https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/sau...nst-canada
EXCERPT: Within hours of Saudi Arabia expelling Canada’s ambassador, the country’s broadcasters and pro-government social media accounts ramped into high gear digging up dirt on its newest enemy. [...] it has placed Saudi propagandists in the uncomfortable position of having to prove that Canada is a pariah state of oppression, death and misery.
This whole spat began because Canada has publicly campaigned against the jailing of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. As a result, the easiest way to discredit Canada would be to find evidence of us similarly jailing political dissidents.
On Monday, the Saudi-owned TV channel Al Arabiya ran a segment on the allegedly appalling conditions in Canadian prisons. Amid claims that 75 per cent of Canadian detainees die before standing trial, the segment also claimed that University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson is a Canadian prisoner of conscience. Peterson certainly has his qualms with the Canadian justice system; he first rose to prominence as a critic of an Ontario law regarding gender expression. But the professor remains a free man. In fact, he’s arguably the opposite of incarcerated: An extraordinarily wealthy best-selling author who is selling out theatres across the continent. In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, people who criticize the Saudi government don’t become messianic thought leaders. [...]
Canadian homelessness has been a frequent target of pro-Saudi Twitter accounts [...]
Of all the ways to dig up dirt on Canada, Saudi sources are inexplicably fixating on our treatment of women. [...]
Canadians and their government would be among the first to note that this country’s treatment of Indigenous people has been abominable from day one [...]
Remember [...] when a woman in a Lethbridge Denny’s went on a drunken racist rant against a table full of Afghan men? [...] On Tuesday [...] a [...] lobbyist for Saudi Arabia, posted the video to Twitter with the note “racism in Canada is very concerning!” [...]
here is a clip from Saudi TV of a commentator claiming that by opposing Saudi Arabia, Canada stands with terrorism. [...]
And finally, a handful of pro-Saudi Twitter accounts have spared a thought for the plight of Canada’s oppressed Quebecers ["Quebecers are an oppressed minority yearning to breathe free"]...
MORE: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/sau...nst-canada
EXCERPT: Within hours of Saudi Arabia expelling Canada’s ambassador, the country’s broadcasters and pro-government social media accounts ramped into high gear digging up dirt on its newest enemy. [...] it has placed Saudi propagandists in the uncomfortable position of having to prove that Canada is a pariah state of oppression, death and misery.
This whole spat began because Canada has publicly campaigned against the jailing of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. As a result, the easiest way to discredit Canada would be to find evidence of us similarly jailing political dissidents.
On Monday, the Saudi-owned TV channel Al Arabiya ran a segment on the allegedly appalling conditions in Canadian prisons. Amid claims that 75 per cent of Canadian detainees die before standing trial, the segment also claimed that University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson is a Canadian prisoner of conscience. Peterson certainly has his qualms with the Canadian justice system; he first rose to prominence as a critic of an Ontario law regarding gender expression. But the professor remains a free man. In fact, he’s arguably the opposite of incarcerated: An extraordinarily wealthy best-selling author who is selling out theatres across the continent. In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, people who criticize the Saudi government don’t become messianic thought leaders. [...]
Canadian homelessness has been a frequent target of pro-Saudi Twitter accounts [...]
Of all the ways to dig up dirt on Canada, Saudi sources are inexplicably fixating on our treatment of women. [...]
Canadians and their government would be among the first to note that this country’s treatment of Indigenous people has been abominable from day one [...]
Remember [...] when a woman in a Lethbridge Denny’s went on a drunken racist rant against a table full of Afghan men? [...] On Tuesday [...] a [...] lobbyist for Saudi Arabia, posted the video to Twitter with the note “racism in Canada is very concerning!” [...]
here is a clip from Saudi TV of a commentator claiming that by opposing Saudi Arabia, Canada stands with terrorism. [...]
And finally, a handful of pro-Saudi Twitter accounts have spared a thought for the plight of Canada’s oppressed Quebecers ["Quebecers are an oppressed minority yearning to breathe free"]...
MORE: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/sau...nst-canada