UK Chancellor Chases Saudi Billions, Forgets Yemen Famine
Rachel Reeves, the UK Chancellor, is reportedly jetting off to Riyadh to secure a lucrative trade deal, because nothing says 'economic growth' like rubbing elbows with a regime known for its enthusiastic embrace of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions. While Bloomberg frames this as a necessary push for the UK's 'crucial budget,' they conveniently omit the context of Saudi Arabia's
relentless military campaign in Yemen, which has plunged millions into famine and disproportionately affected civilians—a campaign the UK has been a major arms supplier to for years. (SIPRI data consistently shows UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.) One might wonder if the 'trade deal' will include a new line of British-made 'humanitarian aid’ that just happens to look a lot like fighter jets. The
eagerness to boost GDP with petrodollars seems to outweigh any nagging concerns about the humanitarian catastrophe that UK-supplied weapons have helped facilitate. After all, financial stability trumps moral integrity, especially when there's an election looming, doesn't it?