A mistake has been made
Saudi Arabia is simply furious that Canada’s Foreign Minister had the audacity to say SA shouldn’t arrest human rights activists.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, said the kingdom was still “considering additional measures” against Canada. He did not elaborate.
“There is nothing to mediate. A mistake has been made and a mistake should be corrected,” he told a news conference in Riyadh.
Several countries have expressed support for Saudi Arabia, including Egypt and Russia, which both told Ottawa it was unacceptable to lecture the kingdom on human rights.
Yes, that’s unacceptable all right. Violations of human rights are just fine, in fact they’re glorious, but lecturing states about human rights, that is totally unacceptable.
Hey, any countries out there want to criticize the US on human rights? Please do. Criticize us for our massive rate of incarceration, for tearing children away from their parents at border crossings, for the death penalty, for union-busting, for escalating gun violence, for bad public schools.
“We have always said that the politicisation of human rights matters is unacceptable,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters on Wednesday.
Yes well they would, wouldn’t they, working in Putin’s authoritarian regime.
Meanwhile, the United States – one of Canada’s closest allies – has so far refused to wade into the row.
“It’s up for the government of Saudi Arabia and the Canadians to work this out,” said Heather Nauert, a spokesperson for the state department, on Tuesday. “Both sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can’t do it for them.”
Because Trump and his administration could not care less about human rights in Saudi Arabia…or anywhere else, for that matter.
[T]he kingdom has continued to announce measures against Canada, including urgent plans to remove tens of thousands of Saudi students and an unspecified number of medical patients from Canada.
Saudi Arabia’s state airline said it would suspend flights to and from Canada, starting next week.
Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency, the Saudi Grains Organization, has also told grains exporters it will no longer accept Canadian-origin grains in its international purchase tenders, according to European traders.
Most of this sounds as if it’s more damaging to them than to Canada. “We’ll show you, we’ll take away our students and our medical patients!”
I think this whole thing is long overdue; the US and many of its allies have been turning a blind eye to the tyrannical obscurantist mess that is Saudi Arabia for way too long.
Wait, what?
How is the subject of human rights anything but political? It’s specifically about how states and governments treat people in their jurisdiction, and how they protect those people from each other. Human rights deals with how governments govern. It’s inherently political!
Seriously, WTF?
I know. It’s nuts.
‘the tyrannical obscurantist mess’ has an ocean of oil. The US and its allies will continue to turn a blind eye.
Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that a deal was done in the 1940s between the House of Saud and the US. As long as the Saudis kept the oil flowing the US wouldn’t notice the brutal 7th century nature of the regime.
That’s what the photo of the SUV was for – a sign for the oil.
Both Iran and Venezuela have an ocean of oil, however the US is outraged by their undemocratic regimes, strange isn’t it? No deals perhaps.
“Hey, any countries out there want to criticize the US on human rights? Please do.”
Yes, if Canada turned into (more of) a human rights nightmare, I would hope that other countries would complain. Hell, we’re far from perfect as it is and there are plenty of things we should already be taken to task for. The treatment of First Nations peoples should be at the top of that list.