Is it integrity or arrogance?
Re Stand fast on Saudi Arabia, August 9 It’s not our job to tell another country what it should be doing. That’s why none of our allies are publicly supporting us, while some other countries are publicly supporting Saudi Arabia. Larry Prout, Peterborough Jordan, the U.A.E., Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority all voiced support for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But I wouldn’t blame them, because many of those countries are financed and heavily tied to Saudi Arabia. Also, they don’t want to piss off one of the more powerful countries in the region.
I am, however, concerned about the lack of support from our southern neighbour and the United Kingdom. We share a long history with both of them, and they are our closest allies. And what about the European Union? Are we truly being left in the dust for defending human rights? Fadi Dawood, Ajax Who would have imagined a few years ago that Saudi Arabia would be able to cow the entire supposedly morally superior democratic world into keeping their mouths shut about the atrocious and autocratic Saudi regime?
It may have a lot to do with oil and arms sales, or, more specifically, the money involved with oil and arms — along with all the other corrupt ramifications of sloshing money throughout these countries. Nice to have confirmed the old adage that money makes the world go round.
This truly is a prime example of all that is wrong with the world today. Tom Colson, Toronto I’m surprised that none of the reports I’ve seen about the Saudi spat have mentioned the likely backroom approval of these actions by Donald Trump — and possibly his instigation of them!
We know that Trump’s world is polarized between sycophants and enemies.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the next White House leak to find out if Saudi back-channel blandishments were offered to induce this ridiculously disproportionate attack. Mathew Templer, Pickering I see that Saudi Arabia has ordered 18,000 Saudi university students to return home. I trust that this means that there will be room for 18,000 Canadian students to get their higher education in Canadian schools. Robert Drummond, Exeter, Ont. The Canadian admonition of the Saudi government is evidently hypocritical, and lacks moral integrity. Hamid S. Atiyyah, Markham It must be remembered that in dealing with Saudi Arabia, Canada is essentially dealing with a dictator. We can place all the fancy titles we want on Saudi Arabia’s leaders, such as Crown Prince, King, or whatever, but ultimately, they are dictators in all but name.
There are not many countries that have the guts or integrity to not back down from financial threats and actions. The threat of losing money usually wins over integrity.
Are the U.K. and U.S. paying attention? They should have the courage to speak up. Thank you, Canada, for having integrity! Martin Campbell, Toronto So Canada will have to stop selling weapons of war to the Saudi Arabians for them to use against their own people and against civilians in Yemen.
Good. Alan Craig, Brampton The Saudi cat is now out of the bag. It increasingly seems that the small, but growing bilateral relationship between Canada and Saudi Arabia aims largely to purchase acquiescence in Canada.
The Saudi government has gambled that putting enough cash abroad, including in countries like Canada, will stop the international community from publicly confronting Saudi human rights abuses and war crimes. To some extent, the Saudis were right.
However, when the Canadian foreign ministry tweeted a demand last week to release peaceful activists in Saudi detention, the jig was up. Trying to buy its critics plainly wasn’t working perfectly.
The ensuing Saudi hissy fit of retaliation, including removing their students from Canadian universities, cancelling flights between Riyadh and Toronto and freezing further business collaborations, looks more like a race for the lifeboats on a sinking investment than a principled objection to an incursion on sovereignty.
What did the Saudis think they were buying in Canada? Brian Alexander, Mississauga The Saudis’ reaction to Canadian interference has been misunderstood. It was all in one word — demand. We did not ask them, but we demanded the release. That is not diplomatic language. It is bully language. It does not help when Finance Minister Bill Morneau says that “we bring Canadian values around the world.”
Such arrogance is an affront to every sovereign nation on the planet. Just try that with China! Peter Weygang, Bobcaygeon, Ont. A year ago it was reported that Canada was Saudi Arabia’s second largest arms supplier. While Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland expresses outrage at Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, she conveniently turns a blind eye to scathing reports by UN officials and a long list of civil society groups over Canada’s lucrative weapons trade in defiance of international norms. Joe Davidson, Toronto The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has done Canada and its citizens a big favour by severing diplomatic ties and boycotting our products.
At least now we will not have Yemeni blood on our hands, and the Wahabi preachers will not come to the mosques to preach and poison people’s minds.
Good riddance to bad rubbish! Shahira Hafez, Mississauga Far more disturbing than the present spat is the choice of Twitter to communicate serious, delicate international concerns.
Why would our government choose to conduct critical negotiations in 280 character texts instead of using the established diplomatic channels and media that have been in place for decades, if not centuries? Paul Collier, Toronto