In the news lately there is a fight between Canada and Saudi Arabia. It seems to have started with a couple twitter jabs from Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
KSA responded by throwing a haymaker. Expelling the Canadian ambassador. Dumping Canadian securities. Recalling 15,000 Saudi students studying in Canada. Suspending new trade. Trade embargo on Saudi oil to Canada and Canadian wheat to Saudi Arabia. A $15 billion military contract for Canada to supply Saudi with light armoured vehicles may now be in doubt. Saudi may be holding onto that one for now for leverage. or they may wait until the election campaign to cancel it calculating to cause maximum damage to Freeland and her boss Justin Trudeau.
My first impression of the whole thing is what an unforced error it is. This whole situation was instigated by unprovoked reckless tweets by Freeland against Saudi Arabia.
The foreign minister of a middle power ought to be aware that diplomacy is about being diplomatic. and words matter in diplomacy, a lot.
If there is a problem or concern then be diplomatic. Raise your concerns privately, quietly, respectfully, through the proper channels. So publicly calling out KSA on twitter. using inflammatory and pejorative terms such as "immediate release". appearing to side with opponents of the regime. It was a crass unnecessary cheap shot by Freeland against KSA. At some level Saudi was right to be offended and to hit back.
maybe KSA and Canada are not exactly close allies but there was certainly a friendly working relationship between the nations. Saudi medical doctors received training in Canada, Saudi patients received medical care here. Canadian contractors, oil engineers, and nurses have worked in KSA for decades. There was normalized trade and diplomatic relations between the nations. it was in everyones interest to maintain a positive working relationship. We don't have to agree on everything, especially internal matters in each nation.
as foreign minister Freeland ought to have known that KSA can be thin-skinned, and prone to overreaction. this completely avoidable situation demonstrates her incompetence.
Margaret Thatcher noted back in the 1970s certain middle powers such as Canada and Sweden sought to strut on a larger international stage. Twitter in its way is a leveler. Allowing middle powers to feel they are the equals of the great powers. KSA shows that having a blue checkbox on your twitter does not make a great power out in the real world. Trump/USA can more afford to be antagonistic. Trump has the aircraft carriers, the nukes, the industrial economy to back up his tweets. Trudeau/Freeland not so much.
yes this is an overreaction by KSA. Perhaps a signal to other nations to stay out of public comment on internal Saudi affairs. For other nations, KSA may be holding far more of their debt, currency, or market assets, or they may be highly reliant on importing Saudi oil. A sudden disorderly Saudi unwinding of financial assets or oil supply interruption might be a far more difficult situation than what Canada is experiencing. A similar thing happened in 2015 Sweden got out of line with virtue signalling and KSA and were punished for it.
There was a public service in all this. Thank you KSA for reminding us again that 9/11 was a Saudi branded attack. 15 of the 19 terrorists were Saudi. The leader and financier of the attack bin Laden is Saudi. And nice visual touch showing the passenger airplane flying into the CN tower. Freudian slip. Good to know where your heart is KSA. You don't just lead the world in the export of oil.
The thing about the Federal cabinet is. Some cabinet posts matter and some don't. It's critical to have capable people leading the key departments that are important
Department of National Defence
Finance
External Affairs
Justice
The other posts, environment, status of women, department of abortion checkboxes, minister of scheduling attendance at gay pride parades, whatever. You can fill out your gender quota with whoever for those jobs. let them feel-good virtue signal on twitter to the activist and feminist base and it's all sunny ways. But the cabinet jobs that are important require competence.
Christia has fumbled the external affairs post and should be moved to a less prominent role. Perhaps Candadian Heritage would be good for Freeland considering Chrystia Freeland's heritage.
No comments:
Post a Comment