Without a doubt the most talked-about event of the past week was the “shut up” comment from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to a group of international financiers assembled for an investment conference under the auspices of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
To recap: HH strayed off-speech during his celebration of the close ties between Dubai and Abu Dhabi to deliver a strong message to those international critics who have cast doubt on the durability of the central relationship of the UAE federation. Those who “nag” about the Abu Dhabi-Dubai friendship should “shut up”, HH said.
The remark provoked very different reactions among people I spoke to afterwards. Emirati friends applauded Sheikh Mohammed’s response to what they see as a sustained and concerted campaign of denigration of the UAE, and especially Dubai, since the problems of the financial crisis began to affect the emirate.
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