Graceless lady You know who I am

... Dr Marczak produced a forty-two page ‘witness statement’ dated 7 September 2020 in which he concluded ‘with high confidence’ that the phones of the mother, Baroness Shackleton and Nicholas Mannets (another solicitor, and since December 2020 a partner, at PHB) had been hacked by a single operator of NSO Group’s spyware. On the basis that any such operator would be a nation State he concluded ‘with medium confidence’ that the government in question is the UAE Government. Further, there was evidence that the phones of the mother’s Personal Assistant and two others on her staff had also been hacked. 

...Despite the weight of evidence, the fact of hacking was never conceded, nor was the fact that such hacking had been by Pegasus. At no stage has the father offered any sign of concern for the mother, who is caring for their children, on the basis that her phones have been hacked and her security infiltrated. Instead he has marshalled a formidable forensic team to challenge the findings sought by the mother and to fight the case against her on every point.  

Al Maktoum Judgements

...She added that she had had to sell clothes, jewellery, horses and handbags to manage. She accepted that a number of show jumping horses, described as “Team Harmony” horses were owned by her and that, in so far as the children’s money had been used to fund these purchases, she owed the money to the children. To give some idea of the standard of living during the marriage, she said that the family’s holiday costs at a hotel in Italy one summer were £631,000 with another €274,000 at a hotel in Greece. ...She complained that HH had been telling the world he had paid her billions when nothing could be further from the truth. She asserted that the risk from Dubai will continue even if HH passes away.She said that her financial position was so bad that she was fast approaching the point where she would have to sell paintings but she did not wish to do so as the children would then see what she was doing as there would be gaps on the walls of the property.

...He contended that the horses that had been purchased had, at all times, belonged beneficially to Godolphin, which had bought them and paid for their upkeep, whilst receiving any winnings, stud fees or sale proceeds as part recompense. He said that the nomination to family members, including HRH, to permit the horses to run in the colours of the family member was merely a licence. He said that HRH had never received any stud fees for any of the horses. Finally, in relation to the legal fees fighting fund, he said that the court can, in the future, make legal services funding orders without the need for a capital fund.

....On 17 September 2021, a Position Statement gave his response to the hacking judgment. It said he was not able to comment on matters of state intelligence or security. He has no “hacked” material in his possession and there was no surveillance undertaken with his express or implied authority. I remind myself that I am bound by the President’s findings of fact to the contrary.. He has now removed from the internet the “Lives and Dies” poem that upset HRH so much. He said he has no intention of causing harm to HRH. He opposed the publication of the judgments due to an inability to anonymise the identities of the children.

bint Al Hussein v bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Tra i sogni di amore eterno da giovane principessa e la guerra per i cavalli, è passato il matrimonio con un uomo che poteva ricordarle l'adorato padre. 

L'unione tra Haya bint Hussein e Mohammed bin Rashid rispondeva ad una doppia esigenza. La ricerca da parte di Dubai di un ponte stabile con l'amministrazione americana e un posizionamento proficuo della Giordania nelle dinamiche regionali.

Entrambi descritti come personalità molto particolari, nel tempo l'affetto che li ha uniti è stato costretto a piegarsi proprio alle dinamiche politiche e familiari di un'area che segue regole peculiari di un mondo a parte.

Un uso dell'attività di lobby mirato all'interesse nazionale, piuttosto che alle  questioni private, emerge dall'ordinanza di incriminazione di Tom Barrack. Si tratta di un uomo d'affari vicino a Donald Trump.

La galassia intel-diplo di MbZ (Tahnoon, Al Shamsi, Otaiba, Al Ghafli) era alla ricerca di un canale in grado di influenzare le strategie dell'amministrazione entrante circa questioni prioritarie come la disputa con il Qatar.

In entrambi i casi appare evidente la determinazione con la quale i casati emiratini si muovono. Una volta individuato l'obiettivo, cercano di raggiungerlo come meglio ritengono e utilizzando mezzi e persone a disposizione.