The New Zealand Government still intends to give a $3 million abattoir to Saudi Arabia [...]To sum up (for those who weren't paying attention):
But Mr Key said the abattoir would still be sent.
"We don't have any plans to change what we're doing in that area, it's not to the Saudi government per se, it's to an investor and it's the establishment of an agricultural hub in Saudi Arabia."
Saudi law prevents private ownership of slaughterhouses so the New Zealand-funded abattoir will be given to the Saudi government - which will then lease it back to the Saudi businessman, Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf, on whose farm it will be built. [...]
The abattoir is to be delivered to his farm in the Saudi desert as part of the government's multi-million dollar deal to placate him.
The NZ government is subsidising their impoverished Saudi counterparts to set up a sheep farm, in the middle of the desert, to compete with NZ agricultural exports.
It is not as if the Saudi despots lack slaughterhouse expertise and need New Zealand assistance. Can't they just declare their sheep to have “broken allegiance with the ruler”, or be guilty of gnostical turpitude or something?
4 comments:
Proving there's more than one way to do a lamb chop.
I thought this kowtowing to the Saudis was a purely 'Murkin thing.
It doesn't seem such a really good idea to become so cozy with a regime that can't be long for this world. I mean, the House of Saud has no particular legitimacy, being just a band of camel-shaggers who managed to seize power 80 years ago. They've only hung on so long by keeping most of the population in medieval ignorance, and because they have enough money for a large secret-police force and for fundamentalist bafflegab to distract the masses. They can't allow any constructive, non-corrupt economy to develop because that would involve education outside the central elite.
When they staged mass executions to celebrate the ascension of a new monarch, to demonstrate that Salman bin Abdulaziz is as murderous as ever despite his dementia, I thought "This regime is not displaying any sense of security. Or of good decisions."
I suppose there are people in the States who see the Sauds as a role model.
I mean, the House of Saud has no particular legitimacy, being just a band of camel-shaggers who managed to seize power 80 years ago.
It's all about the Benjamins. Like the healthcare "industry" and the Wall St. "industry," they know which American politicians to buy. And which corporate media to keep well-lubricated, too.
~
Post a Comment