House on Tuesday, he told reporters that he meant to say wouldn’t instead of would. He told reporters, “The sentence should have been I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.”

June 7, 2000

As the president said he has “full faith” in the intelligence agencies, the lights in the conference room briefly went out. As they came back on, he said that while he feels strongly that Russia’s actions had no impact on the outcome of the election, he accepts the intelligence community’s conclusion that meddling took place.

But even as he tried to clarify his previous statement and assert support for U.S. intelligence agencies, he left room for other actors to be implicated. (Source: CBC News) 

 

SaveSave

Monday July 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday July 16, 2018

McCain: Trump’s meeting with Putin ‘should not move forward’

December 17, 2016

Sen. John McCain praised the Department of Justice’s announcement of the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, adding President Donald Trump shouldn’t meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin unless he holds him accountable.

“President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world,” the Arizona senator said in a statement Friday. “If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.”

November 3, 2017

The statement came hours after the Justice Department announced indictments against 12 Russian nationals as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, accusing them of engaging in a “sustained effort” to hack Democrats’ emails and computer networks.

Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin — who has denied election meddling — in Helsinki on Monday for a summit that includes a one-on-one meeting with only interpreters present.

March 7, 2017

McCain wasn’t the only Republican senator to criticize Putin following the indictments. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement that “all patriotic Americans” should know Putin is not “the President’s buddy.”

“The US intelligence community knows that the Russian government attacked the US,” he said in a statement. “This is not a Republican or a Democrat view — it is simply the reality. All patriotic Americans should understand that Putin is not America’s friend, and he is not the President’s buddy. We should stand united against Putin’s past and planned future attacks against us.” (Source: CNN) 

Comic Strip of the Day, July 14, 2018

SaveSave

Friday July 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 13, 2018

Trump is Already Making Theresa May’s Life a Living Hell

June 9, 2018

Accompanied by a sprawling entourage that has reportedly booked 750 hotel rooms, and will be shuttled around the country by 30 vehicles, 6 helicopters, and 2 planes, Donald Trump has officially arrived in the U.K. “His planes are massive,” an awestruck former Downing Street aide remarked to The Times of London. “Ours look like Playmobil by comparison.” Team Trump will certainly be well-traveled by the time they depart to meet Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Monday. As he visits Theresa May’s countryside retreat, Chequers; attends a black-tie dinner at the birthplace of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace; and has tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland to play golf at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the only mode of transport the president won’t get to enjoy is his long-sought-after ride down the Mall in a gold-plated carriage, which was apparently shelved due to the poor optics of mass protests.

April 13, 2018

Despite the fact that Trump’s schedule purposefully removes him from liberal London, and that protests—topped by a 20-foot-tall balloon depicting Trump as a smartphone-wielding baby—have reportedly been planned across the city, the president seems unconcerned about his ratings in Brexit Britain. “I think they like me a lot in the U.K., I think they agree with me on immigration,” he said at this week’s NATO summit, explaining that he had been reading up on Brexit, and surmised that May was not delivering the divorce deal the public had voted for. “The people voted to break it up, so I would imagine that’s what they’ll do,” he said. “But maybe they’re taking a little bit of a different route. So I don’t know if that’s what they voted for. I just want the people to be happy. They’re great people.”

June 27, 2016

For May, Trump’s metaphorical vote of no confidence could not come at a worse time. Just as the U.S. president touched down in England, bringing controversial connotations of nationalism and insularity to a divided U.K., freshly inaugurated Brexit secretary Dominic Raab presented the government’s long-awaited White Paper on Brexit, which expanded upon the “soft” Chequers compromise that pushed both Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis to depart May’s Cabinet. The response from Brexiteers was widely negative, and they were notably skeptical of a proposal they argued would keep the U.K. under the authority of the European court of justice. “It is a pale imitation of the paper prepared by David Davis, a bad deal for Britain. It is not something I would vote for, nor is it what the British people voted for,” complained backbench Brexit-monger Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has previously written about the inspiration Trump offers. (Continued: Vanity Fair) 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave