Here come the French...

The rather charming (my personal opion btw) Sarkozy is here in the UAE on an official visit, with one of his 'to-do' lists being opening a French military base in the capital:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to open France's first permanent military base in the Gulf on Monday, giving Paris a strategic role in the region and a key supply route for oil.

France will be joining Britain and the United States as the few western powers to have a permanent presence in the Gulf and "Peace Camp" is the first French base opened since the end of the colonial era.

The move is widely seen as a sign of France's tougher stance on Iran since Sarkozy took office in 2007, fueled by concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"We are deliberately taking a deterrent stance," said an aide to Sarkozy. "If Iran were to attack, we would effectively be attacked also."

Sarkoy also told UAE official news agency Wam: "Be assured that France is on your side in the event your security is at risk.

More here.

Dubai and American Empire

I think most of us are aware of the different roles Dubai plays in U.S. empire building (Halliburton just being one example). One of the things I am curious about is if people perceive transformations in Dubai with an increasing American presence there.

The other day I was offered a job in Afghanistan, which I politely refused (though the double salary was a bit tempting). One of the arrangements was that after every two months they would fly one to Dubai for a week of R & R. While the U.S. military is mostly taken to bases in Qatar for their R & R from Iraq, the 100s of thousands of contractors seem to prefer Dubai. And, as they are all male, we can imagine what many of them are doing. Bangkok, Seoul, and Okinawa being classic examples of how U.S. military transforms economic opportunities for young women. Of course, the same is true for U.S. military cities, such as Fayetteville, North Carolina, near where I currently live. There is a fascinating book on Fayetteville called Homefront: A Military City and the American Twentieth Century.

When I was in Dubai several long-time residents pointed out how it was when the Russians started coming that the "quality" of the place changed and the presence of prostitution and other "questionable activities" moved from the back door to the front. Does one see or sense any qualitative transformation in Dubai with the increased presence of American empire builders? Or are they just absorbed into the already existent structures of sleaze?

Arab states send message to Iran

New York Times -

As fears grow over the escalating confrontation between Iran and the West, Arab states across the Persian Gulf have begun a rare show of muscle flexing, publicly advertising a shopping spree for new weapons and openly discussing their security concerns.
...
“There has always been an acknowledgment of the threat in the region, but the volume of the debate has now risen,” said one United Arab Emirates official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the subject. “Now the message is there’s a dialogue going on with Iran, but that doesn’t mean I don’t intend to defend myself.”
...
“The message is first, ‘U.S., stay involved here,’ and second, ‘Iran, we will maintain a technological edge no matter what,’ ” said Emile el-Hokayem, research fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a research center based in Washington. “They are trying to reinforce the credibility of the threat of force.”
...
“They have been doing these kinds of purchases since the ’90s,” said Marwan Lahoud, chief executive of the European missile maker MBDA. “What has changed is they are stating it publicly. The other side is making pronouncements so they have to as well,” he said, speaking of Iran’s recent announcements about its weapons capacity.

My emphasis in the last paragraph quoted. For deterrence to work you need to know your opponent knows what you will do if attacked. That is a key to the plot of the movie Dr. Strangelove influenced by Economics Nobel prize winner Thomas Schelling.

The Times article has another thread -- the Arab Gulf states continue to lean on the US for defense. Reading between the lines of the story I see the hint of the suggestion that Arab Gulf states are building up not just because of increasing threats from Iran, but from the increasing likelihood that the US presence in the Gulf will diminish in the future.