
Missing Emirati princess 'planned escape for seven years' - zerogvt
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/04/missing-emirati-princess-latifa-al-maktoum-had-planned-escape-for-seven-years
======
jnty
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 _du jour_ (usually on the proviso that it has a
lot of oil) only to 'discover' years later that they're actually quite
unpleasant.

~~~
at-fates-hands
> highlight the troubling willingness with which western states and businesses
> still jump into bed with the authoritarian dictatorship du jour (usually on
> the proviso that it has a lot of oil)

This point is still a mystery to me. If it's always been about oil, then the
US is currently the largest oil producer. Why are we still relying on these
countries for _anything_?? Is it leveraging their wealth for other
investments?

~~~
lotsofpulp
Many people in the US government are also interested in selling weapons, as
well as making sure the kings of those countries are investing a good portion
of their money back in the US.

~~~
wavefunction
Many people in Silicon Valley are interested in making sure the kings of those
countries are investing a good portion of their money back into their tech
ventures.

------
iamshs
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.

More background to the story:

1\. India returned the princess to protect strategic interests -
[https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-returned-runaway-dubai-
pr...](https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-returned-runaway-dubai-princess-to-
protect-strategic-interests)

2\. [http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/300318/kidnapped-
dub...](http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/300318/kidnapped-dubai-
princess-returns-safely-to-uae-with-indias-help.html)

3\. Indian Prime Minister authorized the operation to seize her and return
back to UAE -
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/28...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/28/indias-
modi-authorized-capture-of-runaway-dubai-princess-newspaper-claims/)

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _India returned the princess to protect strategic interests_

Why India?! Western Europe, Japan and the United States have strong judicial
systems. The EU, in particular, wouldn't require any pre-declarations to be
filed prior to claiming asylum. The only advantage to India is being able to
disappear, _e.g._ change names and retire to a remote village. Unfortunately,
she doesn't appear to have taken advantage of that.

~~~
breitling
India isn't exactly a multi-cultural melting pot. A foreigner would stand out
like a sore thumb. She would be trading one prison for another.

------
moftz
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.

According to emirateswoman.com, shes being married off. I hope she gets
another chance to escape to a more free life.

~~~
iamshs
Indian Coast Guard raided the vessel and deported her back ASAP.

------
YorkshireSeason
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.

[1]
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40926963](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40926963)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2KYQWPUbG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2KYQWPUbG4)

~~~
wavefunction
Khashoggi came from a powerful and influential family in the KSA, plus he was
a journalist for the Washington Post.

~~~
YorkshireSeason
The other princes in the BBC article & video came from an even more powerful
and influential family in the KSA.

------
ptero
This is a horrible story indeed and I hope it gets public attention to lessen
the hell the princess is going through.

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.

He could have arranged for news coverage _prior_ 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).

------
Markoff
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

------
Rjevski
What a fucked up country.

~~~
F_r_k
List of wrongful convictions in the USA:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wrongful_convictions...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wrongful_convictions_in_the_United_States)

It's not even a full list

~~~
Rjevski
What's your point? One thing is a list of wrongful convictions - _failures_ of
the justice system - but what happened here isn't a failure, it's the system
working _as designed_.

~~~
rhacker
What do you mean by working as designed. The founders of the US said, why
don't we make sure there are some major bullet holes in this design so we make
sure some innocent people go to jail? If it was part of the design, then it
was the design, if it was not, it is a defect. Think of software engineering
in this case.

And his point is that someone reduced the UAE and all its history and people
to "what a fucked up country" then it's absolutely relevant. What about the
destruction of the indians and native land, the going to war for OIL for the
past 20 years and killing basically indiscriminately. Do I need to remind us
of slavery? I'm a US citizen, but be prepared to take salt in the face if
someone reduces your country to a sentence like that.

~~~
girvo
They mean the UAE’s system is working as designed, not the USAs

------
panzerboy
What shocks me is how can a parent torture (or order somebody to torture)
their own children? Don't they love them?

~~~
Brockenstein
You might be surprised what people consider love, and how all sorts of other
beliefs get intertwined with it.

IE you have strong sacred long held beliefs that your female children are not
independent, are your property. That you want the best for them, according to
your beliefs and your customs, which you believe are right. That resorting to
"tough love" to get wayward children on the right track is for their own good.
A lot of folks would claim or deny they're hurting their children, it's their
children who are being hurtful by being "disobedient", bringing dishonor, or
rejecting the values on which they were raised. The list goes on and on, the
rationalizations are enumerable. And even aside all that, some people just
love exercising their authority over others and actively seek opportunities to
do it to the maximum degree they possibly can.

It's pretty easy to rationalize cruelty as love. And everyone is the hero of
their own story, so not always a lot of incentive to be objective or
introspective about it.

------
baybal2
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.

~~~
maeln
If he fought, what would have been the result ? He would have been dead and
she would still go back to UAE. He made the only logical choice.

Life is not a video game.

~~~
tc313
And he’s already doing a huge favor by helping her escape. Why do people
expect him to sacrifice his life for her too?

