Guardian Newspaper Expose : British Government Directly Involved In Genocide Against Yemen

I have said many times before and I will say it again - the real rascals in the world (for the past 500 years) are not the Americans, the CIA, the Mossad, the old KGB, the Soviets or the Russians. 

The real rascals are the meddling British and their MI6 who have had a hand in every war, revolution, crisis and hotspot in the world.  And they are still meddling.

This grand expose by the Guardian says that thousands of British personnel from the Royal Air force, British arms manufacturers, British special forces and the British government are DIRECTLY on the ground in Saudi Arabia and inside Yemen where they are hands on directly involved in the genocide against Yemen. 

The following is from an article written by Arron Merat in The Guardian (UK). You can read the full and very long article here.  I have some conclusions.

Britain does not merely supply the bombs that fall on Yemen 
it provides personnel,  expertise that keep the war going
is the British government breaking the law?

By Arron Merat

Tue 18 Jun 2019 

For four years, brutal Saudis killing tens of thousands in Yemen
creating world’s worst humanitarian crisis

British weapons doing much of the killing
Every day Yemen hit by British bombs 
dropped by British planes flown by British-trained pilots 
maintained and prepared inside Saudi by thousands of British contractors

Saudi - according to UN – bomb hospitals, schools, weddings, funerals, camps 

Saudi has contracted out war against Yemen to US and UK

Britain provides personnel, expertise required to keep war going
British deployed RAF as engineers, to train Saudi pilots and targeteers 

even larger role played by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest arms company
UK govt subcontracted to provide weapons, maintenance, engineers inside Saudi 

Saudi absolutely depend on BAE, said John Deverell, ex defence attache to Saudi 
They couldn’t do it without us

BAE employee put it more plainly to Channel 4
“If we weren’t there, in 7 to 14 days there wouldn’t be a jet in the sky”

British bombs on Yemen produced in three towns: 
Glenrothes in Scotland
Harlow and Stevenage in south-east England 

Above : Glenrothes Scotland.  Below : The Raytheon bomb factory in Glenrothes.

Below : Barbed wires and road blocks to the Raytheon factory.

Bombs produced by Raytheon UK and BAE Systems
Paveway bombs (£22,000 apiece)
Brimstone bombs (£105,000 apiece)
Storm Shadow cruise missiles (£790,000 apiece) 
for Saudi Royal Air Force
BAE assembles jets that drop these bombs in Warton, Lancashire.

Once weapons arrive in Saudi, Britain’s involvement far from over

Saudi's lack expertise to use these weapons 
so BAE, under contract to UK govt, provides “in-country” services

6,300 British contractors stationed at forward operating bases in Saudi 

conduct essential maintenance on planes flying to targets in Yemen
supervise Saudi soldiers to load bombs and set fuses for targets

80 serving RAF personnel work inside Saudi 
they maintain and prepare Saudi aircraft
RAF “liaison officers” work in command-and-control centre, select targets in Yemen 

last year Saudi decided to deploy ground forces in Yemen
British joined the mission

May 2018 British troops sent to Yemen 
reports of British special forces wounded in Houthi territory

Under British law, illegal to export arms if used against civilians
overwhelming evidence Saudis flagrantly in violation

killing of civilians has accelerated
strikes against civilians by Saudi doubled between 2017 - 2018

Since 2016 Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia 
Britain and US still holding out

foreign secretary Philip Hammond said Britain “support Saudis short of  combat”

BAE, Raytheon production in Britain sped up to keep up with Saudi bombing
UK govt granted BAE special arms-export licences 
permit sale of unlimited number of bombs to Saudi 
full scale of UK’s rearmament programme is hidden

British military exports to Riyadh multiplied 35-fold in one year
from £83m in 2014 to £2.9bn in 2015.

Saudi traditionally lacked skills, manpower to deploy weapons
British personnel played major role 
UK Govt contractors carry out 95% of tasks to bomb Yemen
one former BAE employee told Channel 4

In Saudi forward bases, thousands of British contractors keep war moving
British contractors coordinate distribution of bombs, aircraft parts

work in shifts to ensure bombs dispatched timely manner for fresh raids
RAF personnel, British contractors train Saudi pilots to bomb Yemen
They manage radar to ensure Saudi planes get to and from targets
conduct deep aircraft maintenance necessary to keep them over Yemen

no disputing British enable Saudi to hit targets 

“double-tap” attacks – where 2nd bomb dropped few minutes after first
targeting civilians, emergency responders who rush to site of explosion
One such attack on 8 Oct 2016 hit funeral killing 155 mourners 
double-tap hit wedding 28 Sept 2015, killing 131 civilians

presence of British special forces in Yemen 
open secret in defence circles
decision for special forces in meeting between British and MBS, March 2018 

MBS met Queen, signed memorandum to buy 48 more jets worth £10bn 

undisclosed number of UK troops to provide “iassistance” to Saudi

terms of deal, Saudi reimburses British Mindef for costs to arm Saudi air force
plus 2% fee for civil servants administering procurement

BAE depends on this state contract for survival

ex foreign sec Robin Cook described BAE as having “key to garden door to No 10”

Riyadh privately said it would squeeze Britain if no military cooperation 
If UK fail no more commercial opportunities and influence in Saudi
two particularly deadly attacks in May, July 2015 – 100 people killed by airstrikes

acrobatic contortions of British govt to obscure involvement in Yemen 

Britain helps brutalise Yemen the poorest Arab nation
Saudi spent $60-70bn every year on this failing war
nearly four times GDP of Yemen
enough money to secure livelihoods of generation of Yemenis

My comments :  This is not the first time and neither is it the last time that the British have been involved in genocide, war crimes and killing innocent people.  Or the Americans. 

In 2003 Tony Blair lied to the British people that Saddam Hussein had ballistic missiles that could hit Britain in 45 minutes. 

Then in 2016 Tony Blair just cried in public and said 'I am sorry. I made a mistake.'

And that was the end of it. Habis cerita. Just like that.
So will Theresa May also make a similar apology, say in 2032? 

"I am sorry that we dropped a 1000 lb bomb on your wedding party and killed your future mother in law, your father, mother and your future wife-to-be. It was so terrible. We made a ghastly mistake.  Sorry. And cheerio."

Jomo says "strong vested interest resist reform, therefore it is not easy". So what is the DAP, Mr Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng Doing? Vesting your own interests? Is this what the people voted for?

This is from here and here.

M'sians should brace for tough times 

economy facing real problems 
amid intractable external situation 
deteriorating on almost daily basis
warns Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram, senior adviser at Khazanah 

many of these problems beyond control of govt 

people needed to prepare themselves for hard times ahead

important for whole nation to recognise problem 
deal with it together as a country
forget about political differences and unite

economic slowdown underway 

he said country had been stimulating economy for last 20 years 
“a lot of nonsense going on in the name of stimulus”.

He said the country had to improve in terms of accountability and transparency

reform was not easy 
wish list was very long

“I cannot say what the government is doing is wonderful . .” he said.

“But what they are trying to bring about reform is where there is a strong vested interest, who is going to resist reform, therefore it is not easy,” he added. - Bernama

My comments : 

I agree with Jomo's warnings.  

But I strongly believe that the economy can be turned around dramatically, very quickly and (more importantly) permanently. 

1.  We must remove the monopolies, oligopolies, the GLCs, the useless restrictions and  regulations that have strangled our economy for the past 49 years (yes since 1970). 

This is where the vested interests are not only resisting but more dangerously the same vested interests are part of the decision making process.

Sadly large numbers of our population cannot even begin to understand what Jomo (or OutSyed The Box) are talking about.  Malas nak memikir lah. 

Unemployment is increasing, standards are dropping to extreme lows, high tech, innovation and new wealth creation have disappeared because for decades now major sectors of the economy have been choked off by 'malas nak memikir' monopolies and oligopolies. 

There are only SIX (?) local anchor banks.  These SIX local 'anchor banks' contribute only SIX bank CEOs to the banking system.   How can you create innovation, competition and new growth in the financial industry when you have only SIX large local banks with their SIX CEOs in the  financial eco system?

And the banking oligopoly (their numbers are limited through useless restrictions)  DO NOT cater to the needs of the entire economy, especially to the non-bumiputra SMEs and small businesses. 

We need to liberalise the banking sector (but please regulate them more) to also create hundreds and thousands of bank CEOs in the country not only for Malaysia to become a financial hub but to create a dynamic banking system that will aggressively seek out, innovatively fund and develop local businesses, especially the SMEs.  Liberalise the banking sector - let there be as many banks as the Malaysian economy can sustain. Let the market decide. Let there be more competition in banking and finance. Open up the market.

Instead for over 20 years now, the Ah Longs have been filling this huge vacuum caused by the banking oligopoly.  Because there are not enough banks, finance companies and credit companies to serve the economy. But the Ah Long's extract a higher borrowing cost on the economy. After paying off the Ah Longs, the medium and small businesses (SMEs) have  less money left for expansion and reinvesment.  So they cannot expand as much, they cannot hire more workers, engineers, technicians, accountants etc.

In other parts of the world SMEs germinate new technologies and innovation. And there are banks that finance the SMEs.    Without a strong SME base, there is little technology innovation in Malaysia. Less value added in the economy.   So our exports remain palm oil, oil and gas, electronic products "assembled" in screw driver factories,  palm oil, oil and gas, electronic products "assembled" in screw driver factories etc etc. Same old same old.

So after more than 20 years of this banking oligopoly crap more graduates are unemployed.  Even the Ringgit is crashing. Why?  There is less value added growth in the economy.  Tuan-tuan it is all connected. The headbone is connected to the neck bone, the neck bone is connected to the back bone.   Why cant you people understsand this? 

The people who are dead against this are the vested interests for example the banking oligopoly which is largely GLC based. They would rather see the economy choke to safeguard their tiny patch of money. Yes it is a tiny patch. You are missing a much bigger cake.

2. Deregulate and liberalise the economy fully.

Please fully liberalise the economy. Deregulate more (except for banking. Allow as many banks as the economy wants to have but closely regulate the bankers.) But if Malaysia (and the Malays) want to still exist then liberalise the economy yesterday.

Here are a few examples of liberalisation.

i. About 20 years ago the private universities were allowed to bet set up. In no time Malaysia has undoubtedly become a hub for private university education. Private universities have not only become an entire industry and economic ecosystem but they are producing graduates who are employable in Malaysia and overseas. Thousands upon thousands of lecturers, professors, administrators and others are employed in our private universities and private colleges. A large number of them are bumiputras.  This is a completely new sector that provides so much new employment. The benefits to the economy are huge.

Now the foreign universities are flocking to the country. Xiamen, Nottingham, Monash, Curtin, Manipal Medical etc are all here.  If a Singaporean wants a Xiamen education, they can come to Bandar Enstek. No need to go to China.

ii. We also liberalised the airline industry. Overnite we have world beating budget airlines.  Air Asia has certainly put Malaysia on the air travel map again. Also Malindo and other private carriers. Plus they have created tens of thousands of new jobs and spinoffs for air crews, pilots, ground crews etc. All this is employment.  Tuan-tuan this is employment for your unemploed kids. 

And without a doubt Air Asia brings in millions (10 million??) of travellers and tourists into the country.  They come and spend their money here. All this creates employment and more opportunities for Malaysians.  

iii. The same with 'medical tourism'.   This is a new growth industry that has taken off by  leaps and bounds (mostly in Penang - where the DAP state government has created a more open and competitive environment).  Again thousands of new jobs have been created in medical tourism. Plus our local medical expertise is also upgraded.

3. We really need more high tech, value added foreign investment which our economy is not yet capable of providing. 

Remember the Multi Media Super Corridor?  In the 90s Malaysia was way ahead of other countries in bringing the Internet at light speed into the country. Thanks to Dr Mahathir - who single handedly introduced and created  the Internet penetration into Malaysia. 

We are now at another critical juncture - the Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR.  
And this 4IR is going to depend on  Artificial Intelligence (basically software programming). 

The software programming is already here. It has been around for some time. Artificial Intelligence has been around since the early 1980s. But in the early days AI was  very expensive because the hardware requirements are huge. 

So we come to the next step up the ladder. Another critical juncture. What has changed the equation now is new technology for the increased physical capacity to transmit huge quantities of digital data. 

You can now almost design an airplane using a laptop.  Why? 
Because the chips in your lap top have more computing power. 

Imagine the day you can design an airplane on your smartphone. 
That day is coming nearer.

However the bottle neck is transmitting all that data in a hurry. 

That is where other things like 5G come in.  The 5G uses VHFs and UHFs (Very high Frequency / Ultra High Frequency).   The high frequency allows our smart phones to receive and transmit even larger quantities of data.  If it took 30 minutes to download a movie, 5G can do it in THREE seconds.

Because of this super enhanced PHYSICAL capacity of the 5G (it is a physical capacity), the tech wizards and engineers are now impatient and already drooling at the mouth to design products that can make use of this huge transmission of data.  

The tech wizards are already working on a huge range of new products - where machines can talk to each other and make their own decisions. 

(A simple example - your refrigerator can count the number of eggs left and send you a whatsapp message. You can buy the eggs or the refrigerator can place an order from the grocer.)

Tuan-tuan sadly all this "giant leap for mankind"  is NOT going to come from local entrepreneurs and investors - belum lagi. Not for a long time. We need the foreign investors. We need the technology value added foreign investors. 

We dont need Yemeni restaurants, Arab 'banks', Rohingya gangs, Nigerian money scammers,  Zakir Naik or who is going to "semburit" with whom (what a disgusting word, it is in the Kamus Dewan). 

Tuan-Tuan please bangun daripada tidor.   
Your children are already 'unemployed graduates'. 

Now we come to Jomo's  jaw breaker 

“But what they are trying to bring about reform is where there is a strong vested interest, who is going to resist reform, therefore it is not easy,” he added. - Bernama



(The sentence structure above is poor and grammatically incorrect).

Tuan-Tuan saudara Melayu, please believe me, these vested interests are very, very few.  But they are rich. 

They are rich because they are sucking opportunities from you and your children. That is why the unemployment is increasing. Remember it is all connected.

They are not rich because of their own effort. They are rich because they can use money to buy their monopolies, buy their oligopolies, buy the licenses, permits, exclusivity etc. Not because of their competitive skills.

If the government gives you  (yes you) a monopoly over the access to all the Taman Negara in Peninsula Malaysia (through Perhilitan) then you too can become rich.

If the State government amends the State legislation and says that ALL mobile phone companies must go through ONE COMPANY only to set up those transponder towers in that State to YOU, then you too will also become rich WITHOUT ANY SKILLS OR EFFORT. 

Tuan Tuan saudara Melayu, the monopolies and oligopolies are making you poor, to suck your money, so that the very few can become rich, at your expense.

Fahamlah, belajarlah dan hapuskanlah monopoli dan oligopoli dalam negara kita.

So what is the DAP, Mr Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng doing? 
Vesting your own interests? 
Is this what the people voted for?

Wa aakhiru dakwaanan, wa billahi wa taufik wal hidayah, wa salamun alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu.

Abu Sayyaf Abduct 10 Fishermen!! ESSCOM Sleeping On The Job !

• 10 fishermen in Sabah waters in early morning hours abducted by Abu Sayyaf
• in two fishing boats in Lahad Datu's Tambisan around 2am 
• they were hijacked by heavily armed gunmen
• Tambisan close to Tawi Tawi chain in southern Philippines
• gunmen fled towards Sitangkai in two speedboats
• Sabah Police confirmed kidnapping incident

My comments : Whether they broke the curfew or not is besides the point. 

Looks like the Abu Sayyaf were also breaking the curfew. 

What was ESSCOM doing?

How can the Abu Sayyaf just waltz into our waters and kidnap 10 people?

Especially during curfew hours? 

Where is ESSCOM? 

Who is in charge of enforcing the curfew? 

This is more alarming because just about a week ago the IGP had already warned that the Abu Sayyaf were still a threat. Here is the IGP :

threat of Abu Sayyaf on eastern Sabah still high despite Esscom said IGP

He said attacks can happen every day, at any time.

Esscom will be restructured on the placement of security forces 

involving Armed Forces (MAF), police, Maritime Agency (MMEA)

restructuring will involve structure of security in the areas 

change of security posts, taken over by police and MAF

restructuring being carried out via NSC 

threats to Sabah always there every day

Sabah is very near to Philippines

only 15 minutes by speed boat  

easy for Abu Sayyaf to intrude 

Esscom needs to be alert for any threats 

May 6, Mat Sabu announced Esscom would be restructured 

NSC discussing to acquire additional equipment 

- Bernama

My comments : Ever since Lahad Datu, eastern Sabah has been practically shut down - causing huge economic losses.  Eastern towns like Sandakan, Tawau, Semporna, Lahad Datu have all suffered losses in trade and tourism.

ESSCOM  has to work smarter and harder rather than take a simplistic approach and just shut the place down.

And despite doing that, today 10 people have been abducted again. This is not good.

There needs to be more diligence, transparency and much better use of men, equipment and resources to solve this problem. It is not an insurmountable problem. The NSC (National Security Council) needs to be more on the ball.

After Lahad Datu and the setting up of ESSCOM, I heard news from Sabah that local people can say what time a patrol boat will go out, how far the boat will go out, and when the patrol boat will return to base.  All this was known to local people. The Abu Sayyaf would know it too.

Whatever is done to fight this problem PLEASE DO NOT SHUT DOWN trade and tourism in eastern Sabah.  

The  trade between Sabah and the southern Philippines is believed to be about RM1 BILLION a year. Or more.  This amount of business has since been seriously diminished by the ESCCOM shut down of the east coast of Sabah.

(This is also why the Ringgit has crashed - these are all contributing factors.)

I think people are not serious about tackling this issue.  Especially the National Security Council. They seem to think in terms of spending more and more money. 

What happened to that old oil platform that was converted into a patrol boat base? For a few hundred million Ringgit? Do you need another one?