Saudi Arabia has given the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to pack his bags and go home because, the Saudi Foreign Ministry complains, Canada is meddling in the internal affairs of the oil-soaked feudal theocracy by expressing concern in Tweets about its arrests of human rights activists, clerics and journalists. Last
Continue readingTag: Yemen
Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Scott Gilmore discusses how Canada is actually backsliding in some crucial development goals. And Colin Gordon writes about the inequality growing on multiple fronts around the globe. – Kathy Tomlinson uncovers a Vancouver real estate market rigged to benefit developers and speculators.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Blood On Our Hands
As Canadians, we like to walk around feeling good about ourselves, convinced both of our good intentions and our innate rectitude. Ours is a generally peaceful society, the rule of law largely respected. We look to the violent domestic madness that is an undeniable part of the U.S., and we
Continue readingAlberta Politics: News Satire: U.S. will not tolerate foreigners acting like Americans, officials say
ILLUSTRATIONS: A map showing some of the countries in which the United States has interfered in the political process (grabbed from Geology.com). Below: U.S. CIA Director John O. Brennan, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candid…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: How Will Dion Justify This?
Given the ongoing contention surrounding Canada’s decision to sell $15 billion worth of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, one wonders what sort of dance moves Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion will engage in to explain his government’s ongoing su…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Short-term jobs and profits notwithstanding, Canada’s interests are not served by Saudi armoured vehicle sale
PHOTOS: A Canadian LAV III similar to the armoured vehicles to be sold by General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada) of London, Ont., to the Saudi National Guard. Below: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion, former MI6 head Sir Ri…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: So What’s Our Excuse?
Amnesty International is urging Britain’s Cameron government to stop arms shipments to Saudi Arabia. Amnesty claims the weapons are being used to deliberately slaughter civilians in Houthi-rebel controlled parts of Yemen. Amnesty said it found a pattern of “appalling disregard” for civilian lives by the Saudi-led coalition in an investigation
Continue readingA. Picazo: No Scrutiny Please, They’re Saudi.
This op-ed appeared in The Ottawa Citizen on October 1, 2015. In 2014, on the shores of Lake Geneva and next to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a lavish ceremony was held to honour the recipient of the Moral Courage Award — an annual honour bestowed by UN Watch,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jason Kenney’s Hugely Embarrassing Russian Problem
As we all know Jason Kenney is a raging Cold War warrior, who is always going after the Russians, with his big mouth as his weapon.To satisfy his inner religious fanatic, and pander to the ethnic vote.And when he's not lying compulsively, he's always bragging about Canada's expanding power… Great
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Deliver Us From Evil
Why do we tolerate Saudi Arabia when the kingdom, and its Sunni state allies, seems determined to deliver Yemen into the control of ISIS and al Qaeda? Gwynne Dyer writes that, while we wage an air war against ISIS, the Saudis are undermining our effort with their war on the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: That Burnt Smell, That Hissing Sound? That’s the Fuze.
Well, if nothing else, Stephen Harper might just have earned Canada a ringside seat to the outbreak of a Middle East regional war. The way the International Crisis Group sees it, the Saudi air war on Shiite Yemeni rebels might just be the burning fuze that explodes the Sunni-Shia powder
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Even Diplomats Admit Our Middle East Policy is a Mess.
Of course it’s a mess bordering on schizophrenia. We can’t figure out which side we should be fighting, Sunni or Shia. We’re bombing Sunnis on behalf of the Shia in Iraq and, soon enough, Syria but we’re backing the Sunnis in their air war against Shiite rebels in Yemen. Next
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’ve Got Just the Thing – Let’s Go Fight in Yemen!
We’ve already got a crew in the neighbourhood, we could probably cut’em a sweet deal. Yemen asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to back military action by “willing countries” to combat an advance by Shi’ite Muslim Houthi militia, according to a letter from President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seen
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Hashtag hypocrisy: #on the other hand my husband orders drone strikes that have killed hundreds of kids
The kidnapping of the Nigerian schoolgirls by Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, also known by the Hausa name Boko Haram, happened over a month ago. By now a percentage of these girls are likely dispersed… transported across the porous Nigerian border into Chad, Cameroon and Niger where Boko Haram leader
Continue readingdrive-by planet: RT’s Breaking the Set: George Galloway on ‘Killing of Tony Blair’, Yemen drone attack and the death of Abbas Khan
In this RT interview British Respect Party MP, George Galloway, talks about his upcoming documentary film The Killing of Tony Blair. He also gives his views on the harassment of The Guardian by British authorities and the strange death of Dr Abbas Khan in a Syria prison. British citizen Khan
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Abdulelah Shaye released after jailing at Obama’s request: Jeremy Scahill on Shaye and horrific U.S. bombing of al-Majalah
The courageous journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye who was imprisoned in Yemen following a request from the Obama administration, has been released after serving 3 years in lock-up. Shaye’s ‘crime’ was exposing a U.S. cruise missile attack on the Bedouin village of al-Majalah in December 2009. Forty one villagers were killed
Continue readingRedBedHead: Massacre in Egypt: Is Revolution Worth The Price?
As I sat down to write this post the news of a tragic massacre of at least 32 Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated protestors, and the injury of 300 more was plastered all over the internet. That much is clear, the rest is yet to be disentangled (if ever) from two completely opposing
Continue readingRedBedHead: Massacre in Egypt: Is Revolution Worth The Price?
As I sat down to write this post the news of a tragic massacre of at least 32 Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated protestors, and the injury of 300 more was plastered all over the internet. That much is clear, the rest is yet to be disentangled (if ever) fro…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Massacre in Egypt: Is Revolution Worth The Price?
As I sat down to write this post the news of a tragic massacre of at least 32 Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated protestors, and the injury of 300 more was plastered all over the internet. That much is clear, the rest is yet to be disentangled (if ever) from two completely opposing
Continue reading