Justin Trudeau is trying to get Canada out of a Multi-Billion dollar Saudi arms deal

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/justin-trudeau-is-trying-to-get-canada-out-of-a-multi-billion-dollar-saudi-arms-deal/ar-BBR4usg?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to pull Canada out of a multi-billion dollar arms deal with the Saudis, he said in an interview aired Sunday.

"We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia," he told local network CTV, without elaborating. The deal, worth $13 billion, would supply the Saudi military with armored vehicles manufactured by General Dynamics' Canadian division.

His comments represent an evolution in Ottawa's stance toward Saudi Arabia. In March of this year, the prime minister defended the deal for the armored vehicles, saying that honoring the contract, which was made under a previous government, "fully meets our national obligations and Canadian laws."

And in October, Trudeau said that he didn't want to leave Canadians holding a "billion-dollar bill because we're trying to move forward on doing the right thing." He said that losing the deal would cost Canada $1 billion Canadian dollars, or $750 million, but also said that his government could freeze exports for certain weapons if it found they'd been misused. Among the vehicles slated for export, dozens are described as "heavy assault" and equipped with cannons, according to documents obtained by Canadian media.

The potential decision is one that a few other governments have either taken up or are considering in the aftermath of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident frequently critical of the powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered by Saudi government operatives in the Istanbul consulate on October 2. The CIA has concluded the crown prince directed the murder, an allegation Riyadh fiercely denies.

The killing triggered international outrage, and led a number of investors to suspend their work with Riyadh, though still more have so far chosen to carry on business as usual.

It also put renewed spotlight on the Yemen War, where a Saudi-led bombing campaign has contributed to tens of thousands being killed. The UN, which calls Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis, says that the Saudi airstrikes are responsible for the majority of civilian deaths.

Trudeau's intended move would follow the decisions of Germany, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands, all of whom have announced a halt to arms sales to the kingdom. Last August saw a heated spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada after the latter criticized the former's human rights record, resulting in Riyadh handing down a series of diplomatic sanctions on the Canadians and expelling its ambassador in the country.

Saudi Arabia is the planet's largest weapons importer, and its purchases have exploded in size since it began its intervention into Yemen in 2015. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 17 percent of all its weapons purchases since 1952 reportedly took place in the last three years.

Last week, U.S. Senators voted overwhelmingly to both condemn the Saudi crown prince as complicit in Khashoggi's death, and separately to call for ending U.S. support of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The U.S. currently provides logistical support, mid-air refueling, targeting training and intelligence to the Saudis.

And as Congress enters into session in January with a Democratic-majority House of Representatives, Riyadh is set to face more opposition than before, despite having a staunch ally in the White House.

Saudi Arabia issued an unusually strong rebuke of the U.S. Senate resolution on Khashoggi Monday, saying it "rejects any interference in its internal affairs, any and all accusations, in any manner, that disrespect its leadership ... And any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or diminish its stature."

I wonder what the Saudi's did that got the Americans so pissed.

The Khashoggi controversy. That's what has Americans pissed off with the Saudi's. And considering other leaders are doing somthing about it more than Trump is, I don't blame Trudeau here.

That only makes sense if he was a CIA asset.

The US isn't going to toss the Saudi's under the bus for one reporter.

Good for Canada for not supporting genocide

Excelent news. The U.S are such hypocrites. They're against Iran, but Saudi Arabia, which was the largest sponsor of terrorism is hailed as hero's. That regime needs to collapse.

Well good for Canada

It´s always nice to see that kind of hypocrisy from a guy who was a personal longtime family friend of Castro who certainly never killed millions and hundreds of journalists.

@blackballs: the Iranians are ironically the only ones in the middle East with a Democratic system.

LOL, I know. I mean, wtf. Shouldn't the U.S be pro-Iran? Oh wait, they don't like if they can't control the oil... moving on.

HAHA that is funny

If you think Iran has a democratic system I have a small bridge, it´s all golden for sale.

If you think the U.S has a democratic system, I have a small bdrige, it's all golden for sale.

x1000

US signs a treaty with Iran that scales back its nuclear program and institutes international oversight

Republicans: You can't do that, they support terrorism!

US sells weapons to the power which most certainly had a hand in the 9/11 attacks

Republicans: It's all good, we need to stimulate the economy and Saudi Arabia is a key ally!

This is to say nothing of the ongoing lionization within the Republican Party of the president who sold weapons to Iran in defiance of Congress. Iran=bad. Guy who ignored a Congressional mandate in order to arm Iran=good. Republican logic.

Iran has an elected president and legislature in elections that are considered to be largely free of fraud. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with a hereditary king acting as executive, legislative, and judicial authority all at the same time and appointing the rest of the government positions, largely kept within the royal family. There's really no comparison between the two.

Again if you believe that Iran has a free democratic system than you are either trolling or you need to open a book.

Refute one point I made in my previous post, I double-dog dare you lawboy.

Cuba elected Castro

Putin got elected

Sadam got elected.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/16/iraq

And let´s look at the democratic index.

150

Iran

2.45

0.00

3.21

4.44

3.13

1.47

Authoritarian

Anything else you want to showcase your trolling in?

@Jacanuk said:

@theone86 said:

Refute one point I made in my previous post, I double-dog dare you lawboy.

Cuba elected Castro

Putin got elected

Sadam got elected.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/16/iraq

And let´s look at the democratic index.

150

Iran

2.45

0.00

3.21

4.44

3.13

1.47

Authoritarian

Anything else you want to showcase your trolling in?

So you admit that you can't disprove a single thing I said? Jesus, if I ever have to defend myself in a courtroom I hope you're the one on the opposite side.

I work with 2 people that emigrated from Iran, and they strongly disagree with that premise. I dont have personal knowledge of their system, but they are insistent about where the real power in Iran lies and its not with the people. ON the Iran side.

as for Saudi Arabia, you are correct there. Total shit show.

@sonicare:

https://www.quora.com/Is-Iran-a-democracy-What-are-the-details-of-how-their-political-system-works

There's a few more details in how the government is run. It's not a real democracy, but there's elements of it. On a scale of 0-100, maybe iran is around a 60 for democratic values while Saudi Arabia is 0. There's no country in the world with a 100 democratic score though, and definitely not the US.

@Jacanuk: an article written in 2002 probably by some idiot who doesn't have real knowledge of how Iran is run. According to that article, what is the democratic index of Saudi Arabia?

Hmm, when did one of the most respected journalistic sources "The Economist" become "some idiot"?

And Saudi Arabia is

=159

Saudi Arabia

1.93

0.00

2.86

2.22

3.13

1.47

Authoritarian

Both are and never will be a democracy, sure they can hold fake elections but it´s no more different than Sadam who won his by 100%

Well everything he said is actually correct. But it isn't complete. Iran is essentially a religious republic. Everything he said refers to the republic part with separation of powers etc. Their president does have some power and he is fairly elected and their have been both reformist and ultra conservative presidents. Most of Iran is kind of like the republican party in that it is very conservative, small town and rural based....which accounts for most of the votes. Only the capital and a few other larger centres are more reformist.

What he didn't say is that independent of the republic powers are the theological powers. Their system has a Supreme Leader from their religious body that is the real leader of the country and is appointed for life. Their have only been two. This is written into their constitution. So when looking at the republic part, it is subservient to the religious part. So for instance, while their elections are fair the candidates are approved by the Supreme Leader to even run for office. Consequently, no Iranian president can accomplish much unless the Supreme Leader allows it to happen.

Iran is interesting because it experiments a little bit every now and again with a bit of openness as it tries to reconcile its religious based system with the fact that it is largely populated by a youngish population, many who want a bit more liberalization.

The US has zero leverage over Saudi's at the moment

Too little too late. The Liberals have done absolutely nothing for existing Canadians. Jobs are leaving, they pay out convicted terrorists, our media has become a Liberal propaganda outlet, refugees and illegal immigrants get housing over our homeless, and Canada’s foreign policy has become a joke run by underqualified incompetents. Our immigration minister wasn’t even born here.

Next year, Trudeau MUST GO!

I never said Iran was perfect, but they do have an elected legislature and an elected president. Multiple candidates run in those elections, which means that the sort of fraud that characterized elections in states like East Germany isn't present. There isn't widespread voter fraud, which means that the sort of rigged elections that have taken place in countries like the Philippines don't occur in Iran. There isn't vote-buying, which means that abuses like the ones that have taken place in Kenya and Nigeria don't occur in Iran.

What they do have is a supreme leader who acts as a check on the legislative and executive branches and who also gets to decide who is eligible to stand for election. This leader is appointed by an elected council and can be removed from office by them. Now, I'm not saying that having one person carry out the role of the judicial branch is a good idea, in fact I think one way to reform the Supreme Court would be to add several more justices to bring the number to at least twenty. France's high court, for example, has over 100. But the position of Supreme Leader is in principle not much different from that of Supreme Court. I'm also not saying that his power to remove political candidates from contention is justified, but at the very least it hasn't resulted in the sham elections which have characterized other countries. President Rouhani, for example, has clashed at times with Khamenei very publicly, yet is still allowed to stand for elections, whereas in other countries only the candidate favored by the ruling party and weak sham candidates meant to be knocked down are allowed to run. Iran is a democracy, albeit a very flawed one.

@Jacanuk: wrong. The fact that Iran has elections where people can vote and select a leader fairly is very meaningful. Also it's a good thing they have a supreme Court leader to counter balance the politicians. And then have a council to counter balance the supreme Court leader. You never want politicians to have complete power. Just look at the sht show in the west where politicians are openly bribed by corporations. Again, I'd love to see how this website written 16 years ago came up with their sham index.