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I'm sure it's a small deal, but the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia a lot more than it values the life of a single human being. I'd expect any of its leaders to rebuke
by eloff 7y ago
I'm sure it's a small deal, but the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia a lot more than it values the life of a single human being. I'd expect any of its leaders to rebuke the Saudis, but not to the point of losing then as an ally. That's logical, even if immoral. Putting the greater good above the good of individuals is the job of the state in a nutshell.
What is reprehensible here is Trump had not even gone so far as to offer a rebuke or a wrist slap here. That's unfortunate since it tells the Saudis they can continue to get away with this in the future.
- billfruit 7y agoI'd also contrast with what Obama did when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane with the loss of a pilot, he didn't even offer the slightest of rebukes to Turkey, but rather slapped additional sanctions on Russia. Standing by allies right or wrong seems to be a bipartisan thing.
- ivl 7y agoThis is an absurd comparison. Turkey shot down a regional adversary's plane that violated their airspace. Obama didn't rebuke them for it because what Russia was doing there was supporting a regime he wanted gone. Trump basically said he didn't rebuke the Saudis for it because they were negotiating a large sale of weapons. A cold blooded murder of a journalist due to what he said is completely different than shooting down an aircraft over your airspace after signaling that you'll do so and warning them to leave.
- pjc50 7y agoOdd choice of incident, given that half the point of NATO is to intercept Russian incursion into its airspace.
- eloff 7y agoPeople didn't like this comment, which I kind of expected, it would be nice if they stated why so we could have a discussion about the topic. I stand by it.