James Baker, now with his own US government plane and Iraq portfolio, will apparently be making one of his early stops in New Delhi, with an offer The Telegraph of Calcutta says the Indians may not be able to refuse.
Meanwhile, Mark Matthews’s piece in Saturday’s Baltimore Sun is the first, I think, to place Baker’s appointment in proper perspective.
And then there’s the matter of Robert Jordan, Texas oil lawyer and America’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia since September 2001.
Jordan and Baker are both partners in the Houston uber-law firm Baker Botts (co-founded by Baker’s greatgrandfather, James Addison Baker, in 1873). And both were down in Florida in late 2000 organizing the recount effort. And Jordan represented President Bush in the Harken matter.
Here’s the introduction on Baker Botts’s Middle East Region page …
As Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries in the Middle East continue to encourage private sector investment, opportunities for U.S., European and regional companies are growing. Baker Botts is able to assist clients with these opportunities through our depth of experience in the region and broad-based expertise in energy, technology, telecommunications, project development and finance. This position is further strengthened by our recent acquisition of an existing law office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which operates in association with the law office of Mohanned S. Al Rasheed, and a strategic alliance with Afridi & Angell, a law firm with offices in U.A.E. at Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, as well as in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Jordan and Baker are, needless to say, longtime friends and professional associates. And perhaps Jordan’s assistance will be on offer for Baker, since Jordan stepped down as Ambassador just six weeks ago for “personal reasons” and is now back in the law biz in Texas.
