I was interested to read this morning - in an item brought to me by Microsoft News - that the US, Canada and China have done a deal over the daughter of the boss of Huawei, held on house arrest in Vancouver for getting on for three years, for possible extradition to the US on charges relating to sanctions on Iran. Something to do with Huawei lying to HSBC about the nature of their relationship with Iran - which reference 1 suggests is extensive. Nevertheless, given the passage of time, lying to HSBC about it does seem a bit like ancient history.
A deal which resulted in the daughter catching a plane to China and China releasing a couple of Canadians held in a tit-for-tat arrest. Just like the deals over spies that the US and the UK used to do with the late USSR during the Cold War.
With the difference that the daughter was held on house arrest in a Vancouver mansion, while the two Canadians were held in prison in China. Let's hope they had some Chinese. We are not told whether they got any special privileges while there or whether they, like the daughter, have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Whatever they might have been.
PS: are the Tories about to learn that a free market for all your friends with their eyes on profit today is not a very good way to run an industry like gas supply? And to go back to a nationalised industry which has room to have regard for tomorrow? To maybe take all those once prominent gas holders out of mothballs? I associate to Northern Rock, whose business model was built on cheap access to short term money - rather than cheap access to short term gas.
References
Reference 1: https://thediplomat.com/2020/10/how-us-sanctions-drove-iran-into-huaweis-arms/.
Reference 2: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/08/sacks.html. Earlier notice of Huawei.
Reference 3: https://www.huawei.com/en/. Where there is a glossy promotional film, from which the snap above is taken.
No comments:
Post a Comment