Carney backs more war on Iran and killing Yemeni civilians.
Today Global Affairs announced sanctions on 11 major Iranian banks and companies. Ottawa is prohibiting people in Canada and Canadians abroad from transacting with the National Iranian Oil Company, Export Development Bank of Iran, Iran Insurance Company and other institutions.
According to the government, Canada de-listed the entities in 2016 after Iran signed the JCPOA nuclear deal, which Donald Trump subsequently ripped up. Now foreign minister Anita Anand said Canada was reimposing sanctions against them “for contributing to the Iranian regime’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities and ballistic missile program or to the financing of its malign activities.”
But, Iran doesn’t have nuclear arms and is a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Conversely, Israel has nukes and is the only country in the region not part of the NPT, yet Ottawa hasn’t sanctioned Israeli entities contributing to its nuclear arms program. Israel also has a ballistic missile program capable of hitting cities as far away as eastern Canada. That country has also engaged in an endless stream of “malign activities” across the region and world.
Canada’s latest round of sanctions come amidst US/Israeli preparations to restart significant bombing of Iran. They also come soon after the US public rejected Trump’s war in the mid-term elections (from the get-go the US public was ambivalent about the aggression, but Iran’s ability to impact people in the US, notably through higher gas prices, galvanized opposition).
US vice president JD Vance cited the war and ties to Israel as central factors in the Republicans’ disastrous election results. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham also said the outcome of the US midterms offered an “opportunity” to resolve the conflict with Iran.
Instead of bolstering those seeking to deescalate the war, the Mark Carney government is imposing a new round of harsh sanctions on Iran!
At the same time, Carney is encouraging a Saudi Arabian monarchy fighting an ally of Iran. On Monday, the Prime Minister spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “condemning Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia” and affirming “Canada’s solidarity with the Kingdom”, according to Saudi media. But, the Saudis have killed nearly 100 Yemeni civilians already this month. On Saturday the Saudis killed several dozen in Yemen’s Sanaa Province. Antiwar.com reported:
“The death toll in Saudi airstrikes that hit civilian homes in the Bani Hashish District of Yemen’s Sanaa province on Saturday has risen to 44, according to the Health Ministry within the Sanaa-based Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government.
“The death toll makes the attack the worst civilian massacre committed by the US-backed Saudi coalition since Riyadh reignited the war back in July by bombing the Sanaa International Airport.
“According to Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Anis al-Asbahi, who announced the updated death toll, 21 children and 10 women were among those killed. Another 40 Yemenis, including eight children and nine women, were wounded.
“The strike came a day after Ansar Allah, the Houthis, said that Saudi airstrikes hit a crowded market in the southwestern Taiz province, killing at least 30 people. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed the market was hit by Houthi ballistic missiles, but it provided no evidence for the claim, and the Saudi bombing campaign has been killing scores of civilians.
“According to the Yemen Data Project, the Saudi bombing campaign killed at least 140 civilians and wounded 286 in October, making it the worst month for civilian harm from Saudi airstrikes in Yemen since December 2017.”
Carney hasn’t said a peep about the hundreds of Yemeni civilians killed by Saudi airstrikes. But, his government has repeatedly condemned Ansar Allah’s much less murderous strikes on Saudi Arabia.
Mark Carney’s endless hypocrisy must be repeatedly denounced. Canada is enabling significant violence.
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