Dubeity About Dubai's Freak Out

Why is Dubai having such a hissy fit over stolen passports and a dead Hamas operative? Could it be to deflect attention away from its role in what the Wall Street Journal calls "the axis of enrichment"?

Although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the increase of uranium enrichment to 20%—bringing Tehran much closer to weapons-grade nuclear material—China still opposes new United Nations sanctions. The responsibility for stopping the Iranian bomb thus rests with a "coalition of the willing." The attitude of Germany—Iran's most important Western trading partner—will be critical to the success of such a coalition. But while the recent announcement by Siemens and Munich Re to exit the Iranian market have garnered headlines, hundreds of German manufacturers remain determined to continue doing business as usual with Tehran.

Much of that business goes undetected via Dubai. Iran's Mullahs use the United Arab Emirates as a back door through which to funnel goods that cannot be brought in through the front door because of existing sanctions. The role of the German-Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce, founded only last year, on May 20, raises serious questions about the German government's commitment to meaningful sanctions.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German economics minister at the time (who has since become defense minister), considered the Joint Council so important that he took time from his busy schedule to attend the founding festivities. Partly financed by German taxpayers, the council announced just a few months ago, on Nov. 5., the formation of an "Iran Working Group" to assess "how new trade and investment flows can be created—including [for] German companies—using the United Arab Emirates as a gateway to the Iranian market."...

Or, as I prefer to think of it, a gateway to genocide.

Update: Duplicitous Dubai