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[Pardon the coarseness of the expression, but a retired Pakistani general months ago said that his country was "the condom used by the United States to penetrate Afghanistan and now we'll be flushed down the toilet." Similarly, Great Britain's former Ethical Foreign Policy and NATO's Humanitarian Intervention were the prophylactics employed to destroy Yugoslavia and reinsert British colonial and U.S. neocolonial power in Northwest Africa. Having now rehabiltated Western imperialism and established NATO as military master of the world, all the fluffy New Age sloganeering can be thrown out in tomorrow's trash. War and global destabilization are, after all, supremely profitable, and no death merchant worthy of his name would miss out on such a splendid opportunity.] �1bn arms push to India � Blair criticised over deal days after promoting peace � 60 Hawk jets in package promoted by ministers Richard Norton-Taylor and Ewen MacAskill Saturday January 12, 2002 The Guardian The government is mounting an intensive campaign to boost arms sales to India, including 60 Hawk jets worth �1bn, in spite of the danger of the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir spilling into war and destabilising the entire region. The arms push comes only a week after Tony Blair visited India and Pakistan. He expressed the hope that "we can have a calming influence" and warned of the "enormous problems the whole of the world would face if things went wrong". BAE Systems, makers of the Hawk, is confident of striking a deal with the Indians. Ministers have been pressing India behind the scenes to clinch the contract. British arms companies will be prominent at an arms fair in New Delhi, Defexpo 2002, devoted to naval and land warfare. On offer at the exhibition next month will be howitzers, anti-aircraft guns, missiles and tanks. Sales of arms to India would contravene the ethical guide lines adopted by Labour soon after it came into power. The government is supposed to take into account any threat to regional stability. Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, has been pressing India to make a decision on the Hawk deal. John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, is scheduled to visit India next month for a conference on sustainable development but he is also expected to raise the Hawk deal, which he championed during a visit to New Delhi last year. Mr Blair has also been asked to throw his weight behind the Hawk campaign. Downing Street, after reviewing the request, decided it was not opposed in principle to the sale but that, politically, it would be unwise for the prime minister to be involved. The head of the Indian army, Sunderajan Padmanabhan, said yesterday that the build-up of Indian and Pakistan forces along the border had brought the two "quite close to an actual war" and his country was ready for it. The build-up follows an attack on the Indian parliament by Kashmiri separatists that India claims were backed by Pakistan. Sixteen people were killed in Kashmir yesterday, mainly in shoot-outs between the Indian army and security forces and Kashmiri rebels. A spokesman for the Pakistan high commission in London yesterday said Pakistan was "very concerned" at the arms build-up: "India has overwhelming support in conventional weapons. India has increased its defence spending by 28% in the last two years whereas Pakistan has virtually frozen its defence budget in the same period. "Any build-up of Indian equipment will aggravate the situation as it will tilt the balance even more in favour of India and encourage aggression." Britain imposed an effective arms embargo on Pakistan three years ago. Although the US lifted its arms embargo late last year after Pakistan helped the US in the war in Afghanistan, the Pakistan high commission spokesman insisted the British embargo was still in place, with requests for spare parts being delayed. Richard Bingley, spokesman for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, said yesterday: "It is diabolical that just days after Tony Blair was promoting peace in India, his government uses taxpayers' money to fund activity which could achieve the exact opposite." Britain will have one of the biggest pavilions at the New Delhi fair. The pavilion is being organised by the Defence Manufacturers Association with financial support from Trade Partners UK, a government body funded by taxpayers. Alan Sharman, the association's director general, said yesterday that 30 British companies would attend, along with officials of the government-funded defence export services organisation. The exhibition's brochure says that "with the recent political developments in the south-east Asian region" India is increasing its defence budget. The Society of British Aerospace Companies is separately sending a delegation to India next month. Several hundred BAE Systems' jobs at the production line in Brough, East Yorkshire - in Mr Prescott's constituency - will be at risk of the deal falls through. BAE Systems says the Indian government has indicated it prefers the Hawk to a cheaper Russian-French trainer. The Hawk is an advanced trainer which can be adapted for other roles. Britain's arms industry has been eager to get into an In dian that is market dominated by Russia. The government in 2000 granted nearly 700 export licences for India for deals worth more than �64m, a significant increase over the previous year, according to the latest official figures. The licences covered items including equipment for combat aircraft and combat helicopters, and missiles. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said yesterday: "We have one of the toughest export licensing regimes in the world. We will continue to judge all applications for Pakistan and India against its stringent criteria." Guidelines announced by Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, shortly after Labour came to power in 1997, say the government will also take into account the likelihood of armed conflict between the recipient and another country, and the threat to "regional stability". __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
