There's only one way to honestly judge the Trudeau government's decision to go ahead with a multi-billion dollar weapons contract with Saudi Arabia. You have to look at what those bastards are really up to. We supply armoured fighting vehicles, some of them will be equipped with tank guns, cannon. The next country supplies something else - jet fighters perhaps or artillery. The Americans, until recently, were supplying those Saudi bastards with cluster bombs and intelligence. We, the West, are all in it together. It's a collaborative deal. We're all complicit in the outcome.
Maybe you haven't got the guts to see blackened bodies in their grotesque death poses. Maybe you can't bring yourself to see dismembered kids. Maybe you would rather not see the wholesale destruction of neighbourhoods, entire towns.
Maybe you can watch this spectacle and still say "jobs, jobs, jobs." Maybe you can say we don't have a choice.
You won't see this stuff on CBC or CTV or Global. You won't read about it in the major newspapers either. If you want the unvarnished truth you have to go to places such as Vice TV. There you'll find the truth about the butchery of our ally, Saudi Arabia, the stuff that Steffie Dion would never acknowledge as he dutifully signed off on the final clearances for the Death Wagon deal.
There are two particular reports that stand out, both by Australian journalist, Ben Anderson. The most recent one, "Return to Yemen," tells you what our federal governments, past and present, knew while they were greasing the wheels of the Saudi war machine.
I haven't been able to find a copy that I could embed but you can watch "Return to Yemen" at this link. See what the richest country in the Arab world dishes out to the civilian population of the poorest.
11 comments:
But but but ... Cancellation fees ... Harper Harper Harper!
Mound, you are totally correct in a world with Santa Clause in contracts, but Harper made us sign in blood. I do not want to bleed for the Yemems or any other group in the middle east, they are all fuckheads in my opinion,
You're at that point where you're ready to write off dead kids as "fuckheads" Steve? What have you got left?
Never thought that our country would evolve into a merchant of death, looking to profit from war and mass murder. Still, harder to believe is that we have also let the Saudis buy up parts of our strategic economy, especially in our agriculture industry. IMHO, any dealings with a terrorist supporting dictatorship, such as the Saudis, is worse than appeasement; it is an endorsement.
.. I like the idea of referendums .. You know, so 'public servants' gain explicit direction from those who elected them, regarding what they elected them to accomplish. Yes yes.. the previous government got it all confused & somehow the public were the servants who needed to be prompted to donate funds, drink the Koolaid & shut the f up.
I also like the idea of a pretty clear Constitution, the opinion (with serious weight) of higher courts, outweighing the fatuous shrieks of the Ezra's, Arthur Hamilton's, Paul Calandra's, freaked out Senators or the stunned creeps like Peter Kent, Joe Oliver or Real Women Of Canada.. (I could go on n on n on n on) or under what bizarre banner they march, behind holier than thou's such as Stephen Harper Ray Novak Jason Kenney et al Inc.
Perhaps we can agree to hold 'snap referenda' (not polls) re important or contentious issues.. a healthy empowered Elections Canada might be useful.. you know.. just to assist in the erection of distinct Canadian signposts for our political masters to recognize.. Kind of like 'no Right Turn on a red light' or 'no littering' .. but gently hammering the public servants with the ideas such as your estimable article points to..
The destruction of towns and cities and the slaughter of completely innocent people, when read about can only be understood in the abstract. To actually see it, including the maimed and dead bodies of children is to understand it in the real. No wonder the cowardly TV Networks like CBC and CTV don't show it. Canada being part of this coalition is a trip to the bottom of which we may never climb out of. We, like others involved, have blood on our hands.The Imperial US and NATO seem to be preparing for war Mound. I see no other explanation for the direction they are moving militarily.How does a soldier look at the murdered charred body of a man, woman or child then continue on with his/her day? The answer to that I think, holds the key to why the violence exists in the first place. In case your interested RT on the show "Going Underground" has a great interview with John Pilger. It was last week. Sorry I don't know the link.
This country is in trouble. And it is called money. Are you all prepared to pay higher taxes? Are wealthy Canadians ready to personally pay out money to keep Canadians healthy? Yes...it is hypocritical the Canadian government is selling arms to a dud country. What are all of you commentators prepared to do to save Canada from the situation we find ourselves in? Are you prepared to call out loud and clear that this government needs to charge those 621 Canadians we know has been hiding their money avoiding 7.4 Billion dollars that is due to their country "Canada"? You cry about Capital fundamentalism and the people who do nothing but steal from our country. Yeah! I bet you are all prepared to send your hordes of gold to the Canadian Government to save us from having to go through with this sale of arms to those ugly, nasty people aren't you?
@ Sal. I have always had difficulty with the concept of direct democracy, government by referendum. What undermines it is the Herculean task, almost never fulfilled, of educating the public and the usual indifference of the public to undertake the exertion of fully grasping the issues in question.
We elect MPs to represent us. Implicit in that is a responsibility they bear to attend briefings, to digest reports, to ask questions so that they can make truly informed decisions on our behalf. That's their job. It's what they're paid to do. One of the great failings of ideologues and the governments they construct is that they're belief-based akin to how religion is faith-based. When you inform yourself by what you choose to believe rather than on evidence-based fact, you breach your fundamental democratic obligation to your constituents. I know. For too many years my riding was under the thumb of a fiercely fundamentalist evangelical and a chiropractor to boot.
There are issues that warrant the referendum solution but they're the exceptional questions and, even then, you know that too many Canadians will exercise that franchise along party lines or personal biases and those are only the citizens who bother to show up.
@ Pamela, this is, to our Western coalition, a bloodless war. We merely provide the weapons and intelligence that enable the Saudis to rain death on Yemeni civilians. No one seems to have mentioned it but the tactics the Saudis are employing mirror quite precisely the Israeli "Dahiyeh" policy used to murderous effect against Palestinian civilians. It's an entire code of what amounts to the worst of war crimes, a flagrant violation of both humanitarian law and the laws of war. However, when it comes to Israel or Saudi Arabia, we're well practised at looking the other way.
Anon 10:57, I know you're trying to say something profound. I just can't figure out what that is. Sorry.
11:48....then you don't get or you are playing dumb! Did I write something you have to think about...it is clear...it is what it. Not trying to be a smart ..... at all.
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