US ready to admit Saudi students leaving Canada amid Riyadh-Ottawa spat
Amid a diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Ottawa, an American university has facilitated its admission process for thousands of Saudi students who have to leave Canada on the Arab kingdom’s order.
The Portland State University recently offered “expedited admission” to 12,000 Saudi students studying in Canada, particularly those whose education is funded by a Saudi scholarship program.
Based on an order by the Saudi government, all these students have been urged to leave Canada in protest at Ottawa’s criticism of human rights situation in the Arab kingdom.
The American university has even waived its application fee for these students in a bid to show itself as a “partner to Saudi students.”
Saudi Arabia had earlier announced its plan to relocate all these students to the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand; however, experts believe such a huge relocation ahead of the new academic year would create serious problems.
The American university’s support for Saudi Arabia amid its escalated tension with Canada comes as the US administration has refused to officially take sides in the spat between its two allies.
The diplomatic brawl between Saudi Arabia and Canada started after the latter’s foreign ministry expressed concern over the detention of women’s rights activists in the Arab kingdom.
The spat has already led to the expulsion of the Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and the recalling of the Saudi envoy from Canada.
The Saudis have also stopped all flights to and from Canada, suspended their trade with the country, and ordered its patients receiving treatment there to go elsewhere within the next month.
Last week, US State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said her country cannot do anything to resolve the dispute between Riyadh and Ottawa, and it is up to the governments of Saudi Arabia and Canada to work this out.
“Both sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can’t do it for them,” Nauert said.
Analysts say the US’s neutral stance and the UK’s silence over the issue have made the Canadians feel isolated while even their closest allies – which proclaim themselves as advocates of human rights – failed to stand by Ottawa.
Former Canadian policy director Rachel Curran said in a Twitter post that Canada does not have a single friend in the whole world today.
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