Canada blocks sale of defence equipment to Thailand
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion has recently blocked the sale of military equipment to Thailand, the Canadian government has confirmed to IHS Jane’s.
A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada (GAC) – the government department that oversees the country’s foreign relations and trade – did not provide details about the type of equipment that was barred from sale but said the value was “modest”.
The spokesperson indicated that the sales ban was decided on a case-by-case basis and that it was a response to Canada’s concerns about Thailand’s human rights record. The Southeast Asian country has been governed by the military since a coup d’etat in May 2014.
Original post janes.com
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I must say what an idiotic decision when Thailand has not invaded or the military has not killed anyone! While Saudi Arabia have their weekly market beheading and bombing Yemen civilians with cluster bombs!
Dion blocked military exports to Thailand after Saudi arms deal approval
Published Tuesday, Nov. 08, 2016 5:00AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Nov. 08, 2016 5:00AM EST
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion blocked a shipment of military goods to Thailand this year, with his department citing human rights among the reasons. Only months earlier, the Liberals approved the lion’s share of a $15-billion export of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia – a country regularly excoriated for its human-rights record.
The stark contrast in how the Trudeau government treated arms shipments to the two countries surprised rights advocates and weapons-trade experts, because Saudi Arabia gets poorer marks on human rights than Thailand, at least by some benchmarks.
U.S. liberty watchdog Freedom House, for instance, gave Saudi Arabia its worst rating – 7 out of 7 – on all three benchmarks in a 2016 report: political rights, civil rights and an overall freedom rating. By comparison, it gave Thailand 6 out of 7 for political rights and 5 out of 7 for civil rights and an overall freedom rating of 5.5.
Source theglobeandmail.com
Sorry to say I give the USA 7 out of 7 for invading and killing millions of innocent civilians!
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