As a man, and therefore someone who reads little fiction, I have always found it surprising how much I enjoy the works of Eric Ambler.
His thrillers introduced the sense of gritty realism I enjoy in the much later works of Le Carre to the spy novel. His are not stories of over complex crossings and double crossings by under complex characters, but rather tense, clichéless unravellings of innocents abroad — ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances who are then forced to confront the realities of a world shaped by power and greed.
In Passage of Arms (a first edition copy of which I hurriedly exchanged £1 for in a local charity shop), Girija Krishnan, an Indian clerk on a Malayan rubber plantation, discovers a hidden cache of arms left by defeated Communist insurgents. Seeing a chance to fund his dream of starting a bus company, he schemes to sell the weapons. The risky venture draws in a web of characters: a trio of entrepreneurial Chinese brothers in Singapore, a shady British ex-soldier, and Greg and Dorothy Nilsen, naive American tourists on a world cruise. Lured by a seemingly simple task and a hefty fee, Greg agrees to sign papers for the arms deal, only to find himself entangled in a dangerous plot involving Chinese smugglers and Muslim revolutionaries in Indonesia. As the weapons move from Malaya to Singapore and Sumatra, the stakes escalate, with Greg needing to secure a rebel leader’s signature in volatile Labuanga.
More than a spy thriller, Passage to Arms is a sharp critique of petty commerce, the tangled world of arms dealing and the ever murky undercurrents of post-colonial Southeast Asia. And it is a reminder that in the real world commerce and ideals often collide — and that if we are to face reality, we must make choices between the two.
This month, Turkey secured deals with the UK and Germany to acquire 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s goal of strengthening up his military forces to enhance Turkey’s regional clout. Germany initially resisted due to Erdoğan’s aggressive stance toward Greece, and Cyprus, but Turkey’s agreement to adhere to NATO guidelines — ensuring the jets won’t be used against Greece, a NATO ally — prompted approval from Germany’s Federal Security Council, allowing the deal to go ahead.
As part of this build up Turkey is also pursuing US-made F-16s and holds out hopes of being able to get hold of F-35s – despite its 2019 expulsion from the F-35 program over purchases of the Russian S-400 SAM system. Ankara has also invested heavily in its navy, drone forces, and indigenous KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet programs.
Turkey’s rising strength in the region is raising concerns in Israel. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid urged the UK and Germany to block the Eurofighter deal, warning that Turkey seeks air parity with Israel, which already faces Turkey’s dominant Middle East naval fleet. Claiming that the purchase of Eurofighter jets by Türkiye would be “dangerous for Israel,” he said: “Türkiye has the largest and most powerful naval fleet in the Middle East and now aims to achieve parity with Israel in airspace.
Calls to restrict arms sales are nothing new. There have been calls in recent years to stop arms sales to a vast number of Britain’s customers — including, of course, Turkey and Israel. Although not based on premises I share, these calls are, at least, related to some conception of national interest; just not a conception I agree is accurate.
The idea that our arms exports should be decided by anyone but ourselves should be dismissed immediately and forcefully
This is not the case with Mr Lapid. His comments are about domestic positioning than anything; Lapid criticized the Netanyahu government, claiming a competent foreign ministry could have halted the deal: “If Israel had a functioning foreign ministry or a normal government, the new deal for the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Türkiye by Germany and the UK would have already been blocked.”
The idea that our arms exports should be decided by anyone but ourselves should be dismissed immediately and forcefully. Lapid’s calls are based in Israel’s national interest, not our own. Foreign nations do not get to dictate our arms export strategy, and forgoing arms sales to ensure Israel maintains air superiority over Turkey is not in our national interest.
But selling Typhoons to Turkey most definitely is. Announcing the deal, Keir Starmer pointed out that the deal secures 20,000 jobs, but Britain’s relationship with Turkey guarantees a lot more than that. The country is a priority market for the UK’s arms export unit, whilst the UK arms industry — in particular BAE Systems — are major players in the development of Turkey’s growing arms industry. There is also the fact that whilst Turkey may be an imperfect ally, it is also a member of NATO, and that the Eurofighter is unlikely to seriously affect the balance of air power in the region. An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that the Eurofighter sale isn’t an immediate threat to Israel’s air superiority, as the Typhoon is capable but not superior to Israeli jets. If the Israelis are really that worried about them, they are welcome to buy some themselves. That would guarantee parity, for certain.
They say Britain doesn’t make anything anymore. It’s just not true. We make a lot of things, in fact — it’s just that we don’t like most of it. We are world leaders, for instance, in the development and implementation of needless HR paperwork that bureaucratises away the true potential of productive companies. The industrious ladies of the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border are being copied across the world. And we are — some recent reversals notwithstanding — still one of the world’s largest exporters of arms. Despite it being worth £12bn in 2023, the export arm of our arms industry is politically unloved. Many consider it a foreign policy tool, rather than a business; if that is so, then let us use it unapologetically in our own interests. As Ambler wrote in another of his masterpieces, The Mask of Dimitirios;
If I had not made the money, someone else would have done so. Not one of those unfortunate creatures would have been any better off and I should have lost money.
