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| Britain |
| Sorry Brits, No Tech Sales to ChiComs, etc. |
| 2005-11-23 |
| The UK looks set to lose its five-year battle to win a waiver to strict US arms export controls after being told by Bush administration officials that political opposition on Capitol Hill to the transfer of sensitive technologies has become insurmountable. The US promised five years ago to grant an ITAR waiver to the UK and Australia, and the issue emerged as one of the most contentious bilateral issues between the US and UK since the Iraq war. British government and industry officials have grown increasingly angry in recent months, insisting that an exemption is overdue given the UK's staunch support for the Iraq invasion. Last year, Geoff Hoon, then UK defence minister, sent a strongly worded letter to his American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, warning of a "serious blow to US-UK relations" if the promised waiver was not granted. According to government officials, Tony Blair, British prime minister, also raised the issue with George W. Bush during the US president's recent visits to London. The complex ITAR rules force the UK and Australia to wade through an extended approval process in order to get the go-ahead from the State Department for arms purchases, sometimes on mundane weapons parts and components. Currently, only Canada has a waiver from the rules. The Bush administration has repeatedly pushed for the waiver to be passed in Congress but it has been consistently blocked by Henry Hyde, the powerful Republican who chairs the House international relations committee. Mr Hyde has cited the UK's refusal to strengthen its own laws on transferring military technologies to other countries. Last year, Congress agreed to pass a watered-down version of the administration's proposal, which gave UK and Australian export requests expedited status, but fell short of a complete waiver. According to US officials involved in the discussions, talks to find an alternative to the waiver, though not yet official administration policy, began this month. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #7 For those with longer term memory cells, it wasn't that long ago that the UK and In brief, fuck them all. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-11-23 18:46 |
| #6 Spot-on, gents. The UK's MoD is moving away from compatibility with the US and opting for the EU's RRF. They don't need any US tech. I wouldn't even sell them any C-130's or other lift, trans, or refueling gear. They aren't going anywhere after Iraq, anyway. Take the |
| Posted by: .com 2005-11-23 16:51 |
| #5 The Tech Nazi..."No toys for you!" |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-11-23 16:49 |
| #4 This is a continuation of the story Rantburgers discussed concerning transfers of technology to the UK, which was drawing into the EU military. We are coming to a junction in the road w/r/t our relations with the UK if they draw into the EU military vision of things. The EU will sell their souls to the Chicoms, just like they did with Iraq, and now Iran. Fundamental issues here, for sure. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-11-23 16:48 |
| #3 The problem is not direct British transfer to US enemies. British defense industry is becoming more more closely tied to Continental consortia (e.g. EADS) which are direct competitors to US firms. Why should the US hand over technologies and source code which will then find it's way in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Israeli weapons and soon after Chinese, Russian, Arab, etc arsenals. Check inside a Chinese fighter's cockpit or destroyer's bridge lately? It says "Made in the EU". |
| Posted by: ed 2005-11-23 15:58 |
| #2 Choking off all Chinese importation of advanced weapons technology isn't just common sense, it is critical to containing China's possible expansionist agenda. Communist China is the single greatest threat to overall global peace at this time. They must be contained. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-11-23 15:32 |
| #1 The issue is transfer of US technology on to other countries. The problem is the UK has a large arms exporting industry. Nothing short of a firewall between the two will solve the problem. OTOH Australia has no real arms exporting industry, so they will likely get the excemption. And BTW, the USA should do everything necessary to protect its military tech (from an Aussie). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-11-23 07:12 |