The Dark Side of Dubai

[jackrock]

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

A very worthwhile read.

[rirv]

Very interesting.

I was born in Abu Dhabi and moved to Sharjah just outside Dubai about a year later with my family. My dad was a civil engineer, so I guess he was one of the people who helped create what Dubai is now... in a very small way, by building drains and roads.

Looking back at photos of my family there it looks very different from what Dubai has turned into now. It looked more like a former colonial outpost with a sort of mock grandeur - big fountains, elaborate gardens that always looked dry. Lots of open spaces, dusty. Sure there were a few big buildings and shiny glass but nothing on the scale it turned into over the past 20 years.

I read in another article the other day that they had demolished the old souk and the fish market. I remember them vividly even though I was only 3 or 4 years old. Everytime I go by a fish market now I'm instantly transported back to being 3 and with my mum. The old souk was full of carpets and hardwood furniture that had this smell to it of polish and the resin from the wood.

Not sure where I'm going with this. As you were.

[Videodrome]

Fuck Dubai.

[Adam]

Not read the article but I've always hated the place, since learning about 10 years it was built on the modern day slave trade, the more I hear about it the more I get angry about this playground for the rich it is and how a few miles out those that built are forced to live in poverty :mad:

Grrr, why do I click on threads that I know will piss me off first thing in the morning, I know better than this.

edit: read it now - a line that said it all from the people I know who have been out there "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."

[ericlee]

I'm so furious after reading Karen's story that I had to stop and rest. I'll read later.

I could have told you that place is up to no good.

[paul jones]

some Dubai airport customs cunt took my passport off me once on the way to Australia as well as most of the others connecting flights.We got them back but didn't get an answer to why they held them behind a counter.They're not allowed to do that.

cunts.

All those fucking mugs going to live out there.

give me wet and cold Britain any day

[ms.peachy]

You know, mr.p was offered a job there before the Shanghai offer came through. We discussed it but I was really not at all interested in going. I can't for the life of me see what anyone finds appealing about it. The only reason for us to go would have been money. Thank god this other offer came through.

[paul jones]

hey let's have a bbmb convention in Dubai(y)

[funk63]

Can it be in that skyscraper with the wind-powered revolving floors?

[jabumbo]

my boss (who is from africa, and has been to dubai many times) has discussed on occasion having me go over there at some point.


i havent finished the article yet, but its very compelling to me given my situation

[Adam]

I read recently - or a month or two back, there was about 3000 abandoned luxury cars over in Dubai atm with people just fleeing the country since the oil price hasn't shot back up like expected.