UAE

Why is Britain rolling out the red carpet for the UAE’s Sheikh Khalifa?

by Paul Woodward 04.28.2013

The New Statesman: On Tuesday next week, Britain will roll out the red carpet for the leader of a country which not only has a terrible record on human rights, but has even tortured our own citizens. Sheikh Khalifa – the unelected President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – will be given the honour [...]

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UAE’s bizarre, political trial of 94 activists

by News Sources 03.06.2013

David Hearst writes: A strange trial has opened in Abu Dhabi. For most of the past seven months, up to 70 of the 94 activists accused of plotting to overthrow the government of the United Arab Emirates have been held in secret detention. It was only after their families threatened a sit-in that their relatives [...]

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Dubai torture allegations: Britain puts economic interest before citizens

by News Sources 02.21.2013

Nesrine Malik writes: On a Cambridge University panel on the future of the Arab spring late last year, I nodded and agreed wholeheartedly as a fellow panellist criticised the west’s complicity with fallen Arab dictators, citing the sale of arms to Middle Eastern despots as an indicator of the west’s apathy towards poor human rights [...]

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As Clinton arrives, UAE closes down U.S.-financed democracy group

by News Sources 03.31.2012

The New York Times reports: On the eve of a summit meeting here between the United States and Arab nations of the Persian Gulf to deepen security ties, one of those countries, the United Arab Emirates, announced that it had shut down an American-financed organization that promotes democracy, State Department officials said. The United Arab [...]

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Dubai’s skyscrapers, stained by the blood of migrant workers

by News Sources 05.28.2011

Nesrine Malik writes: Visiting Dubai on a work trip, I was wandering the resplendent hallways of my a hotel searching for an ATM when a commotion occurred. Some of the hotel staff were scurrying about, looking obviously distressed. I asked one of them if there was any trouble and he responded with a glossy smile. [...]

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Secret desert force set up by Blackwater’s founder

by News Sources 05.15.2011

The New York Times reports from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates: Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military [...]

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Military assets in battle for Libya

by News Sources 03.20.2011

After numerous statements from officials and military experts on how difficult and time consuming it would be to put a no-fly zone in state, the Pentagon now says that it’s already effectively been put in place.

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Bahrain regime promoting sectarian division

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Marc Lynch writes: While the American and international debate over Libya continues, the situation in Bahrain has just taken a sharp turn for the worse. A brutal crackdown on the protestors followed the controversial entry of security forces from Saudi Arabia and three other GCC states. Media access has been curtailed, with journalists finding it [...]

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Arming democracy’s opponents

by News Sources 02.24.2011

The Daily Telegraph reports: Facing budget cuts at home, western arms firms are desperate for a share of the lucrative Middle East market. “The post-financial crisis reality,” said Herve Guillou, president of Cassidian Systems, a subsidiary of European aviation defence group EADS, “is that today it is clearly the Middle East that is seeing the [...]

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How the Dubai debacle showcased Israeli arrogance and Mossad’s incompetence

by Paul Woodward 01.05.2011

In a feature article for GQ Magazine, Ronen Bergman, senior political and military analyst for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, describes the rise and fall of Israel’s Mossad under the leadership of Meir Dagan. “Dagan’s unique expertise,” Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon once said, “is the separation of an Arab from his head.” Under Dagan’s [...]

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State Dept spokesman P J Crowley is a liar

by Paul Woodward 12.27.2010

Richard Silverstein writes: On February 25, 2010, State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley lied when he told a press conference that he wasn’t aware of any request from Dubai for assistance in tracking the Mossad killers of Mahmoud al-Mabouh. To those who say that Wikileaks hasn’t told us anything we didn’t already know–think again. Wikileaks has [...]

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WikiLeaks to show Israel role in Hamas murder

by News Sources 12.25.2010

Gulf News reports: The founder of WikiLeaks has said leaked US diplomatic cables, to be released soon, will prove that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was involved in the murder of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in Dubai last January. The statement by Julian Assange in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, proves what [...]

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Dubai murder suspect arrested in Canada

by News Sources 10.19.2010

(Update below) Gulf News reports: Dubai Police Chief Tuesday confirmed the arrest in Canada of a suspect, believed to be involved in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh last January. Speaking to reporters, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said Canadian authorities have arrested another suspect who is connected to the murder of Al [...]

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Is Payoneer under US investigation for role in Dubai murder?

by Paul Woodward 08.02.2010

The Wall Street Journal reports: American investigators, cooperating in a probe of the January assassination of a top Palestinian leader in Dubai, have identified a handful of U.S.-based companies believed to have been used to transfer money to suspects in the case, a finding that brings international authorities closer to identifying who funded the operation. [...]

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UAE ambassador confirms: Palestine is the core issue

by Paul Woodward 07.08.2010

During a stage interview with Yousel al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States, Jeffrey Goldberg made it clear that even when acting as a representative of The Atlantic and helping facilitate a forum in Aspen, Colorado, he still sees himself first and foremost as an Israeli. When the ambassador pointed out that Iran’s [...]

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Who’s pushing to strike Iran?

by Paul Woodward 07.07.2010

[Update: See this post which confirms that Goldberg twisted the narrative here.] After an exchange between the UAE ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba and Jeffrey Goldberg on Tuesday we learn that “the UAE would sooner see military action against Iran’s nuclear program than see the program succeed” — at least that’s what Goldberg says. [...]

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Poland arrests alleged Mossad agent in connection with Hamas commander’s murder

by Paul Woodward 06.12.2010

For almost six months, at least 32 Mossad agents wanted in connection with the murder of the Hamas commander, Mahmoud Mabhouh, have managed to avoid arrest. Now that Uri Brodsky (or whatever his real name might be) has been caught, the Israeli government is going to be forced to break its silence on the case. [...]

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Sanctions-busting is in Dubai’s DNA

by Paul Woodward 04.21.2010

In The Guardian, Raymond Barrett writes: Dubai – separated from Iran by the waters of the Gulf – has excelled as a channel for circumventing the variety of international sanctions that have built up over the decades. Be it restrictions on badly needed aviation spare parts, “dual use” electronics or blackballed financial institutions, Dubai is [...]

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Dubai tells spies to clear out

by Paul Woodward 03.12.2010

Newsweek reports: Police in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai have advised all foreign spies to get out of town—and preferably out of the region—within a week. Although it is widely known in international spy circles, news of the expulsion threat has received little circulation beyond media in the Arab world. However, Gulf News, a [...]

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What the Dubai assassination reveals

by Paul Woodward 03.09.2010

Robert Baer considers some of the wider implications of the assassination of the Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai in January: If Mossad was indeed responsible, it means that blame for Mabhouh’s assassination can be put at the doorstep of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s Prime Minister has historically approved hits staged in countries with [...]

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Dubai assassins employed by US companies

by Paul Woodward 03.02.2010

Bloomberg reports: Suspected assassins of a Hamas leader in Dubai “fraudulently” acquired prepaid payroll cards and stole identities to obtain jobs at U.S. companies, according to card-issuer MetaBank. Authorities informed Meta, a unit of publicly traded Meta Financial Group Inc., that the suspects used fake passports to get cards issued by the firm and other [...]

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Dubai police chief says to seek Netanyahu arrest

by Paul Woodward 03.02.2010

Reuters reports: Dubai’s police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel’s spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate, Al Jazeera television reported. Dahi Khalfan Tamim “said he would ask the Dubai prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for … Netanyahu and [...]

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Payoneer CEO alleged to be linked to Mossad

by Paul Woodward 03.02.2010

Gulf News reports that Yuval Tal (the CEO of Payoneer, the New York-based company that issued prepaid debit cards used by the Dubai assassins) is alleged to have links to Mossad: … a person who said he met Tal a couple of times but did not want to be named told Gulf News that “there [...]

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FBI called in over Hamas murder

by Paul Woodward 03.01.2010

The National reports: Dubai authorities have asked the FBI to investigate the links between suspects in the murder of the Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouth and their American-issued payment cards, an FBI source confirmed yesterday. The investigation will seek to discover the source of the funds used in the January 19 assassination at a Dubai [...]

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