Is the move to Sharia law bad news for Piper aviators?

Some background from the New York Times today:

Travel companies are boycotting the Dorchester Collection of hotels this week after Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of Brunei, the small, oil-rich country on the island of Borneo that owns the hotel group, began implementing a new criminal code that will allow for homosexuals and adulterers to be stoned to death.
The code, based on Islamic, or Shariah, law, also calls for the severing of limbs or flogging as a punishment for theft, among other penalties. Implementation of the code has prompted protests in the United States by LGBT and human rights organizations, celebrities and travel companies.
On Saturday, Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin Group, posted on Twitter that no Virgin employee would stay in a Dorchester property “until the Sultan abides by basic human rights.” And cruise.co.uk, one of Europe’s largest online travel agencies for cruises, said it would no longer offer customers the option to stay in Dorchester hotels in any part of the world.
“This law was barbaric 1,500 years ago and nothing has changed to make it any less so today,” the company said in a statement on its Web site. “Any guests asking to book one of these hotels will be politely told why we are unable to fulfill their request and offered a suitable alternative.”
The Dorchester Collection, an international group of luxury hotels, is owned by Brunei Investment Agency, a branch of Brunei’s Ministry of Finance, and includes properties in London, Paris, Rome, Milan and Geneva, as well as the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, where protesters have denounced the new law.
Michael Cieply of The Times reported that several Hollywood-funded charities and other organizations have already canceled or moved events from those hotels — the Global Women’s Rights Awards, which are chaired by Jay and Mavis Leno, and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s annual “Night Before the Oscars” charity ball, among them.
The Beverly Hills City Council has begun drafting a formal resolution condemning Brunei’s new penal code and calling on the government to sell the Los Angeles hotels so that they will no longer be associated with the country.
But the hotels will not be sold, and implementation of the new laws will proceed, Christopher Cowdray, the chief executive of the Dorchester Collection, told The Los Angeles Times.
“While we recognize people’s concerns, we believe this boycott should not be directed to our hotels and dedicated employees,” Mr. Cowdray said in a statement released Monday.
“Most of us are not aware of the investors behind the brands that have become an integral part of our everyday life, from the gas we put in our cars, to the clothes we wear, to the way we use social media, and to the hotels we frequent. American companies across the board are funded by foreign investment, including Sovereign Wealth Funds.”

Americans should get used to other countries owning historically American companies. There is a price to pay for owing $18 Trillion and economic/tax policies that force American companies into bankruptcy or sale.

I agree that Chinese ownership would have been far preferred to having Hawker-Beech go into liquidation! Let's hope Textron can make it work!

Wasn't Piper owned by an indian company before ?

What country hasn't owned Piper?

I bought a used Baron from an Airmerican Company. Supported no weird government. sharia law is absolutely reprehensible. I keep trying to tell myself that my AvGas is pumped from US soil. I'm looking forward to the day of electric airplanes to go along with my electric cars.

I disagree that most US companies are funded by sovereign investments. They're funded by the hard work of the American workers who get absolutely swindled in the US stock market and CEO's making serious serious coin whilst not paying their team members a living wage. Greatest game of deception and theft I've ever witnessed.

That could be the primary reason that the US worker is so demoralized.

+1

Saudi Arabia practices a version of Sharia law, and it appears everyone is comfortable buying their oil, so why is the the Sultan of Brunei now being targeted for boycott? Is theirs a more strict, egregious by western standards, form, or are we just being selective in challenging those that can't hurt us?

One of the emirates just sentenced an asian expat nanny to stoning for becoming pregnant while married.

Not so fast Vince, I get my oil from the fields in Texas and Louisiana.

But no matter how you look at it, what the sultan has just passed is flat out wrong. saudi arabia ain't right either. Any country telling me what my daughter can and cannot do/wear/act or my son for that matter is not strict, they're wrong!

Well, there should be a prohibition against baggy-pants as well as hip-huggers in any size larger than 4.

Well, there should be a prohibition against baggy-pants as well as hip-huggers in any size larger than 4.

What is all the hubbub about . All these nice Muslims. You people need to be more tolerant. Or arrange the next Crusade!

Nah, if we disagree with someones position we have historically tried economics first. Consumer boycotts is something business people and governments understand. So it does change behavior, by all parties.

Tim