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...and Yemen!

Agreed, the decision was not unexpected. Hopefully, it has fired a warning shot at HMG, but you have to hope, or you are left with nothing.
 
On TSG IntelBrief: Cholera and Famine in Yemen
...
Divergent interests in Yemen among the Arab members of the anti-Houthi coalition suggest it may lack the unity of purpose necessary to achieve a strategic victory. Specifically, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) appears increasingly at odds with the Hadi administration, which is based in the southern port city of Aden. In May, growing concerns over the UAE’s expanding influence in southern Yemen peaked after Hadi fired several UAE-backed officials, including the governor of Aden province. The dismissals prompted the officials, who are high-ranking members of the movement for an independent South Yemen, to establish a breakaway governing council, in a direct challenge to Hadi’s authority. Since its establishment, the council has been attempting to build momentum and support for the southern secessionist movement, holding a series of mass demonstrations in the city of Aden, as well as meetings with foreign government officials. Tensions between the UAE and the Hadi government have also been strained by reports released in June by Human Rights Watch and the Associated Press which allege that UAE-backed forces in Yemen had ‘arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused dozens of people’ in the country. The allegations prompted the Hadi administration to harshly condemn the UAE and launch an investigation into the UAE’s operations in Yemen.

Reports have begun circulating that suggest the UAE would like to see Hadi removed from office, and the anti-Houthi coalition’s support thrown behind the son of former president Saleh, Ahmed Saleh, who currently resides in Abu Dhabi. It is unclear how such a strategy could be pursued, given the Saleh family’s current alliance with the Houthi rebels, or even if such a strategy is being seriously considered. But the reports highlight the shaky political ground on which the Hadi government rests, both in terms of its domestic political support and its regional and international backing. The triad of crises plaguing Yemen has now become fundamentally unmanageable by any single power in the country. Without political compromise among the warring parties and their sponsors, stability in Yemen will remain out of reach.
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For the Saudis Yemen is largely about face and who get their crown next. The UAE is a lot more pragmatic. A large factor in this war has been the position of the Saleh clan. The bunch of thieves most to blame for Yemen's instability. I would not rule out them stitching up their old enemy the Houthis and making a deal to rule the North again.
 
From Chatham House Yemen and the business of war
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My current research on Yemen’s civil war, to be published in a paper for Chatham House later this summer, asks much the same question: why stop? Diplomats working on Yemen and other similar conflicts tend to insist that the different groups involved in these wars must see the benefit of ending the conflict and working together for a peaceful and sustainable future. But the more I speak to Yemenis with insight into the thinking of politicians and armed groups involved in the conflict, the less convinced I am by the diplomats’ optimism.

With the front lines of the Yemen war largely static for the better part of two years, and previously marginal groups now in control of swaths of territory including lucrative trade routes, the incentives for many militia leaders point to sustaining the conflict – especially since most groups operating on the ground have not been asked to participate in Yemen’s UN-led peace process.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government spends much of its time outside of the country. The President, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was ousted in early 2015, is based in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, rather than Aden, the southern port city he named as the seat of government after fleeing Sana’a in early 2015. The Hadi administration is said to be happier living in the Saudi-funded comfort of Riyadh than in Aden, where the situation is volatile. They have little in the way of skin in the game, although Hadi allies are said to be profiting from monopolies on fuel supply into Aden, one of the few cities they nominally control.
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As in some areas in Syria faction leaders often benefiting from the war economy with signs of economic collaboration between rival sides. Yemenis starve while these guys get wealthy.
 
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from the link in the tweet

On January 21, we broke into BAE System’s Warton Airbase to try and disarm warplanes they are selling to the Saudis. The Saudi regime are using those planes in their bombing campaign that is devastating Yemen. We had to take action to prevent crimes against humanity.

We've been charged with criminal damage and plead not guilty. We were acting to prevent crimes against humanity and the destroying of homes and vital infrastructure in Yemen.

On October 23 we are scheduled for a 4 day trial. But it will not be us on trial. BAE Systems and our government's complicity in war crimes in Yemen will be under the microscope and in the news. They desperately want this to go away, so we are going to make as much noise as possible....
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Stop Arming Saudi
 
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"The huge rise is largely down to a rise in orders from Saudi Arabia, but many other countries with controversial human rights records – including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Venezuela and China – have also been major buyers."

British arms sales to repressive regimes soar to £5bn since election

Aren't we a nice, kind country. We may not have capital punishment, torture Etc. but we sure as hell know how to help others inflict pain, breach human rights and be total bastards. :facepalm:
 
I just makes me so sad. Why do people need all these arms? Why do they do these horrible things? Whats the point? How do they live with themselves/sleep at night?
two viewpoints... More than 100 people arrested at world’s biggest arms fair in London

More than 100 people arrested over London arms fair protests

"According to a parliamentary question tabled by Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green party and MP for Brighton Pavilion, the government’s Defence and Security Organisation has invited representatives of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam."

"Five government ministers are due to speak, including keynote addresses from Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and Michael Fallon, the defence secretary. Exhibitors include representatives of the world’s 10 biggest arms companies."

"Jeremy Corbyn issued a renewed call on Monday to halt UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The Labour leader said Britain was exporting far too many arms to countries that abused human rights and the time had come to do something about it"
 
The two largest parties that dominate the U.K. want us to retain weapons of mass destruction. Neither of them will really have much compunction in carrying on the weapons trade.
 
I am sure Corbyn, if allowed and had sufficient support, would wipe out the arms trade.
I am confident he does not like the idea of us selling this stuff to questionable regimes (nor possibly anyone else).
 
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