For all those saying the UAE is "our friend" to justify the port deal...

[Atman]

I offer you this little reminder of another such "friendship" as evidence of how the best laid plans can go horribly wrong...




.

[MADem]

1. It's SEVEN guys, who own EVERYTHING

Here is how they run the joint--they have "elections" all right--the seven of them take turns electing each other:

In a spirit of consensus and collaboration, the Rulers of the seven emirates agreed during the process of the federation that each of them would be a member of the Supreme Council, the top policy-making body in the new state. They agreed also that they would elect a President and a Vice-President from amongst their member, to serve for a five-year term of office. The Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was elected as the first President, a post to which he has been re-elected at successive five-yearly intervals, while the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, was elected as first Vice-President, a post he continued to hold until his death in 1990, at which point his eldest son and heir, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was elected to succeed him.
http://www.uae-embassy.com/uae-politics.htm

Why, I ask, are FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY somehow mandated for the people of Iraq, yet we do national security business with seven despots with deep pockets?

I can smell the bullshit from here!

[Atman]

2. Kick

:kick: