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Comment by AYBABTME | Hacker News Reader

This is whataboutism, and you imply that extraterritorial killing by India on Canadian soil is ok, because Ben Laden.

And so what new status quo are you suggesting by this?

Ben Laden was a well known terrorist and the US never hid the fact that they went there and did that. If the same is happening here, why isn't India coming up clean and saying "yes we killed this guy because he was responsible in XYZ grave crime and sorry not sorry". That would at least be comparable to the "US/Ben Laden" parallel you're trying to make.

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Perhaps, the poster is referring to assassinations by the West being overlooked and/or justified while those committed by other countries are vilified and even an excuse for the West starting another war, killing millions of people in the name of vengeance.

By the way, many “intrajudicial” killings are not justified either.

> Perhaps, the poster is referring to assassinations by the West being overlooked and/or justified while those committed by other countries are vilified and even an excuse for the West starting another war, killing millions of people in the name of vengeance.

The situations are different because in the case of Ben Laden, the intent of the US was well known and publicized, and there was an international warrant for his arrest, and the US never denied responsibility. As such I don't think it makes sense to compare the situations as if they were equal and that it represents an application of dual standards.

I'm not saying it was ok (or not ok) to go for Ben Laden. I'm saying it's not a comparable situation.

> By the way, many “intrajudicial” killings are not justified either.

That's a political position which is defensible and thoroughly debated.

Also, am sure there are lot of people America killed or got killed cause it forwarded their cause or it removed a thorn. And if you don't believe that, you are clearly ill-informed.

So you do agree extraterrestrial killing are justified if the country says so in advance.

So only India needs to do say aloud we are going to kill xyz and that is ok. No reputation lost am I right.

> So you do agree extraterrestrial killing are justified if the country says so in advance.

Whether it's ok or not is a different matter. But it is definitely _different_ if you tell the whole world "if we find this person, and you don't hand them over and we have a warrant, we will kill them on your territory or not".

In this case, whoever is harboring the person of interest knows fully what's coming, and isn't going to be surprised by it. Citizens of the country might be unhappy about it, but they will understand that this was coming, and it was a risk and the government decided that they were going to run that risk.

Whereas killing someone of little significance and pretending like nothing. That's the stuff Russia does. So yes it's different, and the reputational impact is different.

> No reputation lost am I right.

No, you're not right and I'm not saying this.

Do you believe that US govt gives advance warning when it carries out assacinations. Western govt would have done thousands of these kind of operations.

Your orginal assessment is correct. Extraterrestrial are not justified and it applies to West as well and foremost USA. Whatever Russian have done I assume USA has done worse. That is its reputation!

Well I take offense if India killed someone in Canada. And if Canada killed someone in India, I would also take offense. I wish none of these parties had such disappointing relationships.

Completely agree with you.

> Whether it's ok or not is a different matter. But it is definitely _different_ if you tell the whole world "if we find this person, and you don't hand them over and we have a warrant, we will kill them on your territory or not

I think you're simply not aware of the facts in this case. The Indian govt certainly appears to have done the first part of what you said, including putting out an Interpol notice.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/canada-allowed-hard...

Meanwhile the Canadian govt lied about when he got Canadian citizenship, first stating on Twitter it was 2015, and the next day that it was 2007.

If I'm unaware and about to be educated, I'm up for it.

Its not whataboutism. America did the same thing. And let me tell you clearly - someone killed some innocent people in India from canada, and then they were taken out because the country they are hiding in refused to take action against them. Why didn't Canada do anything about these Khalistan supporters when India has been clearly stating and giving evidence to Canada that they have all virtues of terrorists?

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