● 09.15.11

●● Cablegate: Bill Gates Lobbies to Integrate Programmes in Dubai With Microsoft

Posted in Asia, Bill Gates, Microsoft at 4:42 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: How Bill Gates lobbied for Microsoft in 2008 (when he claimed to have moved on to a charitable foundation)

BACK at the beginning of 2008, "Microsoft 'Bought' Dubai Away from GNU/Linux" following a visit from Bill Gates. Later on we saw this reinforced and then we saw people being sent to court/jail. Over three years after the act we discover that, based on the following Cablegate cable, Bill Gates did some clever lobbying even after his alleged departure from Microsoft. According to this, “Bill Gates would visit Dubai on January 27, 2008 to meet with with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai) and members of the MbRF staff to discuss integration between Microsoft and the MbRF [Mohammad Bin Rashid Foundation] Programs.” Here is the cable:

"Microsoft 'Bought' Dubai Away from GNU/Linux" following a visit from Bill Gates

saw this reinforced

saw people being sent to court/jail

>

VZCZCXRO5272

PP RUEHBC RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHROV

DE RUEHDE #0614/01 3051111

ZNY CCCCC ZZH

P 011111Z NOV 07

FM AMCONSUL DUBAI

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5732

INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 2751

RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

RUEHZM/GCC C COLLECTIVE

RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 8877

Hide header

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBAI 000614

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI BAGWELL AND MASILKO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/1/2017

TAGS: PREL [External Political Relations],

PGOV [Internal Governmental Affairs], PHUM [Human Rights], AE [United Arab Emirates]

SUBJECT: FURTHER DETAILS ON ANNOUNCED AND UNANNOUNCED, PLANS FOR

MOHAMMED BIN RASHID FOUNDATION

REF: A) DUBAI 601 B) DUABI 425 C) ABU DHABI 949 D) DUBAI 363

DUBAI 00000614 001.2 OF 002

CLASSIFIED BY: Paul Sutphin, Consul General, Exec, Dept of

State.

REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)

Classified 1.4 b & d by Consul General Paul Sutphin

¶1. (U) This is an action cable; see para 12.

¶2. (SBU) Summary. During a November 1 meeting in the newly

established offices of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Foundation

(MbRF), Nabil Alyousuf (Director General of the Dubai Executive

Office and defacto managing director of the newly established

MbRF) and Dr. Yasar Jarrar (Executive Dean of the Dubai School

of Government) elaborated on several of the fifteen (Reftel A)

recently announced programs under the auspices of the MbRF, as

well as a number of initiatives in the offing that have not been

publicly discussed, including a number of joint programs with US

universities. Jarrar will be in Washington, DC, Monday, Nov. 4

and then in Boston Nov. 5-8; Alyousuf will be in Boston November

8 and is unlikely to go to DC beforehand. They asked for USG

assistance in a number of areas (see para 12), most immediately

in contacts for the Washington office of the Gates Foundation.

End Summary.

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Announced Programs with US Connections

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¶3. (U) Referencing the US's Teach for America model, Jarrar

elaborated on the MbrF's announced "Pioneers" Program: an

educational initiative focused on providing financial assistance

to the top 10% of graduate students at select Arab universities

in return for their commitment to teach for an as-yet

unspecified period of time in their home country/community.

Jarrar pointed to the nascent "Teach for All" partnership

between the US program and its counterpart UK program (Teach

First) and mentioned that adding the Pioneers Program would be a

logical extension into the Arab world.

¶4. (U) Continuing on educational programs, the announced

Leadership Program is being modeled after the US's Eisenhower

Fellowships Program. Under this initiative, two or three

individuals would be selected from each Arab country to go to

the UAE in order to participate in two to three months of

leadership training, likely at the Dubai School of Government.

The program is currently envisioned as a three way partnership

between the Dubai School of Government, the Aspen Institute and

the London School of Business.

¶5. (SBU) The MbRF has signed an agreement with the Harvard

Business School Press (HBSP) that will allow the MbRF the rights

to translate all HBSP-owned titles into Arabic and then

subsidize printing and distribution of the texts throughout the

Arab world. Translation rights to other authors' publications

through HBSP will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

¶6. (SBU) Under its announced translation program, the MbRF also

hopes to expand Western awareness of Arab literature and legacy

by translating Arabic texts (both popular press releases, such

as the recently translated "Girls of Riyadh", and more formal

literature) and working with Western publisher's to produce and

promote these works. Jarrar said he would appreciate USG

assistance in identifying likely publishing partners in the US.

(See action request, para 12.)

¶7. (SBU) Focusing on entrepreneurship, the MbRF's announced

Business Incubator Program will work with the top regional

business schools to develop curriculums focusing on

entrepreneurial skills and creating incubators that allow

students to test out their entrepreneurial concepts. In a

second tier, the MbRF plans to select the best new ideas, and

bring those innovators to Dubai and provide further resources

for developing and testing the concepts. For concepts that have

passed the second round of screening, the MbRF wants to develop

joint venture relationships with top corporate innovators (3m,

Philips, Google, Microsoft were among those named) that would at

the minimum allow MbRF-sponsored entrepreneur's access to the

corporate labs (on fellowships) or ideally allow for full joint

venture development of the projects. Jarrar requested possible

USG assistance in facilitating corporate contacts. (See action

request, para 12.)

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DUBAI 00000614 002.2 OF 002

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Unannounced, but Ambitious, Plans for Joint Initiatives with US

Universities and Businesses

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¶8. (C) As yet unannounced, Jarrar revealed an imminent agreement

between the MbRF and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Sloan School of Management establishing a Dubai-based branch of

the renowned MBA program. The first year would see the launch

of an executive training program, followed the next year by the

matriculation of 40 students in a standard MBA curriculum.

Jarrar envisions the school eventually maintaining around 100

active students. Farther down the road, the MbRF is also

looking to create a similar, undergraduate, joint venture

between the American University of Dubai and a world class US

journalism school (preliminary discussions are currently

underway with the Columbia School of Journalism in New York).

¶9. (C) In ongoing discussions with Harvard, Jarrar is hoping to

convince the Harvard Business School (HBS) to place one of its

Research Centers in Dubai (Jarrar noted HBS has research centers

in 5 locations world-wide, including Paris, Hong Kong and Buenos

Aires. These centers focus on researching local businesses and

developing the case studies that form the core of the HBS

curriculum).

¶10. (SBU) A firm advocate of development via technology, the

MbRF intends to partner with US hi-tech giants such as Intel,

Microsoft and others to further the utilization of online

programs for teacher training throughout the Arab world (thus

bringing best-practices training directly to instructors without

expensive and lengthy overhead and development issues). Jarrar

indicated that initial conversations with Intel have commenced

and that Bill Gates would visit Dubai on January 27, 2008 to

meet with with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Vice-President

and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai) and members of

the MbRF staff to discuss integration between Microsoft and the

MbRF Programs.

¶11. (SBU) In a similar vein, Alyousuf noted the MbRF has a

longer-term plan to develop a "traveling museum" focused on the

civilizations of the region and their contributions to humanity

through out the ages. The MbRF would like to work with US

museums in developing the concept and possibly a partnership for

the traveling museum. We agreed to try to facilitate contacts

with the Smithsonian on this initiative. (See action request,

para 12)

¶12. (SBU) ACTION REQUESTS: Most immediately, Jarrar asked for

USG assistance in contacting and possibly meeting the leadership

of the Gates Foundation office in Washington DC (both indicated

a senior management meeting with the Gates Foundation in Seattle

would be premature and expressed a desire for a lower level,

preliminary meeting in DC as a precursor to subsequent

Seattle-based conversations). Jarrar asked for a name and

contact information for the Washington office. Given the

impending travel by Jarrar, Post (1) requests appropriate

Department contacts pass this information directly to him at

HYPERLINK

"BLOCKED::mailto:yasar.jarrar@dsg.ae"yasar.ja rrar@dsg.ae; or

call him on his mobile phone at 971-50-640-7281. (2) Jarrar

expressed openness to possible further consultations with the

USG during his visit to Washington, noting he was in direct

contact with S/P; he said he would welcome direct outreach from

any of the offices with which he met on his previous visit to

Washington with Minister of Cabinet Affairs (and MbRF Chairman)

Mohammed Gergawi.

Medium-term action requests:

-- Possible contacts for English to Arabic publishing partners.

-- SG assistance in facilitating corporate contacts for the

business incubator program.

-- Appropriate initial contacts at the Smithsonian for the

Traveling Museum concept.

SUTPHIN

We have more examples of such lobbying. █

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