UK firms make huge profits on arm sales to Saudi Arabia

British companies selling weapons have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by selling arms to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen, a report says.
New estimates released by the children's charity War Child reveal that since the Saudi-led coalition began its intervention in Yemen, UK weapons companies including BAE systems and Raytheon have earned revenues exceeding $8bn from dealings with Saudi Arabia, generating profits estimated at almost $775m.
The UK government, however, has received just $40m of corporate tax, the report said.
"This tax revenue figure is pitifully small and comes at the cost of thousands of children who have been killed, injured, and starved by a conflict that this trade has helped sustain," the report said.
A Saudi-led military coalition was formed in March 2015 to support Yemen's internationally recognized government in fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 
The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and has injured more than 40,000 to date, according to the United Nations.
In the past three years, the UK has approved arms export licences to Saudi Arabia worth $4.7bn, including the Tornado aircraft, which is partially manufactured by BAE systems, vehicles and tanks, including BAE's Tactica armoured vehicles valued at $580,000 and $1.48bn worth of grenades missiles and bombs, including Raytheon's Paveway IV bombs. 
Since then, Saudi Arabia has been involved both directly and indirectly in conflict in Yemen, where it faces accusations of war crimes and other abuses.
The report argues that the policy of selling arms to Saudi Arabia is financially inconsistent and does not "represent good value for money".
The UK reaps a minimal tax take from arms sales in Saudi Arabia - just $18m in corporation tax in 2016 - yet, the will spend $187m in humanitarian aid to Yemen, according to War Child. 
"The arms trade directly counteracts much of the benefits Yemeni children and other civilians might expect to receive from the provision of aid, undermining the Department for International Development's policy of getting value for money from the aid it commits," the report said.
In July, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) lost a high-profile case calling for UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia to be stopped over humanitarian concerns.
The High Court ruled exports would continue granting weapons-export licences to Saudi Arabia despite widespread concern over the civilian death toll of its campaign in Yemen.
Days after the court ruling, the British government licensed $321m worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition killed 140 people at a funeral in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. 
The country is also facing a health crisis, with more than 2,000 people having died from cholera since April, more than half a million people infected, and another 600,000 expected to contract the infection this year.
Aid groups have also accused Saudi Arabia of blocking needed assistance and goods from areas that are most in need. 
Saudi Arabia and its allies have said they aim to prevent arms shipments to the Houthis, but aid groups say the curbs have deepened the suffering of millions.
The coalition has been repeatedly criticized for civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch accused it on Tuesday of war crimes, saying air strikes that hit family homes and a grocery store were carried out either deliberately or recklessly, causing indiscriminate loss of civilian lives.
Response
Audience:
Al Jazeera's audience is located all around the world and a predominantly left leaning politically. This article is directed at both Western readers and readers inside of the Middle East with the goal of sharing some of these perceived injustices and spreading awareness about the situation involving England perpetuating Middle Eastern warfare. 
Author Bias:
Unfortunately (and online news is making this more and more prevalent) the author of this article is unknown. However we can infer that it is one of Al Jazeera's corespondents based in Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera has a fairly good reputation for having its reporters based on the ground in whatever country they are reporting from.
Reader Bias:
Al Jazeera has a fairly universal audience from all over the world however their audience does tend more towards the left and siding with the Middle East. A story like this could potentially be affected by this type of bias because it focuses on a Western Nation taking advantage of a Middle Eastern one and potentially making the ongoing war even worse.
Publisher Bias:
Al Jazeera is based out of Qatar and has consistently offered up a Middle Eastern Bias in all of their writing. This is given the change to shine in this article given the topic as well as the critique on English effects in Saudi Arabia. That being said, Al Jazeera is also a fairly reputable news agency for eliminating a lot of their bias while still focusing on the turbulent nature of events currently taking place in the Middle East. It is also important to understand this agenda of the publisher.
Purpose:
To spread awareness and information about the events going on and report on the ruling and decisions made based on the English decisions made. They are also consciously attempting to explain why the U.K firms are so in the wrong and tell the long term effects of their trade.
Opinion:
In my opinion all of the actions that these UK firms are taking to make more money is harmful to the Yemenese and Saudi Arabian war. There arms deals are only perpetuating violence and are coming from a dishonourable place as the company is trying to get more and more money. I am however happy that UK courts have been ruling this unjust and that the company's are getting in trouble for what they've been doing in the Middle East.
Works Cited
Jazeera, Al. “UK Firms Make Huge Profits on Arm Sales to Saudi Arabia.” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 19 Sept. 2017, www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/uk-firms-huge-profits-arm-sales-saudi-arabia-170919055235624.html.



   

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