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Why did Saudi Arabia threaten to attack Canada 9/11 style?

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 2:09am

Saudi Arabia Suspends Diplomatic, Trade Ties With Canada Over "Blatant Interference"

In a world turned upside down by Trump's unorthodox approach to, well, everything, replete with trade wars and diplomatic scandals, we now have one more, and this one was out of the blue. Late on Sunday, Saudi Arabia unexpectedly unleashed diplomatic hell against Canada when it announced it had suspended diplomatic ties and halted new trade and investment dealings with Canada in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over the kingdom’s arrest of a women’s rights activist.

Saudi Arabia also recalled its ambassador to Ottawa and ordered the Canadian envoy to the capital Riyadh to leave within 24 hours, according to a foreign ministry statement cited by the Saudi Press Agency.

The reason behind Saudi Arabian fury and the collapse in relations appears to have been a recent instance of Canadian virtue signalling: the Saudi foreign ministry cited remarks last week by Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland and the Canadian embassy in Riyadh, criticizing Saudi Arabia’s arrests of women’s rights activists including Samar Badawi. Badawi is a Canadian citizen whose brother Raif Badawi, a blogger who was critical of the Saudi government, was already in jail in the kingdom.

Freeland said in a tweet Aug. 2 that she was “very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia,” and that “Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi."

Canada's Foreign Policy echoed the statement on twitter one day later.

The Saudis stated that their now deleted tweet wasn't meant to appear as a threat to hijack a Canadian plane.

Moon of Alabama has covered this incident and B has an interesting take on this incident.

Codename Acor Sycamore - The Saudi-U.S.-Al-Qaeda Operation To Reconquer Canada

On the bright side, neither the Saudis nor Canadians have blamed Russia... yet.

Amanda's essay on the Saudi threat

OT. This is a great article about the Saudi-US-Al Qaeda alliance that was once treated as a conspiracy theory by the mainstream media. No longer.

Yemen - The Saudi-U.S.-Al-Qaeda Alliance Is Now Official 'News'

The U.S. war of terror against al-Qaeda is just a sham:

[T]he U.S. is working with its Arab allies — particularly the United Arab Emirates — with the aim of eliminating the branch of extremists known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. But the larger mission is to win the civil war against the Houthis, Iranian-backed Shiite rebels. And in that fight, al-Qaida militants are effectively on the same side as the Saudi-led coalition — and, by extension, the United States.

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Saudi Arabia Canada 9/11
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Submitted by Lookout on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 9:38am
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So strange to watch the unraveling of events. Was it you, SD, that posted the piece that it was Tillerson that kept the Saudis from militarily invading Qatar paying with his job because of his intervention? I always figured it was his reluctance to break out of the Iranian agreement, but who knows the real back story in these bizarre times?

Speaking of which I appreciated your excellent reporting of the DNC LEAK recently. I would love to see all your comments in that thread put together as a single cohesive piece. There are so many people that need to read and understand that backstory.

All the best!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 4:38pm
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@Lookout

who did. Maybe joe posted it in his EBs? Thanks for your kind words. Do you know which essay those comments were in? If so I'll look into trying to do that.

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The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”

Submitted by MrWebster on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 10:49am

https://www.businessinsider.com/saudis-russia-sochi-olympics-terrorism-s...

Prince Bandar [bin Sultan] pledged to safeguard Russia's naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia's Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord. "

No terrorist attacks at Sochi Olympics and no change of Russian policy. Either Saudi's bluffing or Putin later responded with threats of his own.

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Submitted by k9disc on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 1:59pm
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the fraternity of soldiers and how that soldiers feel about illegitimate authority. Lying, criminal bosses and disposable heroes. It's a powerful and poetic narrative.

In one conflict, the U.S. is working with its Arab allies — particularly the United Arab Emirates — with the aim of eliminating the branch of extremists known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. But the larger mission is to win the civil war against the Houthis, Iranian-backed Shiite rebels. And in that fight, al-Qaida militants are effectively on the same side as the Saudi-led coalition — and, by extension, the United States.

“Elements of the U.S. military are clearly aware that much of what the U.S. is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP and there is much angst about that,” said Michael Horton, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. analysis group that tracks terrorism.

“However, supporting the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against what the U.S. views as Iranian expansionism takes priority over battling AQAP and even stabilizing Yemen,” Horton said.
...

The coalition forces are comprised of a dizzying mix of militias, factions, tribal warlords and tribes with very local interests. And AQAP militants are intertwined with many of them.

Seems to be a REALLY bad idea, right?

Bring disparate elements together, bond them in battle and blood, then try to dispose of them because they're no longer useful. Maybe that will be the hit trope in post apocalyptic entertainment...

So fucking scary.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 4:46pm
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@k9disc

I read only one article about how the troops were working with AQ in Syria and not only training them how to use our weapons, but fighting alongside them against the Syrian troops. This is just wrong. One soldier said that he was afraid that he and his buddies would be blamed if AQ attacked the 'homeland.'

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The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”

Submitted by WoodsDweller on Tue, 08/07/2018 - 10:06pm
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... would seem to be that they think they can get away with it. They have El Trumpo in their pocket. Isn't Saudi Aramco about to go public? I wonder how many options Trump and Jared are holding.
Every day, people. Every single day I rejoice that I never had children. Nobody deserves to live through the shitstorm that's brewing.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJXOIg2o6PA]

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 08/08/2018 - 12:47am
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@WoodsDweller

Or maybe 60? No matter how old we are what are the chances that we escape the consequences of climate change? Or what is going to happen in this country because of what the government is doing.

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The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”