These and other incidents with the UAE recently highlight the troubling willingness with which western states and businesses still jump into bed with the authoritarian dictatorship <i>du jour</i> (usually on the proviso that it has a lot of oil) only to 'discover' years later that they're actually quite unpleasant.
What a gut-wrenching story. Perpetual control over your child seems so suffocating and counter intuitive. So much so that the kid had to plan an operation to escape.<p>More background to the story:<p>1. India returned the princess to protect strategic interests - <a href="https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-returned-runaway-dubai-princess-to-protect-strategic-interests" rel="nofollow">https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-returned-runaway-dubai-pr...</a><p>2. <a href="http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/300318/kidnapped-dubai-princess-returns-safely-to-uae-with-indias-help.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/300318/kidnapped-dub...</a><p>3. Indian Prime Minister authorized the operation to seize her and return back to UAE - <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/28/indias-modi-authorized-capture-of-runaway-dubai-princess-newspaper-claims/" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/28...</a>
A (presumably) Dubaian team boarded a US flagged boat in (possibly) Indian territorial waters. No one is concerned over this? Was the yacht not really a US vessel? If it was actually a Dubaian vessel then that team probably has authority over it just like how the USCG can board any US ship anywhere, anytime. Did a Dubaian team actually grab her? Maybe it was the Indian coast guard who deported her back to Dubai.<p>According to emirateswoman.com, shes being married off. I hope she gets another chance to escape to a more free life.
Disappearing royals are also a ... feature ... of Saudi-Arabia's ruling family, see [1, 2]. It's interesting to speculate why Khashoggi's case garnered so much more attention.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40926963" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40926963</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2KYQWPUbG4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2KYQWPUbG4</a>
This is a horrible story indeed and I hope it gets public attention to lessen the hell the princess is going through.<p>It is always easy to be smart after the fact, but to me that the naval officer thought through the escape to getting out of the country, but not what happens next. For him, a French citizen, getting out to a neutral country is the end. For her, a UAE citizen without any right to stay elsewhere, it is at best a midpoint.<p>He could have arranged for news coverage <i>prior</i> to the mission by discreetly talking to some high caliber journalists so they can prep coverage and he could have involved professionals (e.g., traffickers who move refugees and have global networks).
let's hope we will switch to electric ASAP so these dictatorships won't have any leverage over other countries and they can go back to their camels
What a messed up former "navy officer." She entrusted nothing less than her life to him, yet he surrendered her without fight. If a man like him ever bothered to even turn off a transponder, let alone prepare for an armed assault.