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The Gulf States are seeing absolutely excellent ROI for the 1b they pooled together for a 747.

ceejayoz 1y ago
Wait until the intel from the bugs comes in!
shihab 1y ago
That was government of qatar, this is Abu Dhabi (UAE). They had a diplomatic crisis, with full-scale blockade not so long ago.
- meibo 1y ago
  It's fine, I don't think he can tell the difference.
- bgwalter 1y ago
  UAE was engaged in crypto dealings instead: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty-takeaways.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chi... "Earlier this year, World Liberty, the crypto firm run by the Trumps and Witkoffs, announced an agreement with an investment firm backed by the ruling family of the U.A.E. The Emirati firm would conduct a $2 billion transaction using World Liberty’s digital coins, a deal that would provide a windfall to the Trump and Witkoff families."
  - tdeck 1y ago
    I wish there were some clause in the US constitution that broadly and expressly prohibited this kind of thing.
  - bix6 1y ago
    What does the UAE get out of this? Is it just a massive financial loss in exchange for US market access?
    - fib11235 1y ago
      One of NYT's recent podcasts (The Daily) covered this, basically the Biden administration was reluctant to give the UAE access to Nvidia chips because of their close dealings with China. 2 weeks after this crypto investment, the white house agrees to give the UAE access to the chips. Here's an article if you're interested: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chi...
      - bix6 1y ago
        Ty!
    - ceejayoz 1y ago
      > What does the UAE get out of this? What does the UAE gain by funneling $2B to Trump, who is notoriously a) transactional and b) one of the most powerful people on the planet?
      - mrguyorama 1y ago
        Being "transactional" requires you to hold up your end of the bargain, which Trump famously does not. Trump is not transactional.
        ceejayoz 1y ago
        He's very transactional. He just regularly backstabs after he gets his end of things.
        tempodox 1y ago
        Is quibbling over a euphemism really worth the time? He’s corrupt, plain and simple.
      - bix6 1y ago
        yeah my question was around the return transaction which the other commenter answered
  - alephnerd 1y ago
    That's the Emirate of Dubai, not Abu Dhabi.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
FridayoLeary 1y ago
OT but i think the 747 story deserves a bit more nuance. First of all to be clear i'm dismayed by the idea. It's not great optics that Trump wants to keep the plane (library force one?) . Even accepting it in the first place is also odd. Add to that, using it as Air Force One seems to be impractical. BUT, there is precedent for this move. They gifted an even more expensive plane to Erdogan. From what i understand they have been trying to sell the plane for a while. It seems even they have trouble affording it's upkeep. Turns out there isn't a huge market for luxury private jumbo jets. From their perspective it's a white elephant. Trump is aware of that. I heard another explanation that this is a way of putting lateral pressure on boeing. Trump is frustrated with the progress of the new air force one. His current one is aging. It makes sense as it's a typical tactic of his. I'm not coming to defend it, just to explain some of the rationale behind the decision. (edit to reply to several comments. First of all air force one is well maintained but it's old already. Parts and repairs become more difficult and the amount of miles left on the airframe can't be too high. Replacement is necessary. As to building a new plane out of spares being faster... Just ask boeing how that's going for them. They even had the fuselages ready and waiting for quite some time. Boeing executives know they will face some actual consequences for murdering the POTUS, which is probably why it's taking so long. It's difficult to build a plane properly when you've gotten rid of everyone who knows how and you've sold half of your factories, some to even more bad faith actors then yourself.)
- ceejayoz 1y ago
  > BUT, there is precedent for this move. They gifted an even more expensive plane to Erdogan. "We gave a huge gift to an authoritarian leader" is indeed precedent; not a great one, though.
  - FridayoLeary 1y ago
    Point is it looks less like a tribute you might offer to a powerful emperor and more like an ordinary plane giveaway.
    - estearum 1y ago
oefrha 1y ago
You mean having their capital bombed with zero response from U.S.-supplied air defense systems is great ROI?
- dboreham 1y ago
  tbf they were attacked with albms and presumably the US didn't supply the space-based sensing part of the defenses.
pc86 1y ago
This comment shows an astounding lack of knowledge of not only current events but also even the most basic middle east geopolitics.

Wait until the intel from the bugs comes in!

That was government of qatar, this is Abu Dhabi (UAE). They had a diplomatic crisis, with full-scale blockade not so long ago.

meibo 1y ago
It's fine, I don't think he can tell the difference.
bgwalter 1y ago
UAE was engaged in crypto dealings instead: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty-takeaways.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chi... "Earlier this year, World Liberty, the crypto firm run by the Trumps and Witkoffs, announced an agreement with an investment firm backed by the ruling family of the U.A.E. The Emirati firm would conduct a $2 billion transaction using World Liberty’s digital coins, a deal that would provide a windfall to the Trump and Witkoff families."
- tdeck 1y ago
  I wish there were some clause in the US constitution that broadly and expressly prohibited this kind of thing.
- bix6 1y ago
  What does the UAE get out of this? Is it just a massive financial loss in exchange for US market access?
  - fib11235 1y ago
    One of NYT's recent podcasts (The Daily) covered this, basically the Biden administration was reluctant to give the UAE access to Nvidia chips because of their close dealings with China. 2 weeks after this crypto investment, the white house agrees to give the UAE access to the chips. Here's an article if you're interested: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chi...
    - bix6 1y ago
      Ty!
  - ceejayoz 1y ago
    > What does the UAE get out of this? What does the UAE gain by funneling $2B to Trump, who is notoriously a) transactional and b) one of the most powerful people on the planet?
    - mrguyorama 1y ago
      Being "transactional" requires you to hold up your end of the bargain, which Trump famously does not. Trump is not transactional.
      - ceejayoz 1y ago
        He's very transactional. He just regularly backstabs after he gets his end of things.
      - tempodox 1y ago
        Is quibbling over a euphemism really worth the time? He’s corrupt, plain and simple.
    - bix6 1y ago
      yeah my question was around the return transaction which the other commenter answered
- alephnerd 1y ago
  That's the Emirate of Dubai, not Abu Dhabi.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

FridayoLeary 1y ago

OT but i think the 747 story deserves a bit more nuance. First of all to be clear i'm dismayed by the idea. It's not great optics that Trump wants to keep the plane (library force one?) . Even accepting it in the first place is also odd. Add to that, using it as Air Force One seems to be impractical. BUT, there is precedent for this move. They gifted an even more expensive plane to Erdogan. From what i understand they have been trying to sell the plane for a while. It seems even they have trouble affording it's upkeep. Turns out there isn't a huge market for luxury private jumbo jets. From their perspective it's a white elephant. Trump is aware of that. I heard another explanation that this is a way of putting lateral pressure on boeing. Trump is frustrated with the progress of the new air force one. His current one is aging. It makes sense as it's a typical tactic of his. I'm not coming to defend it, just to explain some of the rationale behind the decision. (edit to reply to several comments. First of all air force one is well maintained but it's old already. Parts and repairs become more difficult and the amount of miles left on the airframe can't be too high. Replacement is necessary. As to building a new plane out of spares being faster... Just ask boeing how that's going for them. They even had the fuselages ready and waiting for quite some time. Boeing executives know they will face some actual consequences for murdering the POTUS, which is probably why it's taking so long. It's difficult to build a plane properly when you've gotten rid of everyone who knows how and you've sold half of your factories, some to even more bad faith actors then yourself.)

ceejayoz 1y ago
> BUT, there is precedent for this move. They gifted an even more expensive plane to Erdogan. "We gave a huge gift to an authoritarian leader" is indeed precedent; not a great one, though.
- FridayoLeary 1y ago
  Point is it looks less like a tribute you might offer to a powerful emperor and more like an ordinary plane giveaway.
  - estearum 1y ago

oefrha 1y ago

You mean having their capital bombed with zero response from U.S.-supplied air defense systems is great ROI?

dboreham 1y ago
tbf they were attacked with albms and presumably the US didn't supply the space-based sensing part of the defenses.

pc86 1y ago

This comment shows an astounding lack of knowledge of not only current events but also even the most basic middle east geopolitics.