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Matthew Teller uses archive, analysis and new interviews to examine Sandhurst's longstanding links with the Gulf, exploring whether there is a detectable 'Sandhurst influence' on the repression of popular protests across the Middle East, and ask whether Sandhurst should help deliver officer-trained military leaders to Middle Eastern allies if they have questionable records on rights and accountability.

Links between Sandhurst and the elite families of the Middle East stretch back over a century. Today, the region has started to turn the tables. Gulf monarchies are deploying 21st-century techniques (and, above all, money) to extend their own soft power. In recent years Sandhurst has sparked debate by accepting £3m from Bahrain and £15m from the UAE to rededicate two buildings.

Sandhurst insiders - including a former commandant, Middle Eastern activists and exiled academics - debate the rights and wrongs of Sandhurst's role in bolstering at best undemocratic, and at worst repressive, regimes.

Presenter/Matthew Teller, Producer/Karen Pirie for Whistledown productions

BBC Radio 4 Publicity