In 1945 King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia met with American President Franklin Roosevelt on a U.S. ship anchored in the Suez Canal. They struck a deal which was sealed with a handshake. The agreement was Saudi Arabia would supply the United States with endless boatloads of oil in exchange for American guarantees to protect and support the Saudi regime, also known as the House of Saud, through thick and thin.
Of course in 1945, thanks to Herr Hitler and the Japanese military, America, Britain, and France among others were friends with a lot of strange and despicable people. The most prominent of them being Big Joe Stalin and the USSR.
Soviet and western camaraderie ended rather quickly after Adolf dropped the pill while simultaneously eating his gun and Japan avoided a nuclear holocaust by surrendering. Suddenly the big threat was Russian expansionism. Their neo imperialism led the United States to the regrettable habit over the next few decades to support any and all ruthless dictatorships--from Havana to Saigon and destinations in between--just so long as they weren't communists. In fact, American foreign and moral policy at the time seemed to be based solely on the old adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Included in all those nations was Saudi Arabia. At the time, to our eternal detriment, no one in this country knew what an Arab, or Muslim was. The only time we came across them was in an occasional Hollywood movie which invariably portrayed them as either simple camel drivers, or buffoonish side characters. And when it came to Saudi Arabia we certainly didn't care how they ran their country, or treated their citizens.
Times have changed nearly everywhere, but some of us in high places still don't give a rat's ass when it comes to the Royal Saudi medieval view of civilization. After all that fantastic reserve of oil hasn't stopped pumping yet and now days they buy huge amounts of military equipment from us. Those sales, we are told by the current resident of the White House, are necessary for our economic well being. They are, he says, another way of, Making America Great Again.
All of which leads us to a couple of people. The first is Jamal Khashoggi. He was a Saudi journalist who was critical of the royals in Riyadh. In October of last year he screwed up by entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in order to procure some paper work which would allow him to marry a Turkish national. All the reliable information available says he was carted out of the place in bits and pieces after a Saudi hit squad murdered, then dismembered him.
After his death the initial response from the White House amounted to, "Listen, they're buying shit from us, it isn't our problem who they kill." Well, that and at least a fleeting and unsaid thought which ran along the lines of, Why can't I do that?
The second is 18 year old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun. A few days ago she traveled with her family to Kuwait then she decided enough was enough. She grabbed a flight to Bankok. She said the reason she left was her father had physically abused her and was forcing her into an arraigned marriage. The Thais seized her passport, but she barricaded herself into a hotel room and took to social media to plead for help. Her dear old Dad came to visit, but she declined to see him. He said the real reason she left was because he had ten kids and she might have felt, "ignored at times." Luckily for her the UN got involved and the Thais backed off.
Ms. Alqunun isn't the first woman to try to get out of, The Kingdom. Several Saudi women have sought asylum in various countries over the years because of abuse, but they've all been returned to their home country and fates we can only guess at. Human right's activists say there have been many more cases which have gone unreported.
The Saudis don't take this sort of shit from their women lightly. In August they kicked the Canadian Ambassador out of Riyadh, withdrew their own Ambassador from Ottawa, then ordered all their citizens who are studying in Canada to return home. At the same time they froze Canadian investments in Saudi Arabia. This severe diplomatic action took place because the Canadian foreign ministry had tweeted support for human rights activists who had recently been arrested by Saudi police.
So, given the circumstances, guess where Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun ended up? That's right, she flew into Toronto today, wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the word, "Canada," across the front. She was met by the nation's Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, who told the waiting media, "This is a brave new Canadian."
Yes, sometimes humanity wins.
However, we all know glory and justice can be fleeting.
Watch your back, Ms. Alqunun and for God's sake don't go anywhere near a Saudi Consulate, or the American border. Neither bode well for you. One has proven to be a death trap and the other, since our guy can cite that 1945 handshake, is a place you will get deported from, if for nothing else the slogan on his fucking hat.
1-12-19
No comments:
Post a Comment