“The difference with him is that he is presenting absolute power as the eternal end of everything," said Abdullah Alaoudh, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. "This clashes with liberal democracy, with the idea of sharing power at all, even if it is half-democracy or quarter-democracy.” [...]
He added: “The message the crown prince is sending is, ‘We don't have to be a liberal democracy to be allies. And at the same time we are not going to be a liberal democracy at any point in the future so forget it. So let's talk about strategic interests and oil and things like that.’” [...]
The question now is whether Europe and the U.S. will support Canada's call for improvement in the kingdom's human rights record, or will remain silent in the face of the country's economic muscle. So far, the official response from the European Union and the U.S. has been muted. [...]
There are signals, however, of the Trump administration's preferences. President Donald Trump has publicly bashed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while Saudi Arabia was the site of the president’s first overseas trip. [...]
“To borrow the Chinese phrase, this is killing a chicken to scare the monkeys,” Freeman said. “The idea is that nobody else is going to mess with Saudi Arabia.”
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