Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/12/canadian-scolding-of-saudi-ara.html
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For all that the Liberals talk a game of bunnies and rainbows, on arms deals, national security, pipelines, they’re more like Harper Lite.
And for all the Saudi show of indignation, I don’t see them canceling the contract either.
Other countries aren’t saying anything, mainly because a lot of them would like to bid on a replacement contract if it was cancelled.
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Other countries aren’t saying anything, mainly because a lot of them would like to bid on a replacement contract if it was cancelled.
Or because–as in the case of the U.S.–they’re already major supporters of Saudi atrocities:
U.S. companies such as Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin have sold billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition which is attacking Yemen.
The U.S. military refuels Saudi and Emirati warplanes through midair exercises. And, the United States helps the Saudi coalition warmakers choose their targets.
Isa Blumi, an associate professor at Stockholm University and author of the book Destroying Yemen , has said the United States is “front and center responsible” for the Saudi coalition attacks.
Looking for a helpful way to describe U.S. support for the Saudi-Emirati operation in Yemen, journalist Samuel Oakford recently offered this comparison: “If an airstrike was a drive-by and killed someone, the U.S. provided the car, the wheels, the servicing and repair, the gun, the bullets, help with maintenance of those—and the gas.”
Source:
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Yes, the media’s been making a big deal about how Saudi Arabia has sold off Canadian stocks, cancelled orders for wheat, etc… and all the while I’ve been going but what about the goddamn armoured trucks??
Glad someone’s finally noted it.
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He probably does hate him, but big money is likely a bigger factor in the money factory that is the corporate U.S. military industrial complex.
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Or just like liberals. Militarism and imperialism have never been foreign to liberalism.
And Oz.
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Canada simply reiterated what the UN said a short time earlier. The Saudis aren’t actually angry with Canada; they just want to make a statement to everyone else that they’ll continue murdering and imprisoning their own people, and attacking their neighbors with impunity because they are a central player needed by the US and other Western countries in the Middle East.
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Okay, who didn’t sell arms to the Saudis?
/embarrassed Finland raises its hand.
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The Finns are still dealing with the embarrassment of last time.
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Pft, Canada? Australia? I think you should both sit down now, because we all know that it’s the UK who are best at selling arms to the Saudis.
In that article, this bit made me laugh:
Theresa May’s de-facto deputy Damian Green – who stood in during Prime Minister’s Questions – said the UK had “one of the most rigorous and robust defence sales regimes in the world”.
I assume he means that they vet the sales (I’m sure they do, don’t want to sell to someone who can’t pay now do we?), but it really sounds like they’re boasting about how much they sell.
Ok so the yanks probably have us all beat, but for a small country the UK does a good job in being morally complicit in the deaths of thousands.
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The Liberals were never especially enthusiastic about this arms deal, but unlike the governments of some countries they do tend to honour deals made by predecessor administrations. It seems to me they have honoured this one grudgingly.
Baseless speculation: they are angling to get the Saudis to cancel it unilaterally.
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The US doesn’t have to worry about such exposes. It can manufacture its own arms that it uses against its own people. The central government buys it, plays with it for a little while, then gives it away to the local cops. It’s called the militarization of police.
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