I only ask because my Father In Law worked for Mirlees in Dubai in the 60's and was a personal friend of the Sheikh back then and often got telephone calls to go 'sort his mercedes benz out' - he wasn't a City fan, rather one of those, when home, would got to Maine Road one week and Swamp the next, as often happenedYes. the Al Nahyan and Al Maktoums have been inter marrying for hundreds of years. It really depends on what you mean by related. By our standards they are directly related because his wife is Sheikh Rashid's daughter IIRC. By their standard they are different tribes so he's "family" more than family.
What do they say about Khaldoon?
Informative stuff. Many thanks. Amongst all the shite, there’s some excellent posts this thread.As I say, a lot of info we have comes from CIA cables released during various WIkileaks scandals and other non-classified documents and it's fair to say by the notes made from the Middle Eastern desks that they barely understand who is who and who does what.
Here's something to ponder - is Sheikh Mansour a powerful man?
Here's the Western view. Sheikh Mansour is the Vice President of the UAE, in addition to other duties such as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Presidential Affairs which controls access to the President. Therefore he holds numerous positions of power and influence in an autocratic society.
Here's the UAE view. Sheikh Mansour is the son of Sheikh Zayed and one of the Bani Fatima brothers. He is not the head of his family and answers to MbZ totally and without qualification. The role given as DPM was negotiated during the formation of the country as being held by an Al Nahyan with the other tribes. Sheikh Mansour was made UAE Vice President, against the country's constitution, in order to punish the Al Maktoum family for embarrassing the UAE a decade earlier, for the Head of their family having his affairs dragged in court with his daughters which embarrassed the nation internationally, and to move Sheikh Mansour into more diplomatic conferences where he shines brighter. Abu Dhabi/the Al Nahyan are attempting to be treated as serious long term investors in the global markets and although still very loyal, they are starting to consider the Al Maktoums their troublesome backwater cousins who don't know how to behave and ruin their reputation akin to the Beverley Hillbillies. Sheikh Mansour was Western educated, is an ultra MbZ loyalist for historical and almost religious reasons (the Bani Fatima loyalty is based on a promise made to never attack your own family due to this happening in the past and it fucking up the tribe). He is not Sheikh Mansour in the structures of power. He is a person who exists to politically execute the will of MBZ.
Here's the CIA view. These people are nuts. Their power structures and inter-tribal loyalties and marriages and duties reference shit that happened 300 years ago on some random day in the desert where someone caught a falcon or some shit. Sheikh Mansour is an average C student in the US only noted because he liked NBA and football (soccer). He was quiet, not particularly outgoing or academic and mainly kept to himself while in the US outside a few incidents of awkwardness as a student. While MBZ got on with the job of becoming the next ruler, he mainly spaffed around with nature and conversation projects in his Government job and sports investment in his spare time. He really enjoys sport and the only thing he ever seemed to excel at was camel racing. He somewhat controversially got married to his first wife who was deemed unsuitable and quietly "retired from public life" until he married another woman with which he settled down and had kids. His first wife was an internal Abu Dhabi marriage to one of the "2 quarters" families mentioned before because they seemed to actually like each other from children. His second wife was a member of Dubai family which was right and proper and expected. Him and Khaldoon seem to be actual friends rather than Khaldoon and MbZ who have more of a employer-employee relationship. He's somewhat average, a bit head in the clouds at times unlike his very serious brothers who became leaders of military etc, but seems likeable to other leaders so did very well in diplomatic circles hence as an important brother, was given roles that suited his personality.
Essentially if you want to know if Mansour is powerful then it very much depends on your definition of what that means. By one view he has almost no political power at all. By another view he has almost complete political power. You can bias this however you want when writing about it.
I will say one thing - the "Abu Dhabi bought City to sportswash" thing to my understanding is the wrongest thing to ever be wrong in the history of wrongness. You can argue that's what we're used for now (and I don't agree) but to suggest that's why we're bought is totally incorrect. Sheikh Mansour just quite likes football. The UAE is a former British protectorate, it exists as a country due to help from the British, he grew up watching the BBC and whatever passes for MOTD on the World Service in the 70s and 80s. It has a strong British culture element to it and one of the best friends of Sheikh Zayed before he formed the UAE was a British explorer whose writings are now a major academic source for the landscape between the tribes at the time. It was noted in his time at University in the US that he enjoyed football. It was further noted that before his brother ascended to the crown and he was just the lesser important brother without too much to do in his 30s and 40s that decided to buy a football club which was brokered by one of the Dubai Hillbilly clan who then immediately set back their desire to be seen as serious businessmen rather than inept moneypots by 20 years. I can absolutely guarantee if MbZ knew about this at the time and understood how important to the reputation that a football club in the back arse of Manchester would become to the global reputation of Abu Dhabi and the UAE then he would have back handed his little brother and told him to grow up and stop playing games. City are now the most visible aspect of the Al Nahyan family, the thing that they are globally associated with more than any other business. Not to business leaders obviously but to the wider general public. Sheikh Mansour is not "the little brother of the leader", he is "that guy who owns Man City" which I'm sure is a source of real annoyance to MbZ and possibly one of great humour to Sheikh Mansour. If they had their way, these people would have absolutely nothing to do with us, but they're stuck with us now for the next several decades at least and they understand that they have to be successful.
Which member of the Bani Yas owns what and who gave what to who is so far off their radar in terms of importance and cheating that it beggars belief. Their State doesn't function in this manner.
On the cress of a wave?Cress fallen?
Informative stuff. Many thanks. Amongst all the shite, there’s some excellent posts this thread.
I was a regular at Maine Road in the 60’s and I can honestly say I never met one of these fans who went to Maine Road one week and the swamp the next.I only ask because my Father In Law worked for Mirlees in Dubai in the 60's and was a personal friend of the Sheikh back then and often got telephone calls to go 'sort his mercedes benz out' - he wasn't a City fan, rather one of those, when home, would got to Maine Road one week and Swamp the next, as often happened
You spelt cress wrong :-)Course I have
From your cryptic rambling to pure crass posts from others
Khaldoon has two major advantages which is why he the Western countries like him. Firstly, he speaks their language. While he is absolutely aware of what some Westerners would call the "weird tribal stuff", he dodges this and wants to talk about global capital markets and social pressures and investment opportunities. He is someone that Westerners can feel comfortable around instead of the guys wearing traditional robes.
Whereas, Kevin Bacon likes sausage.Cressida Dick likes bacon sandwiches?
Tom Hagen. Nice.They believe Khaldoon to be the most actually powerful man in the UAE because he sits at the apex of their political, Governmental and economic systems and ties them all together. He is one of MbZ's closest advisors and accompanies him on state visits (as we saw with Trump). While doing this, he also actively runs Mubadala.
Khaldoon is from a very well to do family but not one of the ruling families. His father was the Ambassador to France and murdered in Paris when Khaldoon was a little boy and obviously his family were taken care of extremely well by the Al Nahyans. He grew up with the brothers essentially and was also educated in the US.
Khaldoon has two major advantages which is why he the Western countries like him. Firstly, he speaks their language. While he is absolutely aware of what some Westerners would call the "weird tribal stuff", he dodges this and wants to talk about global capital markets and social pressures and investment opportunities. He is someone that Westerners can feel comfortable around instead of the guys wearing traditional robes. Secondly, as he is not a Royal but instead just really close to them, he has an agility to pursue other things that they cannot. It would be entirely inappropriate for Sheikh Mansour to go on the City website and give interviews about the season for example, but it's fine for Khaldoon. His lack of Al Nahyan blood is actually a plus point for him rather than a negative. He's not a nepotism hire, he is an extremely competent man which is why he is where he is.
While Sheikh Mansour was your average C student, Khaldoon was the opposite. A very charismatic and personable student who worked hard and excelled. He picked up the language well.
Khaldoon's power is obvious from how we look at it, but he is still beholden to MbZ. He is MbZ's guy more than Mansour's guy if such a distinction even really makes sense. Everybody is MbZ's guy. But because he holds certain titles and positions and is a trusted advisor then because of how we in the West understand power structures and because he is more approachable then we see "the most powerful man in the UAE".
I’ve met a few who say they did this. It was a 1950’s thing - people following the rags crop of youngsters who became the Busby babes. My Mum was an ardent blue but liked local Gorton lad Roger Byrne for example. I think some also watched both clubs when the Rags played at Maine Road.I was a regular at Maine Road in the 60’s and I can honestly say I never met one of these fans who went to Maine Road one week and the swamp the next.
Perhaps it’s a myth.
I've been reading about these people for over a decade but that is the best (and most unfortunate) analogy I've seen about it and never realised myself. That's exactly how he functions.Tom Hagen. Nice.
It probably like me saying I used to go to watch Stockport when they played on a Friday night. I probably went about 3 or 4 times. But I’ve very rarely missed a game at Maine Road and the Etihad in 40+ yearsI was a regular at Maine Road in the 60’s and I can honestly say I never met one of these fans who went to Maine Road one week and the swamp the next.
Perhaps it’s a myth.
Building to a cress endoOn the cress of a wave?
What are the implications to Khaldoon if we are found guilty of the charges - the more serious ones? Surely someone as high profile across world politics as he is, is under serious scrutiny if the worst case does happen. Almost makes the notion of him being the head of the most corrupt football club the world has ever seen even more ludicrous.In fact here's a better description of it.
When they want to negotiate stuff with the leaders of Saudi and Qatar and other Arab cultures, they send Mansour.
When they want to negotiate with Trump, Starmer and Xi, they send Khaldoon.
The UAE lives in two separate worlds and it is extremely aware of this fact. It's one of the reasons why they send their children to Western schools. One of Sheikh Zayed (Sheikh Mansour and MbZ's father) parenting strategies was to dump his son in the middle of nowhere with zero money and cut off from the family wealth for a few years so they can appreciate how other people live. The current President of the UAE spent several years in a bedsit above a restaurant in Morocco where he worked as a potwasher under an assumed name according to local legends. Sheikh Mansour was supposedly dumped in the middle of a desert for the summer and told to fend for himself so he'd appreciate the nomadic lifestyle that the UAE tribes used to live.
They do different experiments in trying to work out and find people who can understand the nomadic/tribal stuff, the political power/internal politics stuff and the Western global stuff. Khaldoon seems to be their golden child as far as this is concerned.
They believe Khaldoon to be the most actually powerful man in the UAE because he sits at the apex of their political, Governmental and economic systems and ties them all together. He is one of MbZ's closest advisors and accompanies him on state visits (as we saw with Trump). While doing this, he also actively runs Mubadala.
Khaldoon is from a very well to do family but not one of the ruling families. His father was the Ambassador to France and murdered in Paris when Khaldoon was a little boy and obviously his family were taken care of extremely well by the Al Nahyans. He grew up with the brothers essentially and was also educated in the US.
Khaldoon has two major advantages which is why he the Western countries like him. Firstly, he speaks their language. While he is absolutely aware of what some Westerners would call the "weird tribal stuff", he dodges this and wants to talk about global capital markets and social pressures and investment opportunities. He is someone that Westerners can feel comfortable around instead of the guys wearing traditional robes. Secondly, as he is not a Royal but instead just really close to them, he has an agility to pursue other things that they cannot. It would be entirely inappropriate for Sheikh Mansour to go on the City website and give interviews about the season for example, but it's fine for Khaldoon. His lack of Al Nahyan blood is actually a plus point for him rather than a negative. He's not a nepotism hire, he is an extremely competent man which is why he is where he is.
While Sheikh Mansour was your average C student, Khaldoon was the opposite. A very charismatic and personable student who worked hard and excelled. He picked up the language well.
Khaldoon's power is obvious from how we look at it, but he is still beholden to MbZ. He is MbZ's guy more than Mansour's guy if such a distinction even really makes sense. Everybody is MbZ's guy. But because he holds certain titles and positions and is a trusted advisor then because of how we in the West understand power structures and because he is more approachable then we see "the most powerful man in the UAE".
They believe Khaldoon to be the most actually powerful man in the UAE because he sits at the apex of their political, Governmental and economic systems and ties them all together. He is one of MbZ's closest advisors and accompanies him on state visits (as we saw with Trump). While doing this, he also actively runs Mubadala.
Khaldoon is from a very well to do family but not one of the ruling families. His father was the Ambassador to France and murdered in Paris when Khaldoon was a little boy and obviously his family were taken care of extremely well by the Al Nahyans. He grew up with the brothers essentially and was also educated in the US.
Khaldoon has two major advantages which is why he the Western countries like him. Firstly, he speaks their language. While he is absolutely aware of what some Westerners would call the "weird tribal stuff", he dodges this and wants to talk about global capital markets and social pressures and investment opportunities. He is someone that Westerners can feel comfortable around instead of the guys wearing traditional robes. Secondly, as he is not a Royal but instead just really close to them, he has an agility to pursue other things that they cannot. It would be entirely inappropriate for Sheikh Mansour to go on the City website and give interviews about the season for example, but it's fine for Khaldoon. His lack of Al Nahyan blood is actually a plus point for him rather than a negative. He's not a nepotism hire, he is an extremely competent man which is why he is where he is.
While Sheikh Mansour was your average C student, Khaldoon was the opposite. A very charismatic and personable student who worked hard and excelled. He picked up the language well.
Khaldoon's power is obvious from how we look at it, but he is still beholden to MbZ. He is MbZ's guy more than Mansour's guy if such a distinction even really makes sense. Everybody is MbZ's guy. But because he holds certain titles and positions and is a trusted advisor then because of how we in the West understand power structures and because he is more approachable then we see "the most powerful man in the UAE".
Sorry to wade in here but I have to back up the other poster. You have been known to ramble on here.I’m lots of things but cryptic certainly isn’t one of them. Not sure I ramble very much either. If I did, I’d struggle to put food in the table.
If you’d said childish, attention seeking, frivolous, flippant or even a moderate egomaniac then you’d have much more of a point!