Britain has Sold Saudi Arabia £6bn in Weapons Since Yemen War Began

What a world we live in when the fastest growing global industries

are child pornography and weapons manufacturing and sales.

Man can't possibly survive if we continue in this direction!

And, of course, it's always children who suffer the consequences of man's evils.

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises at a community hall where Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, October 9, 2016 © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

British arms companies have earned £6 billion ($8bn) from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen, it has emerged. The fighting has killed more than 10,000 people, destroyed vital infrastructure, and fomented a cholera epidemic.

War Child UK claims the true revenues from dealings with the Gulf kingdom are almost double previous estimates of £3.2 billion.

The charity told the Independent that private arms manufacturers, including BAE systems and Raytheon are, “profiteering from the deaths of innocent children” by selling missiles and equipment to the Saudi-led coalition.

Rocco Blume, a conflict and humanitarian advisor at War Child, told the newspaper Britain is not only selling arms to Saudi forces but maintaining them as well.

“We all want to see productive international trade, but this is damaging. The revenue has to be seen in the context of all other costs incurred in this trade, especially to our international reputation, particularly on human rights.”

Blume says there has been a “lack of transparency” on the extent of British firms’ involvement amid a global weakening of protections for children in conflicts. He also said Britain had become “less fussy” about international trading partners as Brexit approaches.

The charity also said there is a disparity between the economic benefit to the British public versus the profit for private firms inside the arms industry, which is estimated at almost £600 million.

War Child UK found that an estimated tax revenue of 45 pence per head was “dwarfed” by pay and bonuses, as well as the amount spent by the government on aid to Yemen.

“Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia generated just £13 million in corporation tax in 2016, yet during 2017, the UK will spend £139 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen,” a spokesperson said.

“This means the Treasury is spending over four times in aid what it is getting back in tax.”

The Saudi-led coalition has waged a devastating air campaign in Yemen since 2015 to support the government in its war against Houthi rebels. The British government was forced to defend the trade amid evidence of war crimes and civilian deaths after the UN called Yemen the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.

Evidence gathered on the ground suggests some of the bombings were carried out using British-made weapons, including Raytheon’s laser-guided Paveway IV smart bomb, which is manufactured in Fife.

BAE Systems and Raytheon were among exhibitors at an arms fair in London last week, supported by the government and senior military commanders.

Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox was asked by reporters at the arms fair how many civilian deaths it would take before the UK revoked the license to sell arms. He defended the “ethical” trade, and said it did not violate international law.

Does it violate moral law? You will find the answer to that question, but it may be too late to do anything about it when you do.

Fife, Scotland

‘Yemen War Crimes’ - British MPs Call for Inquiry

BAE evicts anti-Saudi protesters from shareholder AGM

Roger Carr, Chairman of BAE Systems. © Toby Melville / Reuters

BAE Systems evicted two shareholders from its AGM on Wednesday when they protested the firm’s sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which they claim were used to commit war crimes against innocent Yemeni civilians.

The shareholders-come-activists who are affiliated with Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) staged the intervention after the arms giant’s chairman Roger Carr took the stage.

Just five minutes into his address, the pair stealthily walked to the front of the room carrying placards denouncing BAE’s complicity in Saudi Arabia’s brutal military campaign against Yemen.

The posters, which were visible for all present to see, bore the caption: “900 children killed in Yemen. Stop arming Saudi Arabia!”



'Blood money'
Hannah Brock, 30, who was dragged out of the AGM by security staff soon after the intervention, told RT the pair's actions were justified.

“BAE Systems is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. The firm doesn’t just profit from war, it incentivizes it,” she said.

“The only time that BAE are legally obliged to face public scrutiny is at their AGM. It is our only chance to question the firm.”

Brock, who is a Right to Refuse to Kill program worker at global antimilitarist network War Resisters’ International, went on to explain she and her fellow campaigner felt compelled to draw attention to BAE’s complicity in grievous violations of international law.

“It’s particularly vital BAE is challenged on Saudi Arabia’s horrendous human rights abuses, as it continues to bombard Yemen, causing an enormous death toll,” she said.

The anti-arms activist accused Britain’s Tory government of protecting and supporting the arms giant. She called on MPs to implement an “outright embargo” on UK-Saudi arms sales and for a prompt inquiry into Britain’s role in alleged Saudi war crimes against Yemeni civilians.

Roughly 30 activists linked to CAAT had purchased shares in BAE to gain access to the AGM. They reportedly brought in a range of banners bearing quotes from people who had experienced airstrikes in Yemen, which they displayed to other shareholders. Some were dressed in black, red gloves and black veils for theatrical effect, while others questioned BAE representatives heatedly over the firm’s complicity in Saudi-led human rights abuses.


Saba Jallas turns horror into art in an attempt to maintain sanity as Saudi Arabia pulverizes Yemen
https://www.facebook.com/sabajallas2015/?fref=photo

Call for Inquiry

'Serious breaches of international law'
Britain's cross-party international development committee demanded an independent international inquiry into serious human rights breaches committed by all sides in the conflict in Yemen on Wednesday.

The move will likely anger UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who previously rejected global condemnation of Saudi Arabia. The Gulf state is a close British ally.

In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began a military assault on Yemen in a bid to influence the outcome of its bloody civil war. Leading a coalition of nine Arab nations, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes in Yemen in late March of that year and imposed an aerial and naval blockade.

There is a little more to it than that! The Houthi uprising is being supported, if not encouraged by Iran which is attempting to expand its influence in the Middle East. Yemen is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, ie between Sunni and Shia Muslims. 

The military campaign, which has caused large-scale bloodshed and human suffering, targeted Yemen’s Houthi population and a number of allied insurgent groups who support former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The intervention has been described as a humanitarian catastrophe by human rights experts, including key United Nations (UN) officials. By July 2015, the UN had described the humanitarian situation in the war-torn state as a “Level 3” emergency – the highest emergency level it ascribes.

A report published in September 2015 by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found that close to two-thirds of Yemeni civilians killed since March 26, 2015, had perished as a result of the Saudi-led airstrikes.

The following August, the UN special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict said 73 percent of the hundreds of Yemeni children killed since the Saudi-led military campaign began had died as a result of Saudi-led airstrikes.

BAE's stake in Saudi arms market
BAE’s AGM kicked off at 1100 BST and was held at a conference center in Farnborough, Hampshire.

Saudi Arabia is the arms giant’s third biggest market, according to CAAT. Large-scale arms sales date back decades and include BAE’s Tornado and Typhoon combat planes, which are being used in Yemen.

In 2016, 22 BAE Hawk aircraft were contracted to Saudi Arabia. The arms giant also brokered a mammoth £1.6 billion deal with the Gulf kingdom in 2012, involving the supply and support for 22 Hawk aircraft and 55 PC-21 Pilatus training combat planes.

BAE also employees 5,300 staff in Saudi Arabia, who support the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and the Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF).

RT asked BAE Systems to comment on why shareholders had been removed from the AGM. A spokesperson for the arms giant initially declined to confirm or deny the incident had occurred.

A second spokesperson for the firm later said: “There were a number of protesters removed from the meeting today. The AGM is the one time in the year that shareholders have the opportunity to hear from the board and ask questions about the business and we welcome all those who want to do that in a way that is courteous to other shareholders.”

BAE Systems chairman Roger Carr and CEO Ian King used the event to review the firm’s financial performance in 2015.

“Whilst economic and geopolitical conditions remain volatile, we have started the year with good momentum and the business is performing well,” King said.

“In 2016 and beyond, we are well placed to continue to generate attractive returns for shareholders.”

No kidding! The inventory of death is moving very nicely. You must be quite happy.