Ethical foreign policy, only all wrong

The row over the Muhammad cartoons in Jyllands Posten shows no sign of going away, and Libya has today announced it is closing its embassy in Denmark and will aim to cut economic ties with Denmark as the Danish Government has refused to criticise the newspaper – see the BBC article here. Compare this with the decision to sell Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia – article here.

Libya’s decision is an example of ethical (or at least ethically motivated) foreign policy. They dislike the political stance of Denmark, and react. European countries – including the UK on the Eurofighter example – know Sauid Arabia commits horrendous human rights abuses – see Amnesty’s page on Saudi Arabia – but we are all too willing to keep on selling them weapons. Now, which is more wrong? While I think the position of many Muslim countries concerning the cartoons is wrong, they are behaving according to ethical rather than economic values.

Further, things are getting complicated in Gaza with Hamas – have a look at this. Nothing like showing an intolerant response.