I WAS delighted to read the Agenda article “Why we must speak out against the arms trade” (The Herald September 9), having just returned from London. There at the Excel Centre, along with local heroes from Faslane Peace Camp, Extinction Rebellion, and Trident Ploughshares I had supported the blockade of the Defence and Security Equipment International weapons jamboree.
Last Tuesday 400 Quakers had blocked the East Gate, with more than 40 arrested. Although drowned from the media by the ongoing Brexit farce, the event was highly successful.
They say we should always look at the broader picture, so let’s do just that. The Russian equivalent of Trident is the Dolgorukiy-class submarine. This is manufactured by a company called Sevmesh, which receives its financing from the state-owned VEB (Vnesheconombank) bank. However, being state-owned does not mean being state-financed, as records from from 2011 show.
In April of that year VEB signed an agreement for a syndicated loan worth $2.4bn, from 19 banks, all outside of Russia. These included Barclays and HSBC, both UK banks which are also both directly funding Trident via investment and financing arrangements with Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, and Babcock.
Most noticeably, this list of backers includes the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank that we, the public, hold an 84 per cent stake in after the 2008 financial crash. Thus, a bank that invests in 10 companies involved in Trident, also bankrolls the Dolgorukiy submarine. So the RSB bankrolls Britain’s nuclear weapons – and the Russian ones too. And to add insult to injury, we pay for both these, via taxation. We are paying for our own extinction, literally.
This madness results from the blind worship of profit. The irrational, inhuman heart of unbridled capitalism stands revealed.
Will we ever learn to put humanity before profit?
Brian M Quail, Glasgow G11.
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