Profits Over Rights As UK Sells Spy Gear To Repressive Regimes

‘What’s needed is that human rights considerations take precedence over financial incentives and security relationships.’

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
Royal Saudi Land Forces and units of Special Forces of the Pakistani army take part in a joint military exercise called "Al-Samsam 5" in Shamrakh field, north of Baha region, southwest Saudi Arabia.

The UK government is signing off on the sales of advanced surveillance technologies to repressive regimes that it has admonished for human rights abuses, the Independent exclusively reported Wednesday. The information about the sales to countries, which include Saudi Arabia and Egypt, was found by London-based surveillance watchdog Privacy

Read Full Article

Saudi Arabia Bombs Yemeni Police Station Killing 26, 30 Still Missing

Since the onset of the Saudi incursion into Yemen began last March, there has been a massive civilian toll from Saudi airstrikes, which have been pounding residential areas across the nation.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
Policemen stand on the rubble of the police headquarters after it was destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Saudi warplanes today attacked and destroyed a police station in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, killing at least 26 people and wounding 15 others. The tolls are expected to rise, with locals saying as many as 30 others are unaccounted for and believed trapped under the debris. There isn’t a final statement on the identities of the victims,

Read Full Article

Prince Mohammed Bin Salman: Naive, Arrogant Saudi Prince Is playing With Fire

A German intelligence memo shows the threat from the kingdom’s headstrong defence minister.

Patrick Cockburn
By Patrick Cockburn
Saudi King Salman, left, speaks with his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they wait for Gulf Arab leaders ahead of the opening of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, April 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

At the end of last year the BND, the German intelligence agency, published a remarkable one-and-a-half-page memo saying that Saudi Arabia had adopted “an impulsive policy of intervention”. It portrayed Saudi defence minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the powerful 29-year-old favourite son of the ageing King Salman, who is

Read Full Article

Saudi-Coalition Bombs Center For The Blind In Yemen

While numerous human rights organizations have condemned the acts of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the U.S. has refused to voice concern over its ally’s actions.

Claire Bernish
By Claire Bernish
On Tuesday midnight Saudi Arabia continued its war crimes in Yemen by bombarding the Noor Center for Care and Rehabilitation of the blind.

Sana’a, Yemen — It has been confirmed a Saudi-led coalition bombed a center for the blind in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a on Tuesday — and they didn’t stop there. Also struck by coalition bombs were a wedding hall, the city’s Chamber of Commerce, and several residences — though no casualties were reported, one local source claimed three people had

Read Full Article

The Execution Of Nimr Al-Nimr: One More Reason To Reevaluate The Toxic US-Saudi Alliance

“Sheikh al-Nimr preached that we should support the oppressed against the oppressor, regardless of religion.”

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
One of the hundreds of protests that broke out worldwide against the execution in Saudi Arabia of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr (Abedin Taherkenareh, EPA)

The brutal Saudi execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr has led to protests around the globe, as well as the burning of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, followed by the Saudi severing of relations with Iran. This exacerbation of Sunni-Shia tensions is the result of the reckless Saudi action against a popular, nonviolent Shia leader. Also reckless

Read Full Article

Saudi “Anti-Terror Coalition” A Facade To Hide Yet More Terrorism Behind

decades of documented evidence reveal that the Saudis are the primary conduit through which Western cash, weapons, support, and directives flow into mercenary armies of extremists, indoctrinated by Saudi Wahhabism – a politically-motivated perversion of Islam.

New Eastern Outlook
By New Eastern Outlook
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

A recently announced Saudi-led “anti-terror” coalition was met with great skepticism recently. This is not because of doubts over Saudi Arabia’s sincerity alone, but because of the fact that much of the terrorism the “coalition” is allegedly to fight is an intentional creation of Saudi Arabian foreign policy to begin with. CNN’s article, “Muslim

Read Full Article