Something very interesting out of the UAE

the guys sitting on top of that much money don't just suddenly have their gliders go down in a lake and disappear... there's a really rotten smell coming from this story and i ain't buyin' a word of it...

The United Arab Emirates state news agency says the head of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund — the world's largest — is missing after his glider crashed in Morocco.

The official Emirates News Agency said that Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's glider went down in a lake in Morocco on Friday. The pilot of the aircraft was rescued in good condition, but authorities continued the search for Al Nahyan.

Al Nahyan is the managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He is also the younger brother of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the leader of the United Arab Emirates.

if abu dhabi, dubai and the uae hadn't recently taken such a giant financial drubbing, a story like this would still raise significant doubts but, given recent developments, the odor is overpowering...

and you gotta believe ahmed's disappearance has some connection to the drama that's being played out between dubai and abu dhabi...

Dubai said on Thursday it would recapitalize Dubai World DBWLD.UL and repay property unit Nakheel's bonds in full, with $9.5 billion of aid in a debt offer that would promise creditors all their money back in up to eight years.

The Dubai government said $5.7 billion in funds from a previous loan made by Abu Dhabi would provide the lion's share of the funding, and that Dubai would add around $4 billion of its own resources.

Analysts had expected Abu Dhabi to step in with more cash.

[...]

Abu Dhabi gave Dubai $10 billion late last year in a two-part bailout made up of $5 billion from Abu Dhabi-linked banks in November and another $5 billion from the government.

[...]

British historian Christopher Davidson said Dubai's indebtedness to Abu Dhabi may dent its political clout in the UAE. The constitution divides power between the two emirates equally, with decisions on substantive issues requiring the support of both. The smaller emirates have less sway.

[...]

"One concern is that is nobody knows the full extent of the debt of Dubai," Davidson said. "Abu Dhabi can't sign a blank cheque, it doesn't have unlimited resources itself. It can't underwrite Dubai completely."

these people don't play nice and a great deal goes on that's shrouded in family secrecy... there have been a lot of enemies made, most of whom were either bought off or summarily disposed of...

i posted on this back in april of last year...

A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.

A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim's arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man's wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.

In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed.

"The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior," the Interior Ministry's statement declared.

but hey...! it's all in the family, right...?

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Abu Dhabi caves on its gambling-addicted neighbor, Dubai

in twelve-step language, this is called enabling... abu dhabi is enabling dubai, its whited sepulchre neighbor and fellow emirate, to continue to pursue the same raw, naked greed that got it into trouble in the first place, exactly the same strategy followed by the u.s. and europe in bailing out its too-big-to-fail banksters...

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi on Monday provided $10 billion to help pay off some of the debts of an ailing property company owned by the government of neighboring Dubai, at least temporarily averting a crisis over the finances of the high-flying desert sheikhdom.

and dubai may not be the only sovereign state facing difficulties...

Dubai "could well be the tip of the iceberg in terms of over-leveraged nations," analysts at India's HDFC Bank wrote in a report, as indicated by recent fears about a possible Greek default.

[...]

"We are in completely uncharted territory" that could redefine the relationship between Western investors and the government-backed companies often set up to develop projects here and in other emerging markets, said Chavan Bhogaita, head of credit research at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

[...]

These are nations where the distinctions between government, ruling family and government-owned entities are often difficult to discern, where clan ties can help acquire virtually open-ended credit, and where bankruptcy and finance laws are not well tested.

In Dubai's case, "one could in fact argue that the state is its corporations," Woertz wrote.

meanwhile back in dubai...

Housing prices have fallen nearly 50 percent so far this year, putting Dubai below Estonia for the biggest decline, according to a recent report by the London-based Knight Frank real estate group.

you might be tempted to think that this would be a wake-up call for dubai just as i was tempted to think that the on-going financial collapse in the u.s. would be a wake-up call for us... sadly, the small store of wisdom i've gained over the years tells me otherwise... when you're hopelessly addicted to power and money, it's really hard to give it up... there's no nicotine patches for those two drugs...

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Dubai finally admits a bit of the truth

i love how the 2d paragraph starts - "the fallout came swiftly"... 'scuse me, but what a pile of bullshit... it may have SEEMED swift but only for those who haven't been paying attention...

hardly a secret, dubai's bailout request to abu dhabi (see below) made dubai the butt of jokes as the whimpering plea of a compulsive gambler... there were rumblings last january when i posted about those jumping ship (here) and have devoted a number of other posts (here) to my impressions of that supremely soulless place that harbors the all-too-common delusion that money can buy not just anything, but EVERYTHING...

perhaps the biggest reason the dubai debt crisis took the world by surprise is the intense repression of news exercised by obscenely bloated, super rich sheiks that call the shots in the uae... the fact that it's hitting the news at all suggests to me that the problem is massively more serious than they're letting on...

Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills — causing a drop on world markets Thursday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.

The fallout came swiftly and was felt globally after Wednesday statement that Dubai's main development engine, Dubai World, would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May. The company's real estate arm, Nakheel — whose projects include the palm-shaped island in the Gulf — shoulders the bulk of money due to banks, investment houses and outside development contractors.

In total, the state-backed networks nicknamed Dubai Inc. are $80 billion in the red and the emirate needed a bailout earlier this year from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

boo-freakin'-hoo...

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In Dubai

i'm currently sitting in my hotel room in dubai, looking out over deira creek... it's a relatively pretty and sane part of town, dhows plying up and down, and no view of the totally over-the-top excess of some of the other parts of the city...

unfortunately, i can't be here anymore without thinking of the ugliness behind the scenes... ugliness like this...

Sadistic torture over thinking you've been cheated

nice guys around here, dontcha think...?

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The hypocrite-in-chief is still lusting after war with Iran [UPDATE]

even tho' the u.s. media continues to dutifully report his unending bellicosity, despite the fact that there is virtually NOBODY left who believes a word he says, george is going to keep on beating the drums of war until the little men in white coats lead him away...

read this and see if ya think he sounds like he's gettin' desperate...

President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger "before it's too late."

Bush said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the hardline Taliban regime, intimidates its neighbors with alarming rhetoric and defies the United Nations by refusing to be open about its nuclear program.

"Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror," Bush said in a speech about democracy that he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip, which began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact — an accord he said whose "time has come."

Chiding U.S. allies who have withheld civil liberties, Bush said governments will never build trust by harassing or imprisoning candidates and protesters. But his rebuke was general, and he did not single out any U.S. partner in the region for oppressive practices.

"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government," Bush said. "And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."

gosh... where to start...? nah... not worth it... just soak in the irony that the leader of the "world's leading state sponsor of terror," and the leader of a country that is not only setting up all the mechanisms for "harassing or imprisoning" its citizens for "peacefully petitioning their government," and, in fact, is already doing so, is delivering a lecture like this...

[UPDATE]

obviously, bush's VIEW of the facts trumps facts themselves... now THAT'S executive power...!

“He told the Israelis that he can’t control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE’s] conclusions don’t reflect his own views” about Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity.

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Dick Cheney, Man of War

something to haunt your dreams...

Vice President Dick Cheney fired a new warning shot across the bow of the nation of Iran Friday, saying the United States would prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons.

Speaking aboard an aircraft carrier some four years after President Bush declared victory in "major" Iraq combat operations, Cheney declared, "we want to complete the mission, get it done right and return with honor."

[...]

Cheney spoke as five warplanes stood arrayed behind him. The carrier was some 20 miles off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, with Iran 150 miles to the East.

"Cheney's visit comes just two days before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to visit Abu Dhabi," according to AP.

and he had the unmitigated GALL to say this...

Fox New’s Bret Baier told Dick Cheney, “You are portrayed by your opponents and some in the media as this sinister figure, as this cold-blooded warmonger who doesn’t care about the number of body bags going back.” Cheney said that he regrets the casualties, but added, “Obviously, the President bears the major part of the burden. He’s the man with the authority to commit the force.”

dick, m'boy, YOU are the cold-blooded son-of-a-bitch... george is just a cardboard cut-out... you ain't foolin' nobody...

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