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A US Arms producer, General Dynamics Corp warned Canada against terminating the contract for the sale of armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
In a statement on December 17th, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada warned that cancelling the $15-billion contract would cost billions of dollars in penalties and also hurt its workforce.
“We are continuing to execute our valid and binding contract,” General Dynamics said in the statement. “Were Canada to unilaterally terminate the contract, Canada would incur billions of dollars of liability to General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada. In addition, terminating the contract would have a significant negative impact on our highly skilled employees, our supply chain across Canada, and the Canadian defense sector broadly.”
The decision to possibly terminate arms exports to Saudi Arabia is a result of the Kingdom’s killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saudi Arabia’s explanations for Khashoggi’s death are not credible and there needs to be an independent investigation.
“In the past Canada has suspended existing export permits and that has always been something that we’re prepared to do again as the situation merits,” Freeland said in an interview on December 17th.
In an interview on December 16th, Canadian Prime Minister Just Trudeau said that the Canadian government is “engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia.”
And what initially was thought to be a $1-billion deal, actually was a $15-billion contract signed by Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister. He said that, despite the scope of the deal and the possible repercussions Canada is looking into ways of circumventing them, and that, essentially, punishing the Kingdom should come first.
“The murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable and that’s why Canada from the very beginning had been demanding answers and solutions on that,” Trudeau said.
Political opponents, citing the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen war, insist Trudeau should end the General Dynamics deal, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government.
Trudeau said that the “difficult” contract was made in a way that “makes it very difficult to suspend or leave the contract.”
“I do not want to leave Canadians holding a billion-dollar bill because we’re trying to move forward on doing the right thing,” Trudeau said in October. “So we’re navigating this very carefully.”
Human rights groups have been issuing letters to Trudeau since 2016, asking him to cancel the controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
“To provide such a large supply of lethal weapons to a regime with such an appalling record of human rights abuses is immoral and unethical. The spirit and letter of both domestic export controls and international law support this view,” said the letter signed by representatives of human rights organisations such as Amnesty International.
The Danish, German, Dutch and Finnish governments have all imposed arms embargoes on Saudi Arabia over the ongoing killing of civilians in Yemen as well as the Khashoggi murder.
Furthermore, the US Senate passing a bill that holds Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the Khashoggi murder and another bill that could potentially stop US support for the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen. In response, the Kingdom released a strong-worded statement, warning the senators to “not interfere.”
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejects the position expressed recently by the United States Senate, which was based upon unsubstantiated claims and allegations, and contained blatant interferences in the Kingdom’s internal affairs, undermining the Kingdom’s regional and international role.”
Furthermore, the Kingdom condemned the attempts to compromise the “deep strategic, political, economic, and security ties that were built over several decades to serve the interests of both countries and peoples.”
The statement further cites the significant oil exports, and the Kingdom’s supposed part in the fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda.
“The Kingdom appreciates the prudent position taken by the United States Government and its institutions regarding the recent developments, as it realizes that this position by the US Senate sends the wrong messages to all those who want to cause a rift in Saudi-US relationship. The Kingdom hopes that it is not drawn into domestic political debates in the United States of America, to avoid any ramifications on the ties between the two countries that could have significant negative impacts on this important strategic relationship.”
Essentially, despite being angered by the US Senate’s decision, the Kingdom graciously forgives them, since it knows that the Trump administration fully supports absolutely any conduct of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman.
Good Lord. We terminated a contract with Iran to sell them passenger aircraft and they did nothing wrong. Here a company is demanding that a company fulfill a contract with genocidal lunatics who commit fresh crimes every day. I thought we wore our morality on our sleeves. We break contracts all the time, why can’t they?
you seriously believe that Canada is a sovereign nation????? LOL
i’m sorry to say, but there is more than a little truth in that.
And the truth, sadly, is more apparent today than ever with Trudeau and Freeland.
Freeland the neo Banderite. Lord help us!
Of course he is not. Whatever USA and here Canda does, he is is hiostile, evil and infame probatly You are too.
You are like hairy behinds in cicles, so You dont see and listen to the rest of the world. hard to sober, but the thinking machine must be close to that area too.
You are not even sovereign persons Yourself.
Iran did nothing wrong !!!!!!! What part of the biggest center of world terroism did you miss?
Err, that would be the USA closely followed by it’s boss Israel, and right behind them would be your other mates, the Saudis, probably on a par with the UK. Iran would actually be fairly down the list.
Just cos you Yanks keep repeating it doesn’t make it true.
It si just awesome the power that the mainstream media have to brainwash people like you. So because the NYT, CNN and the others say it, it is true?
You not even have a mainstream media Yourself. Yours is like a medium named a radio to talk with.
Are you a teenager? Your coherence and the type of comments you post reflect that level. Surely I prefer a radio than the brainwashing media you have. In our case, we may get ignoramuses, but in your case you get idiots. Look at yourself.
Everybody else do. Allah only has Iraniand up there :)
Bin the Ripper is a friend of Israel and the Jews of the world have not declared war to him as to Iran and Hitler!
Yerrrh, jews=zionists Yerrrh yerrh year h – Ripper is a friend making only bad cookies on the internet – yerrh yearrh yearhh.
Iran and Hitler namme namme it makes You tiny little carrot grow, so You can see it with no microschope Yerrh, Yerrrh Yerrrh.
“Furthermore, the US Senate passing a bill that holds Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the Khashoggi murder and another bill that could potentially stop US support for the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen.” ……………… HOLD ON; I thought that they had already passed a law / resolution, to stop supporting the Saudis in The Yemen.
Ummm, yes, kinda sorta. But you see the CONgress is full of duplicitous liars and thieves. It’s only a facade to make the sheeple believe they have some sort of moral code…which is a sick joke in itself. After all, the US supplies anyone, with the bucks regardless of ‘resolutions'(or ‘morality’, for that matter), with whatever they want. Why, it’s almost like the MIC runs the US. Besides, Trump has already made it clear that US morality has it’s price.
Again crap from the ones, which not even are able to understand complicated systems and prefare to be and behave like sheep.
USA has reduced S.A. in steps.
Thanks zman. It is a very strange and delusional World the Yankers live in.
That was last week Al. :)
Yes, that is my point – I do not really understand what is happening now.
They partly have. Seemes You sleep too much.
You are not even able to define “them” as well as what its all about.
Agh – sweetcheeks will fold to the Yankers again.
Come on, Ford, BMW, Siemes, Philips, Krupp, Chase Morgan, Rockefeller, they all funded Hiltler, what do you want it to be if they finance Bin the Ripper today?
so what’s the problem in funding Hitler? search for German economy after 1933 to 1939, something hidden by the historians, and maybe listen to Hitler on Yt when he explains German economic situation in 1933, and his invention of GDP based currency. History is written by the victors, and is aimed to be to justify their actions and made the adversary look bad.
The problem is to understand who gives the money to understand the mafia. Hitler was financed by the Jews of the FED, Rockefeller, Morgan Chase. In 1923, Anglo-American finance imposed Hjalmar Schacht as president of the Reichbank. The German economy was made dependent on the banks of London and New York. Schacht advised Hitler as prime minister to Hindemburg and became the future Jewish minister of the economy’s furher. The American Ford, IBM, ITT, General Motors, General Eletric, bought all possible German industries and supported Germany’s armaments also using enslaved labor.
If each canadian pays up 15$ around half a billion tell general dynamics take it or leave it, we revoke the export license
Im in
Yes it is worth it.
Me too,if it include Canian Club whiskey now and then.
I suspect Trudeau and Freeland actually solicited this statement as political protection for themselves.
Canada’s foreign policy under these two almost completely lacks ethical direction.
They just dont like someone like You. Tolerane is not tolerating everything and everyone. We see ot, where Yours are.
Trudeau, this was his first question upon becoming PM, would they issue an export permit. He did. Freeland his Master must have received new marching orders from her money honey Soros. Going into a financial war against Saudi Arabia and China, they must be under orders to destroy Canada.
Yeeerhh, You wet dream Zoro gain with his dirty mask and knitting only with a fork.
I thought Saudis and Chinese were friends of El Zoro himself too.
As a Canadian I suggest we bring the Houthis to Canada and give them a bit of the Royal Canadian Regiment training ground so they can blow the APC’s up here. Save allot of time and trouble. The Corps of Engineers could help. Great fun!
Like catching missiles and bombs by umbrallas or what ?
Missiles not required. A bag of Nitrogen fertilizer and a bottle of Kerosene would do.