Saudi Arabia

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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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) 

Friday August 10, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 10, 2018 

Here’s why Canadian allies are keeping their mouths shut in dispute with Saudi Arabia

August 8, 2018

As Saudi Arabia continues to volley fresh restrictions against Canada, there’s notable silence from one key group of voices — Canada’s allies.

Since the Middle Eastern kingdom launched the dispute on Sunday evening over tweets sent the week prior, Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador, expelled Canada’s ambassador, frozen new business and trade, ordered Saudi students studying in Canada to go somewhere else, ordered Saudi citizens seeking medical care in Canada to go somewhere else, blacklisted Canadian wheat and barley, and ordered the asset managers of their central bank and pension funds to dump Canadian assets “no matter the cost.”

August 2, 2017

And among it all, the only response from Canada’s two closest allies — the U.S. and U.K. — has been to call both sides close partners and urge restraint.

So why the silence?

Like so many things in politics, it all boils down to the money, said one expert.

“There is an attempt by the Saudis to create some fear and rattle some of those Western governments into not supporting Canada because they may be cut out or shut out from some potential Saudi economic deals and the big boom that it’s undertaking,” said Bessma Momani, a professor at the University of Waterloo specializing in Saudi relations and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation.

January 6, 2016

“Saudi Arabia is the largest weapons purchaser in the world, so any company or country in the world that sells arms, as does Canada, is likely to be looking into how this is going to affect bilateral trade ties.”

The dispute stems from what Momani called the “brash” decision by Saudi Arabia to respond to criticism of its arrest of women’s rights activists with a campaign of retaliation meant to send a warning to more powerful Western countries.

And it has not gone unnoticed that the same countries Canada has fought with and died alongside over the last century are keeping their mouths shut rather than speak out against the attacks. (Source: Global News) 

 

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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) 

 

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Friday May 11, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 11, 2018

The world is nervously watching as the gloves come off between Iran and Israel

Israel says that it’s done with strikes on Iran — for now. France fears an escalation. Iran has its finger on the trigger. But, really, it’s Russian President Vladimir Putin who sits in the hot seat.

July 15, 2015

Where once the US would have been the brake on spikes in Syrian violence, there is a real possibility President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is greasing the wheels towards a wider regional war.

In recent months, the world’s top diplomat, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, has warned that Israeli and Iranian tit-for-tat strikes in Syria could quickly boil over to a regional conflagration.

Overnight, rockets fired by Iranian forces from inside Syria toward Israel triggered a forewarned robust response from Israel’s military — targeting Iranian military assets in Syria.

Since early February, when Israel says it shot down an Iranian drone laden with explosives that was launched from Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces have increased retaliatory strikes in Syria at Iranian targets.

Some of those strikes are reported to have killed several Iranian fighters. Yet until this point there had been no Iranian retaliation.

The sudden surge in the exchange of rockets Wednesday night — on the heels of Trump’s exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — hints that Iran has suspended its strategic restraint.

If so, the likelihood that the Iranian-Israeli confrontation will escalate increases. (Source: CNN) 

 

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