It’s thriving but lethal
May 22, 2007
Guardian, 22 May 2007
Three months before his election in 1997, Tony Blair wrote in BAE Systems Newsletter that his government would champion arms exports and a “strong defence industry”. That, despite the hoopla surrounding the idea of an “ethical” foreign policy, was always the prime minister’s ambition. A decade on, a new set of figures reveal the devastating extent to which he has succeeded.
Yesterday’s report by Saferworld documents the £45bn worth of arms delivered by Britain in the last 10 years, making us the world’s second largest arms exporter. In the last three years, arms have been exported to 19 of the 20 countries identified in the Foreign Office’s annual human rights report as “countries of concern”. The Colombian military and its paramilitary allies have killed thousands of people in the country’s civil war. Yet last year Britain exported armoured all-wheel-drive vehicles, military communications equipment and heavy machine guns, alongside a military aid programme. Indonesia has received more than £400m worth of military equipment since 1997 while using British military equipment for internal repression on a dozen known occasions….
Ten year’s of New Labour’s arms exports: A Review
May 21, 2007
By Mark Curtis
Reviewing British arms exports for the ten-year period under New Labour, the figures speak for themselves:
- The UK has exported £45 billion worth of arms around the world since 1997.
- Over £110m of military equipment has gone to Israel, throughout a period of offensive operations in the occupied territories and war with Lebanon
- Iraq has again become a large British arms market; over £130m have been exported since the invasion in 2003.
- Half a billion pounds worth of military and ‘other’ equipment has gone to China, which is under an EU arms embargo. Arms have also gone to Hong Kong, controlled by China.
- Indonesia has used UK equipment for repressive purposes on at least a dozen occasions in the Labour years.
- The UK continues to arm many of the world’s poorest countries. South Africa, for example, has received over £400m worth of UK military equipment in the Labour years. Nearly £150m of arms have gone to Nigeria under Labour, including armoured vehicles, rifles, shotguns and small arms ammunition.
Britain’s arms exports industry has been thriving under Labour, not because of the economic benefits to the country – the evidence is overwhelming that arms exports cost the taxpayer more than they generate, given the level of taxpayer subsidies. The major reason is that arms exports are a key part of UK foreign policy, especially in enhancing relationships with repressive regimes and elites, and because a small number of big corporations wield major influence over government policy; in fact help set it…..
The future of British foreign policy
May 7, 2007
A UK Watch interview with Mark Curtis, 7 May 2007
What do you expect from a Brown premiership? Is British foreign
policy likely to change at all?
There have been no public signs that foreign policy is likely to change. Brown has been four-square behind Blair on foreign policy, including, of course, Iraq, which he has financed as Chancellor and publicly defended when required. The real news about Brown succeeding Blair is that it means nothing in policy terms, but a simple fact like this cannot be reported and we can expect endless nonsensical musings on the ‘changeover’ in the mainstream in the coming few weeks. Brown being an identikit to Blair is the only rational argument I can think of for not having a general election – any other argument is a total abuse of democracy, therefore to be expected from new Labour……..
