United Kingdoms of hypocrisy

Gordon Brown's claims to be a champion of democracy and courage will again be examined tomorrow. In his one-to-one meeting with King Abdullah II, Brown will have the opportunity to raise the question of human rights in the kingdom. Will he? Well bottler Brown created some distance from Bush shortly after taking office, but has not pursued a clear Iraq policy since. He attempted to take the lead during the recent Burma uprising, but this has slipped down the agenda after his snap election fiasco. The neocons are raising the pressure on Iran with military strikes closer than ever, but Brown again has failed to set out a clear British position. So during this completely unnecessary and shameful state visit, Brown has the opportunity to raise beheading, torture (of British subjects as well as countless Saudis), the absence of any democracy, zero advancement in equal gender rights, and the exporting of extremist Wahhabist literature to Britain and ideology across the Middle East. Will he? No probably not. Like his predecessor, his definition of an ethical foreign policy will fall flat under the slightest scrutiny or when money is involved. Through the subtle nuances of diplomatic politeness and blind translation, any attempt at raising HR will fail, the Saudis will simply ignore it or attempt another blackmail, in a similar mode to the BAE investigation. The Saudi royalty may be ignorant, misogynistic, anti semitic and extreme, but they are not stupid. Britain's vulnerability (real and perceived) to losing the Saudi relationship, has been exploited by the guardians of Islam's holiest sites for years to build more palaces and purchase more hi-tech (unused) military hardware.

The idea that Saudi Arabia is a vital ally in the war on terror also fails to convince. Firstly the Saudis were in the large part responsible for the extremist Islam's rise and provided 15 hijackers to prove it. Second, its efforts to prevent jihadists crossing to Iraq have been non-existent - the fear of an Iraqi Shia force is too great a danger to prevent the bombers. Although Saudi Arabian intelligence funded and trained Afghan mujahedin in the 1980s, its presence in South Asia has faded since 2001, when it ceased to be one of the Taliban's three supporters in the world. The recent terrorist threats to Britain emerged deep inside Pakistan's north west frontier not the Gulf.

A blind post-imperial oil-driven foreign policy has dug Britain a hole, in which we are unable to have honest relations with repugnant allies. Hypocrisy still rules the waves and, whether it's Brown or Cameron in charge, will continue to do so.

See also
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1202

On the edge...

With an eerie sense of inevitability, Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan after an eight year exile turned into one of the country's worst acts of terrorism, with up to 130 people killed. Pakistan has taken one more step towards civil war, between the most likely suspects - militant Islamists - and pro democracy forces. Bhutto has promised to reinstall democracy in a pro American government. This statement in itself is easily enough to incur the wrath of Taleban linked militants and members of the intelligence services (ISI). She also stated her intent to up the battle against Al-Qaida in Pakistan's north west frontier. Forget Iraq, Pakistan is now the front in the global war against militant Islam. Al-Qaida have stated their intention to overthrow Musharraf's government, the Taleban are resurgent and now united with Pakistan's equivalent, and the military retain, possibly expand still, the country's nuclear arsenal. The stakes could not be higher.