Dubai firm buys into Fontainebleau (Miami Beach)

[seafan]

Source: Miami Herald

A Dubai firm has bought half the Fontainebleau resort for $375 million, handing developer Turnberry International a huge infusion of cash and putting Miami Beach's most iconic hotel partly in the hands of an oil-rich Middle Eastern government.

Nakheel Hotels, whose parent company is managed by the Dubai emirate, will become a full partner as the Fontainebleau prepares to reopen this summer following a two-year renovation that is remaking the hotel designed by Morris Lapidus.


The surprise announcement adds one of the country's best-known hotels to Nakheel's growing portfolio of tourist favorites. Its best known for building the Palm and the World in Dubai -- two man-made islands shaped to look like a tree and the seven continents from the air.
The company also has a stake in Kerzner International, owner of the Atlantis mega-resort in Nassau. Nakheel also owns stakes in hotels throughout the United States, including the Mandarin Oriental in New York, a spokeswoman said.

The deal also reflects the vast spending power of Dubai's oil reserves. Dubai has emerged as an ostentatious Arabian version of Las Vegas (without the gambling), with massive hotels and over-the-top flourishes drawing tourists from around the world.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/488876.html

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The port deals fell through; the hotels are next....

[FreepFryer]

1. Fine. The next Democratic President will simply seize it under the expanded Eminent Domain. (n/t)

[Ian David]

2. That's too bad. It was an awesome hotel until right this very moment.

Maybe they'll rename it The Fountain Bin Laden Hotel.

[JCMach1]

3. and just how xenophobic are those comments?

:eyes:

[Ian David]

5. Dubai financed Bin Laden. n/t

[JCMach1]

9. Here we go again with the RW myth...

enjoy your delusions

[Ian David]

11. Please, enlighten me. I'd rather be unburdened of any vestigal right-wing memes I'm carrying. n/t

[JCMach1]

12. Why don't you show me any direct evidence that the Gov. or any of the leaders

directly aided Mr. bin Laden.

There is nothing which goes beyond the occasional use of banks... Do you hold Germany and the US guilty as well on that charge as well? Terrorist hide and terrorists hide money... It's what they do.

The UAE is a business and trade hub... billions pass through here every day in the same kind of way they do in Singapore and Hong Kong.

I am REALLY get sick of people here (and elsewhere) who immediately launch into their best Lou Dobbsian mode everytime someone (or a company) from the Arab world wants to do business in the US. Americans need to know they are also shooting themselves in the foot economically everytime they do this as well. American brands and companies dominate much of the economic playing field in the Arab world. American brands hold prestige positions. Now, you want to start suggest that there is something about Arab owned companies that will somehow make the Fountainbleau less? That's flat out racist...

Companies in Dubai manage some of the greatest hotels in the world, so get over it.

[Ian David]

13. Bin Laden's operatives still using freewheeling Dubai

Here. From the ultra-right-wing Associated Press. Took me two seconds to google it. Geesh!



Posted 9/2/2004 2:02 PM

Bin Laden's operatives still using freewheeling Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Osama bin Laden's operatives still use this freewheeling city as a logistical hub three years after more than half the Sept. 11 hijackers flew directly from Dubai to the United States in the final preparatory stages for the attack.

The recent arrest of an alleged top al-Qaeda combat coach is the latest sign that suspected members of the terrorist organization are among those who take advantage of travel rules that allow easy entry. Citizens of neighboring Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia can come to Dubai without visas, which other nationalities can get at the country's ports of entry.

Once here, it's easy to blend in to what has become a cosmopolitan crowd.

The Emirates is home to an estimated 4 million people, and nearly 75% of them are foreigners. In Dubai, expatriates of all nationalities are catered to, from concerts by top Western musicians to cricket and rugby matches to a German-styled Oktoberfest.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-09-02-terror-dubai_x.htm




CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July
French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital
# The Guardian,
# Thursday November 1 2001

Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.

The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.

Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA.

The CIA chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later, it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to Washington soon afterwards.

Intelligence sources say that another CIA agent was also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the Taliban, and Bin Laden. Soon afterwards Turki resigned, and more recently he has publicly attacked him in an open letter: "You are a rotten seed, like the son of Noah".

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/nov/01/afghanistan.terrorism

[JCMach1]

15. The second report was never confirmed by any other source...

So, any country where terrorists might travel should be punished then? Entry provisions here are tough as the US and were actually tougher until quite recently as regards the Canadian and Mexican border with the US.

GCC citizens must present their national IDs when entering the UAE. Other nationalities must present their passport and/or obtain a visa. All IDs are checked against a criminal database (created in cooperation with the US).

I am quoting from your source now: "the Emirates has taken concrete steps to fight terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001 — including making high-profile arrests, passing an anti-money laundering law, and imposing close monitoring procedures on charity organizations"...

This story was actually about arrests made... Hmmm. Those damn Emiratis arresting terrorists again I suppose :sarcasm:

The insanity of the USATODAY piece is that they are criticizing the UAE for being a more free and open society. Is that not ultimately our goal in the Middle East to have allies that are... and who are moving in the direction of true democracy (as the UAE is doing with the recent FNC elections).

Terrorists hide and operate in many countries.

The biggest part of the idiocy of your OP was that you were criticizing the company for being from Dubai. We have many huge American companies operating here. They buy and sell property, trade and generally do business.... so do individuals and corporations from all over the world.

And you know what? Despite all of the shit that Bush has thrown on Iraq and the Middle-East, have I ever heard one emirati complain about American companies and businesses in the UAE... Answer=no Most of them are sophisticated and savvy enough to draw distinctions between Americans, American business and the Bush administration.

If you don't understand the difference between the UAE and the KSA, I would be glad to help you out.

[Ian David]

17. I'll have to look into it more. You may very well be right. Have any links? n/t

[JCMach1]

18. You can probably just google bin laden in dubai

The original report was broken by The Guardian, but the evidence was extremely shaky...

Please don't get me wrong at that time IT MIGHT have been possible for bin Laden to sneak almost anywhere in Asia for treatment of this kind.

If he tried today, BUSTED.

================================================================
Wealthy corporation buy up assets around the world these days... everyone has their finger in the global game.

It's not Dubai vs. America...
and (oddly enough) emiratis still love America... Just ask one to give up their Hummer!

It's the corporations vs. citizens around the world...

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

However, I can confirm with firsthand evidence that the UAE is still a hub for money laundering. However, this could happen almost any place that is a huge trade and transport hub. Coming from Armenia last Fall, they put my family in an exit row. So, they had to switch seats for my wife and daughter. I ended up sitting next to two seedy looking types in leather jackets. I was also wearing a leather jacket by the way and could have looked pretty seedy myself after the holiday. In the middle of the flight about 4 middle-aged guys dressed the same way started walking around the cabin. each of the guys was discreetly handed bundles of 100 dollar bills in the amount of the legal entry limit (which I believe is $50,000). They put the bundles in their jacket and distribute to their guys around the cabin. I got a very close look as the guy thought I was one of them and almost handed me a bundle. Obviously, once outside the airport, the boss would collect the bundle once again from the carriers. They could easily have gotten in more than 1M$ this way as their were 20-30 soldiers on the flight. They weren't al Quaeda, they were Russian Mafia. Once you get cash into the UAE, you can buy anything. Goods for reexport through Iran, Real Estate, luxury goods of all kind... One of the biggest gold and diamond markets is located in Dubai... So, it's damn easy to wash money (or do whatever with it) in a short time. All of this takes place outside of any easy regulation. Banks never enter the picture.

And the police do catch rings like this here, but it is the same difficulty of policing organized crime around the world. Don't even start kidding yourself. If Al Quaeda wants to move money around the world, it is dead easy from almost any point. You just must have the right connections. If you want to stop terrorism it will not be by stopping the money flow. The flow will just shift channels.

[RebelOne]

4. Yes, it was awesome.

I was there many times when I lived in Miami.

[Ian David]

6. I used to sneak-in next door from The Eden Roc as a kid. n/t

[phillysuse]

7. I wonder if they will still serve bagels and lox

and cream cheese at the Fontainebleau now that it is owned by Dubai.

[mitchum]

14. I was thinking along those same lines

[EFerrari]

8. Thank you for being a friend!

[KoKo]

10. I have less problem with "Hotel" than with our Ports, though.

After all....it's "entertainment and hospitality" rather than National Security. :shrug:

[JCMach1]

16. Fair enough, but look how safe our ports are today

run by companies without the capital, or regulatory imperative to improve them.

That episode was a colossal case of demagoguery on the part of our politicos.