Friends & Foes
The staggering hypocrisy of British foreign policy has been aptly demonstrated today. On one side you have Britain condemning Iran for wanting to develop nuclear power, on the suspicion that it could allow them in about 10 years to develop a nuclear weapon. Yet, the BBC today have broken the story that Britain helped Israel (not exactly a nation with a peacful track record, which is currently illegally occupying Palestinian territory) acquire nuclear weapons. In 1958 Britain supplied 20 tonnes of heavy water for £1.5 million, it was shipped from a British port to Israel, but was portrayed as being a supply from Norway to Israel.
However, the real concern here is that this news for the press has a certain shock value, a kind of ‘Britain once did something wrong shocker’, whereas in reality this kind of deal is commonplace in British politics. Indeed the only shock is that most people in Britain are so ignorant as to just how many shady deals, wars, assassinations, coups etc Britain has been involved in since the second world war.
This is just one small example of the reality behind British actions in relation to the rest of the world. If it interests you then grab a copy of Mark Curtis’ book Web Of Deceit: Britain’s Real Role in the World and Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses, I cannot recommend them highly enough.
August 5th, 2005 at 12:26 am
Yet the lunatic right will - probably already have - slam the BBC report as anti-semitic, morally equivalent, yadda yadda. Another brick in the wall of deafness which is daily being constructed by our racist opponents.