British Prime Minister: Murdoch wiretap and bribery scandal will reveal "how politics works too."

[leveymg]

Earlier this week, a UK newspaper, The Daily Mail, reported a notable quote from Prime Minister David Cameron. He made the extraordinary observation that the Murdoch wiretapping and police bribery case is part of much wider problems of corruption in government, and it points to the criminal partnership of private corporations and government agencies. That article quoted Cameron's statement: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012326/News-World-phone-hacking-Will-Rebekah-Brooks-FINALLY-go.html

"He also promised action to 'get to the bottom' of the phone hacking scandal but said it was not just about the press but about the police and 'about how politics works too'.

Meanwhile, Cameron's Administration is also engulfed in this scandal. The Mail also reports:

Meanwhile, David Cameron came under fire from his own party for attacking Press regulators. In today’s Mail on Sunday, MP David Davis writes: ‘The primary failure has not been of newspaper regulation, but of the criminal law.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2013027/News-World-Tony-Blair-tried-hush-phone-hacking-scandal.html#ixzz1RiNrIvPM

That comments "about how politics works too", and that this scandal is about a "failure (of) the criminal law" to prosecute political corruption is particularly notable in the context of the underreported investigations in the UK and the US of the role of the Saudi "Yamamah" slush fund. Inquiries made public show that since the mid-1980s leading politicians in both countries have been heavily compromised by al-Yamamah, the $80 billion Saudi-BAE slush fund. That is essentially a pile of unaccounted for kickback money from arms for oil deals that is used by the KSA and western defense contractors and corporations they have ownership interests in (or contracts with) to buy political candidates, elections and policy outcomes.

Like most countries, the Saudis do what they can to influence foreign governments and the outcome of elections in other countries, and the rulers of the Oil Kingdom have a particularly large amount of money to do it with. Nowhere is Saudi influence more strongly felt in the west than in the UK and the US. Some of this influence buying is perfectly legal, provided that the contributions are funneled through western-registered corporations and holdings. For instance, the major investor in Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp -- a particularly politically active entity -- is Prince Talal (with Murdoch in 2010, below) and the Saudi Royal family's Kingdom Holdings. See, "Bandar Bush" was running "Yamamah" slush fund that was used to buy US and UK politicians, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6212624&mesg_id=6212648

It should not come as a surprise that NewsCorp is, in effect, being run as an agent of influence for the Saudis. But, this scandal points out how Murdoch's holdings have been engaged in a very organized, very far-ranging war of dirty tricks, including massive propaganda, political wiretapping and bribery of police, intelligence and top elected officials. See this article about Murdoch's relationship with Blair, and Blair's efforts to thwart the investigation. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2013027/News-World-Tony-Blair-tried-hush-phone-hacking-scandal.html Murdoch isn't the only pet shark in the pond, but he's a very big fish, more like Moby Dick.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation into Yamamah-BAE was never resolved on either side of the shark-infested pond. We can only hope the phone-hacking scandal is the harpoon they'll finally use to lance the Great White.