The hypocrisy of Cameron's Saudi trip
John R. Bradley 5:25pm
A year ago, Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia,
thus ushering in the Salafi Spring. No doubt now bored out of his mind, this once stubbornly secular leader is said to have caught religion of the deranged Wahhabi variety propagated by his
oil-rich hosts.
In turn, the Saudis are preparing to welcome Rachid Ghannouchi – the notoriously humble leader of the even more notoriously moderate Ennahda that now controls Tunisia’s parliament
– on a state visit. This week Ghannouchi has been heaping praise on the Persian Gulf monarchies, doing us all the favour of revealing where his true sympathies lie when it comes to issues
like religious moderation and its love affair with democracy.
Tomorrow in Tunisia, where I happen to be, celebrations for the Jasmine Revolution’s anniversary include an invitation list of what can only be described as a Rogues’ Gallery of Arab
despots, including Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Al-Thani, like Ben Ali, seems to have come over all Wahhabi, having renamed his tiny island’s main mosque after none other than Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the eighteenth-century
‘reformist’ bigot who perhaps did more than anyone else in Islamic history to ensure the Enlightenment never made it to large swathes of the Arab world.
If all this were not depressing enough, David Cameron is choosing to spend the anniversary of the Salafi Spring not in Tunisia but Saudi Arabia, taking time from his own busy schedule of promoting
democracy throughout the Middle East by meeting with Prince Naif. Cameron’s goal: to strengthen Britain’s ties with its main trading partner. In a sideshow to the official welcoming
party, Naif’s security forces gunned down peaceful Shia protestors in the Eastern Province, killing at least one.
It was the British, we should recall, who funded Ibn Saud, the founder of the Wahhabi kingdom – even sending the RAF to bomb his enemies. The idea, of course, was to make Saudi Arabia
dependent on his British paymasters. That worked for a while. But the stinking hypocrisy engulfing Cameron’s trip shows that it's now the Saudis who have the bankrupt British firmly over a
barrel.
Consider William Hague’s announcement in today’s Times that the UK will support the Islamic governments
elected in the wake of the Arab Spring on account of them representing the will of the people. ‘It is true that parties drawing their inspiration from Islam have done better at the polls than
secular parties and there are legitimate concerns about what this will mean,’ he explained. Leaving aside his lack of concern at the barbaric nature of the House of Saud’s rule, the
irony is that the Islamists triumphed in elections in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt for a reason that Cameron can be sure to avoid discussing as purposefully as he will the shooting incident in the
Eastern Province: the Islamist parties, like Britain's economy, are bankrolled by the Wahhabis.
Previous
Adam Nixon
January 13th, 2012 5:48pm Report this commentCan anyone tell me whether any of the Arab regimes is more undilutedly vile than Saudi? If so, in what way?
Kittler
January 13th, 2012 6:20pm Report this commentWhat da ya bet, that one day, a bankrupt Cameron will be kowtowing to the Oil Rich Salmond?
Ian Walker
January 13th, 2012 6:42pm Report this commentYour first paragraph implies that there are some non-deranged religions, when of course they're all just facets of the same mental illness.
Thurman poat
January 13th, 2012 8:37pm Report this commentMr. Bradley, your argument appears to stem from some utopic vision of international diplomacy. I have read many of your books, and as I appreciate much of your writing, there is a consistent naive perspective you view the current status quo. Saudi Arabia is obviously the bulwark of middle east policy, and the best friend western governments can have. Note my emphasis on the parties, I did not say western liberal/conservative citizens. And, islamic movements in North Africa are a consequence of responding to liberal bombardment from abroad instead of supporting it organically. That will be an inevitable phase in state development. Lastly, the enlightment came to Europe via "orientalist" tradesmen who sourced their knowledge from the Middle East.
Mudplugger
January 13th, 2012 8:40pm Report this commentHypocrisy perhaps, but while the EU zone self-destructs, at least Cameron is getting out and about in those other parts of the globe which have real money to spend on the sort of real products and services we need to sell them.
Whether it's weapons, oil-field technology, infrastructure or general engineering, if we're not out there flogging it, the rest of the desperate world will snatch the business.
We may not like how they live or rule but there's trade to be done which someone's going to do. Better to bite your tongue and do that than have to explain the infinite nuances of obsolete religious dogmas to the next million of our own unemployed.
toco
January 13th, 2012 8:43pm Report this comment'Let's ignore diplomacy and have less influence and more people out of work in this country' seems to be the suggestion.Someone has been reading one of the trades union handbooks.
Fergus Pickering
January 13th, 2012 8:56pm Report this commentTwo very silly posts in my opinion. Here is a sensible one. Don't we sell the Saudis guns and things for lots of money? Well then. Beggars can't be choosers
Edward McLaughlin
January 13th, 2012 8:58pm Report this commentIan Walker
OK, so you don't care for religion.
Fair enough, but to extend this to argue that all religions are to the same degree, to be regarded as hostile, is surely to ignore the contemporary reality?
TrevorsDen
January 13th, 2012 9:26pm Report this commentIts amazing how some people live in a parallel universe.
Do you know what Cameron said to Saudi?
If if fair elections elect 'Islamic' govts then what do you suggest. Wakey wakey there are a lot of muslims in the world. Are we meant to declare war on all of them or simply shout at them, very loudly - 'Go away and trade with China yes - CHINA!!'
daniel maris
January 13th, 2012 11:10pm Report this commentThe corrupt Saudi regime has been subverting our democracies for years by promoting Islamic values - Sharia law wherever it can.
We should have nothing to do with it and shouldn't allow a single Saudi into our country until they allow a single Jew to live in theirs.
This is indeed hypocrisy on a grand - almost Jovian scale.
Dimoto
January 13th, 2012 11:46pm Report this commentHypocracy is a minor vice.
A bit like sanctimonious posturing really.
ButcombeMan
January 14th, 2012 1:06am Report this commentCameron is right to be there and I hope he is at some point talking about the Gulf and Iran.
Anyone who criticises his presence there has lost the plot.
Ian Walker
January 14th, 2012 2:22am Report this commentEdward, they are all equally hostile to rational thought.
In fact, the best way to get these people to work together is to put them up against an atheist.
Minnie Ovens
January 14th, 2012 11:18am Report this commentI'm sorry but what is Hypocracy?
Cogito Ergosum
January 14th, 2012 12:19pm Report this commentDear Minnie,
Hypocracy is hypocratic swearing. First it does harm ...
Patience Rules OK.
anyfool
January 14th, 2012 1:18pm Report this commentMr Bradley you might be able to make a living scribbling self righteous claptrap for this blog, but has it ever crossed your small feeble mind that hundreds of thousands of people with real skills need all the work going to feed there families, What is worse people in Saudi Arabia living under what you say is conditions so despotic the for over a hundred years they have not done anything about it, or families in the UK starving because ther is no market for there skills, possibly they could all start to make plastic toys in there high tec factories and sell them to China and India, the stench of sanctimonious hypocrisy spewing for the mouths of people like you who have probably never had to struggle to live is frankly gut wrenching.
David L
January 14th, 2012 1:21pm Report this commentUncomfortable truth of the day. We need the Saudis a lot more than they need us. As long as we are reliant on oil, then we will need at least to go through the motions of dancing to their tune. If we develop alternatives - shale gas, hydrogen cells, wind/wave power, nuclear etc, etc etc, then we can tell them to take a running jump. But not till then.
WetherspoonThree
January 14th, 2012 1:52pm Report this commentI wonder why it is that despots have such awful taste in home furnishings?
justathought
January 14th, 2012 2:52pm Report this commentIn the interest of UK energy security a trip to the House Of Saud is timely and in order. Tomorrow the largest oil workers union in Nigeria plans a strike and Iran is threatening interference in the Straits of Hormuz and even Salmond is threatening to annex our oil fields!
ed l
January 14th, 2012 4:08pm Report this commentIt wouldn't surprise me if Cameron and Hague have been warned off the no-brainer of Shale Gas in the UK by our "friends" in Saudi Arabia.
daniel maris
January 14th, 2012 8:08pm Report this commentNASA have just announced the discovery of a new energy source that can be applied across the board. It's called Low Nuclear Energy Reaction. LENR for short. Shale gas is history.
Dimoto
January 15th, 2012 12:20am Report this commentMinnie Ovens - OK, it's a fair cop. (blushes).
dan maris - but where does that leave your erstwhile favourite, Amdrea Rossi and his cold fusion ??
Purpleline
January 15th, 2012 2:06pm Report this commentSaudi Arabia does not have the UK over a barrel. Trade is not large at all between us.
The trip was to ensure Saudi will be working with our favoured ME vanguard state Qatar in attacking Iran.
Proxy war is happening if that upsets the writer of this piece then so be it. The Great Game is in PLAY
Francesca AUB-ROBINSON
April 29th, 2012 7:56am Report this commentNot entirely "self righteousness". Pragmatism and proxy war do have annoying tendencies to be turned back on us - Afghanistan, Al Qaeda,suspect mosques in the UK generously funded by some kindly citizens of the Gulf?
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