MGM Resorts told the Review-Journal that nothing going on in Egypt would impact the company’s plans in that country for New Giza, a resort for the affluent which will be sitting on a lovely bit of land purchased with MGM Resort’s partner Mahmoud el-Gammal. Mahmoud el-Gammal is the father in law of former President Mubarak’s son, Gammal Mubarak.
Now, the land for New Giza has turned up on a spread sheet of potential illicit Mubarak assets that is being created and distributed by some of the protesters from Tahir Square including the well known Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey. The spreadsheet includes New Giza and asks how “Mahmoud ElGammal ..suddenly bought the land for building the compound of New Giza.” I wonder if MGM Resorts knows the answer? This should be interesting.
Another MGM Resorts partner Dubai World isn’t really a company in the traditional sense. It is an outgrowth of the ruling family of Dubai who chose to take the emirate’s wealth (rather than let the people decide how to use it) and speculated on a high risk casino project in Vegas: CityCenter. Today’s New York Times has a good reminder of how business works for a company in Dubai via a look at Emirates Air whose head:
“Sheik Ahmed plays a role in almost every aspect of air travel into and out of Dubai. Indeed, he is known as ‘Mr. Aviation.’ He is the chairman of FlyDubai, the city-state’s budget airline, and of Dnata, the airport’s ground handling company. He is also the president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, which oversees the industry. And he happens to be the uncle of Dubai’s current ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.”
The corruption is just sitting there on the surface, but it is ‘legal’ when a family rules a nation. The ruling family’s Dubai World in addition to CityCenter has also made investments in Vegas nightlife company Light Group and Cirque.
It is sad that Las Vegas put so much effort into ending the ability of criminals (and, mob families) to earn and/or launder illicit gains here, and now we have become the business partner of choice for corrupt authoritarian rulers from the Gulf to North Africa to China.
“It is sad that Las Vegas put so much effort into ending the ability of criminals (and, mob families) to earn and/or launder illicit gains here, and now we have become the business partner of choice for corrupt authoritarian rulers from the Gulf to North Africa to China.”
So true.
Those times back in the 1970s/1980s of skimming profits and sending them back East to organized crime syndicates was cut and dried, outright criminal. And proven.
Now? In these weird times?
There’s a fine line between corporations, the filthy rich and greedy, criminal corruptness.
While I’m with you on Mubarak, I think you’ve yet again misunderstood a region of the world (particularly the Emirates of the UAE) you’ve clearly never been to or followed in any depth. (1) Dubai runs out of oil in 5-10 years and has known this for a long time so the gov’t there (monarchy or not) has opted to diversify itself at all costs in the past decade and a half to try and give itself some life after the oil runs out (hence the multiple ports, business parks, hotels that are strikingly similar to Vegas, etc). Abu Dhabi has oil until at least 2100, so they’re not in the same rush but are spending the money on their nationals (is it a form of bribery? Sure, but it’s hardly nefarious). (2) The UAE isn’t Bahrain (with the religious bias between a Sunni ruler/elite and 85% Shiite), it’s all Sunni. And the Emiratis (i.e. the Arab descendants of original settlers who are also called Nationals) have always been well taken care of. To the point of excess: they all have guaranteed housing and education, health care at a minimal cost, and all get to be employed (80%+ are employed by the government) –while you can’t say the same for non-nationals, the Sheikhs there certainly aren’t making enemies. You’ll be hard pressed to find any dislike of those guys by their governed.
Now is it an ideal democracy? No. Do they care in those Emirates? No. Do Mubarak’s Egypt, the PRC and UAE share much in common? Only that they are not democracies. There just isn’t a comparison to the secular autocrats of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen or the prejudiced rule of Bahrain. Oman isn’t a good comparison because the country was never wealthy. Saudi Arabia’s royal family nearly self-destructed under Saud before he was forced out by Faisal –but they’re still struggling because they simply have too many people to automatically employ like the UAE can.
Is the existence of Dubai World some sign of corruption? Not unless you’re willing to call out the sovereign funds of other countries like Norway (another oil wealth investor) or those of any other royal family (regardless of constitutional or absolute status).
I still can’t believe you seriously think Dubai is some kind of governmental equivalent to the mob. A government is only legitimate if its people accept it, and you won’t find a more cozy relationship than what’s in the UAE right now. I spent a week over there and all nationals are pleased (the only people who aren’t are the non-nationals –but strict restrictions on a person’s ability to naturalize isn’t anything new: just look at Japan or the fringe-right of our own political spectrum).
I hope you realize exactly how marginalized your arguments make you. Most people don’t come looking for a blog on Vegas development and celebrity gossip to hear a half-baked diatribe about some supposed Dubai conspiracy of influence and corruption that’s no different than any other investment group.
Thanks for reading Honesty, I suggest you look at Human Rights Watch’s record on UAE: http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/united-arab-emirates In Libya the leader thinks his people love him, too. And, it is even better when you can sort through the population and get to pick who counts as a person in your country. I am not impressed that citizens are bribed too much to possibly want freedom. Then why did Qtar recently arrest a blogger and internal security keeps political prisoners and represses “guest workers” who in fact could be third generation Dubai born individuals who are not defined by the State as citizens. This is not benign. This is dictatorship. I hope my views are never out of the mainstream when it comes to basic rights. And, what would you consider a country that tolerates no disagreement, has an absolute hereditary ruler and a ruling family that spend the nation’s sovereign wealth without consulting or being answerable to their populations? Yrs., Richard