Foreign Minister Marise Payne
The likely murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian killers inside the country’s Istanbul embassy adds to the list of outrages perpetrated by a brutal regime that have drawn no rebuke from Australia. Instead, we continue to treat it as a normal country and valued partner.
Apart from Saudi Arabia’s long history of brutal oppression, slave labour, medieval execution for non-violent or invented offences and systematic misogyny, it has been committing war crimes in Yemen since 2015. This has included the routine and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in a conflict that has an official death toll of over 5000, including 1100 children, but which is likely far higher.
In August, the regime also recently launched an hysterical attack on Australia’s Five Eyes partner and long-time friend Canada in response to Canadian diplomats expressing concern about jailed human rights activists, including an unsubtle threat to repeat 9/11 in Canada.
Now the regime has almost certainly murdered a journalist and covered up its crime using diplomatic protocols. This has shocked even a regime like Turkey’s Erdogan government, which knows quite a lot about punishing journalists.
What has been Australia’s response to each Saudi outrage? Our comments on the mass slaughter and crimes against humanity in Yemen has been an anodyne media release calling for a ceasefire — doubtless of comfort to Yemeni children incinerated in Saudi airstrikes — and offering some limited humanitarian aid. Australia offered no support for its ally Canada in the face of an attempt by the regime to intimidate other countries into staying silent on its human rights abuses. And Foreign Minister Marise Payne has said nothing about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.
As Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick — the only Australian politician to speak out on the matter — noted, UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt warned the regime over the disappearance of Khashoggi and noted the rising trend of violence against journalists, while the French demanded answers and even the Trump administration reluctantly raised the issue. Our allies have been ready to speak out, while Australia has stayed silent.
Then again this government is very keen to sell things to Saudi Arabia. In December, then-defence industry minister Christopher Pyne travelled to the country to sell weapons, with Australia significantly increasing its arms sales to the regime despite the atrocities in Yemen (the government, however, has covered up what the arms actually were). In fact, since the invasion of Yemen, there have been five ministerial visits to the regime, and a parliamentary delegation.
The likely murder of Khashoggi raises a more serious question than Australia’s willingness to speak up on the regime’s crimes. The willingness of the regime to use its diplomatic network to commit murder poses a risk to every country where Saudi Arabia has a diplomatic presence.
Are Australians and people residing here safe from the regime’s assassins? Are people who have to enter Saudi-controlled facilities safe? The regime has an embassy and a “cultural office” in Canberra. How many of its “attaches” might carry out violence against perceived enemies of the regime?
Until last week, such a question would have been absurd. The disappearance of Khashoggi makes it shockingly real. And our government, keen to flog more weapons to a monstrous theocracy, says nothing.
The USA and by extension Australia have signed up with one side in an ongoing sectarian war in the Islamic World. When the Israelis throw their support behind Saudi you could be forgiven for suspecting we’ve chosen the wrong side.
Can we please just get out of the Middle East. We are there because of the ANZUS pact but even the US now recognises the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as complete failures. Not only was the pretext was wrong – the US was not attacked by a state on November 9, 2001, but by a fundamentalist terror group – but there was no exit strategy. Indeed, because the problems in the Middle East are simply religious wars, there is no way of simply or quickly ending the wars. We in the Christian world learned that after Henry the Eighth invented protestantism and sparked a struggle between Anglicanism and Catholicism that lasted from the early part of the 16th century till well past the failure of the Spanish Armada (Catholic Spain’s attempt to defeat then protestants) in 1589. The struggle went on and on. The current struggle between the Shia and the Sunni will drag on as long as we keep buying their oil and selling them weapons. No amount of dead Western soldiers and wasted military spending will shorten the struggle. We need to cut and run and invest in our own societies and region. Has Australia not noticed the hardening Islamic stance emerging in Indonesia?
Europe bound Qatar Airways flights and passengers to and from Australia are targets of the Saudi regime. The regular commercial flights are now forbidden to fly over SA and their similarly vile gulf-state friends. The airline must now take difficult diversions around those countries to avoid a dangerous response from SA or its partners.
Toxic SA billions are pouring into Indonesia to Wahhabitise their culture, our massive moderate Islamic neighbour.
Malaysia, a friendly regional country we share military ties and history with, is now starting to expose the astonishing 1MDB scandal that is intertwined with the SA regime.
Our regional neighbourhood’s future is being manipulated by the SA regime, and our politicians are only interested in selling the bastards War Stuff. Very doubtful it will be any different after the next election .
Congatulations, Bernard. The “Never Ask A Question Unless You Know The Answer” Award is making its way to you, courtesy of Australia Post.
Why aren’t we questioning Saudi Arabia? Because they’re rich, have investments in this country, they still have lakes of oil and our government is packed to the rafters with pitiable cowards.
Guess that doesn’t fill column inches.
Why not appoint Pauline as a special ambassador for Islamic Affairs and send her to the nearest SA embassy? She’s straighten them out.
a consummation devoutly to be desired. Jism Arseboy, sorry, James Ashby, could well be a useful negotiating tool.
Why WAS Pyne over there spruiking missile sales just before returning to tell us we could still be a manufactory?
As for LNP backing up Canada… IPAers don’t understand you don’t have to side with the biggest arsehole .. you stand up with decent people till there’s so many of you the baddies back down.
Too much like UnionThuggery”?”
With our record of Human Rights violations on Manus, Nauru & assorted detention centres it would require plenty chutzpah to point the finger at Saudi Arabia. Not to mention our illegal invasion of Iraq.
There’s an international Bastardry Club in which our government has membership.
People in glass houses etc…
Totally agree.