Arms and the Man

The UK government and arms industry sell arms to the foulest folk on earth. It seems even worse when you know exactly what kind of stuff they sell. Below is from the Financial Times - 5th April 2011. The full article is here. Do you remember "New Labour's" ethical foreign policy?

Arms Export licences Jan 2009-Sept 2010

Libya

Artillery computers, combat shotguns, teargas, military cargo vehicles, ground vehicle military communications equipment, command communications control and intelligence equipment, infrared and thermal imaging technology, crowd control ammunition and small arms ammunition

Bahrain

Assault rifles, components for combat aircraft, small arms ammunition, submachineguns, weapon sights, aircraft cannon, shotguns, rifles, sniper rifles, CS gas hand grenades, smoke hand grenades, stun grenades, smoke ammunition, smoke canisters, teargas and riot control agents

Tunisia

Parts for assault rifles and machineguns, training in small arms ammunition and components for semi-automatic pistols

Syria

Equipment employing cryptography (secret code systems) and small arms ammunition

Egypt

Training in small arms ammunition, machineguns, imaging cameras, parts for armoured personnel carriers, parts for grenade launchers, submachinegun parts, electronic warfare equipment, parts for semi-automatic pistols, unfinished products for armoured fighting vehicles and weapon night sights

Yemen

Body armour, components for body armour, night vision goggles, military camera technology and parts

“We must obtain an export license from the government before we can export any defence equipment from the UK and this approach will continue,” said BAE Systems, the UK’s largest defence group, whose Tactica armoured vehicles were used by the Saudi Arabian National Guard in their recent incursion into Bahrain. “Responsible business conduct is fundamental to the success of BAE Systems.”

[Business is business...]