When you don’t trust your own people, you outsource.
According to the NY Times Erik Prince, the former Blackwater CEO, is creating a mercenary force for the UAE staffed by recruits from Latin and South America. Their one core principle: no Muslims allowed.
Outfits like BlackWater (now Xe) or Executive Outcomes have long been a part of the political landscape and they often work with Western governments. They have their uses and they know it.
None of this shocks me. What is sad and quite telling, in light of the Arab Spring, is the extent to which rulers and governments in the Middle East fear their own people to the point that they would hire foreigners (and specifically, non-believers – an important issue in that part of the world) to protect their regimes.
Mondo 