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19 March, 2006

The Sheikh of Rams surrenders

Far from being a peaceful sandy backwater, there was plenty of intrigue and action in the sandlands in the 1950s, according to the memoirs of diarist Robin Wilton's father. It makes Sheikh Zayed's achievement of peace and unity all the more impressive:

"There was a general disposition on the part of the seven Rulers to try to enlarge their territories, and hence their prospects, at the expense of their neighbours. Dubai and Abu Dhabi had fought a brief and inconclusive war in 1948, in the course of which the Political Officer‘s car was fired upon. The dispute was, of course, nominally about some camels, but its underlying purpose was lost on no-one."

And pity the poor "Sheikh of Rams", whose guns weren't heavy enough to secure his own sheikhdom:

"In 1951 I had to take a small force of Levies to make clear to the Shaikh of Rams that the [British] Government regarded him as a subject of the Ruler of Ras al Khaima not as an independent Ruler. We were fired upon as we approached his fort but when he saw the speed and skill with which the Levies deployed and brought machine guns and mortars to bear upon his crumbling stronghold he quickly sent out a messenger with a white flag to explain that the whole affair had been a misunderstanding."

Might=right, even back then.

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7 Comments:

Blogger marwan said...

Enlightening. It reinforces the notion that the current mentality was not born overnight.

19 March, 2006 10:10  
Blogger grapeshisha said...

For some reason, this reminds me a lot of Indiana Jones.

19 March, 2006 13:08  
Blogger DubaiTeen said...

Now that's something we didn't learn in UAE Social Studies in Grade 1. Only stuff about great rulers, prophets, about some arabic kid and his family etc; etc;

19 March, 2006 15:13  
Blogger Razaldo said...

Historically, the arabs have been divided. And the way things are, I do not see them putting up a united front ever.
All these talks of a unified currency et all are just in air - just like some of the new apartments being planned!
Sad really. Despite all the oil and wealth that they have, they do not enjoy much global political clout.

19 March, 2006 15:21  
Blogger Edward Ott said...

you should make a movie!

Salam

19 March, 2006 23:33  
Blogger John B. Chilton said...

Aside - Thanks for fixing the overlap of the right column and the center column. I can read my daily SDd now without having to fill in a blank at the end of each line.

20 March, 2006 13:46  
Blogger secretdubai said...

Thanks for fixing the overlap of the right column and the center column.

No problem - I think a too-long country name in NeoCounter was causing it.

20 March, 2006 14:07  

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