Job Discussion Forums

[Mark100]

Dubai has a very good PR machine that is for sure.

Behind the very thin facade of respectability is a country:

that exploits third world labour with slave like condtions and negligble human rights

is the money laundering capital of the world for terrorist organisations and drug cartels

is a safe haven for terrorists and their supporters

is country that is run like a medievel shiekdom....systematiclly discriminating against foreign nationals in most apsects of the law

has a huge women trafficking for prostitiution industry

oh and i forgot GREAT SHOPPING

[kaisen]

I must admit that the UAE/Dubai are not exactly places where I would like to spend my holidays.

There are many shortcomings, just like in many other developing and "civilised" countries. What I do appreciate, however, is the low crime rate.

[Mark100]

[kaisen]

White collar crime and human rights violations are not restricted to the UAE, and I am not disputing that they occur here regularly.

Violent crime, on the other hand, is low. It is this type of crime that I have referred to.

As far as shopping is concerned, I have no great exposure to the glitzy shopping malls. In spite of rampant inflation, I think that price levels of most necessities are still lower than in Europe.

[boondoggle]

[rocketchild]

Mark100 has hit the nail on the head.

Dubai has a lot of crime that is unreported by the Media because the gov't does not allow it. Rape, incest, murder, break ins, random violent attacks ALL HAPPEN everyday. But unless you have friends in the know, you think silence is golden. What is sad is that the rape and incest rates are quite high, and little is done to protect its victims. Often the victim is put in jail for some random ruling under Sharia Law. Sure it is safer than let's say most American cities, but not by many European standards etc.

Blackmail, extortion from your employer, human traifficing, wide spread open prostitiution, (in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, you can't walk 5 meters without running into a prostitute), corruption on every level of business, really no laws, the legal system is so new and in a tribal society there is little chance of it ever being effective unless you 'get lucky'. Buy a lottery ticket your chances are better.

And Dubai is not like other cities in terms of its crime. For such a small population Dubai/Abu Dhabi have an incredibly high concentration of crime. And in the WEST I never worry about my human rights and being exploited or blackmailed from a local with wasta. Or being victimized by SHARIA Law. It is not just like any city in the world at all.

The quality of the homes are extremely poor. And thus have no real value long term.

It is a deeply troubled country, and it's only digging itself in deeper. Having Madonna perform by paying her 25 million will prove WHAT to the West?
Or to the people who live there. That money is wasted, that should be used to build communities, deal with clean water issues, garbage disposal, and the roads, and the medical system. EEEK.

Its a mess.
But ya, the shopping is fun because the malls are quite 7 star in quality and have A/C, and electronics to boggle your mind with. Other than that the fashion is very 4 years ago, and not even close to typical European standards of young fashion.

The beaches once pristine now have plastic bags and other odd objects floating in Jumeriah. They are destroying the beautiful marine life with vanity projects like the Palm.

There is a lot more bad than good in the UAE.

[james van cleave]

Hey, how come you guys get to say all this neat stuff and my posts get axed by VS? Oops! What I meant to say is...her wisdom knows no boundaries...
Talk about a PR machine! I'm trying to figure out who kisses Sheikh Maktoum's royal a** more--CNN or the BBC. Could someone please explain to me why there were three news stories in one evening concerning the United Arab Emirates-on a global newscast? One of the stories was about drag racing in Ajman--Center of Educational Excellence. In my day it was the place to buy beer without a license.

[boondoggle]

[kaisen]

Herewith an extract from the Amnesty International Report 2008: At a glance.

Amnesty International challenged world leaders to apologize for six decades of human rights failure and re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements.

Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations, people are still tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are not allowed to speak freely in at least 77 countries.

2007 was characterised by the impotence of Western governments and the ambivalence or reluctance of emerging powers to tackle some of the world's worst human rights crises, ranging from entrenched conflicts to growing inequalities which are leaving millions of people behind.

China must live up to the human rights promises it made around the Olympic Games and allow free speech and freedom of the press and end "re-education through labour".
The USA must close Guant�namo detention camp and secret detention centres, prosecute the detainees under fair trial standards or release them, and unequivocally reject the use of torture and ill-treatment.
Russia must show greater tolerance for political dissent, and none for impunity on human rights abuses in Chechnya.
The EU must investigate the complicity of its member states in "renditions" of terrorist suspects and set the same bar on human rights for its own members as it does for other countries.

[globalnomad2]

I am not always impressed by the supposedly lower crime rates of European cities compared to the U.S. Manhattan is probably safer than Amsterdam. Residents of the Dutch capital say they don't even bother locking their cars, because somebody will smash the window in anyway--too many druggies, an experiment in legalization that went awry. As for Guantanamo, at least the Supreme court has finally ruled that the inmates can all contest their imprisonment in civilian federal courts. Habeas corpus apparently applies to those people too, even offshore.

As for human rights, the U.S. First Amendment protects free speech simply better than the European nations and Canada, where governments like to regulate opinion (never criticize Muslim culture, for example, because that is hate speech. Indeed, Canada is currently prosecuting someone for writing an article critical of Muslim practices, since such an article is considered "hate speech.")

The best thing about Dubai is, it's the least of all evils in the Middle East. Which isn't saying much. But it's certainly nice to escape there from some pathethic, barren outpost like Ras al Khaimah (and I can't believe those apologists who work there and actually say how wonderful RAK is--give me a break...any desert town in New Mexico would be better than RAK--not to mention Santa Fe. Indeed, is there ANYTHING in the ME as good as Santa Fe, touristy though it is?)

[Mark100]

[rocketchild]

i got it
i got it
i did lol
was laughing my ass off

because "they" sell DUBAI SHOPPING FESTIVAL like it is some way to save the world.

And quoting Amnesty International is amusing, the person who did. Too bad he didn't find the quote from the UAE gov't that called Amnesty Internationals reports "false" and a conspiracy from the West to discredit a fine upstanding gov't.

really I can only laugh at anyone who says the UAE is a good safe place.
Let's hope you don't have teenage children in schools in the UAE and worry about them getting raped by the locals. Male or Female.

In the west it is called RAPE, it the UAE it is called 'dating'.

[globalnomad2]

Even I, as a man, got sexually harrassed by indolent (and impudent) Arabs while I was jogging along the Ras al Khaimah corniche--regularly. Construction-worker-like whistles and kissing noises. I told them (a) get a life and (b) I like girls. Christ, at least in my Houston suburb I can jog at 11 pm, not only safely but also harassment-free. It was even worse in Jeddah, but then, that's another dimension of foul existence which only the loopy likes of Cleo would defend as superior to the West.

[boondoggle]

[rocketchild]

yep

men and women alike.
I do think men get harrassed more aggressively, that is if you discount the times I was driving along the Emirates Highway and had Emirati males drive along side me at 120 mph and roll down their window and try to "talk to me'.
When I would slow down or change lanes so would they. That went on until they got bored and would 'pretend' to drive into the side of the door forcing me off the road.
hahahah so much fun.


gosh i love those times when i would go out for some 'sanity' to do laps around the M.O.E. like it was HAJ, then throw stones at the sub-continent workers dressed in shower slippers, who would trail me in Carrefore to see what I was buying, just STARING at me or through me. Maybe they have xray eyes.
Hard to say.

But ya, such a lovely drive out to M.O.E. then have people try to drive me into the ditch. When I tell them to *beep* OFF, they say I am bad woman and I said bad word.

Why I say bad word?

Oh I am so sorry RashidSalimMohammed, you are right this is your country and I am so wrong. I am bad women. Do you still want my number?

yes!

ah cool.

ah humdula