Reply #28: Gulf Hostility Towards UK and US - ME Moves to Gold

[Dunvegan]

UK Daily Reckoning
Hostility towards Britain and the US

...Hostility towards the US is growing daily...The West is losing friends fast...even the British...Something awful is afoot, says gold. So does the oil market...and the news from Dubai...

Adrian Ash
Fri 12 May, 2006

"The market's tanked this year," said a new friend by phone this morning. A regular visitor to the Middle East, he recently left the City to use his skills as an Arabist in setting up investment vehicles for wealthy Saudi, Kuwaiti and UAE clients.

All they want to buy is gold, he told us. Lots of gold. Any "fear" premium in last night's close above $720/oz could have much further to run, in other words. For Dubai is scared.

"I just got back from a 3-day trip," he went on. "Hostility towards the US is growing daily. Arab's rich used to send their children to college in the States, but now it's Canada and Australia...Many people I spoke to are thinking of boycotting US goods, because of the Iraqi mess and also the threats towards Iran. People blame both situations on America's support for Israel...Now they've had enough."

"The West is losing friends fast," he went on, "even the British. We used to be represented out there by respected Foreign Office types...the camel core who could speak Arabic and understood local culture and manners. But now we're sending plunderers and property sharks.