Joe Lauria, an independent journalist covering international affairs with a focus on the Middle East, presently based in Iraq, and Andrew Smith from the Campaign Against Arms Trade join the programme to talk about this issue.
Both guests consider that the basic issue involved is conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. There is a ‘cold war’ scenario unfolding between these two countries in the Middle East and has been for quite some time, Joe Lauria mentions. One would think that the love-hate relationship between the US and Iran would affect things, as so much of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy seems to be directed against Iran. ‘What seems like a US-Iran rapprochement should be treated with suspicion,’ Joe pointed out.
In the US, a new campaign against arms sales seems to be kicking in, as we have witnessed by Senators such as Rand Paul and Chris Murphey speaking out against a new arms deal worth $1.5billion with Saudi Arabia that President Obama just signed off on. Crucially, however, arms sales are not going to be an issue in the election, Joe said.
In the UK, as Andrew points out, there are parallels with the States.
Whoever is in power be it the conservatives or labour, the UK will closely follow US policy, which is to sell as many weapons as possible to Saudi Arabia. Arms sales are seen as a business opportunity, the UK government has licenced GBP3.5 billion over the past 18 months, whilst Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen. It’s not just the US and the UK, it's also the UN and almost every other major international organisation.
Sales carry on because no action is being taken. Condemnation is one thing, but action is another, Andrew Smith pointed out. Andrew said that in the UK at last some action is being taken. Following an application by Campaign Against Arms Trade there will be a judicial review by the Committee on Arms Exports Controls (CAEC) in 2017 about the legality of arms sales to Saudi Arabia. This is the first time such a step has been taken in history, because Saudi Arabia is the largest buyer of UK arms, and arguably the most toxic client the UK has, Andrew said.
However the situation in the UK is that after Brexit, businesses are probably going to be more hungry for business, including arms deals. Saudi Arabia may fall off the political agenda in Britain. Andrew was adamant, however that it won’t and that the CAEC case is highly significant.
As far as the US elections go, Joe said that it is unlikely to make any difference. Certainly towards Russia, we have had some hopeful noises from Trump, although we have no idea what he is actually going to do. But on Saudi Arabia, he is as pro-Israel as Clinton is. ‘He has had good relations with Gulf Monarchs, and I think he would not do anything against Saudi Arabia,’ said Joe. ‘If Clinton wins, well, you just have to look at the Clinton Foundation….The amount of money that flows into the Clinton Foundation has really opened up the sale of arms to almost any country. She’s a hawk, much worse than Obama.’
