From the Independent, dated June 6, 2012:
Revealed: Saudi royals' secret $1bn US empireMore at the above link.
A secret $1bn US property empire amassed by members of the Saudi royal family is the subject of a bitter legal dispute that threatens to reveal the extent of the family's American business interests.
The oil giant BP and the British defence contractor BAE Systems are among the tenants of companies associated with Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, the playboy son of the late King Fahd, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the companies are asking a judge to keep their ultimate ownership secret, but correspondence between the two sides currently remains on the record in a New York courthouse.
The documents reveal that over the past 15 years, Prince Abdul Aziz and a relative, Sheikh Khalid N Al Assaf, amassed a property portfolio that spans the US, from BAE offices in Reston, Virginia, near the capital Washington, to the headquarters of the television company Starz in California. They also purchased two of the four buildings in the office complex that BP uses as its US headquarters in Houston, Texas.
[...]
Lawyers for the portfolio companies, meanwhile, are fighting to keep the prince's identity secret....
It's economic jihad, perhaps the stealthiest kind of jihad.
(Hat tip to Mark Alexander of A New Dark Age Is Dawning for the link in this post)
I don't see it as nefarious. They've got to invest their money somewhere, and investing in the US actually repatriates the dollars we pay them for oil.
ReplyDeleteSilverfiddle,
ReplyDeleteIn a way, yes.
However, if you had a pig farm and the Saudis bought the land next door, would you still be able to have your pig farm?
Here's an anecdote for you....
Some years ago, Saudis had a contract to buy my property for development (Later, they welched on the deal, BTW). When it came time to buy an extension of the contract, I was at work -- in a church. The Saudi agent with the contract AND THE CHECK refused to come to the church to give me the papers. He said, "I can't come into that building. YOU come out to the parking lot." Well, I couldn't! I was teaching class.
He wouldn't come to my house either, because I have pig decor at my house. See the photos HERE.
So, what did this Saudi do? Well. he send the check and the contract to me via my neighbor. And not in a sealed envelope, either. The deal was supposed to be confidential.
So, there you have how the Saudis deal in real estate here in the United States.
However, if you had a pig farm and the Saudis bought the land next door, would you still be able to have your pig farm?
ReplyDelete---------
If it's zoned for a farm, why not?
Maybe we can help bankrupt the Saudis the way we did the Japanese when they overpaid for real estate back in the 80's
Whoa, AOW! That is one heck of a story! Unreal!
ReplyDeleteDid the give a reason for weaseling out?
Checkout this video sbout a Muslim gas station owner refusing to serve an American soldier in uniform saying "We don't serve your kind here."
ReplyDeletehttp://thatmrgguy.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/muslim-store-owners-refuse-to-serve-us-soldier/
Oy! Funny thing you should mention. a couple years ago a Muslime bought 11 acres next to a pig farmer's land, announced his plans to build a mosque there and then told the farmer he had to get rid of his pigs or move away. The farmer responded by holding pig races every Friday along the fence betweem him and the worthless moslem. He built a regular racetrack and all.
ReplyDeleteHe sold tee shirts to help raise money and of course I bought one and wear it proudly. Here's a link to the story.
link didn't take. Try again...
ReplyDeletePig races
AOW, when you mentioned PIG DECOR, I was glad you posted pictures to show what you meant :-)
ReplyDeleteDid you hear about the Arab Princess who stiffed some French hotel about 7 million and pleaded DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY? Maybe her family OWNS the hotel and nobody's supposed to know?!?
I'm still giggling at Ducky's naivite and Black Sheep's story. perfect. "Ya, they won't make people do what THEY want, muslims are never like that!" :-)
Let's build another foot trough at a university so the muslim kids, who got great grades before 9/11 but suddenly just had to have clean feet at school, are happy.
geeez
I saw this yesterday. It is a big concern for sure. But I remember way back when Americans were frightened that Japan would buy up too much US property, then it was the Russians, then the Chinese, now the Saudis (Muslims).
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteDid the give a reason for weaseling out?
Not that I know of.
Why should the ownership remain secret?
Conservatives on Fire,
ReplyDeleteMr. AOW posted that information at his site yesterday.
It is my understanding that the story is not the first one of its kind here in the United States.
Black Sheep,
ReplyDeleteThe link that I posted above ("Mosques and pig farms") tells that story.
I envy you that t-shirt!
There you go, pissing off that fraud D. Charles again. When will you ever learn?
ReplyDeleteYou would giggle,z.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you have the brain's you were born with you realize that the probability that someone starts a pig farm next to AOW (you won't enjoy it) is higher than the probability that one can be shut down due to a Muslim complaint.
But we don't expect the fringe right to be clued in.
These days, who doesn't own a piece of America?
ReplyDeleteDucky, you really need not insult anybody to make a point.
ReplyDeleteAnd your point's nonsense. Of course, you completely ignore the points I made which inform the hypothesis that muslims are not averse to forcing their desires on us.
No z, you need to be shocked. You make outrageous statements and snicker with your pals even though those statements have no substance whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThe ease with which the fringe right is manipulated is a far greater threat than any Muslim threat.
Did the guy have to move his pig farm or did he continue being a vulgar clown and hold the pig races?
AOW's pure paranoia about Islam reaches the level of disorder at times.
La façon que le canard traite des femmes, je pense qu'il doit être homosexuel. Oui ?
ReplyDeleteIt's bothersome, but on the brighter side 1 billion is not really that much, considering the size of the US economy.
ReplyDeleteLouis H.
ReplyDeleteMy French is very poor, but I'm sure that I understand your comment.
My answer: Maybe. Many of the web think so, anyway.
Z,
ReplyDeleteDuck is quacking nonsense because he is incapable of coming up with anything else as a rebuttal.
As usual, AOW.
ReplyDeleteBrooke,
ReplyDeleteI hope that a lot of people are reading your June 7, 2012 post. It is both shocking and eye-opening!
Thanks, AOW.
ReplyDeleteI hope so, too. You just can't make stuff like that up!
Funny how the right didn'y care when Prince Bandar Bush spent visited the Bush White House more than any other:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBu0asPX5k0
Funny how no one complained when Bush quietly got he and dozens of his family members (and bin laden family members)out of the country the day after 911-when there was no other air traffic.
No Sam, not very interesting. Blacksheep's personal bigotry ultimatley is his (and his family's) problem.
ReplyDeleteAs for the story, Silver is correct, that means more money back at home for you lot.
As for AOW's example, it just shows that there are some very naive and silly people out there and that people like AOW will ignorantly assume that all Muslims are the same.
It almost appears that the word radical and America is self-fulfilling. Radical Muslims tend to enjoy the freedoms, radical Americans like the freedom to target all Muslims and the radical press and politicians like to exagerate both.
Of course the reality of the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the West is that they sit quietly on their backsides and let all this "radical" excitement continue but in fact do not care if the house next door is dressed up like a pig, they probably will buy their meat from a guy who also sells pork (as much as Jews do) and will buy from your local supermarket even though their is alcohol sold.
If any of you bother to travel the Muslim world you will also see differing levels depending on what part you travel and mindless assumptions that they are all the same simply will be thrown out with the other garbage shown here.
Of the 56 Muslim nations, 13 can be called hard-line. The rest are a mix from very liberal to border-line. Alcohol is sold in 30 Muslim contries in major super market chains, half must show a foreign passport so we can argue that 15 Muslim countries basically sell to the public like in the west. Interestingly the same 15 countries also allow pork to be sold in those same supermarket chains. They are clearly marked in their own counter and except for Egypt and Lebanon they are imported (both Egypt and Lebanon have their own pork-food industry).
My question is why was this item really raised? The only public interest is how BP and other major corporations bother to hide what is an obvious intelligent business deal by the Saud family. Do not forget that Kingdom Holdings owns Four Seasons.
Mind you, if your into crop-circles, Martians and all sorts of other childish schoolyard conspiracy theories, then this entire subject is an expansion of some greater Islamic Caliphate plot headed by Obama...... sheees.
Cheers
Damien Charles
Whether all those islamics have the same agenda or behaved the same way (I mean eg. subtlely) or not is up to personal interpretation. It would be foolish not to be aware of the extreme nastiness of "rich" islamic countries and some other "rising" asian countries(that they frequently displayed to disadvantaged people), or of those people infected by those horrible, arrogant, disgusting islamic or eastern culture that they are well known for.
ReplyDeleteIt is nothing to do with whether they sell alcohol or not or whether they allow pork to be sold or not or whether they appear to be liberal or not. It is their too many negative characteristics, their suppressive, intolerant intimidating nature towards disadvantaged people, their backwardness, etc.. that is really offputting. Of course this does not apply to islamic people only. Other asian or eastern people are or were also guilty of too many negative characteristics that they were either born with it or brought up with it.
WLIL