So Canada VS Saudi Arabia...

[EricHiggin]

flashfire926 said:

EricHiggin said:
How is it possible that nobody has pointed out yet that this is obviously all Trumps fault? He's at the core of all wrongdoing in the world. The msm proves it everyday...

We are a nation that picks friendly fights with places like SA, where we rely on a bunch of their oil, and have endless amounts of oil ourselves, yet after mining it, sends it off to be refined elsewhere, then buys it back at exorbitant prices. When we try to keep the entire process here, certain Provinces get in the way and screw the Country over.

We are a nation that points out how it's oppressive for other nations to force woman to cover themselves, yet trying to ban burkas/hijabs/niqabs here in our own Country, is also somehow oppressive to woman.

We are a nation that tries to sweep Muslim wrongdoings that happen here under the table as much as possible, and don't bother reporting on many Muslim incidents in the U.S. either, yet we are more than happy to point out the problems they have in the Middle East, based on our values.

No wonder SA is calling our bluff. Some may say they are going overboard, and I would agree based on the CN Tower plane tweet, but otherwise, this may very well be extremely meaningful to their Country and culture, so they wouldn't be crossing the line from their point of view.

Some of the blow back from SA is BS as well, but the main point of mind your own business, I can't deny. It's one thing to try and use a public platform to help gain yourself some traction with an agenda, it's another to keep pushing that agenda when you've clearly been warned.

As someone who is Canadian myself, I agree with this 100%. Took the words completely out of my mouth.

I seriously think if the initial tweet was worded differently, in a more politically correct way, this all could have been avoided.

Instead of saying, 'we're seriously worried about this recent human rights violation, plus any others that have occurred, so we demand SA release all human rights activists immediately', what they should have said was, 'we are aware of a recent human rights activist being detained and potentially other activists as well, and would like to sit down asap to figure out how this can be peacefully resolved'.

If you are the leader of SA, both of those read very very differently. One makes you look like a human rights squashing jerk, as well as a push over, as if your going to just submit to Canada's wishes due to their aggressive tone. The other makes it look like it could be that the activists went overboard, or worst case, SA jumped the gun and made a minor mistake by detaining them. Knowing what the SA Gov is like, the Canadian Gov should have chose to play our typical peacekeeper game, and not the Trump game.

When I read the tweet, it's like they wanted to go full Trump on SA, but thought they needed to be as politically correct as possible at the same time. It doesn't work that way. It makes them look confused and unsure about what to do. You either go full Trump and mean it, with serious repercussion's following a negative reply, or you go the politically correct way and just hope it works, or try and convince the UN to help make them do it for you.

I'm not entirely against the Canadian Gov voicing it's opinion from time to time. They just need to know when to pick their battles, how to properly strike when they do, and when to quit. Trying to force SA to give up their ways in terms of overall human rights, using words, is a lot like trying to get Conservatives to give up their guns, using words. You had better be the smoothest sweet talkin' s.o.b. this planets ever seen, otherwise, don't bother.

Last edited by EricHiggin - on 12 August 2018