Abu Dhabi Can’t Afford To Keep Iran Out Of Dubai

The Dubai skyline (Jay Tamboli via Flickr)

by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj

As the world teeters on the edge of another financial crisis, few places are being gripped by anxiety like Dubai. Every week a new headline portends the coming crisis in the city of skyscrapers. Dubai villa prices are at their lowest level in a decade, down 24 percent in just one year. A slump in tourism has seen Dubai hotels hit their lowest occupancy rate since the 2008 financial crisis, even as the country gears up to host the Expo 2020 next year. As Bloomberg’s Zainab Fattah reported in November of last year, Dubai has begun to “lose its shine,” its role as a center for global commerce “undermined by a global tariff war—and in particular by the U.S. drive to shut down commerce with nearby Iran.”

Dubai, an entrepôt where the workers are migrants and where property is king, is especially vulnerable to global recessions. In the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009, Dubai’s real estate market collapsed, threatening insolvency for several banks and major development companies, some of them state-linked. Abu Dhabi, which controls the UAE’s vast oil wealth, threw Dubai a lifeline with an initial $10 billion bailout, later expanded to $20 billion.

But there was a second, hidden “bailout” that helped keep Dubai afloat. When the Bush administration enacted the Iran Sanctions Act in 2006, deepening Iran’s economic turmoil under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there was a significant increase in the already significant volume of capital flight from Iran, most of which landed in Dubai. One 2009 estimate places the total value of Iranian investments in Dubai at $300 billion.

While global investors pulled their capital out of Dubai in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Iranian business community mostly stayed put, maintaining their deposits in Dubai’s teetering banks. Iranians continued to invest in Dubai’s ailing property market and used Dubai’s ports to conduct re-exports as sanctions restricted Iran’s direct access to global markets. For Iran’s captains of industry and finance, Dubai was not some far flung emerging market, but a vital channel to the global economy in the face of tightening sanctions. As Iranian economist Saeed Laylaz smartly observed in 2009, “Dubai is the most important city on earth to the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the exception of Tehran.”

The financial crisis and U.S. sanctions had served to deepen the mutual dependence between Dubai and Iran—an outcome that ran counter to the goals of policymakers in both Abu Dhabi and Washington.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the defacto ruler of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed (MBZ), has long seen Iran as a rival. MBZ is hostile to Iranian influence over Dubai, where many of the leading trading families can trace their roots to Iran, a legacy of centuries of trade in the Persian Gulf. MBZ’s dream of an assertive UAE would have been undercut had Dubai continued to develop into the Hong Kong to Iran’s China.

The Obama administration’s effort to build a multilateral sanctions campaign offered MBZ the opportunity to curtail Iran’s presence in Dubai’s economy. As they sought to isolate Iran economically, U.S. officials traveled to Dubai to meet with banks and companies to discourage them from engaging in commercial activities with Iran. Rather than resisting U.S. interference in the UAE’s economic sovereignty, Abu Dhabi amplified the American message– the bailout had put Abu Dhabi in a position to dictate policy to Dubai. The new policy called for Dubai to close its doors to Iranian money.

In subsequent years, the presence of Iranians in Dubai’s economy has diminished significantly. Trade persists, but banks refuse Iran-origin funds, close the accounts of Iranian companies, and deny services to individuals who maintain Iranian citizenship. More recently, as the Trump administration cultivated ties with MBZ, the UAE began to reject more Iranian applications for residency and business visas were routinely denied. Nearly 50,000 Iranian residents have left the UAE in the last three years.

But there are new signs that Dubai may be seeking to repair its trade relationship with Iran. In a recent interview, Abdul Qader Faghihi, president of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai, declared that a “space for trade between Iran and the UAE has been reopened.” Though any opening remains in its initial stages, Faghihi referred to negotiations with “the rulers of Dubai” in which Dubai authorities “accepted that Iranians who have the capital and intend to conduct legitimate trade with the UAE will be granted business visas and that banks will open accounts for these Iranians on instruction from Dubai authorities.”

This small opening may be related to efforts to reduce tensions around the Strait of Hormuz as Abu Dhabi reconsiders its regional entanglements and the risk of conflict in the region—it is unlikely that Dubai would be able to extend an olive branch to the Iranian business community without the consent of Abu Dhabi. But economic fears, and not security concerns, provide the clearest reason why a change in policy may be on the cards—Dubai will soon need another “bailout” from Iran. Farshid Farzanegan, head of the Iran-UAE Joint Chamber of Commerce, recently stated “The UAE’s behavior towards Iranian businessmen has changed… and moves are being taken to resume relations… As the UAE economy slumps, officials have decided to cooperate with Iran.” 

Ten years on from the last financial crisis, Dubai is still repaying its debts to Abu Dhabi. As the UAE braces itself for the next global recession, Iran remains the only country capable of injecting significant capital into Dubai at a time when global investors will pullback. Iranian business leaders in Dubai are wondering—how long can Abu Dhabi afford to freeze them out?

Lying on Iran

Izeth Hussain

Newspapers in Sri Lanka and practically every other country in the world can now be expected to carry every day news items, articles etc stating that Iran had threatened to wipe out Israel from the map. It is intended to make people believe that Iran has a genocidal program against Israel. That’s a lie. What happened was that some years ago the Iranian President made a statement that Israel would be wiped off the map. There could have been a mistranslation leading to the impression that he was threatening mass genocide against the Israeli people. A clarification was therefore issued by the Iranian authorities, to the effect that all that was meant was that in the course of time Israel would cease to exist as the racist and expansionist state that it now is. In other words the Zionist state would cease to exist, not that the Israeli people will be wiped out.

The clarification, surely, was hardly necessary. Can anyone in his right mind really believe that the Iranian President seriously entertained the idea of committing genocide against the Israeli people? If nuclear weapons are used for that purpose, Iran itself will be quickly wiped out by the US. Alternatively, can anyone really believe that Iran, even if it is accompanied by all the other Islamic nations in the world, will be able to accomplish that purpose through conventional war? Anyway the clarification was made, and of course it has been steadfastly ignored by Israel, the West, and the world’s media.

Alternative explanations are available for what looks like Western gullibility over Israel’s lies. One is that power tends to idiotize, and absolute power idiotizes absolutely. Many Westerners have idiotized themselves through their Islamophobia. The other explanation is that the pretense about Iran’s genocidal intent can serve as a seemingly valid casus belli, even as justifying a nuclear bomb attack on Iran. It is a prospect that keeps Israel hopping about and yelping delightedly. We must bear in mind that Americans in powerful positions had seriously thought of bombing the native boys of Vietnam and Pakistan right back into the Stone Age.

It is known that distortions of the truth, half truths, downright lies, are now used far more extensively than ever before in campaigns of misinformation. It is a downright lie that Iran has a genocidal programme against Israel. Sri Lanka on the other hand has been subjected to a campaign of distortions and half truths which can be even more lethal than downright lies as they could be more difficult to expose. The Darusman Report and the Channel 4 video may merit serious consideration but only as material advancing the case for the prosecution, in which case we can be wary about distortions and half truths. But the Darusman Report has been given the imprimatur of the UN through diabolical maneuvering of which Sri Lanka is the victim.

Izeth Hussain

Israel in America and America in Israel: where fact meets fiction

By Abu Dharr

As if a meteorological blizzard was not enough during this past winter, Washington is now afflicted by a psychological blizzard. The media mouthpieces are blowing hot and cold — declaiming wildly what an observer would call an arctic chill that is descending upon the political tundra between the Knesset and the White House. Readers of Crescent International who have been following the Zionist script through their understanding of world developments know better than to slip into emotional shelters when manufactured squalls and twisters erupt in Tel Aviv and Washington. Need we remind those who are vulnerable to mainstream media sensationalism that the regime in Washington and its Dr. Loveless opposite number in Tel Aviv consider Islamic Iran to be the most dangerous government in the world? Due to the forward character and onward pace of Islamic Iran’s duly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a trait that reminds us of the late Imam Khomeini — the USraeli ruling class may be playing its next-to-last grand scheme of deception by harping on a political castigation of “Iranian nuclear and missile programs.”

Much has been said and intimated about “I’m a Zionist” Biden who was received in his political homeland by his Zionist bosses. They used the opportunity during his official visit (March 10th) to declare that there will be 1,600 new homes constructed in (Islamic) Jerusalem — contrary to all the efforts that have gone into winning over the Palestinian Authority to the American sponsored confidence building measures. The Israeli Zionists flipped the diplomatic bird on their American Zionist Biden, thereby causing ladylike Hillary to pick up the phone and have an extended 45 minute exchange of undiplomatic words with manlyNetanyahu… (Naughty Hillary! This may not be good for your family, as Chelsea, remember, is engaged to the “tribe”). The twin-city drama starring Biden, Hillary, Netanyahu, and loose-canon Lieberman (the Israeli Foreign Minister, not the American senator) among others began flashing to the world audience such theater as, “Netanyahu bows to US demand for Jerusalem building freeze,” “US will raise the heat until Israel toes the line on Iran,” and “US ponders denying Israel arms needed for conflict with Iran.” What a show! All of this is show business. Hollywood has come to Washington. Should anyone be surprised?Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s waswaas, who compensates for the lack of a middle finger with an overflow of foul language, has a college degree in dancing or a related field of “rhythmical steps.” You must give it to him: he is putting on a good show. Shallow politicians from Arabia to America are entertained; they, as always, will release their imagination and restrict their mind. The Obama-Emanuel series will have its ups and downs; it will also have its intermissions. And the popcorn politicians will follow each episode with their power of imagination and their impotence of mind.

Meanwhile, far away from this Washingtonian movie house, the facts on the ground are roaring with details. In the real world, the Yahudi-led Obama administration is busy putting together a US-led coalition whose purpose it is to clamp even more severe sanctions on Islamic Iran, beginning with some UN Security Council resolutions and ending with who knows what military action they have on their drawing boards. Statements such as “We are going to put as tight a squeeze on Iran as we possibly can” have been made. They just do not fit the Hollywood script that is being played up by the political actors in the Washington amphitheater. You would have to put on binoculars to catch such statements as, “The [US-led] resolution will target the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] and its vast network of companies, which the United States estimates may include up to one-third of Iran’s total economy.” The full picture is coming into focus: as the US plays up its artificial disagreement with Zionist Israel it escalates its genuine hostility against Islamic Iran.

Another piece of information missing from the mainstream Zionist sponsored media is the fact that in late February a high-level Israeli group visited China, according to a solitary news item in the Financial Times. This Israeli mission to China included Stanley Fischer, governor of Israel’s central bank. You know something is brewing when an all important economist like Mr. Fischer goes to China and explains to the Chinese the US-led planned sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic in Iran.

According to some news reports, China imports nearly 540,000 barrels of oil a day from the Islamic Republic. Enter the American-Israeli Saudi subordinates and Emirati underlings. These Zionist loyalists cloaked in Islamic rituals will have no choice but to obey the imperialist master in doing war against Islamic self-determination and Islamic Iran. It is precisely because the confrontation mode and level of Tel Aviv and Washington against Tehran is rising that it needs a Biden-Hillary and even Obama sideshow.

For those who are watching the movie “The Crisis in Israel’s Relationship with the US” get ready for a rude awakening. The smell of gunpowder in Palestine cannot be compared to the buttery flavor of your parlor kernels that explode when exposed to dry heat. The US Treasury said in mid-March it imposed sanctions against two firms in Ghazzah — the Islamic National Bank and al-Aqsa Television — because it claimed they have ties to Hamas. US President Barack Hussein Obama owes his presidency to his Yahudi employers’ keen awareness of the up-and-coming Islamic continental consolidation of political will — their damage control to the jungle of Bush’s policies. This white Obama with a racial tan also said in mid-March that there was no crisis in ties with Israel, despite a high-profile diplomatic feud over Netanyahu’s plans to build 1,600 homes in Islamic East Jerusalem (al-Quds). In his words, “Israel is one of our closest allies, and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that’s not going to go away.” The same week, Obama the Yahudi employee said that the US would pursue “aggressive sanctions” to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon that could potentially spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East! “That’s why we’re going to go after aggressive sanctions. We haven’t taken any options off the table. We are going to keep on pushing…,” he said.

Also in the first week of March, US Centcom Commander General David Patraeus when asked about how the Persian Gulf states in the Arabian Peninsula see a US military attack on (Islamic) Iran said, “…there are countries who would like to see a strike, us or perhaps Israel, even…” Some reports say that the United Arab Emirates foreign minister, after the assassination of Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, remarked that his country and Israel see eye to eye on the Iranian issue.

The Saudi officials are as jittery about Islamic self-determination in Iran as are the Israelis. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have journeyed on their political pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, meeting with the king, the defense minister, and other strained and impatient officials.

In the real world the Israelis are hurting. The waves of ‘Aliyah — the tens of thousands of “Jews” who were moving to the “Promised Land” from hither-and-yon — are now history. The demographics of the Holy Land area are quickly shifting. Islamic self-determination is on its way in; secular and ungodly political trends are on their way out. The US can no longer afford to foot the Israeli bill free of charge as was the case in the past half century. Even Israel’s first line of defense, the Palestinian authority, is crumbling like a house of cards. Some late news just coming in is that the Fatah faction in Lebanon — a few thousand strong, located mainly in the south around ‘Ain al-Helwah, a group that has long been on the side of the Palestinian authority of Mahmud ‘Abbas — has gone over to Hizbullah.

With Mubarak attempting to recover from surgery in Germany, official Egypt is in a monkey’s swing. Who knows what the next grab for power will be? The octogenarian rulers of Arabia are dying off along with their credibility. The Jordanian tribal regime is taking away Jordanian citizenship from Palestinians it deems to be “security threats.” Israel in these circumstances is in mortal danger, as it should be. It knows this better than anyone else. Will it buy itself more time for survival by going to war and delaying the Islamic death blow to Zionism? Can it avoid what appears to be an “anti-Semitic” backlash in the US where treasury and troops have been stretched to the breaking point all the way to Afghanistan and Pakistan to protect Israeli interests?

Stay tuned, as AIPAC just convened in Washing-ton, DC assembling as it has in the recent past the confluence of religious bigotry (evangelicals), corporate priorities (capitalists), and political opportunists (imperialists and Zionists). And be advised that while you have the freedom to tune into their theatrics, you should not lose sight of their vista killing fields: the Holy Lands. They put on three-piece suits in Washington, after disrobing from their military gear in Tel Aviv. Will the real American please stand up!

Ahmadinejad demands US apology for 'crimes' against Iran

Iranian president responds to conciliatory messages from Obama and says Bush has gone into 'trash can of history'

 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking in Kermanshah on Wednesday 28 January 2009. Photograph: Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP

The US should apologise for "crimes" it has committed against Iran if it wants a better relationship with Tehran, the Iranian president said today, after recent overtures to the Muslim world from the new administration in Washington.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's uncompromising tone followed a conciliatory message from Barack Obama, the US president, earlier this week when he told the Islamic world: "We are not your enemies." In his inauguration last week, Obama offered to extend a hand of peace if Iran "unclenched its fist".

At a rally in western Iran today, broadcast live on national television, Ahmadinejad said Iran would welcome a change in US policy provided it involved a withdrawal of American troops from abroad and an apology to Iran."Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologise to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," he said.

The Iranian leader listed a range of "crimes", such as trying to block what Tehran says is a peaceful nuclear power programme, hindering Iran's development since the 1979 revolution and other actions by US administrations dating back more than 60 years.

Ahmadinejad had harsh words for George Bush, who he said "has gone into the trash can of history with a very black and shameful file full of treachery and killings. He left and, God willing, he will go to hell."

In a break with his predecessor, Obama has dangled the prospect of direct talks with Tehran without preconditions. Susan Rice, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, has pledged "vigorous" and "direct" nuclear diplomacy with Iran but warned that pressure would increase if it refused to halt uranium enrichment.

Analysts believe Obama's election offers "a once-in-a-generation opportunity" for a new start in relations between Tehran and Washington, which were severed after students seized the US embassy in Tehran and took more than 90 hostages following the 1979 revolution.

"They will never get a new US president who is as balanced as Obama's public statements are, who talks about wanting to engage in a respectful way with Iran and who seems less encumbered by the baggage of the past," a western diplomat told the Associated Press. "It is in Iran's clear interest to engage." He warned of the risk that hardliners clinging to a "we're-winning-you're-losing rhetoric" may prevail.

An Iranian opposition politician, Ebrahim Yazdi, said he did not expect movement on the issue of US relations before June, when Ahmadinejad is expected to seek re-election. Yazdi said better ties were in Iran's strategic and economic interest, adding: "The political atmosphere in Iran is now ripe, is suitable for direct negotiation with the United States."

The five permanent members of the UN security council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – along with Germany have offered Tehran economic and energy incentives in exchange for halting its uranium enrichment programme, which the west sees as a cover to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran is pressing on with the programme, which it says is geared toward electricity generation.