Asghar Zarei told the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations in an interview that the resumption of Canada’s $14 billion arms deals with Saudi Arabia, despite its suspension in 2018 following the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials, noted that about five years ago when an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia began committing crimes against the Yemeni people, many Western countries such as North America, including the United States and Canada, were expected to reconsider supply of weapons to Saudi Arabia.

He added: “This happened in certain countries, including Canada, and they reconsidered the sale of weapons due to human rights issues and the crimes committed by the Al-Saud regime, especially in the case of Khashoggi. Ottawa pretended to have suspended and even cut arms supply to Saudi Arabia.”

The expert said: “Given the huge benefits these countries are making from the arms trade, despite all the slogans and stated restrictions, the sale of weapons by large arms companies in the West, whether Germany or Britain and even some small European states continued.

Arms Supply to Saudi Arabia Following Severe Recession in the Canadian Economy

Zarei said that the official announcement of the resumption of arms supply by Canada came at a time when the world economy is facing a very unexpected and deep recession today. He added: This action shows the crisis caused by the coronavirus has caused crises and difficulties for the Western economies, and certainly this competition and attempt to gain a foothold in serious markets and fill competitors’ voids as a principle in the Western capitalist economy has been an issue.

Possibility of Creating New Crises to Sell Arms

He added: “In the stagnant market and the widespread unemployment faced by the economies of these countries, we will definitely see competition and other similar measures in the future.” Even creating new crises in different parts of the world to launch new arms markets in the future could be one of the processes that the world will face in order to offset the budget deficit of these countries and return the boom in production and business to almost equilibrium.

Human Rights A Showoff Tool to Influence Behavior of Statesmen

Referring to strong criticisms against the Canadian government for violating its own human rights laws over the Saudi deal, and the possibility of escalation of human rights violations, the analyst said: What Western democracies have done in relation with the developing and Asian states are mostly motivated by their economic and profiteering outlooks. For them, human rights have basically been a dramatic tool to influence the behaviour of the rulers of the countries countering them so that they can pursue their blackmailing in this way.

Noting that “we are witnessing numerous crimes by some of the allies of the Western powers while they turn a blind eye to these violations, the expert said: While not only the most basic principles of democracy in Saudi Arabia and the southern Persian Gulf states are not observed, but also there are all kinds of crimes committed by them. Many countries claiming to adhere to human rights along with these regimes are working together to serve their own interests. Otherwise in their concepts, human lives and human rights are just fantasy and worthless.”