Großbritannien

[Shahab3]

Das britische Königshaus musste feststellen, dass sich die freundschaftlichen Beziehungen zu den Diktatoren von Libyen, Ägypten, Bahrain, Jordanian und Saudi Arabien in der Öffentlichkeit gerade nicht so gut verkaufen lassen:

Prince Andrew pulls out of Saudi Arabia trade trip

Buckingham Palace says trip 'postponed' because of safety concerns rather than cancelled in light of revelations
The Guardian, Saturday 12 March 2011

Prince Andrew has pulled out of a proposed trip to Saudi Arabia after almost three weeks of damaging revelations about his personal integrity and links with corrupt and repressive regimes. The Duke of York was due to travel next week to boost defence contracts in his role as Britain's trade envoy.
...
The duke's connections to Colonel Gaddafi and his family, the president of Azerbaijan and arms smuggler Tarek Kaituni have also drawn public criticism from human rights organisations and MPs.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/12/prince-andrew-saudi-arabia">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/1 ... udi-arabia</a><!-- m -->

Edit: huch, ein Mitglied dieser illustren Runde habe ich doch glatt vergessen:

Prince Andrew's relations with Tunisian dictator's son-in-law in spotlight

Andrew's role as government's special trade representative is controversial – but to some in government he is secret weapon
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 March 2011 19.39 GMT
...
"President Ben Ali's extended family is often cited as the nexus of Tunisian corruption."

Such suspicions seemed not to matter to the British government and the Duke of York, however. Just over a year later, the 29-year-old Tunisian was sitting down to eat again, this time in Buckingham Palace at a lunch arranged for him by the Queen's second son. The function was part of Prince Andrew's duties as the government's special trade representative. Materi was joined by around 15 bosses from British multinationals.

Only three months later, the Ben Ali regime was overthrown, Materi fled, and he is now under investigation for money laundering. This weekend the judgment of both Prince Andrew and his political masters is being severely questioned.

Other meetings and lunches held by the duke with Colonel Gaddafi and other senior figures in the Libyan regime have only added to the pressure and the instability sweeping through the Middle East is exposing his network of autocratic contacts.
...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/04/prince-andrew-relations-corrupt-tunisian?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/0 ... NETTXT3487</a><!-- m -->