Wales and the £1 billion arms trade with India
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Whatever celebrity BB winner Shilpa Shetty has done for India's image there remain a few basic facts about India:
- It is a nuclear power
- It has the world's second largest army
- It is at war in Kashmir and Assam and in nuclear tension with Pakistan
- It is stricken with poverty
A new one to add to the list is that increasing numbers of Indian fighter pilots are being trained in Wales.
Prime Minister Tony Blair famously courted a huge arms contract with India in 2002, a week after saying he hoped Britain could have a "calming influence" on the conflict between India and Pakistan. At the time, Britain was also supplying arms materials to Pakistan - effectively arming both sides in the battle.
Shilpa may be rich and beautiful, but she didn't manage to get across the fact that of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 400 million people in India live below the poverty line.
Meanwhile, in RAF Valley, Indian pilots train to use the 132 Hawk Jets bought by the Indian government at a cost of roughly £1 billion. That's the equivalent of ten years bilateral aid.
The truth is that India is engaged in conflict. Those endearing chaps who come to Wales and struggle with the language and the lack of vegetarian food may soon be shooting at people. And the cost of it all is diverting funds from those who are in desperate need. While India's glitzy celebs enjoy their moment in the British tabloids, let's spare a thought for the hundreds of millions who - thanks in part to an unforgiving global arms trade - don't think about anything beyond their next meal.
Source: The Hindu
Labels: arms trade, Assam, Balkanisation of Britain, BBC Wales, India, Kashmir, Nuclear weapons, Pakistan, Poverty, RAF Valley, Shilpa Shetty
posted by Blamerbell @ 6:44 am,
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Peter Hain on the 'Balkanisation of Britain'
Monday, January 15, 2007
It's not quite 'Save the Pound' in terms of a last minute, jingoistic whip-round, but it's close.
Only Labour will preserve the United Kingdom, says Peter Hain today.
"Our shared values and interests are now under threat as never before from an opportunistic coalition of myopic Tories and the narrow separatists of Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalists. The Tories, despite once priding themselves as 'the party of the Union', now place selfish party advantage ahead of national interest. By trying to whip up and then harness nationalist sentiment in England, they risk unleashing forces which can lead to only one thing: the Balkanisation of Britain."
In a bizarre move, the Welsh Secretary also cites the BBC's Doctor Who to back-up his faith in the Union; another case of Wales underselling itself as the plucky lower league outfit, punching somewhere near its weight.
In which other country would a slightly above average television drama be used as evidence of political prosperity? Does Tony Blair make speeches hailing Eastenders' contribution to showcasing England on the British stage?
To finish off, Hain contracts a century of history into a simple win-win formula:
"The Union has shaped every aspect of our lives, in Wales just as much as in Scotland and England. The contribution of Wales to the industrial development of Britain was enormous, helping to create prosperity and to turn us into a world power."
Nothing to do with the Empire then, Peter?
Labels: Balkanisation of Britain, BBC Wales, break-up of, Doctor Who, Great Britain, Peter Hain, Union, United Kingdom
posted by Blamerbell @ 8:44 am,
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