From The Australian:A VIDEOTAPE showing a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family torturing a man is jeopardising a multi-billion-dollar nuclear power deal between the US and the Gulf kingdom.
The 45-minute tape shows a man the Government of Abu Dhabi has acknowledged is Sheik Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan - one of 22 royal brothers of the UAE President and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince - mercilessly and repeatedly beating a man with a cattle prod and a nailed board, burning his genitals and driving his Mercedes over him several times. He is assisted in the torture by a uniformed policeman.
The fallout from the film - smuggled out of the UAE by a former business associate of the sheik - has reached all the way to the Oval Office, where the civilian nuclear deal, awaiting the signature of US President Barack Obama, remains unsigned. A senior US official has said the administration is holding off certifying the treaty as a direct result of the film.
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My Comment: What happened to this hapless victim is REAL TORTURE .... not the stuff that may have happened at Gitmo or at a secret CIA prison.
But what is disturbing about this incident is NOT the realization that this is common practice in United Arab Emirates .... but this is a country that is now a recipient of billions in advanced weaponry .... as well as a customer who will possess sensitive nuclear technologies.
I am always dubious on giving technologies to governments whose culture is to operate a few centuries behind the rest of us .... but what is even more perplexing is seeing a first world nation like the United States more than eager to sell these technologies to such a group.
Sigh .... what can I say after that.
