As well as getting itself embroiled in a diplomatic spat with the Russian government over the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi and the expulsion of four Russian diplomats, the British government is on the verge of a major diplomatic row with the United States. The Guardian reports:
A potential diplomatic collision with the US is looming over the corruption allegations against the arms company BAE. The department of justice in Washington has formally demanded that Britain hand over all evidence of secret payments the company made to members of the Saudi royal family to secure huge arms deals.
Which presents an interesting dilemma for the British government. Should they hand over the evidence, and hang BAE out to dry, or would they be better served by keeping their sticky mitts on the top-secret files and losing the moral high ground to Russia?
Frankly, I’m surprised the Russian government hasn’t picked up on this problem yet – they could make tremendous mileage out of it in the international PR arena.
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That’s why we’ve Andy Young among others. I wonder if Angus Roxburgh picked up on this? He’s the former BBC employee, who was hired by a Russian government connected PR interest.
Brits Gone Wild.
For you non-Yanks, that’s a takeoff from an American Girls Gone Wild 30 minute paid infomercial.
If you notice, none of the major 5 arms exporting countries make much noise towards each other on the subject, probably because the business is as dirty, violent, and corrupt no matter where it is done. For Russia to mention that the British are being corrupt over arms sales would in all likelihood result in a hearty laugh from everybody and no more.
I suspect the reason the Yanks are getting their claws into BAE is because most of their revenues comes from the US now, the company long ago restructured itself to be more of a US player than a British one, and they are posing a serious threat to one or two established American defence companies. American politics being what it is, the sugar-daddies of those threatened companies are now being asked to return the favour attached to the hefty campaign contributions by making life as difficult for BAE as possible.
The British government has dug a gigantic hole for itself by outlawing the corrupt practices of the arms industry at the same time as signing off on them, and then putting a stop to the subsequent investigation when the questions started getting awkward. The British government is in a dilemma, and they have only themselves to blame. BAE was merely operating as any other company in the Middle East does, although I do not think they should have been entitled to governmental support or public funds in order to do so.
Russia does not need to air this dirty laundry, The Brits will hang themselves.
Kyle
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