France Should Stop Selling Arms to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia

[CEZAYIRLI]

France Should Stop Selling Arms to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with a large delegation of French ministers and major business executives. In the UAE, he will apparently be finalizing weapons deal, when in all three countries he should be speaking...

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December 2, 2021 6:28AM EST|Dispatches

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France Should Stop Selling Arms to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia​

Macron Should Address Rights Abuses in Gulf Region

Elvire Fondacci​

Coordinator, Advocacy

@elvirefondacci
@elvirefondacci

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with a large delegation of French ministers and major business executives. In the UAE, he will apparently be finalizing a weapons deal, when in all three countries he should be speaking out against human rights abuses.

According to media reports, Emmanuel Macron's visit to the UAE on December 3, in addition to celebrating the country’s 50th anniversary, would have as its main purpose finalizing the sale of dozens of Rafales fighter jets produced by the French company Dassault Aviation. France is promoting these sales even though the UAE has played a prominent role in the Saudi and UAE-led coalition's atrocity-ridden military operations in Yemen. The UAE also took part in the latest conflict in Libya, which ended in June 2020, where UAE forces killed civilians in unlawful air and drone strikes, while also supplying abusive local forces with weapons and ammunition. Yet, the UAE ranks as France's 5th largest arms customer between 2011 and 2020.

Macron's will next go to Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of French weapons in 2020. France has stubbornly continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in defiance of UN experts who have called on France and others to halt exports to the coalition as they could be used to commit unlawful attacks or even war crimes.

France's support for the UAE and Saudi Arabia is even more objectionable as their leaders have failed to improve their countries’ disastrous human rights records domestically, although their public relations efforts to present themselves as progressive and tolerant internationally is in full swing. While there is little hope that Macron will condition France's support on concrete progress in this area, he should at the very least publicly call for the UAE to release Ahmed Mansoor and other dissidents. Likewise, in Saudi Arabia, he should address the atrocious 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Remaining silent on these matters would be tantamount to turning a blind eye to serious human rights violations.
In Qatar, Macron should address human rights violations against migrant workers in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held there.
France's arms sales to and protection of dubious military partnerships in the name of counterterrorism and at the cost of human rights will remain a stain on Macron's diplomatic record.

 

[Gary]

Random opinion article. Everybody understand the need for a strong GCC against Iran, including the leaders of France.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Random opinion article. Everybody understand the need for a strong GCC against Iran, including the leaders of France.

Your endless love for France and the GCC. lol

UAE and KSA committed war crimes against thousands of civilians in Yemen and Libya, and they must be brought to Justice.

Re: Iran, you seem to have a problem with the Shi'a. You need to be tolerant toward other sects and religions, We are human beings regardless of what our religion is.

 

[HTurk]

Random opinion article. Everybody understand the need for a strong GCC against Iran, including the leaders of France.

Sell them tanks, ships, drones, missiles and I will be fine. But why are they selling them arms that are obviously destined for Emirati proxy groups which are wreaking havoc in Yemen, Somalia and other countries?

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Sell them tanks, ships, drones, missiles and I will be fine. But why are they selling them arms that are obviously destined for Emirati proxy groups which are wreaking havoc in Yemen, Somalia and other countries?

You are a 100% right.
We won't allow Iran to bully any of its GCC neighbors.
Yet when the UAE sends its F16-s with Australian pilots to go kill Libyan and Yemeni populations, that amounts to War Crimes that this bedouin emirate is committing.


@AlphaMike

 

[Gary]

Sell them tanks, ships, drones, missiles and I will be fine. But why are they selling them arms that are obviously destined for Emirati proxy groups which are wreaking havoc in Yemen, Somalia and other countries?

Interestingly those proxy groups in Yemen are GCC answer against another proxy from Iran.

Uses of proxies applies to all major player in the ME great game. And none of those proxies are clean.

 

[Gary]

You are a 100% right.
We won't allow Iran to bully any of its GCC neighbors.
Yet when the UAE sends its F16-s with Australian pilots to go kill Libyan and Yemeni populations, that amounts to War Crimes that this bedouin emirate is committing.


@AlphaMike

Talking about bombing populations, Assad of Syria had been doing it for years now. Yet, I don't see any condemnation from your Algeria. OTOH

Algeria’s Push for Syria’s Return to the Arab League

Despite numerous Arab governments opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad early on in the Syrian conflict, Algeria has consistently stood by his regime.

insidearabia.com

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Interestingly those proxy groups in Yemen are GCC answer against another proxy from Iran.

Uses of proxy applies to all major player in the ME great game. And none of those proxies are clean.

UAE proxies sleep in 5-Star hotels, while those of Yemen sleep in the sand outdoor. lol

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Talking about bombing populations, Assad of Syria had been doing it for years now. Yet, I don't see any condemnation from your Algeria. OTOH

Algeria’s Push for Syria’s Return to the Arab League

Despite numerous Arab governments opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad early on in the Syrian conflict, Algeria has consistently stood by his regime.

insidearabia.com

With all due respect, Algeria's chess diplomacy in North Africa and the Mideast is beyond your level of simplistic understanding of Arab politics, bro.

 

[Gary]

Algeria's chess diplomacy in North Africa and the Mideast is beyond your level of simplistic understanding of politics, bro.

not really, you're just cherry picking. If its UAE, Morocco, Saudi or any country in the ME that is antagonistic to your Algeria, its bad, but Iran and its Assad allies doing the same, not even a single condemnation.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

not really, you're just cherry picking. If its UAE, Morocco, Saudi or any country in the ME that is antagonistic to your Algeria, its bad, but Iran and its Assad allies doing the same, not even a single condemnation.

I did not disrespect you. I just said that you do not understand Arab politics, the same way I do not understand Indonesian politics.

 

[Gary]

Re: Iran, you seem to have a problem with the Shi'a. You need to be tolerant toward other sects and religions, We are human beings regardless of what our religion is.

more like everyone has a problem with how Iran weaponizes those Shia.

 

[Gary]

I just said that you do not understand Arab politics

What if I tell you I do. Here's the thing buddy, Iran (and its version of Shia Islamic revolution) it's trying to export is as alien to the (mostly Sunni) Arabs as Israel is alien to the Palestinians. Got it ??

So it kinda question me how on earth you kept on peddling Israeli danger narrative while being silent on the threat Iran posses towards the gulf.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

What if I tell you I do. Here's the thing buddy, Iran (and its version of Shia Islamic revolution) it's trying to export is as alien to the (mostly Sunni) Arabs as Israel is alien to the Palestinians. Got it ??

So it kinda question me how on earth you kept on peddling Israeli danger narrative while being silent on the threat Iran posses towards the gulf.

You are so obnoxious and pretentious.

Palestine, Arabs, Jews, Israelis, GCC, Syria, France, Morocco, Mali, Christianity, Judaism,..... these are my specialty and not yours.

You are from far away Indonesia, why don't you go mind your own culture.

 

[Gary]

You are so obnoxious and pretentious.

Palestine, Arabs, Jews, Israelis, GCC, Syria, France, Morocco, Mali, Christianity, Judaism,..... these are my specialty and not yours.

You are from far away Indonesia, why don't you go mind your own culture.

You have not contributed anything on the intellectual front on basically any thread you're in. Yet here you are boasting your specialty.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

You have not contributed anything on the intellectual front on basically any thread you're in. Yet here you are boasting your specialty.

Frankly, I don't care at all about your culture and never will. Why are you then so obsessed with mine.
First time some Indonesian comes to lecture me about my region and my culture.

The topic in this thread is on France and the UAE.
I speak perfect French and perfect Arabic and I am part of both the Arab and the French cultures, while you are a troll barging on my threads while you know nothing about the two countries mentioned above.

Go speak your Bahasa Indonesia dialect instead. At least have some pride. lol

 

[Gary]

Frankly, I don't care at all about your culture and never will. Why are you then so obsessed with mine.
First time some Indonesian comes to lecture me about my region and my culture.

The topic in this thread is on France and the UAE.
I speak perfect French and perfect Arabic and I am part of both the Arab and the French cultures, while you are a troll barging on my threads while you know nothing about the two countries mentioned above.

Go speak your Bahasa Indonesia dialect instead. At least have some pride. lol

Frankly speaking I'm not a fan of your culture either, this thread is about geopolitics, not culture. Poobah.

Simply put, whatever thread you or anyone posted here, you should know that it is part of the forum and everyone could discuss.

Just because you're an OP doesn't meant that you have the authority to choose who can or cannot express their opinions.

You could claim whatever cultural links you have with Arabs or French linguistically, but then until you could come up with a credible opinion, at best you're barking. Mind to remind you, you have not contributed anything on an intellectual level in this forum other than cheap one liners.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Frankly speaking I'm not a fan of your culture either, this thread is about geopolitics, not culture. Poobah.

Simply put, whatever thread you or anyone posted here, you should know that it is part of the forum and everyone could discuss.

Just because you're an OP doesn't meant that you have the authority to choose who can or cannot express their opinions.

You made eight empty comments for this thread alone. More than enough for you.
Now go get yourself busy bothering others in other threads.

 

[Gary]

You made eight empty comments for this thread alone. More than enough for you.
Now go get yourself busy bothering others in other threads.

Of all those 8 comments which one is not true according to your 'expertise'. ?

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

Of all those 8 comments which one is not true according to your 'expertise'. ?

I believe you are a nice guy, but you over-estimate your own knowledge on a region that is not part of your historic heritage: North Africa and the middle East.

I can teach you, if you are an obedient student, though.