Boris Johnson was right to slam Saudi abuses, but we need their oil so will have to hold our noses and deal with them
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of much terrorist ideology, but we cannot afford to lose this trading partner
BORIS JOHNSON did the world a favour by telling the truth about barbarous Saudi Arabia and its “puppeteering” proxy wars. “It twists and abuses religion,” he said.
The Foreign Secretary was ticked off by Theresa May for breaching the Western oath of omerta about this oil-rich desert kingdom.
But he was only telling the half of it. Britain and the world are paying a bitter price for the brutal brand of Islamic extremism exported by this so-called Arab ally.
Defence supremo Michael Fallon yesterday labelled terrorism “the biggest threat to Europe and indeed Britain”.
Most of the bombing and bloodshed can be traced back to the land of Mecca — from 9/11 to the rise of Islamic State. Iran accounts for the rest.
Saudi Arabia gave birth to the evil creed of Wahhabism, which revels in the same gruesome public executions and amputations as its Islamic State disciples.
This is the desert setting where religious fanatics have the whip hand over the people in return for allowing decadent and corrupt Saudi royals to remain on the throne.
The West has made a pact with the devil in return for oil, arms sales and a pernicious form of security intelligence, some of it produced by torture.
But the price is terrifying. Wahhabism spawned al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Boko Haram. It brings death and disaster wherever it takes root.
Saudi Arabia is responsible for a “tsunami” of cash — an estimated tens of billions of pounds — to spread extremism around the Islamic world.
Tens of thousands of mosques and madrassas — religious schools where children learn the Koran by heart — have been built with Saudi cash in Pakistan, Afghanistan, parts of Africa and other Muslim states.
In Pakistan alone, the number of madrassas has mushroomed from a few hundred to 25,000 in three decades.
Pakistan is re-exporting this harsh interpretation of Islam to towns and cities in Britain, where thousands of migrants have established Muslim ghettos and enclaves.
There are 2,000 madrassas on UK soil, some known as Trojan Horse schools, where children are beaten for stumbling over verses from the Koran.
It is important to state that many Muslims fiercely resent the way their faith has been hijacked by extremists and are brave enough to stand up publicly to say so.
But thousands of IS supporters and sympathisers here in Britian pose a threat to national security.
In the past year, police and intelligence services have made 222 terror-related arrests.
Extremism is fuelled by the spread of divisive Sharia law. Britain has scores of Sharia courts dishing out rough justice on divorce and women’s rights.
The dangers were vividly described last week by official Government adviser Louise Casey.
Dame Louise identified Muslim suburbs where male domination, polygamy, wife-beating and marital rape are standard.
Women are barred from learning English or leaving the house without permission.
Men look for brides back in Pakistan rather than in Britain, so every generation is first-generation British, with little hope of assimilation.
None of this is new. There is long-standing evidence of forced marriage, honour killings and predatory sex gangs which are swept under the carpet.
Scandalously, the political Left — driven by equality and diversity agendas — turned a blind eye to wife abuse, homophobia and the rejection of basic human rights.
It was the Left which embraced uncontrolled mass immigration and the disastrous policy of multiculturalism which inhibited assimilation.
Britain is not alone in this cultural crisis. Dame Louise’s findings are replicated across the EU.
France lives in daily fear of militant Islam. Marseilles is the first great French city to become majority Muslim.
Western leaders are paralysed by political correctness. And the Saudis have us literally over a barrel.
We need their oil. And however frightful the Riyadh regime, we cannot risk it being toppled by something worse — a warring religious state with nukes on request from its pals in Pakistan.
'I Ferg-ret it'
HISTORIAN Niall Ferguson says he’s sorry for ridiculing those who argued in favour of Brexit in the June 23 referendum.
He admits preaching his condescending rubbish about economic meltdown to save the neck of his pal David Cameron.
He claims he never believed his own tosh and wishes he’d backed Brexit instead.
I can vouch that he meant every word he said, having been on the receiving end of one sideswipe on BBC Newsnight.
Ferguson was rated as one of the world’s most eminent and respected academics. Not any more.