The UK government insists on continuing the massive supply – £2.8 billion since the start of the attack – of high tech weapons for Saudi Arabia to use against civilians in Yemen, despite opposition from the EU Parliament and every major human rights group. Furthermore UK special forces are operating inside Yemen in support of the onslaught. Thousands of civilians have died as a result, including many children.
Given this is not exactly popular in the UK, and that after the law takes its tortuous course there will very probably be embarrassment for the government down the line, the prize which Cameron perceives must be great. Of course, western elite support for the appalling Saudi regime is a given, because Saudi cash pumps primarily into banking, armaments and high end property, the three areas most dear to the interests of the 1%.
Yemen of course has very little oil of its own. But where the West gets involved in conflict, it is almost always at base either about oil resources (eg Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Iraq) or oil routes (eg Afghanistan, Georgia, Balkans). It turns out that Britain’s unflinching military support of Saudi Arabian aggression in Yemen is about oil routes.
Last year the Saudis announced a plan to drive a ship canal through Saudi desert, Oman and Yemen to the Gulf of Aden, bypassing the straits of Hormuz. This would reduce ship journeys by approximately 500 miles, and limit any potential physical threat to shipping from Iran. It is worth noting that Iran has stated it will not block the strait of Hormuz, and is a signatory to the UN Law of the Sea Convention which would make that illegal. Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz has long been the nightmare of the American right.
The canal project is moving forward in the Saudi governmental system and has now formally been assigned to the Ministry of Electricity, after an internal royal family wrangle as control of the mega project will obviously bring massive opportunities for self enrichment. It is now to be associated with the construction of nuclear power plants, which it is difficult to believe are unrelated to Saudi desire for nuclear weapons. It is to be called the King Salman canal.
Oman would probably welcome the canal, but Yemen is much more problematic. There would need to be a Yemeni government not only willing to agree, but both able and willing to enforce security on the canal. And given that the eastern Yemeni regions through which it would pass are predominantly Shia, this is a major problem for the Saudis. A problem that could only be resolved by taking effective military control of Yemen.
The United Kingdom is supporting yet another war for oil. But don’t worry about it, the corporate media is full of the Queen’s birthday! Stop thinking and shout hurrah!
Another prominent, first world leader finds that, like Mafi dons, the Saudi’s are experts at offering deals to which one just can’t say no.
Given Ultimatum, Obama Forced to Publicly Display Preference for Saudi Terror-Leader, Money, over 9/11 Victims
By Washington’s Blog
Whereas Obama has previously tried in public to downplay his preferences in this area, he has now been forced to display them and has announced to the US population that he sides with Saudi dictator Salman bin Abdulaziz over the 9/11 victims and their families.
Like Bush Jr., Obama has, for his entire tenure at the top of the US social hierarchy, censored the infamous 28 pages of the 9/11 report that are said to implicate the US-backed Saudi state in the 9/11 attacks.
Upon hearing of growing demand in the US for 9/11 lawsuits, Abdulaziz went straight to his trump card and threatened to dump $750 billion in US assets that the strongman controls, forcing Obama into the embarrassing position of having to publicly choose between supporting terrorism and money or legality and justice.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/04/given-ultimatum-obama-forced-publicly-display-preference-saudi-terror-leader-money-911-victims.html
And speaking of that 28 page report, allegedly implicating prominent Saudis in supporting the 9/11 terrorists, and the push that’s suddenly on to release it after it has been happily ignored by government officials and the mainstream media for 14 or so years, some are wondering if it couldn’t be a limited hangout to provide cover for the real perps.
Just can’t go through all the rubbish about the Saudis and 9/11.
The simple truth is that the Saudis knew about the 19 hijackers, and told CIA about them, thinking that the Agency would catch them while trying to board the planes which would justify an ouster of the Taliban in Afghanistan for continuing to harbor their boss, Osama bin-Laden.
Little did the Saudis appreciate that the Agency was more interested in embarrassing the unreliable FBI for harboring Soviet spy Robert Hanssen, and not taking former Bureau agent John O’Neill seriously enough about another attack on the WTC to playing copper itself with the suicide bombers.
The Saudis were as panicked by the result as the CIA.
Not up to speed on current day events, but anyone wishing to consider the “power politics and hidden history of Arabian oil” might benefit from Mirage by Aileen Keating. Story of Frank Holmes aka Abu Al Naft, Harry Philiby and of formation of the C20 oil kingdoms of Saudi, Bahrain and of Kuwait.
I’m normally never one to comment on the parking problems at Benhall, (tho’ ludicrously a whole car-park is now being turned into workspace for around 245 more communications HQ script-kiddies). . . but yesterday we had the revelation that since the 1990’s they’ve (all of the many uk agencies) been completely secretly illegally and non-proportionally capturing, storing everything about everyone, one wonders just what were they playing at? – is it just for support to colourful revolutions? – great for picking-up the odd slovakian arms traders but what about the other 25 years of background uk crime, terrrizm, fin-crime, CSA? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/uk-secret-police-surveillance-bulk-personal-datasets/
http://www.cnet.com/news/uks-massive-spy-database-of-ordinary-citizens-uncovered/
At least in China they are more transparent: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/how-china-uses-mass-surveillance-big-data-snooping-curb-social-unrest-1555880
So what about all this Secret Surveillance, released on the Queen’s Birthday – a Blair bury?
Privacy professionals have said & agreed internationally things like this, at length:
The whole intercept-all/deny for decades comes from the 1990s when the United States of America Federal Bureau of Investigations – technically supported or led by the US National Security Agency , – began to realise that with the new development of extensive high capacity digital civil telecommunications systems there was a risk that the old ease of eavesdropping would become lost. They were worried that increasing use of digital telephone exchange switches would make tapping phones at the telecommunications central office harder, or in some cases impossible to execute. . .
Some bright spark realised that the UK could also lead social monitoring & social control for whatever purpose, decades ahead of the “Chinese entering the 21st Century” – we entered it in the 1990’s!
Note for the file: add this to page XX of his “Bulk Personal Dataset”
YouKnowMyName,
I bet the job is as boring as hell, and it serves absolutely no useful purpose. I probably know some of these script kiddies, as a software company in the same area did some work for us 20 years ago. They were actually very good, but I expect the Government pays very much better, with an exceedingly good pension. They will probably get used to the smell. It must be a bit like working down a sewer, but the reality is that most turds look pretty much the same. I bet all this analysis of a mountain of shiit, hasn’t resulted in the capture of a single terrorist. Its much the same as all this crap going through airport security. You can’t even take half a pint of baby milk through, but you can buy 80% Polish Vodka in duty free and a box of matches. I know from experience over 50 years ago what is possible with a box of matches, never mind the vodka.
Tony
Welcome to the normally isolated omnipotent level superior to metaconscious Jemand…
You support Jeremy Corbyn? But what about the anti-semitism? The old Goebels method of repeating a lie often enough.
” …the eastern Yemeni regions through which it would pass are predominantly Shia.”
Mr. Murray, who gave this complete incorrect information?!
Certainly s/he is ignorant of Yemen’s geography and sociography.
Virtually, none of the Zaydi (you call Shia) resides in that region of Hadhramout and al Mahra.
A data-breach from Qatar has revealed that (allegedly) out of 1200 Al Jazeera employees who bank with QNB, only 29 of these are singled out by the bank for close analysis with just 3 named Al Jazeerans being named as “SPY”
according to http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/4/27/thousands-including-mi6-spies-have-bank-details-leaked
The QNB seems to have made a habit of profiling their customers? or is this Putin’s KGB meddling again?