French President Emmanuel Macron was accused of putting politics before human rights over the weekend as he became the first major western leader to visit Saudi Arabia since the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Mr Macron ended his Gulf tour on Saturday having made steps towards bringing Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman back in from the diplomatic cold and securing France’s largest ever weapons deal with the UAE – Saudi’s main ally in the Yemen war.
Securing the deal and strengthening France’s role in the energy-rich region had been a key target of his visit after the controversy over a scrapped submarine deal with Australia in September.
“Macron [is] trying to rehabilitate the man who tortured my sister, killed Khashoggi, cut his body into pieces, [and] created the worst humanitarian crisis in a neighboring country…” said Lina al-Hathloul, the sister of prominent Saudi womens’ rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. “But all good, Macron has upcoming elections and needs his deals done,” she added.
Major western leaders have avoided visiting Saudi Arabia since the murder of Mr Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released intelligence linking the crown prince to the murder, and has refused to deal with him directly since he took office.
France – alongside the UK and the US – has also faced scrutiny over its continued arms deals because of the war that Saudi is waging in Yemen.
The Saudis will be hoping that Mr Macron’s visit will boost the image of the kingdom after it was severely tarnished by the murder of Mr Khashoggi. The timing for them could not be better: Mr Macron’s visit coincided with the inaugural Grand Prix on Saudi soil on Sunday.
Formula One has also come under significant criticism for choosing to host the tournament in the kingdom, with activists claiming that it buys into the Saudi regime’s tatic of “sportswashing” its human rights record.
Justin Bieber is set to perform at the close of the race, despite calls for a boycott, as MBS – as the Crown Prince is often known – pushes his social reforms into the limelight.
“Dialogue with Saudi Arabia is a necessity,” Mr Macron said when questioned over his decision to visit the crown prince, noting that a large part of the future of the Gulf will play out in Saudi Arabia.
The Élysée Palace later put out a statement saying that he was in no way trying to get the crown prince “back in the saddle”.
During the trip France also extended the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s license agreement – worth 165 million euros for France – allowing the Middle East outpost which first opened in 2017 to continue operating until at least 2047. In exchange, the Paris museum will lend four as-yet unidentified masterworks to the Abu Dhabi museum.
I wish the UK would be more callous like France. Human rights don’t matter when it comes to making arms deals.
USA sells weapons to Saudi Arabia : i sleep
France sells weapons to UAE : REAL SHIT
Macron gives the Légion d’Honneur to dictators, this is nothing new.
Tbf everyone does, just like F1 and footy and even cricket MONEY TALKS
If they were at least talking about human rights in SA as whole, but they are only focusing on murder of one guy. If same meter was to be followed everywhere, western politicians wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere. Including some western countries.
Have to sell our stuff to these countries since Europe would rather buy from the US.
UK: I am shocked, shocked, to see morale relativism going on here
Saudi Arabia: your money sir
It’s a shame that this tribalistic petro plastic nation still exists in the 21st century.For some reason,the US seems to have a hard-on for this country and their mediavel king that’s probably because they both like to kill children in Yemen I guess.
The main problem is that if Saudi Arabia collapses there’s going to be a ton of Western made weapons lying around which could escalate quickly if radical militias get their hands on them. That said, there’s no guarantee Saudi Arabia will collapse. They’re desperately trying to reform away from their petro-state based model and diversify their economy and are reducing the funding of fundamentalists in the West, whether how effective the changes are is a different question.
Quite a PR shit show ahead of election time. Also a punch in the face of journalism to even shake this fuckers hand after ordering the cutting up of Jamal Khashoggi with a chainsaw.
14 comments
French President Emmanuel Macron was accused of putting politics before human rights over the weekend as he became the first major western leader to visit Saudi Arabia since the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Mr Macron ended his Gulf tour on Saturday having made steps towards bringing Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman back in from the diplomatic cold and securing France’s largest ever weapons deal with the UAE – Saudi’s main ally in the Yemen war.
Securing the deal and strengthening France’s role in the energy-rich region had been a key target of his visit after the controversy over a scrapped submarine deal with Australia in September.
“Macron [is] trying to rehabilitate the man who tortured my sister, killed Khashoggi, cut his body into pieces, [and] created the worst humanitarian crisis in a neighboring country…” said Lina al-Hathloul, the sister of prominent Saudi womens’ rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. “But all good, Macron has upcoming elections and needs his deals done,” she added.
Major western leaders have avoided visiting Saudi Arabia since the murder of Mr Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released intelligence linking the crown prince to the murder, and has refused to deal with him directly since he took office.
France – alongside the UK and the US – has also faced scrutiny over its continued arms deals because of the war that Saudi is waging in Yemen.
The Saudis will be hoping that Mr Macron’s visit will boost the image of the kingdom after it was severely tarnished by the murder of Mr Khashoggi. The timing for them could not be better: Mr Macron’s visit coincided with the inaugural Grand Prix on Saudi soil on Sunday.
Formula One has also come under significant criticism for choosing to host the tournament in the kingdom, with activists claiming that it buys into the Saudi regime’s tatic of “sportswashing” its human rights record.
Justin Bieber is set to perform at the close of the race, despite calls for a boycott, as MBS – as the Crown Prince is often known – pushes his social reforms into the limelight.
“Dialogue with Saudi Arabia is a necessity,” Mr Macron said when questioned over his decision to visit the crown prince, noting that a large part of the future of the Gulf will play out in Saudi Arabia.
The Élysée Palace later put out a statement saying that he was in no way trying to get the crown prince “back in the saddle”.
During the trip France also extended the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s license agreement – worth 165 million euros for France – allowing the Middle East outpost which first opened in 2017 to continue operating until at least 2047. In exchange, the Paris museum will lend four as-yet unidentified masterworks to the Abu Dhabi museum.
I wish the UK would be more callous like France. Human rights don’t matter when it comes to making arms deals.
USA sells weapons to Saudi Arabia : i sleep
France sells weapons to UAE : REAL SHIT
Macron gives the Légion d’Honneur to dictators, this is nothing new.
Tbf everyone does, just like F1 and footy and even cricket MONEY TALKS
*ding* **€** *ding ding* **€€** *ding ding ding* **€€€**
Loud minority strikes again.
If they were at least talking about human rights in SA as whole, but they are only focusing on murder of one guy. If same meter was to be followed everywhere, western politicians wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere. Including some western countries.
Have to sell our stuff to these countries since Europe would rather buy from the US.
Hey he learned from the bes[t](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/09/uk-authorised-14bn-of-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-after-exports-resumed)
UK: I am shocked, shocked, to see morale relativism going on here
Saudi Arabia: your money sir
It’s a shame that this tribalistic petro plastic nation still exists in the 21st century.For some reason,the US seems to have a hard-on for this country and their mediavel king that’s probably because they both like to kill children in Yemen I guess.
The main problem is that if Saudi Arabia collapses there’s going to be a ton of Western made weapons lying around which could escalate quickly if radical militias get their hands on them. That said, there’s no guarantee Saudi Arabia will collapse. They’re desperately trying to reform away from their petro-state based model and diversify their economy and are reducing the funding of fundamentalists in the West, whether how effective the changes are is a different question.
Quite a PR shit show ahead of election time. Also a punch in the face of journalism to even shake this fuckers hand after ordering the cutting up of Jamal Khashoggi with a chainsaw.
Politician accused of hypocrisy, news at 11