Wow. Very interesting. I know that when some of these leaders came to town, they'd rent out entire floors of the Khaler Grand Hotel here. They, I guess, contributed a lot of money to the Mayo Clinic too. Not to mention buying a lot of stuff here.
Too bad they really don't come here much anymore. Brian On 5/9/06, Rich Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The former pres of UAE (he died 1.5 yr ago or so, on our election day) had a 747 for his personal aircraft, a 777 for the staff that travelled with him (the general household staff numbered in the large hundreds), and I think another 747 for his wives (4, though he had more formers) when they travelled with him. He was the #2 or 3 wealthiest guy in the world. Gold trim on the plane is just a minor aspect of his wealth. He had considerable other bling (18 Maybachs in various colors and styles in the garage) and several huge palaces (amazing in themselves) and his own fully-equipped and fully-staffed hospital. Each wife had a palace or two as well, in addition to the places in Europe. Unlike other leaders in the ME he also spent huge amounts of money on the infrastructure of the country and diversification of its economy in anticipation of the day when the oil ran out. It is now a rather progressive country in the region, and a center of banking and tourism and such. The sheikh was quite revered in his country for his leadership and for bringing the varous emirates (hence "United") together back not that long ago (50s or 60s), and for building up the oil and economic infrastructure. It was not clear how old he was as he was born in the desert to nomads back 90+/- yr ago and they didn't really keep track of that kind of stuff. One of his favorite things was to go spend time in the desert, and before he got too old, to go blasting around in his Lambo 4x4 (I think those were LM400s?), which gave his people fits. But they got to chase him so had some fun too. There is a pretty good book written about him, if you're interested I can get the name of it. It is actually quite a story. He was a very generous and caring person, and very respected. Here is a wiki entry on him, most of it seems true http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaikh_Zayyed_bin_Sultan_Al_Nahyyan I was in Lexington KY over the weekend, there was a UAE (Emirates Airways) 747 freighter at the airport, probably bringing in horses for the races. Not too shabby ride for the nags... --R Zoltan Finks wrote: >I can tell you that back before the attacks on our country, there was a lot >of traffic coming in here to our little town, from powerful people from the >mideast (they needed a checkup or something here at the Mayo Clinic). And >word was that the leader of some country - UAE or some such - had gold trim >on his 747. Now that could be just a rumor, but I wouldn't doubt it. > >I agree that some of the worst squallor exists in those countries, but >doesn't some of the greatest riches exist there too? Just asking. > >Brian > >You wrote: > >Then there is the >report [though this one is not from one who saw it personally] of the girl >who was given a 747 for her 16th BD. >_______________________________________ >http://www.striplin.net >For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ >For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net > > > > _______________________________________ http://www.striplin.net For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
