Dubai Aerospace Wants to Buy US Aerospace Assets

The hue and cry from all parts of the nation over the proposed sale of US ports to an investment arm of the United Arab Emirates may erupt again. The Financial Times reports that the UAE wants to buy “part of Landmark Aviation and Standard Aero, which both provide engine repair and overhaul aviation services,” through the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise [DAE]. The security issues here are much different than in the ports case, but American politics and security concerns probably won’t realize that. This deal will get the same treatment, even if it shouldn’t.

The paranoid will note that The Carlyle Group owns Landmark and Standard. The Carlyle Group has been the focus of numerous conspiracy theories regarding the Bush family and the House of Saud. In the more insane incarnations of these fantasies, UFOs and Atlantis may well figure prominently. Those less prone to hysteria will note that rich folks tend to swap assets all the time, and nothing particularly evil or twisted should be made out of turbine maintenance or rivet checking.

The DAE is chaired by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Emirates airline group and president of the Dubai department of civil aviation. He is part of the Al Maktoum family that has ruled Dubai and the United Arab Emirates for years. Needless to say, this sets off alarm bells in some nativists quarters in the US. He is also International Life Vice President of Chelsea Football, but apparently, no one is worried that this affiliation will adversely affect America’s Major Soccer League (probably because it’s seen in those quarters as a game for “furriners” anyway).

New York Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is already getting his TV make-up ready for an attack on the deal. He told the FT “This purchase is not as much of a security risk as Dubai Ports World, but because it deals with maintenance of aircraft, it certainly raises security questions.” If the US Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investments OKs the deal, the senator said, “the deal is unlikely to have problems in Congress” if necessary safeguards are included. In other words, it may go through, but the usual faces will have to be put on the news before it does.

The DAE and the Carlyle Group have already agreed in principle to an “evergreen” clause in the deal. That means if the companies fail in their security obligations, as spelled out in a yet-to-be negotiated deal, the US government could undo the transaction. Since there is no classified information involved, it is hard to see how this matters. Sometimes, a business transaction is just a business transaction.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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