[Skeezix]

Christian, Hindu, Buddhist majority countries, will not kill me for being gay.

It's not that simple. British colonialism has left a legacy of anti-gay laws throughout the world, which may not impose the death penalty, but nonetheless put the lives of LGBT people in danger with tacit state support (gay men can't look to the police or the courts for protection). There are many countries where being gay is dangerous, with Uganda actually threatening to codify the murder of LGBT citizens. Uganda's Parliament passed a law imposing the death penalty; although the law was overturned on a technicality (not on human rights grounds), the threat of a new statute hangs over that country (expect it to get worse, given the signals that the Trump administration sent out last year when the US voted against a UN resolution condemning the use of the death penalty as punishment for consensual gay relations). Law or not, police in Uganda routinely attack and beat LGBT activists, and gay activists are murdered with the quiet consent of the authorities (who then assist with the cover-up afterwards).

In other words, there are many non-Muslim countries where people are killed for being gay while the authorities effectively look the other way. Whether the government has imposed some sort of religious edict, or simply denied basic human rights and full protections to gay men, the result is the same.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From the Globe:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...tals-scrambling-to-resolve-how-saudi-student/

If I am the government, I will offer them a direct pathway to citizenship for the medical students who wanted to stay with the right to practice in the country and cut the Saudis right off.

AoD

 

[buildup]

Its up to Saudi's to decide the future they want Theocratic / Sharia, Democratic, Communist - whatever. Not us. Change comes from within. I'm sure if we push hard enough we could trigger a bloodbath as in every other case where we toppled a Dictator. The woman in question is a political activist, a courageous one, its a fight she has chosen. Her people will support her or not. That's it. I'd get annoyed if Saudis started telling Canadian indigenous people to assert their ridiculous claims to downtown Toronto etc.

So Trudeau's silly virtue-signalling (lecturing Saudis about one woman's arrest, while trying to hang onto the $10B sale of Canadian weapons which are killing Yemenis by the thousands) is nauseating. Its cheap and easy to tweet, it gets votes, it reminds us how noble Trudeau is and how lush his hair is.

To say Saudi Arabia is a crappy country is obviously true. But don't underestimate the damage that can come to fellow Canadian business people, our education sector, weapons manufactures, agriculture, tourism, financial services, and infrastructure. The relationship is much bigger than most Canadian are aware - many 10s of billions. It was also one of the few few bright spots, until recently, in our effort to diversify our trading relationships.

--

So far Justin has seriously harmed our relationships with the US, India, now Saudi Arabia with his amateur moves. Still on good terms with Cuba however.

 

[buildup]

From the Globe:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...tals-scrambling-to-resolve-how-saudi-student/

If I am the government, I will offer them a direct pathway to citizenship for the medical students who wanted to stay with the right to practice in the country and cut the Saudis right off.

AoD

Cut the Saudi's off? You are cutting off $20B per year to our country. Think!!!!

 

[SunriseChampion]

Cut the Saudi's off? You are cutting off $20B per year to our country. Think!!!!

Good riddance. Our own provincial government just cut off $3B from local businesses in one fell swoop of an idiotic decision. What's another $20B to all of Canada?

The General Dynamics deal is still on. That was $15B. Take it and go.

 

[SunriseChampion]

--

So far Justin has seriously harmed our relationships with the US, India, now Saudi Arabia with his amateur moves. Still on good terms with Cuba however.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about this thread today and wanted to revisit to say that he's still a Chinese lapdog, by all accounts. So, I find it all hilariously hypocritical.

US? India?

Man, bun them too. Trump is a caricature and a clown (and worse) and Modi is a racist douchebag.

....but, I do concede. This was very poor diplomacy on Freeland's part. Picking up a non-issue while being silent on China. Or Poland. Or Nicaragua. Or etc.
Pick the battles wisely and deal with them wisely. Picking a tiny infraction and tweeting about it is a bit of a joke and extremely counterproductive, and, in light of the blind eye and mute tongue turned to some other serious delinquents, extremely hypocritical.

Hey, maybe this is their way of trying to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran. Good first step in that regard!

 

[syn]

Its up to Saudi's to decide the future they want Theocratic / Sharia, Democratic, Communist - whatever. Not us. Change comes from within. I'm sure if we push hard enough we could trigger a bloodbath as in every other case where we toppled a Dictator. The woman in question is a political activist, a courageous one, its a fight she has chosen. Her people will support her or not. That's it. I'd get annoyed if Saudis started telling Canadian indigenous people to assert their ridiculous claims to downtown Toronto etc.

So Trudeau's silly virtue-signalling (lecturing Saudis about one woman's arrest, while trying to hang onto the $10B sale of Canadian weapons which are killing Yemenis by the thousands) is nauseating. Its cheap and easy to tweet, it gets votes, it reminds us how noble Trudeau is and how lush his hair is.

To say Saudi Arabia is a crappy country is obviously true. But don't underestimate the damage that can come to fellow Canadian business people, our education sector, weapons manufactures, agriculture, tourism, financial services, and infrastructure. The relationship is much bigger than most Canadian are aware - many 10s of billions. It was also one of the few few bright spots, until recently, in our effort to diversify our trading relationships.

--

So far Justin has seriously harmed our relationships with the US, India, now Saudi Arabia with his amateur moves. Still on good terms with Cuba however.

You blame Trudeau for the current mess with Trump?

 

[Videodrome]

I find it very sad that the CPC and their supporters are sucking up to an Islamic theocracy. Aren't they the ones who scream about Sharia law all the time?

 

[buildup]

You blame Trudeau for the current mess with Trump?

I blame Trudeau for his 'tough-guy' tweet baitingTrump after Trump departed the G10 meeting in Quebec CIty. He said Canada wouldn't be bullied by the US? Really? 90% of our trade is with the US, and 10% of their trade is with us. Who exactly is going to stop Trump from bullying Canada? That was amateur. Our goal is to survive this presidency without losing 600,000 auto jobs.

 

[buildup]

I find it very sad that the CPC and their supporters are sucking up to an Islamic theocracy. Aren't they the ones who scream about Sharia law all the time?

Yes, but they are even more committed Marxists.

 

[syn]

I blame Trudeau for his 'tough-guy' tweet baitingTrump after Trump departed the G10 meeting in Quebec CIty. He said Canada wouldn't be bullied by the US? Really? 90% of our trade is with the US, and 10% of their trade is with us. Who exactly is going to stop Trump from bullying Canada? That was amateur. Our goal is to survive this presidency without losing 600,000 auto jobs.

First of all, Canada does not conduct 90% of it's trade with the US.

The EU, Canada, China and Mexico are by far the USA's biggest trade partners, and Trump has given the finger to all of them in some way shape or form.

Do you propose letting Trump have whatever he'd like?

I'm glad Trudeau is standing up to Trump - they may be bigger, but a trade war with Canada (along with the others they've engaged in) will hurt the US quite badly.

 

[BurlOak]

So far Justin has seriously harmed our relationships with the US, India, now Saudi Arabia with his amateur moves. Still on good terms with Cuba however.

There's also the TPP nations that Trudeau pissed off - including Japan, South Korea, and Australia - when he was a no-show at the final meetings so he could shmooze with the Facebook CEO.

 

[BurlOak]

I blame Trudeau for his 'tough-guy' tweet baitingTrump after Trump departed the G10 meeting in Quebec CIty. He said Canada wouldn't be bullied by the US? Really? 90% of our trade is with the US, and 10% of their trade is with us. Who exactly is going to stop Trump from bullying Canada? That was amateur. Our goal is to survive this presidency without losing 600,000 auto jobs.

No doubt it was a calculated political move on Trudeau's part.
He gains the anti-Trump vote while hurting our economy. It likely will work for him.

Remember Butts was around when McGuinty wasted $1B to buy a couple of Mississauga and Oakville seats - so these guys really don't care about how much harm they do as long as they can gain politically.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Cut the Saudi's off? You are cutting off $20B per year to our country. Think!!!!

You're off by an order of magnitude - 1.6B Saudi import of Canadian goods/services per annum vs. 2B Saudi export (mainly oil) to us. Before you think - read.

Oh and while we're at it, I'd put a big mark on Saudi funded religious institutions in Canada for followup investigations.

There's also the TPP nations that Trudeau pissed off - including Japan, South Korea, and Australia - when he was a no-show at the final meetings so he could shmooze with the Facebook CEO.

The TPP is apparently dead because we supposedly pissed them off, right? In the meantime, I do recall you singing praises of that imbecile down south that among other things, attempt to kill TPP outright and break up the bloc. So, let's get back to the pissing off bit...

I blame Trudeau for his 'tough-guy' tweet baitingTrump after Trump departed the G10 meeting in Quebec CIty. He said Canada wouldn't be bullied by the US? Really? 90% of our trade is with the US, and 10% of their trade is with us. Who exactly is going to stop Trump from bullying Canada? That was amateur. Our goal is to survive this presidency without losing 600,000 auto jobs.

If you're going to kow-tow and position yourself for concessions to the point of losing said jobs, you might as well raise your head up high and take the measured shots - because it is basically inviting exploitation otherwise. These benign views of the US under Trump is rose-coloured farce. We have a pre-existing agreement that is in function for quarter of a century - we did not attempt to rip it up unilaterally - to sanction an arbitrary attempt to grossly rework it while using laughable pretext (e.g. national security for steel/aluminium) just not-so-virtuously signaled no agreement with said party is worth shits under the current US administration.

AoD

 

[buildup]

First of all, Canada does not conduct 90% of it's trade with the US.

The EU, Canada, China and Mexico are by far the USA's biggest trade partners, and Trump has given the finger to all of them in some way shape or form.

Do you propose letting Trump have whatever he'd like?

I'm glad Trudeau is standing up to Trump - they may be bigger, but a trade war with Canada (along with the others they've engaged in) will hurt the US quite badly.

Sorry for the wrong data was guessing. Accurate data 16% of US exports are to Canada; 73% of Cdn exports are to the US.
A trade war will hurt Canada much more than it will hurt the US.