Canada Dry

Is Canada being hung out to dry by its so-called friends and allies?

The non-reaction of the USA and the UK to Saudi Arabia's outrageous behaviour appears to endorse it. It seems to me that Saudi Arabia is taking its cue from playground bully US, and taking the view that it too can threaten countries that are dependent on Saudi billions for jobs in their 'defence' industries, though that word now seems bizarre when the reality is that Saudi Arabia is using the weapons purchased to attack, mostly innocent civilians and their children. And attack with impunity because after all, you don't mess with Saudi Arabia, the GHQ of international terrorism, the main source of the 9/11 hijackers, whose family and friends are free to enter and leave the USA as often as they choose to, because they paid the President who knows how many millions of $$$ to get that arms deal signed.

Who would you rather have as a friend, Saudi Arabia, or Canada? Like, I needed to ask? But don't tell me, tell it to the President and our Prime Minister.

The spat appeared to have been sparked last week when Canada’s foreign ministry expressed its concern over the arrest of Saudi civil society and women’s rights activists, in a tweet that echoed concerns previously voiced by the United Nations.

Saudi Arabia swiftly shot back, expelling Canada’s ambassador and suspending new trade and investment with Ottawa, making plans to remove thousands of Saudi students and medical patients from Canada, and suspending the state airline’s flights to and from Canada, among other actions.

Speaking to reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister urged Canada to “fix its big mistake” and warned that the kingdom was considering additional measures against Canada.
Analysts and regional officials said the spat had little to do with Canada, instead characterising Riyadh’s actions as a broader signal to western governments that any criticism of its domestic policies is unacceptable.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...bia-support-us

The article in the Independent in the link argues that for all the bombast, the President has not actually destroyed NAFTA and in its details the agreement with Mexico is little more than a revised version of the agreement that still exists. It looks like the deliberate sidelining of Canada is part of the end of the 'multi-lateral' agreements the Americans hate so much though in reality the US, like the UK and the EU, is finding out how hard it is to detach one economy from another, but there is also no doubt that personal spite by the President motivates his insulting behaviour toward Canada which, in spite of its superior geography, is a much smaller economy than the US. He just doesn't like Trudeau, and it will get tasty if the Canadians insist on inserting climate change clauses into revised agreements.

Being a bully, treating signed agreements as if they were 'yesterday's news' may look good in the short term but if it means cars are more expensive to buy, both sides lose.

More puzzling still is why the US and Canada are basing their auto sector on a clapped out 20th century model, when the future of personal transport should really be asking 21st century questions, like 'Why are we building cars?'

As for the President's inability to use a phone, it reminds me of the story, well known by now, of the CEO complaining to his secretary that his computer doesn't work, only for said lady to reach across and press the 'On' button.

This may yet get even uglier.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-a8510876.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/b...rade-deal.html