I’m sorry, but there has to be a line right?
The argument that has always been used when some decry trading with authoritarian regimes has been ‘if we only traded with countries we agree with, we wouldn’t trade with many at all’.
That’s fair and there is some legitimacy in that argument. China is a Communist Government that stifles free speech and has a poor human rights record, but our mountain of dairy we ship to them means we have little moral high ground to lecture other nations, BUT, there has to be a line drawn somewhere right?
Surely Saudi Arabia is that line? Their decision to execute and then crucify a human being is about as barbaric as it gets. ISIS are alone in this level of barbarism. We can not and should not seek a free trade deal with a country that crucifies human beings – add on top of that the bribe Murray McCully gave a Saudi businessman to try and restart those free trade deals, and the entire situation reeks of pus.
Yes we trade with nations we disagree with on human rights, and yes there is some hypocrisy in choosing which human rights violation is worse than another, but come on – crucifixion of a kid who’s been in prison since he was 17 for the ‘crime’ of demanding more freedoms?
There are times when we need to put trade to one side and just say ‘no, we can not in good conscience turn a blind eye to what you are doing to your own citizens’ and Saudi Arabia, for their demented view on women, their medieval position on justice and their constant funding of the very extremism that helps support ISIS is a nation we should have nothing to do with.
This shouldn’t be about money, it needs to be about values.
Totally, we threw out an fta with Russia but we’re wooing the Saudis?
Yes you are right here Martyn,
Saudi Arabia is a barbaric regime, so we should not be doing business with them at all on human rights violation grounds if for no other reasons. We have to draw the line as we saw the nastiness of Saudi over the sheep deal also right?
Perhaps McCully/key felt the sabra blade ready behind him and Key if he didn’t capitulate?
What’s a sabra? Sabre?
I dunno. It’s a horrible regime but wouldn’t we be better off making a formal protest? So many of these middle eastern countries have death penalties for protesting against their governments, or for adultery, and apostasy (which means being murdered for simply having the good sense to abandon a barbaric medieval religion). Do we refuse to deal with all of them? Where do we draw the line?
A sabra is a type of prickly pear, an Isreal-born jew (as opposed to an immigrant jew) or various American companies.
I would be worrying about the jambiya (the short dagger with a nasty curve at the end) or the saif (longer and more sword than dagger). The saif could definitely take your head off.
New Zealand/Aotearoa long ago gave up any pretense of having moral values. Everything now is valued by the bean counters and neo-liberal foamers.
The Saudi arabiyyah are sitting on a shit-load of oil.
We like oil.
We like Uncle Sam.
So we approve of crucifiction, beheading, lethal stoning and state sanctioned murder for the crime of disagreeing, not to mention keeping the women in their place.
Really it makes good economic sense when you look at it that way…
If we kept to standards like that we also wouldn’t be trading with the US.
But this government doesn’t mind grovelling to a rotten regime that not only carries out atrocities on citizens, but also finances a violent organization such as ISIL, as long as there’s a dirty dollar to be turned to benefit NatzKEY!
Disgraceful!
It certainly IS disgraceful Mary.
Disgraceful and outrageous.
But to be fair Dear Leader doesn’t have any moral values so it really doesn’t matter.
Nice eh?
But Boag and Bronagh went there and returned unmolested
And I distinctly remember Boag at Banks High Court trial and defending Key for inappropriate pony tail touching as long as it is a woman in ‘service’ or the children of peasants or sychophants?
What are we in NZ actually getting in return for our sheep when they have finished obliterating Yemen and actually remember Key and McCully btw?
A guaranteed caravan occupancy full of child molesters booking out the top floor of the new SkyCity casino highroller hotel?
Does anyone actually know?
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