The Dark Side of Dubai

Nope, first time I've seen it.

Here it is, it was Magic Dragon - Dubai - Paradise

http://www.qatarlivi...

Motherhood...The hardest job you'll ever love! : )

i don't think Qatar could face the same by any way,
also Dubai will not fall easily, its just slowed down the speed for some maintenance needed, because lots wanted to get the best and step back,i think it will recover soon ISA. my regards.

Damn, that's a long article!

As with all articles like this it obviously has some generalisations and untruths in it, and its aim is to go out and find people who will paint a particular picture. But that picture clearly exists, as we all know already. So it's not really reporting anything that most of us weren't aware of, but the interviews are all very interesting.

(As a brit, I'd like to apologise for my fellow countrymen who were interviewed. What a great advertisement they are.)

It's hard to call what will happen to Dubai. The issues that have been around for years (slavery, expatriates, etc) wont cause it to collapse - if they were going to it would have happened already - but the recent financial crisis must be a huge worry. How long can it be bailed out by Abu Dhabi?

Qatar obviously shares many of the same issues, and they are treated in much the same way - look the other way, brush it under the carpet, everything is fine. Whether the financial crisis will bring Qatar down is something that's been discussed a lot already on QL. Qatar has more resources than Dubai, and hasn't gone as mad building stuff. But still, it must be a worry for someone, somewhere. At least you'd hope someone was worrying about it.

All this is normal as long as buildings is slowed more than 50 %.

no such thing as infinite bubble growth... :(
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" fear always spring from ignorance.... "
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Sorry to Magic Dragon for not reading it earlier.

I am totally amazed to hear/read about another "maxed out" expat.

This article could serve as a teaching tool for those expatriates that want to live "high on the hog" when they arrive in the Middle East.

These are lessons learned the hard way. What a shame.

Articles like this make me feel dirty.

This has really opened my eyes. Every time I drive on the Dukhan Doha road I see masses of these workers out in the burning sun- I have always tried to put my mind at rest by thinking that it is their choice to be here.. it's probably only short term... the money they make is probably a fortune to what they would earn at home...
I'm just as blinkered!
We have made a choice to come here for the money and is just a lottery that we were born Western- but I have 2 young kids to support and that was nearly impossible at home.
Is it as corrupt here, do you think???

Yup. Whether we agree with it or no, or sound like the twats in that article or no, we do support what happens here.

I do think he should cut us a little slack in that, as expatriates we don't have much power to enforce change, however that doesn't make our hands entirely clean, we are still enjoying the slave society.

What a crok of crap. It is so easy to see that she has sensationalized these dark happenings. I do not doubt the stories but to take this as the temperature of Dubai now would be BS. This article was clearly written much to the mindset of the low-life gossip readers. I have now lost total confidence in the INdependent.

yesterday called Dubai Paradise.

Dubai is great only for visitors and tourists....ask and check about the people who are working and their life style.

Quote from the article about Dubai...quite true in terms of GCC....
top executives.

"All the people who couldn't succeed in their own countries end up here, and suddenly they're rich and promoted way above their abilities and bragging about how great they are. I've never met so many incompetent people in such senior positions anywhere in the world." She adds: "It's absolutely racist. I had Filipino girls working for me doing the same job as a European girl, and she's paid a quarter of the wages. The people who do the real work are paid next to nothing, while these incompetent managers pay themselves £40,000 a month."

I agree Gypsy. We do support it, and articles like this make you sit up and think for a bit.

And unfortunately, commendable as it is, I don't think any amount of tipping will make up for some of what is going on.

i remembered pennypitstop....

with all her "moaning/whinning" thing :(

what comes around goes around....

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" fear always spring from ignorance.... "
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Quite disturbing, IMO..

I have met similar "expatriates" not just Brits in both Saudi an Dubai. They get great job titles, are called "sir" and "madam" by unddrlings and suddenly their egos take control of their brains.. The think themselves as "something special"..

To be honest, I found Dubai to be plastic and shallow. It is very cliquey on the most part and I am embarrassed , but not surprised at the comments by these Brits.

I recall going to a party in dubai once and the first few questions were - where do you live, what car do you drive, which school do your children go to and where is your driver from...

Abu Dhabi. The UAE central Bank bought 10 billion dollars worth of Dubai bonds that were issued. (Its debt). Who is the major funder of the central bank.....this won't be the last amount of funds heading Dubai's way but most of it will be kept quiet. Dubai's debt rating was as bad as Iceland until Abu Dhabi stepped in, that tells you something about what is happening there.

If Abu Dhabi "bails out" Dubai, then they will want something in return..

Perhaps the recent announcement of "laws on public behaviour" is because of this..

Few questions about 'Karen Andrews' story - why is this lady waiting for her husband in Dubai(in a car park with creased dress and begging for food!!!). Is'nt she aware that after the jail term is over her husband will be deported as he is no more having a UAE visa.
The Srilankan boy who was jailed along with her husband eats razors and commits suicide !!! Jails don't allow razor blades. So how ???

Well goludumdum, I have worked in Dubai for around 9 years and I have known a lot of official facts through my assignments. Hope that satisfies your curosity.

Ummjake, not really. There is loads of security - constant monitoring. Have worked for a law firm.... All I can say is absolutely immposible. May be in movies or rather Indian movies/jail but not in Dubai.

Goludumdum, did you even read 'Karen Andrews' story. She says her husband took loans from bank. He was in debt and resigned. Thereafter, he tried to leave the country and was caught (I presume at the airport) and jailed. Obviously he will be deported since he resigned, and in gulf the company cancels the visa after an expat resigns and leaves the country. When his visa is cancelled won't he be deported after serving jail.
I can understand if you are not aware about the 'jail laws'.

world have security measures, some probably a lot more high tech than what Dubai has. And still forbidden items (razor blades, drugs, etc.) manage to get into the prison population.

This is just the nature of life, especially in prison. If people want something badly enough, they will find a way to get it.

I'm not saying that contraband materials are rampant, or that prison security measures are completely useless and ineffective. But I certainly don't think you can say that a prisoner getting hold of a razor blade while in jail would be "absolutely impossible".

"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou

Ummjake...We have a attorney in the house! u think twice b4 u answer...;-)

If life deals you a lemon, make lemonade

I brought up the subject of this article at the pool today (toff toff) and apparently, Panorama covered it last week at home.
My mate worked in Saudi for years at the same time that I was in Abu Dhabi, and his point was that the West would not tolerate this treatment of fellow human beings..but the oil makes all the difference.

It's disgusting.. but we really do support it by being here. But what difference would it make? Intgrity over sense and the opportunity to secure a decent future for our kids..

Mom....chill....

n dont think bout me while u r with ur nedles n threads...u may prick urfingers...

on a separate note it takes a lot more than working in legal firm n playin with needles n threads to be a Dumdum..
If life deals you a lemon, make lemonade

it will survive. When the easy cash runs out it could be a slow painful decline. I could be wrong and it may mature into a sustainable market but I doubt it. Like the man above says when you are fighting against nature you will eventually lose.

Everyone is to blame.. Especially those morons who think themselves better than others .

Looking at the "Bright Side" of Dubai

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, interviewed in the article, has responded on arabianbusiness.com, calling into question the motives behind the article and the validity of some of the information he gained. He also highlights the way his words were mis-used and how what he was reportedly wearing was made up.

In my opinion, apart from the bit in the first paragraph about the "personal issues" of the journalist, it is a commendable response. However, it doesn't alter the fact that some of what was reported is true and should be a major concern for Dubai and other Gulf countries. It

The plot thickens. Hmmm.....

Yes, you're right roadtester, any article is going to have a initial brief to work from, and in this case it was obviously something along the lines of "go and find out what's bad about Dubai". And as a result things will seem sensationalised. But we all know that a lot of the issues raised are happening out here, and it is good that the rest of the world gets to see that since it may put some pressure on the governments to take steps to improve things.

there about Dubai is the shiny, sparkly, glitzy stuff. So while I can certainly see that this article is not THAT, I interpret it as something written with the goal of tempering the "Dubai is Disney World" mentality.

The rebuttal in the arabian business mag that tallg posted the link to was interesting to read as well, but I think that like most Gulf citizens, that gentleman isn't used to critical press. He kept wanting to bring up the good things about himself and Dubai, but nobody is denying those things; they're simply not the topic addressed. The article clearly was intended to focus on the "dark side" as it was titled.

"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou

... around a year and found most of the 'things' mentioned in the article are true...

is it a she? are you sure?
:-)
search google, you will find his own website...

I've heard the new "empty" Dubai is nice. I've always hated it before, so I'm looking forward to it now.

... dubai is in trouble coz some people like you think bout only theirselves.... no offense ! lol

http://www.independe...

"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."

"Say for example that I had written an article that states that, in wealthy first world Britain there are 380,000 homeless people, many of them mentally ill, starving and abandoned in sub-zero temperatures to live on the streets.
Say then that I wrote an article that states that Britain, the so called "jail capital of Western Europe" sentenced in 2006 alone a staggering additional 12,000 women to prison and that up to seven babies a month are born in jail where they spend their crucial first months.
I could have written an article that stated Britain, victor in the Second World War, had given refuge to 400 Nazi war criminals, with all but one of them getting away with it. Or one stating that the number of Indians who died while serving the British Empire, to build your Tube and grow your tea, is so large it is simply unquantifiable by any historian.
Or say I write an article about the 2.5 million-strong Indian volunteer army who served Britain during the Second World War, where 87,000 of them died for their occupiers' freedom and yet until recently those who survived continued to be discriminated against in pay and pension.
I could have written an article that stated that, in civilised Britain, one in every 23 teenage girls had an abortion and in 2006 more than 17,000 of the 194,000 abortions carried out in England and Wales involved girls below the age of 18.
I could have written an article stating that Britain, the human rights champion, not wanting to get its hands dirty, had resorted to secretly outsourcing torture to Third World states under the guise of rendition by allowing up to 170 so called CIA torture flights to use its bases. Or that Britain's MI5 unlawfully shared with the CIA secret material to interrogate suspects and "facilitate interviews" including cases where the suspects were later proven to be innocent.
I could have written an article that stated that the Britain of family values is the only country in the EU that recruits child soldiers as young as 16 into its Army and ships them off battlegrounds in Iraq and Afghanistan, putting it in the same league as African dictatorships and Burma.
I could have written an article that states that Britain either recently did or has yet to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict or the UN's International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families .
I could have highlighted the fact that liberal Britain is responsible for the physical and racial abuse of hundreds of failed asylum-seekers at the hands of private security guards during their forced removal from the country .
I could have written about the countless cases of slave-like working conditions of immigrant labours such as the 23 Chinese workers who lost their lives in 2004 as they harvested cockles in the dangerous rising tides in Morecambe Bay.
I could have written about how mortality rates from liver diseases due to alcohol abuse have declined in Europe in recent decades but in Britain the rate trebled in the same period reflecting deep societal failures.
I could have written about how in "Big Brother" Britain maltreatment of minors is so serious that one in 10, or an estimated one million children a year, suffer physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect.
Or that according to Oxfam 13.2 million people in the UK live in poverty – a staggering 20 per cent of the population in the sixth richest nation in the world.
I could have written all that, but out of respect for Britain, I decided not to. Because when you stitch together a collection of unconnected facts taken out of context, you end up with a distorted and inaccurate picture: something that Britain's Dubai-bashers would do well to learn."

The Independent had the good grace to let Dubai based journalist have a comment section put aside for his rebuttal. Here:

http://www.independe...

"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."

It turns out the Sultan also wrote a response in the Independent; http://www.independe...

That is what Hari is responding to. This has almost become as ridiculous as the arguments we have on QL!

Hari's response makes valid points. Turning the argument back on Britain is pathetic, and shows that the Sultan cannot answer the claims laid against his own country. And that's exactly what some QLers do all the time!

I like Hari's parting paragraph;

So whenever you hear the cry "But what about?!", you can reply: what about we ignore this crude attempt to change the subject, and focus on the subject in hand?

Tallg please PM Haris comment to goludumdum and curious but determined. ;P

Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ. (English Proverb)

To the people who don't believe in free speech - stop posting ;)

but then the classic thing happens, someone comments and tries to turn it into an Israeli/Palestinian issue!! Talk about changing the subject...

What they have in Dubai is what is called indentured servitude plain and simple and there are two people to blame for that. The govt in Dubai and the home countries who do not do enough to stamp out the agents that take advantage of these desperate poor people.

hari was right coz i spent around a year in dubai and i saw those things there...

Finally, the real truth about Dubai and some of its neighbors!
I sure hope that those who blindly endorse the public exhibitionism of wealth at the cost of hidden slavery will now come to their senses and will stop their contribution and instead will pressure for change and justice!

You are welcome Tom.
Saying it and making sure it won’t get unnoticed is the minimum expected from all who have seen it!