[Atlantis]

Once again the European Parliament has shown itself to be the only progressive political body worldwide. Now we just need to make it binding and give parliament the powers to see that it is implemented.

European Union lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the bloc to slap an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, which is leading a brutal military campaign against Yemen.

The non-binding resolution, which was adopted in a nearly unanimous 539-13 vote on Thursday, condemned attacks against Yemeni civilians as “war crimes,” and slammed EU members for authorizing weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in breach of EU laws on arms export control.

The parliament “condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing violence in Yemen and all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, which constitute war crimes,” the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) said in their statement.

Referring to a similar resolution from February last year, the lawmakers called on EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to launch an initiative to impose an EU arms embargo against the Riyadh regime “given the serious allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.”

Baking on September, the European Parliament had adopted a resolution urging EU Member States to improve the implementation of the EU Common Position on Arms Export. The resolution calls for more transparency, a supervisory body and a sanctions mechanism for those Member States not following minimum requirements. It re-iterates the urgent need to impose an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights reported. The resolution, titled “Resolution on arms export: implementation of Common Position 2008/944/CFSP”, was adopted on Sptember by 386 votes to 107, overcoming opposition from the conservatives.

The MEPs also expressed “grave concern at the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” referring to civilian deaths resulting from the years-long Saudi war and an outbreak of deadly diseases such as cholera and diphtheria.

In their statement, the European lawmakers blasted the blockade and called for its “immediate” removal.

“The aerial and naval blockade imposed on Yemen by the coalition forces has been one of the main causes of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe; whereas this blockade has restricted and disrupted the import and export of food, fuel and medical supplies, as well as humanitarian aid,” the statement added.

The motion was proposed by the Greens/EFA calling on the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to launch an initiative in the Foreign Affairs Council to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia.

Bodil Valero was rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on Arms Exports, which previously called on High Representative Mogherini to launch an embargo. She comments:

"It is a scandal that EU member states continue to provide arms and expertise to Saudi Arabia in the war against Yemen. High Representative Mogherini should urgently launch an initiative to impose an EU arms embargo against Saudi Arabia. As chairwomen of the Foreign Affairs Council, we urge Mogherini to formally put the item of an embargo on the agenda of their next meeting. EU countries cannot continue to be party to the horrible suffering being caused in Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia should immediately stop the sea, land and air blockade of Yemen and allow full access for humanitarian aid to all parts of Yemen."
The Saudi-led coalition which is launching attacks on Yemen and has imposed a blockade on the country is threatening peace, security and stability in Yemen, UN observers have reported.

Since the beginning of the Saudi assault on Yemen in 2015, more than 10 thousand civilians have been killed and around 40 thousand have been injured. Air strikes have on several occasions hit hospitals and other vital civilian infrastructure.

Moreover, with seven million people facing famine and 17 million—60 percent of the country—who live in food insecurity, the World Food Program said last week: “Yemen is on the brink of famine. Cholera is compounding a dramatic food crisis. Food is being used a weapon of war.”

More than 2 million children are already malnourished, and of those, nearly half-million children required medical assistance to stay alive. Yemen is staring down the “largest famine the world has seen for many decades,” said UN aid chief Mark Lowcock.

European Parliament Passes A Motion to Impose Arms Embargo on Saudi Arabia over War Crimes in Yemen

[Rugoz]

Oh look, irrelevant parliament passes irrelevant motion.

[Ter]

I also have motions, almost every day, with the same result but cheaper than the babbling tent of the EU parliament.

Those goddamn overpaid, untaxed, arrogant bastards just sit there talking through their asses with zero result. At least my motions have something to show for my efforts...

[JohnRawls]

I also have motions, almost every day, with the same result but cheaper than the babbling tent of the EU parliament.

Those goddamn overpaid, untaxed, arrogant bastards just sit there talking through their asses with zero result. At least my motions have something to show for my efforts...

Hey, aren't you one of the crytics of US and EUROPE policies regarding SA? Didn't you always say that this needed to be done ?

Once a body that you don't like passes this, you start calling it useless. What gives?

P.S. This was only possible because of UK pushing for Brexit. They usually found a way to counteract or block these motions.

[Ter]

Hey, aren't you one of the crytics of US and EUROPE policies regarding SA? Didn't you always say that this needed to be done ?

Once a body that you don't like passes this, you start calling it useless. What gives?

@JohnRawls
You must confuse me with someone else.
I consider Iran the greatest enemy.
With SA one can at least talk, negotiate, reason.
Iran has painted itself in a corner shouting about the great satan USA and destroying Israel and so on.

As for the EU Parliament and the EU Commission, I despise them for many reasons. And moreover they are completely useless. They pass many motions, like the UNGA, with ZERO result. Is it worth the cost ?

[Beren]

Once again the European Parliament has shown itself to be the only progressive political body worldwide. Now we just need to make it binding and give parliament the powers to see that it is implemented.

Nice gesture, I wonder if it's meant to be a warning.

[noemon]

Pressure on Greece to scrap arms deal with Saudi Arabia

The Greek government has announced it will abide by any EU embargo on Saudi Arabia as it faces criticism over a controversial arms deal, including from its own MPs.

As cracks appeared in the leftist-led coalition over the €66m weapons agreement with the kingdom, the administration’s spokesman said Athens would apply the law “by the letter” if EU sanctions were announced.

“We are waiting to see the decisions of the European parliament and will act accordingly,” said Dimitris Tzannakopoulos. “The process is frozen.”

Mounting tensions within the ruling Syriza party have matched international condemnation of the agreement by human rights groups. Amnesty International has said the munitions could end up being used by the Gulf state in its war against neighbouring Yemen, where civilian populations have borne the brunt of the conflict.

“[We] call on Greece to immediately rescind the sale and transfer of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and to refuse approval of the transport of every type of conventional weapons, ammunitions and war material to point of conflicts in Yemen,” the rights group said.

Prominent members of the ruling Syriza party have questioned the morality of selling arms to Saudi Arabia, and on Tuesday the Greek parliament’s military procurements committee also hinted it may scrap the deal.

“Greece is a hub of stability, peace and friendship in the greater region and that is what it should be exporting,” the former deputy European affairs minister Nikos Xydakis told the Guardian. “There is no need for this [deal] to go through and frankly when we’re talking about €66m, not €66bn, it isn’t worth the trouble. It’s not the sort of money that will save Greece.”

Last week the interior minister, Panos Skourletis, a senior member of the ruling party’s hard left, expressed fears that the weapons transfer could be used to enable human rights abuses in a Yemen.

“Obviously, every country has a right to exploit its surplus munitions, but we need to be much more careful,” he told the state TV channel ERT. “A country of Greece’s size cannot sell weapons without caring how they will be used.”

[Rugoz]

I also have motions, almost every day, with the same result but cheaper than the babbling tent of the EU parliament.

To be fair, the EU Parliament would surely make itself more relevant if it could.

I do not think EU institutions are misbehaving in any dramatic fashion, though this would probably change if more power would be concentrated in Brussels. I think what goes on in Washington at the moment should make Europeans wary about forming a "United States of Europe". Somehow I doubt Europeans would be more vigilant citizens than Americans.

[Atlantis]

The EP is the organ that has consistently taken citizens' concerns more serious than other institutions such as national governments or the Commission, which represents the national governments in the EU. In the GMO debate, the EP has enabled labeling while most national governments were ready to bow to US pressure and outlaw labeling. In the affair of secrete CIA detention camps and extra-judicial renditions, it was the EP that drove the investigation which finally even led to fines imposed on national governments. In Brexit talks, it was the EP that was most insistent on protecting citizens' rights. Again, it'll be the EP that will press for more action on tax havens, while national governments try to protect their tax scams.

Europeans can have more trust in the EP than in most national governments. As European integration advances, the EP will gradually develop into a full-fledged parliament. Due to Brexit, the greatest stumbling block for empowering parliament has been removed. The British have always opposed giving the EP more power.

To claim that the EU is going to develop into a US-type empire is absurd. The US needs a vast global military presence together with a network of vassal states, while the EU is based on voluntary membership with a list of candidates waiting to join. Most importantly, even a full European Federation, if that were to materialize in some distant future, could never have the strong centralized power the US has due to its presidential system and the UK has due to the fptp election system.

There can be no empire without strong centralized decision-making center. The eurocritics know this. They are utter hypocrites claiming that the EU is about to break apart while in the same breath warning about the EU empire. You can't have it both ways.

The EU's cultural and political diversity will always mean that the EU has to find a consensus between its members. This seems too cumbersome for the impatient young horses, yet it is the secrete of success to create a stable and lasting organisation.

The imperialists are digging their own grave. And I'm going to shit on it.

I can understand that they need to intensify their hostile propaganda against the EU to try and prevent parliament from obtaining more powers and put a check to their nasty games.

What I don’t understand is how anybody can be so callous as to ignore the suffering in Yemen and become complicit in the war crimes of the pariahs in Saudi Arabia.

Both Trump and May ought to be brought before a war crime's tribunal in The Hague for their role in SA's war crimes in Yemen, which are far worse than anything that happened in the former Yugoslavia.

[Beren]

As a matter of fact the US federal government has played a progressive role in the country so far, it's not a coincidence that reactionaries or so-called vigilant citizens advocate states' rights so much. It's the same with Brussels and Strasbourg in the EU, although their powers are not even comparable.

[Decky]

Who cares? The Saudis will just get the arms off the Americans anyway. No lives will be saved, all the EU are doing is putting European workers on the dole by crippling their own arms industries. Putting European workers on the dole is all the EU ever seems to do.

[Atlantis]

As a matter of fact the US federal government has played a progressive role in the country so far, ...

In other words, the federal government followed the position of the progressive states, for example in regard to racial discrimination. And abolition of slavery isn’t a bad thing either. That’s similar in the EU. For example in the issue of transparency or tax avoidance, the EU is more likely to follow Denmark or Finland than Greece or Romania.

But that doesn’t mean that a Federal European state would develop like the US. The differences between European countries are far bigger than the differences between US states, where Anglo-Saxons have always been the dominant political force in most states. When the US was formed by recently arrived settlers, it wasn’t formed by independent states each with its own language and traditions going back many centuries.

For example, I simply don’t see any scenario in which the EU27 would have decided to invade Iraq with a European army. The EU doesn’t even have an intelligence service to fabricate a pretext. And even if it did, the national intelligence services would provide a check on its activities.

[noir]

Once again the European Parliament has shown itself to be the only progressive political body worldwide. Now we just need to make it binding and give parliament the powers to see that it is implemented.

It all depends where the German-led EU interests lay on. Same progressive Germans where behind lifting the Western sanctions against Iran which fueled the current Sunni Shia world war. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are backed by Iran thanks to the frozen billions that was released by Obama (Merkel's stooge). The funds had been contested since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Nothing the German rulling elite is doing is progressive. "Human Rights" (whatever it means) always suffer during a war from all sides. The Nazis where the first who used this angle to advance their interests in the ME. Mainly against Britain and USSR.

Leading German expert on German Iranian relation

The Tehran-Berlin Axis

http://www.matthiaskuentzel.de/contents ... wnload/152


Germany is the world’s third biggest weapons exporter

http://www.politico.eu/article/germany- ... -exporter/

Matthias Küntzel Iran and Germany

As Berlin’s Federal Agency for Foreign Trade pointed out in last September’s brochure “Growth Markets in the Near and Middle East,” Germany is Iran’s No. 1 supplier of almost all types of machinery except for power systems and the building sector, where Italian manufacturers dominate the Iranian market.

But perhaps it’s not so surprising. The country’s position toward Tehran seems to be at a crossroads. The “grand coalition” government looks at Iran through different prisms. While Chancellor Angela Merkel argues for tougher sanctions if necessary to stop the Iranian bomb, Germany’s foreign policy establishment, including a key advisor to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, preaches accommodation, even a “strategic partnership” with Iran.

Not so in Germany itself. “Sanctions get us nowhere!” countered Christoph Bertram in the weekly Der Spiegel last month. “Chancellor Angela Merkel should not back every Israeli warning of catastrophe.”

Berlin was particularly persistent in seeking to become a partner of Iran. Thus, the American sanctions effort was undermined by an intensified German export drive to Iran. Iran’s former ambassador to Germany, Hossein Mousavian, records the great delight this caused in Teheran: “Iranian decision-makers were well aware in the 1990s of Germany’s significant role in breaking the economic chains with which the United States had surrounded Iran…. Iran also saw the potential acquisition of German technology, in the context of the impositions of sanctions by the United States, as vital to the development of the Iranian economy.”[16]

To date the watchword of Berlin’s Iranian policy has been: as few sanctions as possible, in order to protect German industrial interests; as many sanctions as necessary, in order to avoid negative headlines. It has been easy to advocate “a united approach” and hide behind the obstruction of Moscow and Beijing.
While Ms. Merkel emphasizes Germany’s historical responsibilities, particularly toward the Jewish state, Messrs. Perthes and Bertram unscrupulously reject such considerations. Economic and strategic interests trump all other concerns.

[Beren]

For example, I simply don’t see any scenario in which the EU27 would have decided to invade Iraq with a European army.

It'd be some member states rather than the EU that'd do such a thing.

[Atlantis]

@noir, I think we should stop all weapons sales to the ME, especially to Israel.

While there are a number of Western countries selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. The UK and the US have been by far the most important suppliers. Germany has signed a number of weapons deals in the past because the Saudis are US allies and it wouldn't really help if the Islamists took over; however, in recent years most applications for export licences have been turned down even though the Saudis have always sought German weapons. Germany has a huge trade surplus and doesn't need to export weapons. If weapons are exported, it is because without the economies of scale domestic arms manufacturing is not economic. Something that Israel knows better than most. Joint development projects with France, the UK, Italy, etc., are also impossible unless Germany agrees to exports. During the last high-level meeting, the Saudis abandoned their hope of getting new weapons deals with Germany. The Saudis have also recalled their ambassador from Berlin because the German foreign minister criticized Saudi actions in Lebanon and Yemen.

That is in stark contrast to the US and UK which are aggressively pushing arms sales to the Saudis, even if it means squashing UN attempts of investigating Saudi war crimes (as has been the case with at least 2 UK governments) or actually encouraging the new Saudi leaders to interfere in neighboring countries (as has been the case with Trump).

Most countries have been more aggressive about developing ties with Iran than Germany, in particular Italy and France which hosted high-level Iranian delegations. I'm all in favor of reestablishing good relations with Iran, but I think the Iranians get enough weapons from the Russians.

I know that none is this is going to make any difference to your warped conception of Germany and your obsession with the Nazis.

[noir]

Germany has dog in the fight. They support Iran (which is behind the insurgency in Yemen). The best way is to demonize their adversary with Human Rights agenda. The German elites always do it. On recent years they invest billions in what was called in the 30's "front organizations" and today "civil society", basically the same foreign funded agitprop "Human Rights" NGO's.

[Rugoz]

As a matter of fact the US federal government has played a progressive role in the country so far, it's not a coincidence that reactionaries or so-called vigilant citizens advocate states' rights so much.

Eh...I think half of America would disagree with that. As for "vigilant citizens", I'd say Hungary needs more of those, wouldn't you say?

[Beren]

Eh...I think half of America would disagree with that. As for "vigilant citizens", I'd say Hungary needs more of those, wouldn't you say?

Sure, but which half?

I'd say Hungary needs more democrats and liberals who want to live in a republic.

[noir]

Previously Saudi Arabia was German client. Recall kanzler Helmut Schmidt’s statement at the end of a 1981 trip to Saudi Arabia, during which he had negotiated the sale of West German tanks, that “German foreign policy may no longer be held hostage to Auschwitz.”

So today they sell weapon to Iran and assist their current client on diplomatic arena with human rights accusations. The best way to keep human rights is for Germany to stop manipulating ME conflicts.

[Albert]

What is interesting, is that EU is diverging from US policy completely, who (USA) is supporting Saudi war in Yemen and just signed a big arms deal with the Saudis. Maybe the is shows that election of Trump has produced considerable rift between EU and USA.