Boeing helps Saudi autocracy massacre Yemenis

This video says about itself:

Prince Al Waleed Luxury Boeing 747 INSIDE LOOK

9 January 2014

Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud is a Saudi Arabian businessman and investor. He [is] the grandson of King Abdulazziz [of the] Saudi royal family.

He is the founder, CEO, and 95%-owner of the Kingdom Holding Company. Arabian Business ranked him as the most influential Arab in the world.

In March 2013, Forbes listed Al Waleed as the 26th-richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of US $20 billion. Prince al Waleed disputes the Forbes valuation, and believes his wealth to be $26 billion. Bloomberg later estimated his wealth as $30 billion. Arabian Business magazine estimated his wealth at $31.2B in December 2013.

The video is about the connection between Boeing corporation in the USA and a Saudi royal oil sheik, obscenely rich while there are so many poor people in that prince’s own Saudi Arabia, neighbouring Yemen and many other countries.

However, there is a still more sinister connection between Boeing and the Saudi absolute monarchy.

By Steve Sweeney in Britain:

Activists aim to clip Boeing‘s wings

Wednesday 2nd August 2017

PEACE activists held a protest at Boeing offices in London last night to oppose the the US-based aerospace transnational’s involvement in arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) accused Boeing — whose 2016 revenues totalled $94.6 billion (£71.55bn) — of profiting from the bombing of Yemen, which has led to at least 10,000 civilian deaths and a cholera outbreak of almost a quarter of a million suspected cases and about 1,000 deaths.

Some 14 million people — 60 per cent of Yemen’s population — are now relying on food aid, with seven million at serious risk of starving to death. More than 80 per cent of the population urgently need some form of humanitarian aid.

Yet Britain has licensed £3.3 billion in arms to the despotic Gulf state since the bombing of Yemen began in March last year.

CAAT lodged a judicial review to try and block further arms sales to Saudi Arabia but in July the High Court found the government had not acted unlawfully.

In May Boeing agreed the sale of Chinook helicopters, surveillance aircraft and guided weapons systems to the Saudi regime.

Campaigners used the demonstration to highlight Boeing’s presence at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair to be held at east London’s Excel centre in September.

London CAAT spokesman Phil McMahon said: “As the world’s second largest arms company, Boeing contributes to much harm around the world and has no qualms about selling weapons to countries with dubious human rights records.

“It is particularly disturbing that they have profited from the bombing of Yemen by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.

“They will be among those pushing their deadly wares on anyone who will buy them at the DSEI arms fair in a few months’ time. DSEI is a stain on the UK’s human rights record and should not be darkening our shores ever again.”

On Sunday, a commercial aircraft carrying 157 passengers from Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa bound for Nairobi, Kenya crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all on board. The aircraft, a 737 MAX 8, was an upgraded 737 model manufactured by Boeing. The Ethiopian air disaster is the second such catastrophe for the Boeing model. Five months ago, last October, an Indonesian Lion Air jetliner, also a Boeing 737 MAX 8, went down, killing all 189 on board: here.

SENATORS: GROUND BOEING CRASH PLANES Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called for all Boeing planes of the 737 Max 8 series to be grounded after two were involved in crashes in recent months. [HuffPost]

BOEING JETS GROUNDED ACROSS EUROPE All Boeing 737 Max 8 flights have been grounded across Europe following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight on Sunday, the second 737 Max 8 disaster in recent months. The orders, which include a ban on airlines using the U.S.-made jet for flights to, from or over Britain, leave the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration nearly alone in refusing to ground the planes. [HuffPost]

Two days after the crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 commercial jet in Ethiopia that took the lives of all 157 passengers and crew members, the US government and American carriers that use the plane have refused to ground the recently introduced plane: here.

On Wednesday, three days after a Boeing 737 Max 8 commercial jet crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board, and governments all over the world had banned the Boeing 737 Max fleet, the United States ended its isolation and announced that it was grounding the planes indefinitely. President Trump made the announcement Wednesday afternoon, hours after the last holdout besides the US, Canada, announced that it was joining Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in banning the planes: here.

USA: Federal Aviation Administration accused of colluding with Boeing in wake of 737 crashes: here.

‘SIMILARITIES’ IN BOEING CRASHES Data from the black boxes of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed killing all 157 people on board showed “clear similarities” with October’s Lion Air crash, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Transport Ministry said. Meanwhile, a safety analysis of a new software program installed on Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft reportedly showed crucial flaws. [HuffPost]

TRUMP FINALLY ANNOUNCES FAA NOMINEE Trump finally announced a nominee for Federal Aviation Administration chief. Former Delta executive Stephen Dickson has been picked for the role amid intensifying questions about the regulator’s relationship with Boeing, the maker of two airliners involved in recent catastrophic crashes. [HuffPost]

TRUMP PENTAGON HEAD UNDER INVESTIGATION Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general over ties to his former employer, the aerospace titan Boeing. [HuffPost]

In the wake of two deadly airplane crashes that have killed 346 people, it has become clear that executives at aerospace giant Boeing repeatedly subordinated basic considerations of safety to profit, aided and abetted by the federal government: here.