The arms
industry is a true capitalist enterprise, devoid of any morals. Since
1960 the regime of Saudi Arabia have been a major purchaser of UK
made arms. This is not just a series of corporate manufacturers
selling to the highest bidder, the hand of the UK state is involved
in most of these deals as they are government to government
contracts. Governments are expert at putting nice names to despicable
affairs, recently BAE arms manufacturer sold 72 Euro fighters to
Saudi Arabia, at a cost of £4.4 billion, the project was named The
Salam (Peace) Project. UK corporate business with the help and
blessing of the UK government, makes billions supplying all manner of
weapons to what is probably one of the most repressive regimes on the
planet. This regime of Royal despots rule over a country that as
well as brutal repression, is in the eyes of most observers is rife
with corruption on a massive scale. The Guardian has ran numerous
reports of allegations of corruption at the highest level.. In 2004,
following revelations about a £60 million "slush fund",
the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began an investigation. There were
further allegations in June 2007 that BAE, with approval of the UK’s
Ministry of Defence, had made payments worth hundreds of millions of
pounds since 1985 to bank accounts under the personal control of
Prince Bandar, the son of Prince Sultan. On 14th December 2006 the
SFO announced that it was stopping its investigation. CAAT and The
Corner House challenged the decision in the courts. In April 2008 the
High Court ruled that the SFO had acted unlawfully in curtailing the
inquiry, but this ruling was overturned by the House of Lords on 30th
July 2008. More information about the case and documents which were
released during it can be viewed here.
The whole thing stinks.
Saudi Arabia
is also a country that beheads people, for among other things, the
crime of sorcery. The latest case of this was a 60 year old woman who
was headed for the crime of sorcery, and recently a man was beheaded
for the same crime, it seems he told fortunes. This year alone the
Saudis have executed 79 people, 5 of them women, compared to 27 for
the whole of last year. It is obvious that they are stepping up the
repression with one eye on the “Arab Spring”. It is criminal, but
to be expected, that the UK state considers Saudi Arabia to among its
“friendly” allies.
