Posted on 12/13/2013 8:36:35 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
• Huge deal to sell Typhoon fighters to UAE in doubt
• Implications for other Gulf arms deals after Iran nuclear talks
If there were any remaining doubts that arms sales take precedence over human rights or concerns about exacerbating regional tensions, the British government has been unashamedly quashing them.
UK prime minister David Cameron and his defence secretary Philip Hammond have been busy trying to persuade the rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to buy British Typhoon jets, following the example of Saudi Arabia and Oman.
The Saudis, the UK's largest arms customer, have bought 72 Typhoons, and the Omanis 12 in a deal backed by a UK government guaranteed loan of £2bn.
British ministers have been engaged in intensive talks with Bahrain over the sale of 12 Typhoon in a deal worth more than £1bn.
Cameron recently met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, in an attempt to persuade the UAE to buy 60 Typhoons in a deal valued at more than £6bn.
The UAE now seem to be having second thoughts, with a deal, expected to be announced before the end of the year, now reported to be "on hold".
British officials suggest it is simply because the UAE are being canny, being hard to get as the French are also in the market – trying to persuade the Gulf state to buy their Rafale aircraft instead of the Typhoon.
Seasoned observers of the Gulf scene, however, say there is more to it than that. The UAE, along with other Gulf states, have been being making friendly overtures to Iran following the election of that countr
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“The Saudis, the UK’s largest arms customer, have bought 72 Typhoons, and the Omanis 12 in a deal backed by a UK government guaranteed loan of £2bn.”
And why do these oil rich kingdoms need government loans? Shouldn’t they be paying customers?
“The Saudis, the UK’s largest arms customer, have bought 72 Typhoons, and the Omanis 12 in a deal backed by a UK government guaranteed loan of £2bn.”
And why do these oil rich kingdoms need government loans? Shouldn’t they be paying customers?
I don’t think they are taking loans here-the British government is providing a guarantee to the company of getting its payments in case of eventualities such as the deal falling through due to problems in negotiations etc, which the Saudi deal went through heavily.
Darn good question.
Darn good!
“And why do these oil rich kingdoms need government loans? Shouldn’t they be paying customers?”
I strongly suspect these socialist governments are cash poor. I think they’re spending their entire national “paycheck” and living paycheck to paycheck. When these guy go down it’s going to be an epic crash. (Preventing this is probably one reason the Democrats are trying to slow down oil development in the US.)
British officials suggest it is simply because the UAE are being canny, being hard to get as the French are also in the market – trying to persuade the Gulf state to buy their Rafale aircraft instead of the Typhoon. Seasoned observers of the Gulf scene, however, say there is more to it than that. The UAE, along with other Gulf states, have been being making friendly overtures to IranAnd that's probably the /bingo right there. And the EU is stampeding in, thanks to Neville Kerry's draft of surrender documents. Thanks sukhoi-30mki.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.