David Kirkpatrick expands on the Emirati's improprieties in the NYT showing how bribing Leon was part of their larger strategy of flouting the weapons embargo and various other mischievous and absurd behavior. And some people still think the UAE are the West's greatest ally in the Gulf?
In the emails, the Emirati diplomats frankly acknowledge their government was shipping arms to its Libyan allies in violation of the United Nations embargo — a policy they say is overseen at the “head of state level” — and they strategize about hiding the shipments from a United Nations monitoring panel. Answering questions and complying with procedures required by the United Nations resolution “will expose how deeply we are involved in Libya,” Mr. Qasimi wrote, adding, “We should try to provide a cover to lessen the damage.”
Other leaked correspondence showed that at least some Emirati diplomats took seriously American complaints that another Emirati company, Al Mutlaq Technology, was also violating international sanctions by buying $100 million in weapons from North Korea through a business called Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, or Komid. The emails include a formal document protesting that transaction that was presented to the United Arab Emirates ambassador in Washington by American diplomats at the State Department. Marked “secret,” the document reported that the weapons under discussion as part of the North Korean deal included “machine guns, rifles and rockets.”