Blackwater is no more. God only knows what the latest identity (Blackwater becomes Xe Services 2009, becomes Academi 2011) is of the most notable shapechanger in the world of corporate legislative war machinery. But, Erik Prince, father of Blackwater, is now and ever shall be.
In between the shapechanging operations of Blackwater (2009 Xe Services, 2011 Academi), Erik Prince and his retinue removed in a bit of a huff:
In late 2010, Prince moved to Abu Dhabi, where he subsequently started another security services company, Reflex Responses.
Now the Prince and his retinue appear to be ensconced in Hong Kong as revealed by warmongering balladeer
David Feith, son of warmonger Douglas Feith, in the
Wall Street Journal:
Now, sitting in a boardroom above Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, he explains his newest title, acquired this month: chairman of Frontier Services Group, an Africa-focused security and logistics company with
intimate ties to China's largest state-owned conglomerate, Citic Group. Beijing has titanic ambitions to tap Africa's resources—including $1 trillion in planned spending on roads, railways and airports by 2025
—and Mr. Prince wants in.
With a public listing in Hong Kong, and with Citic as its second-largest shareholder (a 15% stake) and Citic executives sitting on its board, Frontier Services Group is a long way from Blackwater's CIA ties and
$2 billion in U.S. government contracts. For that, Mr. Prince is relieved.
"I would rather deal with the vagaries of investing in Africa than in figuring out what the hell else Washington is going to do to the entrepreneur next," says the crew-cut 44-year-old.
Although, there may be a sliver of hope in the younger Feith who slyly notes:
His advice for Washington: "Stop committing suicide." Lawmakers should "get out of their heads this idea that they can recklessly spend money that they don't have," he says. "The United States government is too big in all areas. . . . It's time to make the entire thing a lot smaller." That would include doing everything from allowing Americans to buy incandescent light bulbs to reining in domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency.
At no point does Mr. Prince address the irony of making these arguments days after going into business with a state-owned firm founded as part of Communist China's Ministry of State Security.
Note: I hope the WSJ link works. No guarantees on my part.