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"Arms Dealing by the UK Government"

We all know that this practice is morally wrong and no longer needed in this day and age.
Except it is carried out, every single day on a massive scale. And not only by shady characters in dark glasses, but on a legitimate level and with government approval.
Even countries obsessed with so-called "Human-Rights", like The USA and The United Kingdom.

Let's ignore the States for once, hey they have enough problems. Remember, before a country can dictate to China about human rights abuses - it should remember that it did not allow blacks the right to vote until 40 years ago, ok?

No, I am talking about England. That "green sceptered Isle" that people think is so nice and quaint.Oh yeah, and an arms contract worth over 3.2 Billion pounds a year.
You see, we still manufacture these things, but now we ship and sell them to countries that aren't part of the "Compassion" pact.
Like Indonesia, specifically East Timoor, where over 250,000 people died in 1998 due to "Anti-personnel devices" supplied by . . The UK!

Last year, over 60 new licenses were supplied to UK companies to design, manufacture and sell arms and the various pieces to go with them.
Not only is this a very profitable business to become involved in, but it is also subsidised by the British tax-payer to the tune of £1,000,000,000 per year.
Read that again. The tax-payer in The United Kingdom has to pay, through their own earnings, over a Billion pounds a year to this industry.

And you have no say in it at all, if you disagree on a personal, ethical reason? Tough luck buddy.
The problem is, so few people are aware of this that no-one can make enough noise to change anything. This is how it continues to flourish in this supposed " Compassionate Age", where being Environmentally minded is the latest trend.

So you may choose products that have not been treated on animals, or eat meat, or bank with companies that have undeclared interests in unethical practices, but when it comes to subsidising the arms industry - You can do nothing about it. You can say nothing about it and you sure as hell cannot refuse to pay your taxes.
As well as providing massive amounts of tax-money in subsidy, the UK tax-payer also has to fund something called the " Export Credit Guarantee Scheme".

In case you are unaware of this ( as I was), I shall explain this delightful little piece of legislate to you.
What it means is, should a country default on it's payment to a UK company for the purchase of arms and associated items - Then the tax-payer will also pick up the bill for the remaining amount outstanding on the bill.
Nice huh? I thought so. Imagine that,a dictator regime that imprisons, tortures and kills it's own people ( back to Indonesia again here) , buys 2,000 tanks, 15,000 landmines and a few thousand hand-grenades, can't pay the rest of the bill and the British Public pick up the rest of the bill.
Lovely.

So as well as providing One Billion pounds PER YEAR to help these companies make this stuff, they also get to foot the bill for anything left over if the buyer can't afford it anymore.
A Document "provided" by the DTI ( A UK Gov org that monitors business) gives the following information about what was paid by the public in 1998 ALONE:
Jordan - £214.4 million
Kenya - £27.3 million
Egypt - £52.5 million
Algeria - £97.3 million

Surprised? I was, they're not little Third-World countries that you've never heard of are they?
Nope. Major countries, International players with hideous civil rights records. Responsible for thousands of deaths, disappearances, beatings and tortures.

And the major UK company involved in this at present is a pleasant sounding company called PAINS WESSEX.
Their website informs you that they supply "Marine Distress Flares" and other helpful, non-destructive weapons of death, torture and disfigurement. And indeed they do, some very useful items can be bought from them. ( Go look it up, I'm not lying).

But search further and you can find other items such as " Tear Gas" "CS Gas" " Multi-Stun CS Grenades" and various other charming things.
They are not the only UK company to be involved in the Arms Industry, for a complete list and the items YOU can buy now read on.

I have found a VERY interesting web-site that they sell from. It is the "Army Defence Equipment" website, where you can obtain a complete list of every company that supplies arms to the UK army, what they sell and how much.
There's even a section on "New Developments", where you can read of the new wonders that can be purchased to maim and kill personnel. You can even order helicopters, laser weapons and "Anti-personnel devices"

Oh yeah, there's a section just for "Arms dealers that wish to be kept informed of latest offers/developments"( You couldn't make this up)
Check this link for some scary, scary and totally legal weapons and stuff you can buy (even nuclear warheads)
Go to the "Industry Projects" section and see what you can buy.

http://wwww. army-technology.com

(remove the space)

You say "let's ignore the States for once", but...

I saw a program on one of the terrestrial channels a year or so ago, and out there, CIVILIANS can actually buy this stuff!

There was one guy who'd bought an 'army surplus' anti-aircraft gun - a huge thing, that he'd actually mounted on the back of his pickup truck!

They filmed him and his colleagues out in the desert, firing AA tracer ammo from this thing into the night sky. They all had weapons of various sizes, and were just blasting ammo into empty space.

It's bad enough that they let any moron own a gun out there, but where the hell is the logic behiind this sort of thing.

Now, aside from it being completely stupid, where do they get the money for them? The AA gun itself can't have been cheap, and nor can the ammo. This thing fired something like 10,000 rounds per minute - and they were just firing it into the air!

Just as bad as all the above is the fact that aid we hand out to countries is indeed tied. Not tied to, you must by food, but ties as in, if you buy anything it must be in the UK. So if we give a country £50 million, and they buy £75 million worth of weapons, we have paid the full bill. The £50 million was originally ours, and because they can't afford what they want, we just pay the rest for them. It comes in the form of a loan, and people run campaigns such as Jubilee 2000, in the hope of cancelling World Debt. What these people should be campaigning for are countries to buy farming equipment and restructuring transport nad communications systems in their countries, not dessimating them further with bitter civil wars.

I agree with Goaty that this is scandelous, but the general public would be up in arms if the govenment was to turn round and say, right we're gonna stop giving aid to third world countries, niave as they are.

I liked the idea of buying an Apache Helicopter for commuting.
Like to see White Van Man cut me up then as I go mental in a Blue Thunder stylee.

Buying massive weaponry rocks.

maybe they wanted to check you out to see if you were a terorist or mentaly imbalenced. If that is the only criteria then maybe I should get a tank. I would be easy to get to work, just head in a straight line. The thing is, what if someone brought a couple of armed harriers and based them just outside London. They could wipe out parliment!

Like I said, I emailed them from hotmail and asked what the criteria were to purchase high ordanance weapons, and they email back saying, in block caps:

"PLEASE SUPPLY LAND ADDRESS AND FULL NAME"

And I didn't, but go look at the stuff you can buy. Alarming.

I think they may ask you to confirm that you are a licenced arms buyer before they sell your a fully armed submarine. Although I wonder how hard it would be to become a licenced arms buyer?

No, if you check those websites below, you can buy a perfectly functioning tank, a polaris submarine, a fighter plane and all of the warheads, ammo and systems you need to operate them.

Even lists the suppliers and contact numbers.
Just go check the link to the army one out and tell me what your favourite weapon would be.

You won't be able to buy an armed tank but you can buy a disabled one. There is a bloke in london who owns a bright yellow tank and drives it to work! Come to think of it, it's probably the easiest way to beat the traffic jams.

So if I wanted to, I could go to one of these web sites and buy a tank?

Thats stupid.

Bloody governments!