UK Prime Minsiter visits the Middle East with a delegation of arms traders

[Martin Red]

And I'm sure all of us have felt the same awe in the face of their courage. The courage of the protesters in Tarhir Square, facing the stones, clubs and bullets of the pro-Mubharak thugs. And the extraordinary courage of so many ordinary people in Libya, armed only in their belief in democracy and human rights.

Contrast that to the actions of our own Prime Minister, David Cameron. I have to confess that when I first saw him on TV in Tahrir Square earlier this week, I genuinely thought for a moment that he was really there to express solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Egypt. And I thought great, good on him.

And then the horrifying reality: he was there, in the Middle East, at a time of such violence and chaos, with a delegation of arms traders, to sell more arms.

More guns, more tanks, more armoured vehicles, stun grenades, tear gas, riot-control equipment.

I know that ethical foreign policy has gone out of fashion, but frankly the blatant opportunism of this visit is morally obscene. But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.

After all, this is a government whose defence equipment minister, Peter Luff, unequivocally stated back in June, and I quote:

"There will be a very, very, very heavy ministerial commitment to arms sales. There is a sense that in the past we were rather embarrassed about exporting defence products. There is no such embarrassment in this government."

http://another-green-world.blogspot....ce-speech.html

[Martin Red]

The Conservatives received a £300,000 gift from the wife of a billionaire former arms dealer caught up in the furore that forced a Cabinet minister's resignation.

Details of the donation emerged as David Cameron neared the end of a tour of the Gulf in which he was forced to defend weapons sales to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.

The money was handed over by May Makhzoumi, whose Lebanese husband, Fouad, is a businessman, politician and philanthropist. It was among the largest gifts to the party, which received more than £3m in the last three months of 2010, new figures from the Electoral Commission disclosed yesterday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...y-2223982.html

[Martin Red]

SAS and MI6 officers released by Libya's rebel commanders


The group's capture is a major embarrassment to the British government and could potentially undermine the rebels' claims that the revolution has had solely domestic roots

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...d-libya-rebels