News / Interviews

UK continues colonialism through Arab conflicts: Pundit

Monday, 24 October 2016 9:40 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 24 October 2016 9:42 AM ]

A Yemeni inspects the rubble of a destroyed building following reported airstrikes by Saudi-led coalition air-planes on the capital Sana’a on October 8, 2016. (AFP photo)

Britain's military has lately come under the spotlight for providing training to Saudi Arabia's Air Force, despite strong evidence that the Arab kingdom has been committing crimes against civilians in neighboring Yemen. London's support for the Riyadh's aggression against the Yemeni people in the form of arms supply and military training has caused outrage among opposition figures in the British parliament.

In an interview with Press TV’s program 'The Debate,' Naseer al-Omari, author and political commentator from New York, said the United Kingdom is pushing Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations into war against each other in order to maintain its colonial presence in the Middle East.

Omari believes that the UK's arms sale to Saudi Arabia is not “a normal business deal,” rather “a colonial relationship” that Britain has maintained in the Arab and Muslim world by supporting authoritarian regimes.

“This is a new colonialism and they (UK authorities) do it without British soldiers. They do it by supporting the Saudis [with] logistics and weapons,” he argued.

According to the analyst, the United Kingdom claims that the era of its colonialism is over, but in fact it continues to carry out its colonial agenda in the Middle East at the hands of certain regional states.

“I believe it’s worse than direct colonialism. I believe it’s a more evil colonialist system that they have put in place and as a democracy the people of Britain should not allow their government to engage in colonialism in the Middle East,” he stated.

The author went on to say, “The British government is participatory to the killing of the Yemenis,” because it is involved in providing arms and guidance to the Riyadh regime to target points in Yemen.

Also speaking on program, Nabil Mikhail, a professor at George Washington University, noted that the United Kingdom “has the right to sell arms” to any potential buyer and that “Saudi Arabia has the right to buy weapons from whatever source.”

Mikhail, however, stated that Britain should shoulder responsibility for the way the Saudis are using its supplied weapons in targeting civilians in Yemen.

Saudi rulers have been waging a bloody military aggression against Yemen since March 2015. Over 10,000 Yemenis have lost their lives in the war.

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