Britain sold weapons to Libya and other dictatorships, The 'Dirty Secret'

Shear Blog - Britain sold weapons to Libya and other dictatorships in North Africa and the Middle East just four months before Colonel Gaddafi’s regime slaughtered hundreds of protesters, a damning report reveals today. Ministers approved the export of sniper rifles, bullets, tear gas and other ‘crowd control’ ammunition to Tripoli shortly before the murderous dictator ordered his military to crush a pro-democracy uprising.

The highly critical report by MPs laid bare the ‘dirty secret’ of Britain selling arms to some of the world’s most brutal regimes. Successive British governments have ‘misjudged the risk’, the Commons’ Committee on Arms Export Controls said. The report follows mounting fears Gaddafi used UK-made arms against the rebel uprising in Libya. More than 1,000 Libyan citizens have been killed since his violent crackdown was launched. Official figures show that since 2009, Britain approved export licences worth £2.3billion to 16 states over a 21-month period.

Military export licenses to Libya alone since the start of 2009 totalled £61.3million, according to Department for Business figures. The UK also awarded Bahrain £6million of licences covering submachine guns, sniper rifles, CS hand grenades, smoke canisters, stun grenades and riot control agents. At least 26 citizens have been killed and 1,000 injured as the Gulf state cracked down on freedom campaigners. Britain also approved arms licenses totalling £1.7billion to Saudi Arabia, £20.4million to Egypt, £276.9million to Algeria and £52.8million to the United Arab Emirates.

Body armour and night vision goggles have been approved for Yemen, small arms ammunition for Syria, and sniper rifles, aircraft components and armoured personnel carriers for Saudi Arabia. MPs on the cross-party committee admitted the Coalition government had been ‘vigorously backpedalling’ to revoke 156 arms export licences to the region since the ‘Arab Spring’ of uprisings began. But they raised concerns about sales of arms in the first place by Gordon Brown and David Cameron to authoritarian regimes, in deals which are at odds with Britain’s stance on upholding human rights.

The report concluded: ‘Both the present Government and its predecessor misjudged the risk that arms approved for export to certain countries in North Africa and the Middle East might be used for internal repression. ‘We recommend the Government sets out how it intends to reconcile the potential conflict of interest between increased emphasis on promoting arms exports with the staunch upholding of human rights.’

Sir John Stanley, the committee’s Tory chairman, said the hasty withdrawal of so many export licences after several regimes brutally turned their guns on protesters ‘reflected the degree of policy misjudgement that has occurred’. Ministers have ordered a sweeping review into the issuing of arms export licences.

Kaye Stearman, of Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: ‘This is a damning report that shines light on the dirty secret of Britain’s arms exports to authoritarian, undemocratic and abusive regimes. This should be a wake-up call to the Government.’ Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International’s UK arms programme director, said: ‘Plainly decisions made in the past on arms sales to the Middle East and North Africa have been wrong.’ Labour ministers were said to have approved the sale of the crowd control weapons to Gaddafi while negotiations were under way over the fate of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi. 

Source : English KOMPAS

"wolf in a business suit", New BMW M5

Shear Blog - BMW has unveiled the new generation of its super-sedan, the M5, as a thinly disguised concept. The Concept M5 will go on public display for the first time at the Shanghai motor show later this month before reaching Australia in barely changed production form in early 2012.

Regardless of angle viewed from, the M5 will look clearly more muscular than other 5-Series models, adhering to BMW's description of the car as a "wolf in a business suit". Larger, gaping air intakes sit below the trademark double-kidney grille and xenon headlights at the front, small air vents are built into the front guards, and at the rear the bootlid gains a subtle spoiler and the lower bumper features a downforce-creating diffuser sandwiched by dual tail-pipes on either side.

The M5 also sits lower than other Fives, on a sportier suspension developed by BMW's renowned M performance division engineers. The concept sits on large, 20-inch black alloy wheels wrapped in low-profile rubber. The concept car features tinted windows and body paint BMW calls 'chrome shadow'. Codenamed F10, the fifth M5 since the mid 1980s will use a twin-turbo V8 that will have "significantly increased power output" over the previous model propelled by a 373kW V10.

The 4.4-litre unit is expected to produce close to 420kW, with that power sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Despite the addition of turbochargers, BMW says the high-revving V8 will "deliver a spontaneous and even acceleration". A stop-start system will also help improve fuel economy and emissions by 25 per cent, according to the German car maker. This would equate to a consumption figure of about 10.7 litres of fuel use per 100km. 

Source : English KOMPAS