Mohammed bin Salman

Tuesday June 25, 2019

June 25, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 25, 2019

Will Iran get the North Korean treatment from Trump?

The Trump administration ratcheted up tensions with Iran last week, blaming the Islamic Republic for attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and for shooting down an unmanned American drone in what America claims were international waters. (Iran denied responsibility for the tanker attacks and claimed the drone overflew its territorial waters.) The administration was prepared to launch a series of strikes on Thursday, before the president called them off at the last minute.

May 11, 2018

Why the sudden reversal? Trump claims that he found out on the brink of giving the go-ahead that the casualty estimate for the strikes was as high as 150 people, which he — rightly — considered disproportionate to the Iranian offense (which caused no casualties). Others have noted that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, one of Trump’s favorite talking heads, has been whispering in the president’s ear, warning him away from his hawkish advisors and from starting a shooting war with Iran. Perhaps he deserves the credit for moderating the president’s stance?

Either or both explanation may be correct. But I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve seen this movie before.

January 16, 2018

In his first year in office, Trump promised “fire and fury” against North Korea, a rhetorical escalation that was met by similar threats from Pyongyang against American territory in Asia. Numerous observers were worried that America was on a path to a war. But after raising tensions, Trump dramatically dispelled them by agreeing to face-to-face talks with Kim Jong Un. Since their first summit, Trump has consistently touted his excellent personal relationship with the North Korean dictator and has responded insouciantly to both the failure of their talks to produce much of substance and to North Korea’s subsequent provocations.

Are we about to see a repeat performance, this time with Iran center stage? 

October 12, 2018

It’s not impossible. During his presidential campaign, Trump expressed limited concern about Iran as a threat, arguing against his predecessor’s nuclear deal primarily on the grounds that it was too favorable to Iranian interests. (He later withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in his first year in office.) Now, in the wake of calling off the strike, Trump has repeatedly called for patience in dealing with Iran and expressed a willingness to enter into direct, face-to-face talks with the Iranian president without preconditions, something he has expressed an openness to in the past. He has also reiterated that his concern is about Iran’s nuclear capability, implicitly sidelining concerns about human rights that have rarely exercised this presidency but also Iran’s regional ambitions and support for terrorism. (The Week) 

 

Monday December 24, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Monday December 24, 2018

A President In Praise Of Strongmen And Dictators

October 12, 2018

President Trump can be stinging and sarcastic. It’s part of his charm, for those who find it charming. He has the audacity of discourtesy, if you please, whether calling a woman “Horseface,” as he did this week, or ridiculing African nations as … something I quoted on the air only once.

But the president reveals a softer side when he talks about strongmen and dictators.

He’s said there may be “severe” consequences if Saudi leaders ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. But when the president received Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House last March, he told reporters, “We understand each other. Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation, and they’re going to give the United States some of that wealth, hopefully.”

July 18, 2018

The president has often been magniloquent in his praise of those who control the press, suppress dissent, and strike down dissidents. He praised Vladimir Putin, saying before the 2016 election, “The man has very strong control over a country. Now, it’s a very different system, and I don’t happen to like the system. But certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president.”

When Bill O’Reilly, then of Fox News, called Putin “a killer,” Trump memorably replied, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”

The president lauded President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, while human rights groups say his police and vigilante groups killed more than 7,000 drug dealers and drug users, without arrest or trial.

June 12, 2018

“Many countries have the problem, we have a problem,” Trump told him, “but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

President Trump celebrated with President Xi of China when his parliament prepared to approve a change to allow President Xi to stay in office indefinitely. “I think it’s great,” Trump told him at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.”

And of course the president has gotten almost dewy-eyed over Kim Jong Un of North Korea, telling Fox News, “He’s got a very good personality, he’s funny, and he’s very, very smart.” Later he told a rally in West Virginia, “He wrote me beautiful letters. And they’re great letters. We fell in love.”

Flattery is free, and presidents have sometimes had to praise despots — Stalin during World War II, or Mao Zedong when the door to China was thrown open — for larger national interests. President Trump often scores political points with sarcasm. But when the president pours praise on so many despots, he sounds nothing but sincere. (Source: NPR) 

 

Saturday October 28, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 28, 2018

‘Difficult contract’ binds Canada to Saudi LAV deal, Trudeau says

October 12, 2018

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s difficult to break Canada’s deal to supply light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia because of the way the contract was negotiated by the previous Conservative government. 

“The contract signed by the previous government, by Stephen Harper, makes it very difficult to suspend or leave that contract,” Trudeau told host Matt Galloway on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Tuesday. “We are looking at a number of things, but it is a difficult contract.

“I actually can’t go into it, because part of the deal on this contract is not talking about this contract, and it’s one of the binds that we are left in because of the way that the contract was negotiated.”

August 10, 2018

Saudi Arabia faces possible international repercussions over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trudeau, in Toronto today to announce how Canada will go about implementing the carbon tax, was asked in the Metro Morning interview what Canada could do.

Canada and many of its allies are trying to figure out what kind of diplomatic and economic pressure can be applied to Saudi Arabia to make it clear that the killing of the dissident journalist inside the Saudi Consulate in Turkey is unacceptable.

Germany, for example, has stopped its arms sales to the kingdom in light of this incident.

May 13, 2016

But Canada continues to fulfil its contract to supply the kingdom with LAVs built by General Dynamic Land Systems Canada, a military supplier in London, Ont.

Even before Khashoggi’s death, human rights advocates said Canada should not be supplying the Saudis with military vehicles that could assist in its ongoing military intervention in Yemen, where civilians have been brutally targeted.

Trudeau said he understands this situation “very well,” calling it “incredibly frustrating.” (Source: CBC News) 

 

 

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Thursday October 25, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 25, 2018

On Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Trump Administration Sends Mixed Signals

The Trump administration, confronted with further evidence of a cover-up in the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, veered on Monday between defending the value of its alliance with Saudi Arabia and pressing the Saudi government for answers.

October 12, 2018

The White House sent the director of the C.I.A., Gina Haspel, to Istanbul to help the Turkish government with its investigation into the killing, according to an official. But in Riyadh, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a wide-ranging meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is suspected of playing a role in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident.

Mr. Mnuchin, who canceled his attendance at this week’s Saudi investment conference in the wake of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, traded views with Prince Mohammed on economic ties and counterterrorism initiatives, as well as on the investigation into Mr. Khashoggi’s death, according to a Treasury Department spokesman.

August 8, 2018

There are also fresh doubts about the Saudi government’s claim that Mr. Khashoggi was strangled accidentally after he got into a fist fight with 15 Saudi operatives, with video of a body double surfacing on Monday. A Saudi operative donned Mr. Khashoggi’s clothes after he was killed and left the building to create a misleading trail of evidence, surveillance images leaked by Turkey show. (Continued: New York Times) 

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Friday October 19, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 19, 2018

Trump says missing Saudi journalist no reason to stop investments there

U.S. President Donald Trump says he sees no reason to block Saudi Arabian investments in the United States despite concern over a missing Saudi journalist, saying the Gulf nation would then just move its money into Russia and China.

August 10, 2018

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said the United States was expecting a report soon on journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but gave no other details.

Trump also spoke about the disappearance while being interviewed on the Fox & Friendsprogram on Thursday, saying the U.S. is being “very tough” as it looks into the case.

“Well, we’re looking at it very, very seriously,” Trump said. “I don’t like it at all. Now, you don’t have American citizens, but that in this case, [it] doesn’t matter. I don’t like it. I don’t like it with respect to reporters. It is a terrible, terrible precedent. We can’t let it happen.

August 17, 2002

“I have to find out what happened … and we’re probably getting closer than you might think,” he said in the Fox News interview.

Trump expressed reservations over calls to withhold further U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying such a move “would be hurting us.”

Global pressure has mounted on close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia over the whereabouts of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policies who entered the consulate on Oct. 2 to get documents for his planned marriage. His Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside, said he never reappeared.

September 5, 2014

Turkish sources have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the building and his body was removed, allegations that Riyadh dismisses as baseless.

A team of investigators is preparing to go into the consulate, where Khashoggi was last seen entering nine days ago, a Turkish security official told Reuters. (Source: CBC News)