Oil prices slide on bulging

The US and UK stuck to the former. Terrorists have been increasingly seeing commercial aviation as the front-line in their attacks on the West; the Middle East and North Africa are home to a variety of terrorist movements that would like to carry out these attacks; and terrorist sophistication has increased to the stage where it is possible to conceal a device in something as small as an iPad.

What seems to have particularly spooked the West was an attack last year in Somalia in which explosives inside a laptop were used to damage an aircraft, though it managed an emergency landing.

Recent “evaluated intelligence” led both the US and UK to conclude that a ban was desirable, indeed essential to protect the lives of air travelers. The US and British governments have a duty to protect their borders and their citizens. International airlines have to respect and obey the interests of national security in the countries they serve.

But there the mutual understanding ended. Saudi Arabia in particular — given that the Kingdom has some of the toughest security measures and state-of-the-art equipment at Jeddah

Both the UAE and Qatar, home to the three airlines at the center of the battle going on in Washington as US airlines step up their campaign to get the “open skies” deal scrapped, can feel genuinely aggrieved that the Americans put them on the Muslim laptop list, while the British did not.

Is there something the Americans know about the UAE and Qatar they have not shared with their UK counterparts? Or has the administration of protectionist President Trump seen the opportunity to make business more difficult for the Gulf airlines?

The three big US airlines alleging unfair competition against their Gulf rivals are not subject to the laptop ban, of course. Not that it makes any difference, because they do not fly to the Gulf region anyway, despite all their moaning about loss of US jobs and business.

Finally, there are the dangers of putting all that inflammable electronic equipment, a veritable belly-load of lithium batteries, in the hold of an aircraft. That is surely a target any sophisticated terrorist would love to aim at.

The “Muslim laptop ban” is a clumsy knee-jerk reaction that will only alienate key allies in the fight against terrorism. Forget “evaluated intelligence;” this is plain stupidity. Frank Kane is an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai. He can be reached on Twitter @frankkanedubai