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Abandubai.com

Marla Singer's picture




Amusingly, no sooner than a series of commentators rushed to point out how stable and friendly Dubai is (including some local names that might surprise you) Dubai reminded everyone that there is no freedom of the press in the city-state by yanking Western papers critical of the jurisdiction off the stands.

The Sunday London Times newspaper was removed by authorities from shelves in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday amid intensive reporting of Dubai's debt problems, an executive at the paper said.

The National Media Council ordered the paper blocked by distributors without providing a reason, an executive at the paper in Dubai told Zawya Dow Jones.

The Sunday Times edition available in the U.A.E. on Nov. 29 featured a double-page spread graphic illustrating Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum sinking in a sea of debt. The Times wasn't given a reason for the block, or a timeframe when it will be lifted, the executive said.1

Good thinking.  No word yet if the powers that be have blocked internet traffic.  We wouldn't want the locals reading in Reuters, for example, that the Crown Prince had likely lied through his teeth to Westerners in Davos not two weeks ago.

"Where next for the ruling family in Dubai?" said British historian Christopher Davidson. "The massive loss of legitimacy that the ruler is now facing, the massive loss of legitimacy that his son and crown prince face after lying to the World Economic Forum last week -- where do these guys go from here?"

Sheikh Mohammed, whose face and words grace posters all over town, told the forum this month that the worst had passed for Dubai which was well-placed to pursue its development plans.

The news that investment vehicle Dubai World could not pay a $3.5 billion bond was released just before the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday and UAE national day on December 2. Local media have almost entirely avoided comment on the debacle.2

Then the news that Dubai World, forced to deal with upcoming payments, apparently refused an asset sale.  (Talk about confident in the indulgence of your creditors, and the support of local Daddy Petrobucks, Abu Dhabi).

"The group absolutely refused in the last few months to sell a number of good investment and property assets at low prices," al-Ittihad newspaper said, quoting a source at Dubai World, the holding company at the center of Dubai's debt crisis.3

Critical question of the day: Who will be the first to register abandubai.com?




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Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:03 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

How about Dubaibai.com?

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:38 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:43 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:46 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:23 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 21:40 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:00 | Link to Comment onelight
onelight's picture

DubaiOrNotDubai...

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:03 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I'll do it because I can't resist...

That is the question.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:08 | Link to Comment onelight
onelight's picture

or the Sinatra themed one:

DubaiDubaiDu...

:)

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:09 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Instead of "freedom of the press" we have "freedom of excess."

We complain of fascism (I know I do) but we may be getting ready to see some real ole' school fascist response to economic collapse.

We suck, they may suck worse. Show us how its done Dubai! What a powder keg.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 19:06 | Link to Comment Careless Whisper
Careless Whisper's picture

My memory is shot, maybe it's the orange kush, but what products is dubai known for ?

 

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 20:04 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 21:31 | Link to Comment Mad Max
Mad Max's picture

Hope and Change.  :)

No seriously, absurdly expensive and pretentious real estate so arrogant it's worthy of greek mythos.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 21:46 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:11 | Link to Comment litoralkey
litoralkey's picture

 

You can't spell Ned Arnel Mencía, without M A R L A.  ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M42BflUZry8

A mix of

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/ ... Kiddofspeed - GHOST TOWN - Chernobyl Pictures -
Elena's Motorcyle Ride through Chernobyl

and

http://www.forgottendetroit.com/ ... They are places the city cannot afford to lose. Now that Detroit is recovering from its 40 year decline the ruins question is being faced. Should they be demolished for a new development, or refurbished? I am a staunch preservationist. It is my opinion that they MUST be restored. Any development is good but a reopened Statler or Book-Cadillac would only make Detroit greater.

and

http://www.deadmalls.com/ ... The stories and history behind the great era of store chains that defined retail . The history of many now dead malls. Pictures, articles, etc.

 

 

Welcome to http://abandubai.com

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:14 | Link to Comment Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

The old tricks are still the best tricks.

I wonder where The Sunday London Times should send the bill for the pirated copies of their newspapers. I hope whomever picked up the papers at least left a tip.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:32 | Link to Comment Dixie Normous
Dixie Normous's picture

I'm still shocked that pumping sand into the ocean and then building houses on it wasn't a huge success. 

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:37 | Link to Comment Cursive
Cursive's picture

Bwhahahaha!  I hope Becky Quick or that other really skinny chick goes on location in Dubai this week.  Get ready for some hard-hitting journalism.  ;-)

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:39 | Link to Comment carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

 +1

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:33 | Link to Comment Cursive
Cursive's picture

Censorship?  That's nothing.  If I lived there, I'd be more worried about a month-long "banking holiday" or cashless ATM's.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 21:33 | Link to Comment Mad Max
Mad Max's picture

I'd be even more worried about being arrested and tossed in debtors' prison when you can't pay rent or other debts owed to locals as a result of the banking holiday.

Any westerner with sense should be fleeing Dubai before the crash really hits.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:17 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF4-r2MpRMs&feature=player_embedded#

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:53 | Link to Comment onelight
onelight's picture

bold as, um, sand...

somehow the Ozymandias monument comes to mind

but realistically, control the Corporate Vegas of the ME will simply shift hands, and the second mouse Abu Dhabi will get the long term cheese..

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:48 | Link to Comment A Man without Q...
A Man without Qualities's picture

The man got drunk on building ridiculous grandiose follies and has just woken up with the worst hangover of his life, so naturally he doesn't want a London newspaper rubbing his face in it.

http://flashydubai.com/8-wonders-of-dubai-amazing/

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:00 | Link to Comment BorisTheBlade
BorisTheBlade's picture

Keep it coming Marla and ZH will be blocked in UAE quite soon (http://stravinskyss.blogspot.com/2005/07/secret-dubai-diary-blocked-by-e...). You couldn't care less of course, certainly not more than Sheikh Mo would care about his 'loss of legitimacy'.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:58 | Link to Comment jdun
jdun's picture

Dubai was suppose to be a tourist destination. A play ground for the rich. That's not going to happen ever as long as it is an Islamic state.

While the Islamic law is lax in Dubai then in other place, it's still Islamic. You have sex on the beach, you get fog in public. You have to much fun you get fog in public. You break the law you get fog in public. 

Who want to go to a hell hole like that for a vacation? Even Middle Eastern people do not want to go there for vacation. They rather spend their money on Vegas.

Tourist destination you know suppose to be fun, safe, and 24/7 party.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:22 | Link to Comment A Man without Q...
A Man without Qualities's picture

Get your facts right - no fogging or even flogging.... 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4953188.ece

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:52 | Link to Comment jdun
jdun's picture

Who wants to go to an Islamic state for a vacation? Who? The only fools are the bankers and investors that invest their. Let them burn.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:03 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

Banning the free flow of ideas once established is a recipe for disaster.

I can't believe they yanked the newspaper...wow.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 21:14 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 23:09 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:40 | Link to Comment Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

Banning the free flow of ideas once established is a recipe for disaster.

Yup. Just like the US. Isn't it funny how ZH had to move their server offshore FROM THE US to be able to keep disseminating nothing more than the truth (the REAL enemy of the US Govt., I might add)?

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:13 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 19:33 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:31 | Link to Comment Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

Their country, their rules.

 

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:26 | Link to Comment Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

Yup. Just like America is free to capture, imprison and torture it's own citizens without evidence; spread misinformation in the garb of "news" via it's state mouthpieces aka NYTimes, WaPo, etc.; keep illegal tabs on its citizens via wiretaps, monitoring internet traffic, etc., completely corrupt and destroy its education system - so are other countries. We can't sneer because we ain't better than them.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:34 | Link to Comment max2205
max2205's picture

Oh, when that big ass tower falls I hope someone posts it on you tube. Timber!!

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 18:42 | Link to Comment carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

"that big ass tower " is very likely to have some large scorch marks on it before this is all over.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 19:16 | Link to Comment AN0NYM0US
AN0NYM0US's picture

futures higher - crisis over

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/fc?s=ESU09.CME

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 20:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 19:21 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:04 | Link to Comment onelight
onelight's picture

and much of that labor was/is effectively slave labor, as documented in last couple of years

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:31 | Link to Comment Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

And an American working in a cube farm isn't one? We are all slaves in our own prisons...er...countries.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 20:23 | Link to Comment carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

This might be worth keeping an eye on tonight

http://www.dfm.co.ae/marketwatch/default.aspx

Esp. since Reuters is reporting:

UAE markets seen "limit down" on Monday open

DUBAI (Reuters) - UAE markets will face intense selling pressure when they reopen on Monday in the first post-holiday trading after Dubai shocked global markets last week by seeking a debt standstill for two flagship firms.

Banks, property and construction firms will stand in the line of fire as investors weigh up the damage caused by the surprise move to restructure government-controlled Dubai World and its property arm Nakheel.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5AS14R20091129

 

 

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 20:41 | Link to Comment bugs_
bugs_'s picture

Yeah! National Media Council.  Thats the ticket!

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:00 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 22:07 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Sun, 11/29/2009 - 23:48 | Link to Comment max2205
max2205's picture

Biggest bear trap of the year! Don't tell me GS wasn't all over this at - 3% Friday morning. Just when I thought the coordination of central bankers had everthing under control esp coordinated distress covert swaps.

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 23:48 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 00:51 | Link to Comment cocoablini
cocoablini's picture

Smoke a Doob anyone. Funny, the locals don't own the toxic debt-the brits do. Like a shitload of Dubaipoo-poo. Are the Doobs running around Hempstead Heath telling Brits they are good for the money?

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 01:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 03:21 | Link to Comment CombustibleAssets
CombustibleAssets's picture

The Dubai Financial Market is down 7% to 1942.62 -150.42 this morning, being lead down by Real Estate -9.89%.

Ulilities are also down -9.30%

A number of the banks are also taking -9+% hits

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 03:24 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:15 | Link to Comment Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

Perhaps that has something to do with the said papers spreading misinformation on behalf of western oligarchs? It's funny how we view our own part of the world (i.e. Anglo-Saxon/US-UK) and it's media as a beacon of "freedom and democracy" and above any form of corruption when, in fact, it is quite the opposite and a major source of many problems in the world. Fact is, there is no bigger police state than America right now, you know.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:22 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Gordon's layin down a can a whoop ass on our sorry butts. Yeeouch! Ow!

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 08:30 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 04:53 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Mon, 11/30/2009 - 10:19 | Link to Comment topshelfstuff
topshelfstuff's picture

I'll start combing through the Threads and hope there is one that is already up with the Real story re: Dubai. I'm not surprised that thus far the Obvious Real story has been Totally Off-Limits in the MSMedia. Why would Dubai pay anything to the UK [West TPTB] while they still haven't received the Delivery of THEIR Gold ???  Is anyone going to start a Thread on this, the Real story ?

This is all about Dubai asking for DELIVERY of their Gold held in London. The UK, the UK Banks, hold over 50% of the debt.

To put it simply, just suppose you were having your house remodeled. And while the work was being done you asked your friend to hold All your Physical Gold until the work was complete. This same friend lent you some money to remodel the house. Now the work is done and you ask your friend to return your Gold, but still haven't received it. Now this friend asks you to pay back the money he lent you. And you tell him, "Sure I will, as soon as you return All the Gold you were Holding for me"

I find it amazing that the Media, despite knowing how controlled the MSM is, that nobody has put these two pieces together. Check the dates, check all the info known....isn't it quite obvious what's really going on here.

DMCC officials disclosed that DMCC vaults will be a home to the gold allocated to the Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The vault may also become a natural choice for storage of gold reserves by central banks in the Middle East bullion market.

At present, gold allocated to DGS is kept at HSBC’s vaults in London and gold reserves held by GCC’s central banks are held by various other vaults in London. London has been home to safe and secure gold vaults for more than a century.

The new gold vaults at DMCC became operational in April. DMCC officials said that the gold held under DGS ETFs at the HSBC vaults in London will be bought to Dubai soon.

=======================

Now put that together with all the other

REMEMBER THIS -

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/...18124-3-1.html

All the gold of Dubai that is held in the vaults of various banks in London is coming back to the City of Gold. <<<< me: Dubai was ready and still waiting, now 7 months

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has opened new vaults to store the gold reserves in Dubai, currently being looked after by central banks in London.

DMCC officials disclosed that DMCC vaults will be a home to the gold allocated to the Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The vault may also become a natural choice for storage of gold reserves by central banks in the Middle East bullion market.

At present, gold allocated to DGS is kept at HSBC’s vaults in London and gold reserves held by GCC’s central banks are held by various other vaults in London.

http://www.banking-business-review.c...licant_090825/

NYC CRIMINALS GOT THEIR NOSE UNDER THE TENT A FEW MONTHS AGO

Dubai Gold Securities Accepts Morgan Stanley As Approved Applicant
Published: 25-Aug-2009

In line with the strategy of attracting more financial institutions as participants in the primary market for Dubai Gold Securities
Dubai Gold Securities has accepted Morgan Stanley as an Approved Applicant in connection with the ongoing offering on NASDAQ Dubai of Dubai Gold Securities, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's first and only Shariah-compliant ETC.

The participant agreement is expected to allow Morgan Stanley to create Dubai Gold Securities subject to it depositing the physical gold bullion that backs every security in issue with the Custodian (HSBC Bank USA, NA) to the offering. Similarly, Morgan Stanley will be able to redeem Dubai Gold Securities and take physical delivery of the underlying physical gold bullion.

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/05/dubai-moving-its-gold-out-of-londo...

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 13:43 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

If you got this right, hell of a story.

I wonder if the story is more like the guy remodeling your house does not have your gold, but his best friend does.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 14:12 | Link to Comment topshelfstuff
topshelfstuff's picture

 Probably so, and until Dubai gets this gold in Their Vault [if they do], this unpaid debt will be just the beginning....remember just recently when China told some of their counterparties that they didn't have to honor a supposedly losing play, China saying the Game was Rigged, so payment unnecessary....similar thing here....this is more an East-West Showdown. If you just stop and think about this for a moment, isn't the fact that not one word about this "Connection" has been mentioned, not even as a possibility, its totally absent from the Media and all the write-ups devoted to Dubai, Debt, Banks, mainly from the UK & HSBC the Custodian, coincidentally?, Really, wouldn't Dubai be foolish to hand over a dollar right now....this is the Real Story, and Obvious, once anyone thinks about it and removes the MSM misdirection. Just months ago something like what is happening now was widely wriiten and spoken about as due to result in....isn't it odd that this isn't mentioned, and please consider the other recent Gold Delivery anomolies i.e. Tungsten, GLD's reported bars, etc., one example frrom May, and I'm adding the "Info" written for this Youtube...see the match:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuObQg49UwA

London is FINALLY losing its role as the worlds hub for physical gold storing and trading. It is going to be very interesting to see what happens when DGS tries to move its gold from HSBC in London to Dubai. HSBC is the custodian of both DGS and GLD, which raises a major question mark about whether the gold is really there.

The growing demand for physical gold together with the tons of gold flowing out of London to Dubai will result in a major default somewhere on an obligation to deliver gold. After that, paper gold (futures, GLD, etc) will collapse, and physical gold will soar.

 

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 14:47 | Link to Comment MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

You may want to wait for a pm related thread and post this again. This thread is not going to get so much traffic. I think it is worth exploring. I am open to the idea you are right, I am also open to it that the linkages are not as direct as you are supposing. More eyes and minds on this would flesh it out.

Back to your analogy, if I remodel your house, and my best friend is holding  your gold for you (always has, you never had a safe before I remodeled) that does not mean that my best friend WILL rip you off. But it is likely that I will put my best friend under some pressure to hold your gold (it's not like your stealing it, dude, help me out here, just to bluff him). What you have added to the equation is that my friend may have already spent your gold, and, you are looking at me for what my friend did and holding us both accountable.

Lots of metaphor, but you get the idea.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 16:30 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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