Our British All-Lies: Business Before Lockerbie, Shell Oil, Senator McCain too

U.S. and British Governments work for Oil Companies not their Nations' People....

    Seems since last September http://newztekmisk.blogspot.com/2009/09/britains-own-euro-mediterranean.html the British Embassy web site in Tripoli has been "sterilized" as then as I recall it rather gloried in the new found intimacy between Britain and Libya around the time of the release of the Lockerbie bomber prisoner....the archive is not accessible either since the archives seem only to go up to 2008....

This article has so far not been tampered with:

Europe August 24, 2009, 12:19PM EST Trade Between Britain and Libya Set to Soar
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2009/gb20090824_183632.ht
   Britain's trade with Libya could soar following the release of the Lockerbie bomber, as the North African country embarks on a massive building programme.
    In the first five months of 2009, UK exports to Libya were already up by 48 per cent to £165.4m on the same period in 2008, while UK imports from Libya—mainly oil—were up 48.5 per cent on 2008 at £966m, a rise of 66 per cent on 2007.
    Most of the companies already exporting to Libya are involved in supplying industrial machinery and engineering services and include Biwater, AMEC, Halcrow, JCB, Rentokil (RTO.L) and Corus as well as oil companies such as BP (BP). The oil giant is one of the most involved in Libya, having launched a $1.3bn gas exploration programme last year, and having recently signed a £545m deal to drill for Libyan oil. Fellow giant Shell is also one of the largest investors in Libya. Analysts say that if the oil fields reach their target yield, then BP could spend more than £10bn over the next decade on exploration and drilling. --Shell Oil which Obama recently asked to consider buying BP....

UK and Libya kick off double taxation convention.April 2008

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2262058/uk-libya-kick-double-taxation


Secret documents uncover UK's interest in Libyan oil Negotiations fuel rumours of commercial deal behind Megrahi's release
Terry Macalister The Observer, Sunday 30 August 2009 
   Libya has been courted by government ministers and Foreign Office mandarins on a dozen or more occasions in pursuit of lucrative oil and gas contracts.
    Documents obtained by the Observer show ministers and senior civil servants met Shell to discuss the company's oil interests in Libya on at least 11 occasions and perhaps as many as 26 times in less than four years.
Foreign secretary David Miliband and the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock were involved in the meetings with Shell about its business in Libya or Egypt.
    The revelations, showing that the government invested large amounts of political capital in securing North African oil, lend weight to claims that commercial interest lay behind last week's decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, from jail in Scotland to receive a hero's welcome in Libya.
    Gordon Brown has insisted that Whitehall had no involvement in the release, but critics of the government say the information obtained by the non-governmental organisation, Platform, via a Freedom of Information Act request, raises fresh questions. "These documents show the deep and long-term foreign policy backing provided by the British government to Shell in its efforts to break into Libya. Corporate executives have easy access to the highest level of Whitehall, while democracy advocates and social movements remain shut out on the street," said Mika Minio-Paluello, a campaigner with Platform.
    "Yet again, the Foreign Office has prioritised securing new oil reserves for private corporations over human rights, the environment or democracy. Foreign policy should represent people's interests, not corporate interests. As a first step, the government must open its files and disclose the true level of oil influence on government decision-making."     http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/30/libya-oil-shell-megrahi                                                                                             
From The Sunday Times August 23, 2009
The Libyan Ultimatum Despite denials, talk persists of pressure and plots behind the freeing of the Lockerbie bomber
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6806482.ece
 The reality is that Megrahi’s freedom is a product of the effort to bring Libya out of dangerous isolation. This is as much to America’s advantage as Britain’s, but Washington has too much baggage to be openly involved...

...a congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, was in Libya.
McCain reported on Tuesday via Twitter, the instant internet messaging site, that he had met Gadaffi, whom he described as “an interesting man”. McCain was reported by the Libyan news agency to have praised Gadaffi’s peace-making efforts in Africa and to have called for expanded US ties with Libya. Exxon and Chevron, the American oil giants, are among companies vying for lucrative new exploration contracts.    


from the sanitized Tripoli Embassy today
http://ukinlibya.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/working-with-libya/shared-tradition