Recent content by Reuniontrio

Is there any analysis of the photos with Mary Robinson focusing on physiological changes to Latifa? Specifically, her rapid aging, change in eye shape and bloated-looking face? Does she ever show her teeth in any of the photos?

Tiina's description of her detainment sounds almost exactly like Latifa's description of how she was treated in detainment in the video she made, including the claim that she did not get supplies like soap to stay clean.

In Western parlance, "vulnerable" means someone who is limited in their decision-making ability, whether due to mental illness, addiction, senility or retardation. Haya knows exactly what it means. She went to Oxford. What you seem to be implying is that Latifa's "problem" is an identity...

As I said, I do not find Haya all that interesting. The reason she came up is because she injected herself into Sheikha Latifa's situation by orchestrating a photographed "event" with Latifa. Haya has taken several positions: 1. Latifa is a "vulnerable" person, meaning Latifa is mentally...

Did you listen to Latifa's video on Youtube? That should give you insight into the status of Latifa's mother in the al Maktoum family (Latifa begins talking about this about 25-30 min. into the vid): A paternal aunt decided she wanted Latifa as a baby. The aunt "took me away from my mom" at...

My impression of Haya: sometime after the birth of her first child, she finally realized what she had married into. She had slowly learned the full truth of how other official and unofficial wives in the family had been treated and how children in the family were controlled. Sometime after the...

Hi fandesacs, Sharia law dictates that a non-Muslim may not inherit from a Muslim and that the legitimate child of a Muslim father is automatically a Muslim. However, there would have been no restriction on Mahra's father giving her non-inheritance monies. Additionally, since she was raised...

You've got to sympathize with her, more than almost anyone else in that family. She moved to Dubai and converted to Islam before she was old enough to understand the ramifications of what she was doing. I wonder what, if any, conversation occurred between her and the adults in her life. The...

I recently saw a picture of a major Dubai sheikh with three brothers, who are high-ranking Abu Dhabi sheikhs. The Dubai sheikh had one man's hand in a handshake, and was holding the another man by the wrist/forearm. Can anyone explain the gesture of holding another person by the wrist while...

I was simply observing that the (3?) children who have been "raised by other women because of reasons unknown" are all the children of divorced "unofficial wives". One more might have been in the same situation, but as has been pointed out, what the mother saw happening to some of the older...

It seems that these men officially recognize only the wives that they would have difficulty divorcing due to political reasons. Unofficial wives are in the position of being far more disposable. After all, these secret marriages can be made and broken by the man for any petty reason...

Hi all, Now and again, I hear about tribal elders who were/are influential in decision making for UAE rulers and their families, even selecting who the rulers will be. Some questions: Who are these tribal elders for the Maktoum family? Are they all male? Secondly, if they do continue to...

"The trees, bushes and driveway were torn up, the swimming pool filled in; the Japanese pagoda and garden bulldozed...An Indian man who told me he had once worked on the grounds said Sheikh Rashid's home had been razed because of a 'royal family matter'...'Something bad happened'" Nobody razes...

Oh, sure. You can read what happened to S. Rashid's palace in the book "City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism" (accessible on Googlebooks). The book is about Dubai and the ruling family. The relevant information is on page 193. Regardless of what he did, I find the razing of his...