The Ras al-Khaimah "coup": The Georgian connection

The 2003 coup in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah concluded when the UAE military took to the streets and restored order.  The UAE military would only have been involved if approval had come from the highest level ie the President with the approval, implicit or otherwise, of the rulers of the other Emirates.  Staging any sort of 'takeover' in RAK now would be to take a stand against, not just the current rulers of RAK, but the authority of federal law in the UAE. 
This piece from the Georgia Media Centre makes for interesting reading.

Source: Georgia Media Centre

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Events in a small Gulf emirate could be about to turn Georgian politics upside down, with the ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, part of the United Arab Emirates, facing the prospect of being dethroned by the country's former ruler, Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi.

Khalid was overthrown by his brother and father in 2003 - allegedly because he sought to improve women's rights in the absolutist statelet, whose name means "top of the tent" in Arabic.

Now, reports London's Guardian, Khalid is in the UAE negotiating to return to power - the culmination of a multi-million dollar campaign to return to the throne which, rather incongruously, seems to have been run out of a family solictor's office in the London suburb of Uxbridge.
The significance for Georgia is, following the Rose Revolution of late 2003, the new rulers of Ras al-Khaimah became the biggest single foreign investors in Georgia, through the state-owed Ras al-Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA).
The standard drill has been for RAKIA to get given an asset at a knock-down price (often because it was seized from the owners) and then, at least in theory, invest money. The signs for Rakeen - RAKIA's property arm - are a common sight around Tbilisi (such as Mtatsminda Park - pictured), but often the investment seems to be slower to follow.
RAKIA were also said to have financed the purchase of Imedi TV from Joseph Kay - the controversal US-based businessman who claimed that station founder Badri Patarkatsishvili had willed the station to him (a claim fiercely disputed by the widow and family of Patarkatsishvili, who died in England in 2008 after being forced into exile by the Saakashvili regime).
Joesph Kay, while protected in Georgia by the country's notoriously pliant courts, began to lose case after case to Patarkatsishvili's family and earlier this year the Ras al-Khaimah aithorities, in a less than fully convincing fashion, denied having ever been involved with Imedi.
If the current rulers of the emirate fall there could be profound implications for the Georgian government's finances and propaganda machine.

The RAK "coup": Sheikh Khalid replies

Sheikh Khalid's response to the Guardian article about a possible coup in the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah can be found here.

Abdullah Brothers: Poachers turned gamekeepers

The Abdullah Brothers ran Damas International, a jewellery company, and over time they 'used for unauthorised transactions' ie knicked, $165 million in cash and gold from the company.   They were found out, dismissed and ordered to repay the amount.  They then missed the first repayment but that's not considered a default (it would be for anyone else..) and now, lo and behold, the company they took the money from, gives them jobs as 'advisors'. 
 Source: ArabianBusiness 8 June 2010
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Jewellery retailer Damas International said on Tuesday that it had appointed the company founders as senior advisors, just months after they were ordered to be dismissed for $165m of financial irregularities.
The company said Tawfique Abdullah, Tawhid Abdullah and Tamjid Abdullah had been appointed with immediate effect.
In March, Dubai's financial regulator said the Abdullah brothers owed the company $99.4 million cash plus the value of 1,940 kilograms of gold.
They were ordered to repay $165 million in "unauthorised transactions".
The brothers missed the first scheduled repayment of $55 million due in April but Damas said in May that the skipped payment, part of a settlement agreement, was not considered a default.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Damas said the appointments were "in line with the terms of the Enforceable Undertaking signed with the Dubai Financial Services Authority".
A spokesperson said: "Damas International Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of the Abdullah brothers as senior advisors to the company.
"At a time when Damas is going through a period of transition and pursuing a renewed strategy for its sustainable growth, the involvement of the Abdullah brothers in an advisory capacity provides us significant depth of knowledge and insight.
"In their roles, even though the involvement is strictly non executive, the company will benefit from their valuable advice on the unique aspects of the jewellery trade."
Last week, Damas said it expected to reach a debt restructuring deal with lenders by the end of June.
Damas is in talks with banks to restructure $872 million and is operating under a standstill agreement. The lenders, some 20 banks, include foreign names like Barclays and BNP Paribas.

A coup plot in RAK

Source: The Guardian 6 June
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A bloodless coup to take control of an Arab Gulf state is being plotted by an unlikely alliance that includes a powerful firm of US lobbyists and a provincial English high-street solicitor.
Peter Cathcart, a 59-year-old lawyer from Farnham, has been hired by the ousted crown prince of Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates to co-ordinate the plot aimed at returning him to power after seven years in exile.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that Cathcart has acted as a paid agent for Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi in a multimillion-pound campaign to "undermine the current regime's standing" and to force the leadership of the UAE in Abu Dhabi, which has powerful influence over the emirate, to "make a change".
RAK is a strategically important part of the UAE, 50 miles from Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil are shipped each day. Sheikh Khalid, 66, was ousted by his father and brother as de facto leader in 2003.
The campaign alleges the regime presents an international security threat because the kingdom has become "a rogue state and gateway for Iran", allowing the shipment of weapons, including nuclear weapons parts, drugs and blood diamonds as well as military personnel and terrorists from al-Qaida and other networks.
Cathcart, a miniature steam train enthusiast and chairman of his local parish council who operates from modest offices in the outer London suburbs, cuts an unlikely figure in the plot, which involves highly paid US PR consultants, Washington lobbyists and former US-special forces strategists hired at a cost of at least $3.7m (£2.6m). They include BSKH, the lobbying firm which helped Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who opposed Saddam Hussein and was widely blamed for providing unsubstantiated evidence about weapons of mass destruction used as justification for an invasion of Iraq.
It is not suggested that Cathcart's involvement is unlawful.
The plotters have claimed the RAK regime is implicated in an alleged terror plot to blow up the world's tallest building in Dubai, and a possible Iranian attack on US participants in the America's Cup yachting race, due to take place in the emirate but later cancelled.
The campaign to return Sheikh Khalid to power comes amid international concern about Iran's nuclear programme, and the deposed sheikh's focus on links between RAK and Iran appears calculated to turn international opinion, particularly in Washington, against the family who rejected him.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is among the US politicians including more than a dozen congressmen from whom Sheikh Khalid has sought support. In February, he made a speech in Washington in which he stated: "I am troubled that the current regime has allowed RAK to devolve into a rogue state and strategic gateway for Iran. Published reports in the Gulf region have repeatedly indicated that Iran has taken advantage of our free trade zones, using them as a transfer point to smuggle cargo, including arms, electronics, weapons parts, drugs and even humans to Africa, Europe and Asia."
His US communications team insists the claims are "well sourced", but they were rejected by the UAE embassy in London. The UAE also denied the Sheikh's claim that RAK has links to Iran's nuclear programme and that a port in RAK has in effect become an Iranian base, allowing Tehran to avoid international sanctions.
"These appear to be old, scurrilous rumours which Sheik Khalid has made on numerous occasions," a spokesman for the UAE said in a statement. "His claims are baseless and without foundation and should be seen in the context of his long-standing dispute with his family. We are surprised that these old allegations are now being rehashed once again."
Sources close to the plot believe it is now entering its endgame. Sheikh Khalid is understood to have returned to the UAE from exile in London last month and has been in Abu Dhabi meeting officials from the UAE federal government, they said.
The ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, is the UAE president and ratifies changes to the leadership of the emirates.
The plot has been under way since at least 2008, according to the documents seen by the Guardian. They show that Cathcart has overseen the disbursement of several million dollars to fund the plot and acted as an intermediary between PR consultants, lobbyists and Sheikh Khalid. Cathcart has also met congressmen in Washington DC on behalf of the sheikh and oversaw requests for new appointments to the team. On one occasion he was asked to approve win-bonuses for would-be US advisers of $250,000 per person if the sheikh returns to power.
Cathcart declined repeated requests by the Guardian to comment on his role.
Asked by the Guardian if "regime change" was a legitimate goal, the sheikh's communications team replied: "If you believe in the peace, prosperity and security of the region and in protecting US national security interests, of course. If you are pro-Iranian or believe that the questionable activities in RAK should be allowed to move forward without any concern, then you would probably not approve of our activities."

Laing O’Rourke to close its Middle East division

Source: building.co.uk, 6 June 2010
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Laing O’Rourke will shut its Middle East division in the latest sign of the toll the global downturn has taken on the company.
The move follows deep cuts to the firm’s global workforce that have almost halved staff levels over the past year.
According to a Laing O’Rourke source that returned to the UK business from the Gulf this year, the worldwide workforce has been cut from 35,753 to about 20,000, largely as a result of the downturn in the UAE.
The closure of the division marks a significant change in strategy for the UK’s third-largest contractor, which relaunched the business with a three-region structure in 2006. The remaining hubs are Europe and Australasia, but the Middle East was the largest in terms of headcount.
The source said: “It’s been a nightmare for my family and hundreds of former colleagues who are out of work. The firm can’t employ more than 4,500 workers and 900 professional staff in the Middle East now, which is down from about 16,000 and 5,000 during the boom - a fall of about three-quarters.”
The closure follows the return of Norman Haste, formerly chief operating officer of the Middle East hub, to the UK late last year to spearhead the company’s push into the energy market. He was not replaced as head of the regional business, whose remaining operations will be overseen by the firm’s head office in Dartford, Kent.
The move to cut the division, which included south Asia, also follows the winding down of a joint venture with Indian firm DLF, which is understood to have little work on its books.
Despite the closure, the £4bn-turnover firm is expected to maintain a presence in the Middle East and will continue to have a relationship with Abu Dhabi developer Aldar, with whom it is working on the 54bn dirham (£10bn) Al Raha beach project. Previous jobs in the region included the 5.5bn dirham Atlantis hotel in Dubai.
The source added: “They will keep good relations with the ruling families, but will never be in a situation again where there is such a dependency on a market where it is hard to get your money back if things go wrong.”
The extent of the company’s debt in the Middle East is unknown, but according to its 2009 accounts its turnover in the region doubled to £829m, which compares with £300m at Balfour Beatty and £600m at Carillion, the two largest UK contractors.
A Laing O’Rourke spokesperson declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Laing O’Rourke is using its Australasia business as a springboard into Hong Kong. It is is pushing to win rail infrastructure work in the Chinese territory

Standards must be maintained.

"I'm off to the Co-op Darling"

As you probably know, Dubai's malls and many individual shops in the suburbs display posters at the entrances warning customers to wear 'respectful clothing'. Most of these posters show a sketch of a female dress that covers both shoulders and knees. Now, in an interesting possible development, the Union Co-Op in Satwa has a 'respectful clothing' poster at the entrance which shows a female figure wearing a floor length dress not unlike an abaya. This is the first time I've seen a 'full length dress' poster. I have one floor length dress, its a ball gown and I'm sure as hell not wearing it to the Co-op in Satwa. (The Co-op was full of Phillipinas in shorts and spaghetti straps, not one of them was wearing a full length ball gown so it seems the clothing message has been lost in translation along the way somewhere.)

There's a s*x shop in the Gulf somewhere?

Not many details in this article, no location given, though that might be deliberate, and the photos in the article show the sort of stuff you can buy in any of the fancy shops in the malls.  Still, the publicity is sure to cause a stir and I imagine the owner will be receiving a visit in the near future from the Ministry of Labour or somesuch. 
Source: NineMSN (Australia)
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Wearing a veil and modest, flowing abaya, Khadija Ahmed looks an unlikely owner of the conservative Gulf's first sex shop.
She sees nothing wrong, however, with selling "joy jelly," edible undies or the vibrating accoutrements offered by such niche boutiques around the world, insisting that nothing in Islam forbids the pleasures of the bedroom.
"It's not a sex shop in the Western sense," she explained, "but a place to help married couples, and only married couples, enjoy sex to the full."