The former head of private mercenary firm Blackwater/Xe Erik Prince has relocated to the United Arab Emirates. Blackwater has been subject to increasing scrutiny by the US Congress and judiciary and faces numerous lawsuits. While he, personally, has not been criminally charged, he faces civil lawsuits over Blackwater violence in Iraq.

The UAE has no extradition agreement with the United States. 

From UPI:

Prince has set up in Abu Dhabi, the Emirates' main source of oil. Prince will find plenty of well-established competition there. Abu Dhabi and nearby Dubai, a major financial center in the region, have become hubs for security contractors because of the Iraq war at the northern end of the Persian Gulf...

Intelligence Online reports that Prince "is busy working on the establishment in the Emirates of a security group capable of mounting and handling large security projects in the gulf states that would integrate both surveillance technology and protection by armed guards."

He was reported to be seeking to forge partnerships with security firms already operating in the region, many of them working with oil companies. Intelligence Online said several firms in the Emirates have adopted the same model. Among them is Britain's Olive, which is based in Dubai's free zone and handles large-scale security projects around the gulf.

Also in August, Blackwater/Xe agreed to pay $42 million in fines for hundreds of violations of US export control regulations, including illegal weapons exports to Afghanistan and unauthorized training operations in Sudan and Taiwan. Numerous other lawsuits and investigations are pending.

More at UPI and an earlier article at the Nation. 

From Space and Polity in 2006, Nezar Alsayyad and Ananya Roy theorize medieval modernity, using contemporary forms of urban citizenship and spatial paradigms. Three types of urban space are explored: