Backing Saudi Arabia will put the West on the wrong side of history

Last weekend’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s precious oil fields could mark the escalation of the proxy war in Yemen into open conflict with Iran. If it does, Trump and Europe will be partly to blame

A destroyed installation in Saudi Arabia’s Khurais oil processing plant Picture: Getty

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most militarised societies. Last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the country spent 8.8 per cent of its economic output on military equipment. That puts it behind only the US and China in the global league table of defence expenditure as a percentage of its ... Military spending by Israel, another extremely well-armed Middle Eastern country, amounts to 4.3 per cent of its ...