Isn’t it interesting that the Justin Trudeau government, which now represents Canada to the world, has adopted a foreign policy that is dominated by human rights concerns at a level of evangelical fervour.
This is not all bad. We are taking positive strides in correcting our own deficiencies in honouring the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights that we co-authored some 70 years ago. Unfortunately, many UN countries do not place individual human rights as important to their existential foundation. China for one.
Saudi Arabia is another. Historically, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as we know it today was founded by Ibn Sa’ud in 1932 as a religiously guided country. The alliance of the House of Sa’ud and the followers of a religious sheikh, ‘Abd al-Wahhab, dates back to 1744 when most of the Arabian Peninsula had deteriorated into violent chaos socially and politically. The Wahhabi’s mounted a religious war to save their civilization. They determined to stabilize the fragmentation of Islam by denouncing all and any religious concepts or practices that came into being after the third century of the Islamic Era. The House of Sa’ud became their military and political arm. Together, they conquered and united most of the Arabian Peninsula including the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. While they were defeated themselves by the Ottoman Empire in 1819, the alliance re-emerged in the early 20th century. The Arabian Peninsula tribes were reunited when they captured Riyadh and established an absolute monarchy headed by the House of Sa’ud. Then they struck oil and became a global political force.
And now we have Mohammad bin Salam, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, First Deputy Prime Minister, President of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs and the world’s youngest Minister of Defence. The country’s constitution is the Quran and the Sunnah, and he has to comply with Sharia Law. There is opposition from Sunni Islamists, the Shi’ite minority, tribal opponents, international civil rights movements, and fringe group terrorists. Wahhabi clerics oppose the actions he has started to improve the lives of women. Saudi Arabia has land borders with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Yemen. It has sea boundaries with Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, Bahrain and Iran. It is the world’s largest oil producer and exporter and the world’s second-largest arms importer. He embroiled his country in a civil war in Yemen when Iran intervened on the rebel side. Saudi Arabia is a complicated nation to manage internationally and internally. And he has a despotic personality.
As for Canada, we knew the recent trouble Germany and Sweden got into by attacking Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. We did nothing to come to their aid when the crown prince attacked them politically. Now it is our turn.
It is one thing to criticize and to take action in defence of any Canadian when being mistreated in another country. And it is important for Canadians to know that our government is acting positively on our behalf. However, when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland directed the Canadian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to release her criticism on Twitter in Arabic so that it could be widely read by Saudis, we got exactly what we deserve.
Remember Charles de Gaulle and Quebec Libre?
Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
