Monday 21 February 2011

Cameron´s credibility as promoter of democracy questioned



David Cameron was the first Western leader to visit Egypt after the uprising. There he had some nice words to say about freedom and democratic values. After the stopover in Cairo, Cameron - joined by eight leading British arms manufacturers - embarked on an arms export promotion trip to a number of undemocratic Gulf states.
Some of the brave people in Egypt, who chased out dictator Mubarak, may not have been convinced that Cameron was the right person to speak about democracy ....

After a hastily convened stopover in Egypt, where he spoke of being "inspired" by protesters, the PM began a long-scheduled trade mission by landing in Kuwait, a key military ally. Britain has approved 1,155 arms export licences for Kuwait since 2003, worth a total of £102.3m, according the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.
Key deals on the table this week include the sale of Eurofighters to the Gulf.
Meanwhile Gerald Howarth, a British defence minister, was also attending the region's largest arms fair, in Abu Dhabi, where a further 93 British companies are promoting their wares. They included companies selling rubber bullets and CS gas for crowd control as well as heavily armoured riot vans.

Read the entire news article here.

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