Twitter diplomacy has gone sideways yet again. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been egregiously offended by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s Aug. 3 tweet whereby she expressed concern over the recent arrest of women’s rights activist Samar Badawi and called for the immediate release of all peaceful activists.
In its wording, Freeland’s tweet is truly mild at best. In fact, it is about as offensive as Oliver Twist asking Mr. Bumble for more gruel. Nonetheless, the KSA has levelled a swift and strong, if not bizarre, overreaction to the Canadian provocation.
KSA’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) who to this point has been trying to improve the world’s perception and opinion that Saudi society is not regressive or backwards, has essentially ripped off the Band-Aid and shown us the ugly underbelly.
The KSA’s retribution against Canada’s poking its nose in Saudi affairs has raised his ire to the point where: the Canadian ambassador has been expelled, 15,000 Saudi students have been recalled from Canadian universities, wheat, barley, and maple syrup are off the table, and no Saudi citizens are allowed to receive medical treatments in Canada. A little over the top perhaps?
To me it would seem that the king and prince have exerted their dominion like spoiled children hoarding toys in a sandbox so as to distract the reasonably informed parts of the world away from a human rights record that most recently has perpetrated beheadings, crucifixions, and bombing a busload of Yemeni schoolchildren to name a few. Is this the progressive KSA that MBS is seeking to champion?
I understand that a tweet is clearly not the best way for one nation to address concerns with another. Sadly, this methodology has become a prevalent means of geo-political diplomacy. Face-to-face meetings, a phone call, even an email should trump a tweet. This recent flare-up is nothing short of a breakup on Facebook. There is nothing social nor civilized in such media exchanges.
Canada is justified in addressing human rights violations and issues. We must speak out against oppression and violence. At home and abroad, there are many social justice issues needing attention and demanding action. Perhaps, in time, true reform will come to the Saudi people; especially Saudi women and girls.
Hopefully Canada and the KSA can mend fences. After all, despite the recent backlash and trade freeze, the KSA has stated that it will continue to sell Canada oil. How crude of them. Too bad Canada cannot be a little more self-sufficient in this regard.
Politicians need to get the Twitter bluebird off their shoulders, roll up their sleeves, and get on with building the kingdom. Prince Salman is clearly swimming against the mainstream of public opinion with his handling of this matter. Still though, when it comes to putting the twit in Twitter … it is hard to trump the U.S.
Tim Cusack is an educator, writer, and member of the naval reserve.
