FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jun 5

Weapons Sales by Canada and the U.S. Complicit in Supporting War Crimes by Saudi Arabia

by bcurry

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, mainly the United Arab Emirates, entered the Yemeni government’s war against the Houthi rebels in 2015, and began a wide-ranging aerial bombing campaign involving more than 150 airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen.  The United Nations calls the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, as it is estimated that the war with Yemen has killed more than 230,000 people as a result of the fighting or its indirect consequences, such as hunger and outbreaks of disease.  The war has pushed the impoverished Yemen to the brink of famine.  During this nearly decade-long war, both the U.S. and Canada fournished weapons, including F-15S/SA planes and Canadian-made light armoured vehicles (LAVs), artillery systems, and heavy machine guns.

In 2021, the Biden administration in 2021 announced an end to U.S. military support for “offensive operations” carried out by the Saudi-led coalition and suspended some munition sales.  However, aircraft maintenance contracts fulfilled by both the U.S. military and U.S. companies to coalition squadrons carrying out offensive missions have continued.  Canada’s military exports to Saudi Arabia actually increased in 2021, making the Saudi kingdom Canada’s top export destination for such goods after the U.S. —  64 percent of the total value of non-US military exports that year.  In 2020, a review was undertaken by the Canadian government of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, which concluded there was “no substantial risk” such transfers of military goods were “used to commit or facilitate violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, or gender-based violence”.  However, Amnesty International and Project Ploughshares have declared that the Canadian government’s review misinterpreted, or ignored, key pillars of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, an international agreement signed by Canada regulating the international trade in conventional arms.  Contrary to what the federal government has said, they believe that Canada continues to ignore its international obligations to the Arms Trade Treaty.  On the other hand, the U.S., under Donald Trump, dropped out of the Arms Trade Treaty in 2019 for obvious misplaced domestic reasons.

Despite the fact that both countries have supported the kingdom, there have recently been signs of discontent with Saudi actions in Yemen and human rights violations by the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  The murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018 by the Saudis did not help.  Nevertheless, we now have a planned trip by President Biden to Saudi Arabia to discuss increasing their production of oil, thereby helping his administration to lower gasoline prices in the U.S.  Although the U.S. helped diplomatically to arrange for a truce in the conflict between the Houthi in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the horrendous damage was already done in both civilian casualties and infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and communication towers in Yemen.  Since 2015, human rights groups investigating the airstrikes on Yemen have identified more than 300 that violated or appeared to violate international law.  Even as early as March 2015, Internal State Department documents noted that U.S. officials worried that coalition airstrikes may have violated the rules of war.

While the world is paying close attention to possible war crimes by the Russians in Ukraine, countries such as the U.S. and Canada have been probably aided, through the provision of weapons to the Saudis and their allies, similar atrocities in Yemen.  In addition, within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia there are a number of alleged human rights issues, including the imprisonment of political activists.  However, these concerns have not been enough for the U.S. and Canada to cease their military support to the country.  One has to believe it’s more about the oil than it’s about the revenue from exports of military weapons and maintenance contracts.  Alas, there are no comparable bans on the export of oil from the region compared to existing European, U.S. and Canadian bans on the import of oil and gas from Russia.  Despite unresolved diplomatic disputes between the Saudis and both our countries, access to oil reserves unfortunately continues to drive our immediate foreign policies in the region.

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Oct 22

The Global Arms Trade Will Always Overshadow Human Rights

by bcurry

There is a lot of international outrage over the killing by Saudi Arabian agents of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. There has also been anger by human rights groups against the Saudis over atrocities committed against the people in Yemen, mainly with the use of Western supplied military equipment, ammunition and bombs.  To no one’s surprise, President Trump was slow to condemn the Saudis in the murder of Khashoggi, especially in light of over $8 billion in weapons purchases from the U.S.  In 2013, concerns had previously been raised about Canada’s decision to sell armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, which reportedly used them to help crack down on protesters in neighbouring Bahrain during the 2011 Arab Spring. Given that the production of the light armoured vehicles comes from a plant in London, Ontario, the Canadian government today continues to supply them to Saudi Arabia on a contract worth between $13 and $15 billion, despite that country’s recent well documented human rights abuses. Unfortunately, the previous Conservative government under Prime Minister Harper used the sale as an initial start to transform Canada into a global arms dealer. Canada began looking to the Middle East and South America for potential contracts as the U.S., Britain and other traditional customers cut defence spending.

The global arms trade represents a multi-billion dollar industry, involving most advanced countries who are particularly interested in selling weapons to developing countries. This especially includes weapons sold from several key countries.  Russia, as a dominant power in the global arms market, saw orders for its weapons totaling over $11 billion in sales in 2015. Latin American nations, in particular Venezuela, had become a focus of marketing for Russian arms.  In the same year, China reached $6 billion in weapons sales, up from its 2014 total of over $3 billion.  Also, among arms manufacturers that are NATO allies, Germany has found success in marketing naval systems to the developing world.  Britain has done the same with warplanes, and France weapons deals increased by well over $9 billion. Other major global arms suppliers are Sweden, Italy, Turkey, and Israel. The U.S. ranked first in global weapons sales in 2015, signing deals for about $40 billion, or half of all agreements in the worldwide arms bazaar.

Canada remains the only member of NATO and the G7 that has not signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which aims to regulate the trade in armaments — from handguns to tanks.  In 2018, Canada’s Federal Government finally introduced proposed legislation to join the ATT. However, Parliamentary opposition argue the bill contains no assurances that the weapons could not then be transferred to countries that abuse human rights, including Saudi Arabia.

President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau are typical of leaders who have no scruples about selling weapons to countries with poor human rights records. Is it enough to say that stopping the flow of arms to Saudi Arabia is not an option, since other countries will simply step in to fill the gap — thereby depriving both countries of manufacturing jobs and billions in contracts? Despite the ATT, this position is why the global arms trade will continue to overshadow human rights.

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Jan 6

Canada’s Arms Trade and Unequal Balance Between Making a Buck and Human Rights

by bcurry

Lately I’ve been reading about Canada’s desire to increase its arms trade with developing countries — most notably countries such as Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Korea, India and Kuwait. As you may be aware, a number of these countries have demonstrated recent violations of their citizens’ human rights.

These and the other countries were or are expected to be added to what is called the Automatic Firearms Country Control List, all in the name of expanding Canada’s share of the global arms trade. The arms industry represents a $12 Billion sector in Canada, and is said to be responsible for about 109,000 jobs in Canada. The list itself was established more than 20 years ago by the Canadian Government to represent the only states to which Canadian defence companies and others can export prohibited weapons and military equipment. At the time, its intentions certainly appeared to be honourable.

However, experts now believe that the above list is being expanded to take into account a significant drop in arms sales to such traditional markets as the U.S. and Britain, primarily as a result of the current reduction in the NATO-led mission to Afghanistan. Indeed, the U.S. and British governments, in general, have also drastically slashed defence spending in an effort to get their financial books in order. There is little doubt that both countries will continue to compete with Canada for arms sales to developing countries, regardless of the purposes of their eventual use in those countries.

For example, Canadian-made light armoured vehicles of the type used by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were sold to Saudi Arabia several years ago and later used in 2011 to help crack down on protesters in neighbouring Bahrain. The addition of Colombia to the list in December 2012 was followed several days later by the sale of 24 similar armoured vehicles for $65 Million despite concerns about human and labour rights inside that Latin American country. Peru has also struggled when it comes to respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly around mining projects. Brazil was swept with protests for more than a month that include allegations of police brutality. In addition, Canada may be contributing to further destabilizing relationships between bordering countries such as India and Pakistan.

The Conservative government has been promoting Canada’s defence industry as an economic priority, in large part because it hopes doing so will help offset the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost in other sectors. But at what cost to the advancement of human rights in the listed countries? Although Canada is a relatively small arms dealer on the international market, its contribution to domestic abuses by governments in certain countries cannot and should not be ignored. The Conservative government’s high-profile refusal to sign on to an international treaty aimed at curbing the illicit sale of arms and ammunition, and a lack of transparency on Canadian arms sales in recent years doesn’t inspire confidence. We might very well ask whether selling guns to developing countries is the wisest and best way for Canada to make a buck.

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Jun 6

Arms Trade Treaty – Canada Ready to Shoot Itself in the Foot Once Again

by bcurry

Recently, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird invoked the country’s former long-gun registry as the Conservative Government refused to say when or even if Canada will sign a treaty aimed at stemming the flow of illegal weapons and ammunition around the world. His argument is that the proposed Arms Trade Treaty, approved by an overwhelming majority of countries in the UN’s General Assembly, would resurrect the long-gun registry “through the backdoor.” Remember, the Conservatives scrapped the national long-gun registry last February, claiming that the registry only hurt law-abiding sportsmen and law-abiding hunters and farmers. This despite the fact that a survey conducted exclusively in October 2010 for Postmedia News and Global Television found that public support for the registry stood at 66 percent nationally. As well, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police had unanimously endorsed a new national firearms policing strategy and had publicly pushed the need for the National Firearms Registry.

While this became Canada’s national policy, the proposed Treaty has nothing to do with domestic gun owners’ rights. Even U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that the Treaty will not undermine the legitimate international trade in conventional weapons, interfere with national sovereignty or infringe on the rights of American citizens, including Second Amendment rights. It is designed to prevent the illegitimate arms trade, particularly as it affects third world countries. However, should the U.S. administration sign the Treaty, it will still have to be ratified by Congress. Good luck!!!

Meanwhile, the current Canadian government openly fought the proposed Treaty as it now stands. This despite the fact that the previous Liberal government had been a strong proponent of the Treaty during preliminary discussions at the U.N. Ridiculously, the Conservatives are even pushing for language in the Treaty’s preamble affirming “respect” for the lawful ownership of firearms by private citizens. Specifically, Canada has asked that the treaty recognize the use of “firearms for recreational purposes, such as sport shooting, hunting and other similar forms of lawful activities.” Moreover, Canada today stands out as one of only a few countries — including Israel — pushing for recognition in the Treaty of lawful public ownership and recreational use of firearms.

Last March, newly released documents showed that Canadian officials had been instructed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to “play a low-key, minimal role” — and that their main objective was safeguarding Canadian gun owners’ rights. Now, what does this have to do with the illegal international trade in small guns and ammunition? Let’s face it, we’re not talking about hunting rifles here. The Treaty is all about trying to come to grips with the on-going trade in military-type weaponry. The landmark Arms Trade Treaty approved by the General Assembly on April 2, 2013, is aimed at regulating the international trade in conventional arms, from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. Yes, it would include the tracking by ratifying countries of all arms trade, including that from Canada. How such tracking provides any potential “backdoor” resurrection of a domestic long-gun registry is anyone’s guess!! Sorry, Canada. You may have just left the “front door” wide open to cries of hypocrisy and subsequent further international alienation. On this one, you’re up the proverbial creek in the eyes of your allies. For shame, for shame.

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