CBC reports:

A Saudi teen who was granted asylum in Canada after fleeing from her allegedly abusive family has arrived in Canada.

Her flight from Seoul, South Korea, landed in Toronto a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would accept 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as a refugee.

Al-Qunun, wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the word Canada, waved to reporters as she walked through Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, but did not comment on her arrival in Canada.

She was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who said al-Qunun will be going to her unspecified “new home.”

Yes, don’t specify it; we don’t want her father knowing where she is.

Chris Young/Canadian Press

Note UNHCR cap and CANADA hoody.

Trudeau announced Friday that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees asked Canada to take al-Qunun as a refugee, and Canada agreed.

“That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world,” Trudeau said.

…

But the move to accept al-Qunun could serve to heighten tensions between Canada and Saudi Arabia.

In August, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expelled Canada’s ambassador and withdrew his own envoy after Freeland used Twitter to call for the release of women’s rights activists who had been arrested in the country.

A few months later he ordered the murder of Khashoggi. Tensions between Canada and Saudi Arabia are perhaps inevitable. Trump and his cronies are way too friendly to Saudi Arabia.

But Trudeau appeared unfazed by the possibility that the move could have ill effects, repeating that Canada stands up for human rights regardless of diplomatic consequences.

“This is part of a long tradition of Canada engaging constructively and positively in the world and working with our partners, allies and with the United Nations. And when the United Nations made a request of us that we grant Ms. al-Qunun asylum, we accepted,” he said.

Freeland echoed that sentiment in comments to reporters Saturday.

“It is absolutely the case that there are many women, far, far too many women, who are in dangerous situations both in Canada and around the world,” she said.

“But rather than cursing the darkness … I believe in lighting a single candle and, where we can save a single person, where we can save a single woman, that is a good thing to do.”

And Mohammed bin Salman can go take a flying jump.

Oh well now that’s interesting. The FBI investigated Trump after he fired Comey.

In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.

Of course they did. It was only the next day that he met with Kislyak and Lavrov with no other US people present. It’s not as if that went unnoticed at the time.

Agents and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and magnitude.

And yet they had no problem investigating Clinton. Why is investigating Trump more “sensitive”?

The decision to investigate Mr. Trump himself was an aggressive move by F.B.I. officials who were confronting the chaotic aftermath of the firing of Mr. Comey and enduring the president’s verbal assaults on the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt.”

A vigorous debate has taken shape among some former law enforcement officials outside the case over whether F.B.I. investigators overreacted in opening the counterintelligence inquiry during a tumultuous period at the Justice Department. Other former officials noted that those critics were not privy to all of the evidence and argued that sitting on it would have been an abdication of duty.

The F.B.I. conducts two types of inquiries, criminal and counterintelligence investigations. Unlike criminal investigations, which are typically aimed at solving a crime and can result in arrests and convictions, counterintelligence inquiries are generally fact-finding missions to understand what a foreign power is doing and to stop any anti-American activity, like thefts of United States government secrets or covert efforts to influence policy. In most cases, the investigations are carried out quietly, sometimes for years. Often, they result in no arrests.

I hope they result in arrests in this case. One, in particular.

UNHCR statement on Canada’s resettlement of Saudi national Rahaf Al-Qunun:

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency welcomes the expected arrival in Canada of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun and the decision of the Canadian Government to provide international protection and a long-term solution for her there as a resettled refugee.

The quick actions over the past week of the Government of Thailand in providing temporary refuge and facilitating refugee status determination by UNHCR, and of the Government of Canada in offering emergency resettlement to Ms. al-Qunun and arranging her travel were key to the successful resolution of this case. Ms al-Qunun left Thailand en route to Canada today.

“Ms. al-Qunun’s plight has captured the world’s attention over the past few days, providing a glimpse into the precarious situation of millions of refugees worldwide.” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “Refugee protection today is often under threat and cannot always be assured, but in this instance international refugee law and overriding values of humanity have prevailed.”

With political sentiment and public attitudes towards refugees having hardened in some countries in recent years, resettlement – the mechanism by which Ms. al-Qunun has been accepted by Canada – is available only to a fraction of the world’s 25.4 million refugees, typically those at greatest risk, such as women at risk. Ms. al-Qunun’s case was dealt with on a fast-track ‘emergency’ basis in light of the urgency of her situation.

© UNHCR/Khaled Ibrahim

The Post is reporting the story:

A Saudi woman who fled her family, claiming fear for her life, and used social media to amplify her calls for safe haven was granted asylum by Canada on Friday, an official in Thailand said.

The decision to give haven to the 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun capped a nearly week-long drama that highlighted the power of social media to call attention to her case and reverse initial plans by Thai officials to deport her to Kuwait, where she fled her family while on holiday.

With all its enormous flaws…Twitter can do that. It can put people in danger, and it can save people who are in danger.

The Post notes with surprise that Saudi Arabia is very harsh on women.

She was admitted to Thailand on Monday while the U.N. refu­gee agency processed her request. Several countries, including Australia, had said they could welcome Alqunun as a refu­gee. But she expressed a preference for Canada.

“The story ends today,” said the head of Thailand’s immigration bureau, Surachate Hakparn. “Ms. Rahaf is going to Canada as she wishes.”

Did Australia say that? I thought it was reported that neither Australia nor Canada had officially committed to giving her refugee status – that officials of both countries had said that. That’s why it’s been rather tense.

He said Alqunun left Thailand on a flight en route to Toronto. She was in good health and spirits, he said, and had a “smiling face.”

The U.N. refugee agency coordinated with Canadian authorities to resettle her there, and she will be in the care of the International Organization for Migration once she arrives, he added.

Her father and brother tried to meet with her but she said no thanks.

Alqunun deactivated her Twitter account Friday. Multiple supporters, including journalist Sophie McNeill, who has been in contact with Alqunun during her ordeal, said on Twitter that she was fine but had received death threats.

Why? Because god hates women.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, tweeted: “Rahaf temporarily suspended her #Twitter account because she has been receiving some very nasty, very real death threats. Not sure when she will resume.” He called on Twitter to shut down those accounts.

Twitter giveth and Twitter taketh away.

ALL RIGHT

#BREAKING Prime Minister Trudeau has confirmed that Rahaf Al-Qunun, the Saudi teen, has been granted asylum in Canada. @rahaf84427714 #SaveRahaf https://t.co/Zuz42wjILO

— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) January 11, 2019

The BBC on Rahaf al-Qunun’s escape to Canada:

The UN’s refugee agency has said it considers her to be a legitimate refugee.

Refugee status is normally granted by governments, but the UNHCR can grant it where states are “unable or unwilling to do so”, according to its website.

Thai immigration officials told Reuters that Canada had “granted her asylum”, however Canadian officials told the BBC they currently have “nothing to confirm” on the issue.

I didn’t know the UNHCR can grant refugee status on its own; that’s useful.

The BBC talked to another Saudi woman.

Rahaf is an inspiration. But she’s not the first one who did this and definitely not the last one.

What we are going through is awful. We think about this every day because us women here do not know what it feels like to go out. We don’t know what freedom tastes like.

Dad keeps my passport with him all the time, we go to hotels and he puts it next to him when he sleeps.

Unfortunately it’s not a revolution. Every girl that is tweeting about this, it’s either that she has already escaped or she’s using a fake account like me. Some people tweeted me or DMed me to tell me to use my real account, for me to be brave.

We do not want the guardianship any more. I want to go out of the house and drink coffee from Starbucks. I don’t have to take my whole family. This is just way too harsh on us.

Living this life is exhausting.

Don’t let anyone tell you MBS is “reforming” anything.

Meanwhile in Burma:

A court in Myanmar has rejected an appeal by two Reuters reporters jailed for breaking a state secrets act.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years in September in a case condemned around the world.

They exposed the summary execution of 10 Muslim Rohingyas by the security forces during the military’s anti-Rohingya operation in 2017.

State murder shouldn’t be protected by state secrets acts.

When arrested the two were investigating a mass execution of Rohingyas, hundreds of thousands of whom have been forced to flee destruction and persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (also called Burma).

UN investigators have called for top Myanmar generals to be investigated for genocide, and criticised the country’s de facto leader Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to stop the attacks.

The massacre the reporters were investigating is the only one the Burmese government has admitted. Myanmar’s military – which says its operations targeted militant or insurgent threats – had until then insisted its soldiers carried out no unlawful killings.

Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen J Adler called the court’s rejection “yet another injustice” against the pair.

“Reporting is not a crime, and until Myanmar rights this terrible wrong, the press in Myanmar is not free,” he said in a statement.

I don’t suppose the Trump administration will apply any pressure.

White nationalists marching in Princeton:

A white supremacist group — the New Jersey European Heritage Association — plans to host a march in Princeton Saturday, a move that local officials say they don’t condone, but can’t stop.

Now look here – that’s my hometown, and that’s no good. (It’s also quite surprising, because Princeton is frankly very up itself…but then come to think of it that’s probably why they chose it. “Take that, you exurban preppy elleetist snobs.”)

The Princeton Police Department was notified that flyers were posted around town advertising the march, which is happening in Palmer Square. The department will have a strong presence in the area Saturday, Chief Nick Sutter said.

“We want everybody to be able to demonstrate peacefully and (get) their voices heard,” Sutter said. “We don’t want any provocations or altercations to take place.”

Sutter also encouraged any groups or people who may be planning counter-protests to register with the police department so they can obtain a permit and police can ensure everyone has a space.

Fight fiercely Harvard, fight fight fight
Impress them with your prowess, do.

In November, a group held an “It’s OK to be white” march on Nassau Street. Similar racist and anti-Semitic posters have also been found hanging at Princeton University.

The Princeton I grew up in was so genteel about its racism.

Good news:

#BREAKING: Saudi teen who fled family will leave Thailand for Canada on Friday night – Thai immigration chief (Reuters) https://t.co/Zuz42w27ne

— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) January 11, 2019

The AP has more:

Thailand’s immigration police chief says a Saudi woman who fled alleged abuse by her family will leave Bangkok for Canada.

Police Chief Surachate Hakparn says the 18-year-old woman, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, is leaving on a flight late Friday evening. He gave no other details.

He earlier said that several countries including Canada and Australia were in talks with the U.N. refugee agency on accepting Alqunun.

Well done Canada.

This doesn’t mean she has refugee status now, but it’s a step in a good direction.

Hmmmm.

AP FACT CHECK: Democrats put the blame for the shutdown on Trump. But it takes two to tango. Trump's demand for $5.7 billion for his border wall is one reason for the budget impasse. The Democrats refusal to approve the money is another. https://t.co/9IWnqUgl2d

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) January 9, 2019

The rapist’s demand for the woman to spread her legs is one reason for the rape. The woman’s refusal to comply is another.

Justin E. H. Smith on the higher bullshit:

Derrida means nothing without his Parisian institutional setting, but once that setting comes into focus, he continues to mean nothing, though now in a different way: he means nothing, individually, because the tricks he was encouraged to perform that so dazzled the crowds at Johns Hopkins and Irvine were taught to many others just like him, who would all of course insist on their own uniqueness, would claim they were always outsiders to the true French intellectual elite, but only because you cannot enter the tightest nucleus of this elite if you do not claim to be an outsider to it, all the while, all of them, yielding up only minor variations on the same recipes.

The logic of this performance of outsiderness is the same as in many genres of popular music, where the whole delicate game is to appear to maintain your street cred as a bad boy who disdains the major record labels and the award shows, all the while clamouring for such distinctions.

I like that because it describes so much of what passes for lefty politics right now, especially the union of ferocious policing and punishment with proud displays of awesome rad woke specialness.

Better for some, then, to go far away, where the rules of the game are not so transparent, where you’ve got no Bourdieu hounding you and exposing your every move as really nothing more than the species-specific behaviour of Homo academicus francogallicus. Like top chefs who travel far to ply their trade, Derrida found that the crowds at his distant destinations could not make any distinction between what was inspired in his words, and what was inherited, what was the product of a singular mind, and what the generic template of an earlier acculturation. The most conventional dishes will get French chefs raving reviews if they go and open a restaurant, perhaps calling it ‘Ooh-La-La’, in a strip mall in Orange County (an example drawn from my true memory of a suburban California childhood). That is the whole secret of Derrida’s decades-long mystification of the Anglophone world.

It helps a lot that Americans are so far away and so very provincial. It apparently never occurred to the smitten-by-Derrida even to ask how his colleagues saw him, let alone to suspect that he was nowhere near as groundbreaking as his Anglophone reputation made him seem.

It is, moreover, nothing short of the highest species of farce that the likes of Ronell were permitted for so long to use university offices as their deconstructionist romper rooms, to develop their tiny cults of personality and have their imagined French romances, only because administrators, unable to understand what the lit professors were talking about, assumed that it was just very difficult and profound philosophy, and saw that whatever it was all about was economically useful for the cultivation of institutional prestige.

While it lasted.