Canada defends women's rights; Saudi Arabia threatens 9/11-style attack

St Augustine in The City of God around 400 AD:
"Governments without justice are mere robberies"

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.”

http://files.libertyfund.org/pll/quotes/200.html
 
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Since then the EU has actually sort of stepped in with a cough and a nudge and a wink, so we'll see what comes out of that
Behold:


I was just about to post that in the youtube thread.
But i thought this might just file here.
And since i'm already here i may also comment.

Saudi Arabia responded with the following peaceful Tweet:

Spoiler PTSD for 9/11 survivor warning :


They also took economic measures against Canada:
Curious.
The EU did the above - and more - in 2015 and Saudi Arabia cottonmouthed together the protest of a delinquent freshman.
Canada - Freeland to be precise - scolds Saudi Arabia with a tweet (underline "tweet") and all hell breaks loose.

Why do you think that is? :)

Nobody is backing Canada yet, I don't think. Unless things have changed every single country with a statement has been behind Saudi Arabia or "Meh, who cares"

Aren't we all supposed to be for women's and equal rights here in the west? Or are we abandoning that project altogether?
See above.
Canada was three years late.
With a tweet.
And then expected to be cheered on for moral leadership.

But no, wait, Canada wasn't three years late, technically.
Let's review:
  • In 2012 through 2014 Raif Badawi was arrested, tried, convicted and got his sentence upgraded multiple times.
    The supposed crime: Apostasy.
    The sentence: Ten years and thousand lashes.
  • In 2015 the Europeans did their thing.
  • In 2018 his sister, Samar Badawi, got arrested again. She gets arrested sometimes for minor "violations", generally related to her being what the Saudis consider "a very uppity woman".
  • At that point Chrystia Freeland apparently started to care.
  • Both Raif Badawi and Ensaf Haider have called on Ontario to adopt a quebec-style "burqa ban".

On the other hand, Canada continues to build its reputation as one of the leaders of the free world.
Well, do you think it's working?
Btw, what do you think Canada is most known for, politically, on other continents?
Canada isn't leading anything.
Then what is the issue here? Canada's government stupidly grandstanding on an issue that its own citizens don't care about?
As has been pointed out, Canada basically hasn't done anything.
Well, that's what you said.
Wait... Peterson is a Doctor? Of what?
Peterson has a B.A. in politcal science, a B.A. in psychology and a Ph.D. in psychology.
He has spent the last twenty years teaching at the University of Toronto, in no small part on the psychological underpinnings of Stalinism and Nazism.
So while we may disagree with him on any particular argument, it's hard to deny that he is an expert in what he's trying to talk about.
This is potentially embarrassing...
Well, that's what you said.
Women's and Equal Rights < Oil
Apparently.
Good thing Saudi Arabia doesn't have bauxite and wood pulp.
Yes, and this is why you aren't in control of any nation's foreign policies.
That's hilarious and also a correct statement, no offense.
Like, it's technically true.
The more interesting issue is: Should Lexi not be in control of any nation's foreign policy?
You know, in a better world.
That wasn't us. Canada wasn't even a country at the time - not for over 50 years later. Britain gets the blame for that.
I'm fairly certain @FriendlyFire meant that as a compliment.
 
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I would like to point out that in 2012-2014, Chrystia Freeland wasn't in government. The Reformacons were in power, and Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister. His record of giving a damn about people unjustly accused/imprisoned is not impressive, particularly if they didn't remind him of "old-stock Canadians."
 
I would like to point out that in 2012-2014, Chrystia Freeland wasn't in government. The Reformacons were in power, and Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister. His record of giving a damn about people unjustly accused/imprisoned is not impressive, particularly if they didn't remind him of "old-stock Canadians."
I understand that. Though the liberal government could have made a big deal about this in 2015 or early 2016. That would have even been tactically advantagous, what with the Europeans in the mix.
Maybe that's an unreasonable demand. Maybe not.

We could belabor Harper's character here a bit, since this is one of the things we agree on:
Stephen Harper managed to lose an election campaign in part on his stance vis-a-vis "burqa bans", and at the same time didn't do anything to aid the Arabian dissident who's being flogged in prison and whose wife lives in Quebec, casually talks to the European Parliament about free speech and is decidedly in favor of burqa bans.​
I mean, one has to take a step back to get the full panoramic view of this moral ineptitude.
 
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