THE Dubai Thread (merged)

by **Ardalla** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 05:02:42

It's rare that something totally surprises me. Dubai Dreams

by **shakespear1** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 05:15:12

Slavery never died. It is simply not talked about much :twisted:

by **lorenzo** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 05:31:29

Dubai's futurism is obviously the past. It's ugly, 19th century modernistic nonsense. It's too bad to be kitsch, it's not good enough to be camp.
Nobody will remember Dubai's steel and concrete mediocrity. The Sheiq will never get a clue. Dubai does not exist.

by **0mar** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 05:46:39

The Middle East really needs a true leader with the Ummah, morality, and justice in mind, not money and profits and "fun".

by **venky** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 10:41:41

This situation is not unique. I was in Singapore a few years ago. Indian labourers, mostly Tamils, work 12 hrs/day for as little as $12 a day.

by **Raxozanne** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 11:43:21

I learnt about slavery a few months ago when I read an article about how the Niger government cancelled the freeing of 7,000 slaves at the last minute. I was a little surprised at first as I too thought slavery only existed back in the 'dark ages' and had been eradicated. But no it still is going on today but far away where it doesn't affect us.

Check out http://www.antislavery.org/ for more information on modern day slavery.

by **Novus** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 12:02:42

Burj Dubai is not being built with slaves. It is being built by the Samsung corporation. Some of the raw materials may be built with slavery but the tower itself is being built with the lastest construction techniques with high paid foreign workers.

The actual hight of the tower is a classified state secret but rumor is it will be 1000 meters tall.

by **Russian_Cowboy** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 12:04:42

Dubai is very similar to Moscow, Russia. Instead of Sheikh Mo we have mayor Luzhkov who collected several billion dollars in bribes. Instead of native Emiratians we have native Muscovites who get several thousand petrodollars a year per capita in social transfers along with nearly interest-free mortgage. Because of that the Muscovites have re-elected their terminally corrupt mayor 3 terms in a row. Moscow is undergoing a construction boom as well, with millions of luxurious offices, apartments and summer houses being built for the noveau riches by illegal rightless migrant workers from the poor republics of the former USSR (Tadjikistan, Moldova, etc) as well as Afghanistan, China, and Vietnam. Moscow has almost half-a-million cops and security guards paid by petrodollars and a lot of nannies from Ukraine and Moldova, who take care of the noveau riches' kids. Moscow also has over 100,000 American and West European expats praising local lifestyle based on oil and gas revenues.

by **shakespear1** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 12:09:15

Yes, Luzhkov is amazing. There was a building ( historic ) next to the Kremlin as mysteriously it burned down. The word was that someone wanted to build in its place a MODERN one. No ne was blamed why there was no state of the art fire protection in a historical building ( Hello Mr.Luzhkov, don't you run this city. Nothing happened to him. ). :roll:

by **rockdoc123** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 12:22:15

The situation in Dubai with regards to foreign labor is the same in most of the Gulf states...simply the local populace is relatively well off and not interested in doing demeaning jobs. People from India etc. are more than willing to work for low wages with a leave which usually amounts to about a month every two years where they can go home and visit their families. You see the workers outside doing heavy labor in the 40+ heat and 90% humidity of mid-day. Interestingly enough when I have asked individuals in these roles why they do it the response is always the same.....no jobs back home...the pitence they are paid in the Gulf States represents incredible wealth to them and allows them to work for a number of years and then return home with enough money to perhaps buy a shop. Is this right ....nope...but the alternative for the foreign labourers isn't great either.
I refer to Dubai as the Las Vegas of the Middle East........it would not be in existence if there was not a demand and that demand is from both the affluent (I think a nights stay at the island hotel shaped like a sail is a couple of thousand US) and vacationing Brits and Europeans on package deals. A bit like drugs to my mind.....you get rid of the pusher by getting rid of his clients. Once tourists stop flocking to Dubai to enjoy the month long shopping festival each year following Ramadan the hotels and opulence will gradually dissappear.

by **Eli** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 13:57:31

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou see the workers outside doing heavy labor in the 40+ heat and 90% humidity of mid-day. Interestingly enough when I have asked individuals in these roles why they do it the response is always the same.....no jobs back home...the pitence they are paid in the Gulf States represents incredible wealth to them and allows them to work for a number of years and then return home with enough money to perhaps buy a shop. Is this right ....nope...but the alternative for the foreign laborers isn't great either.

by **Ardalla** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 16:34:31

The slavery aspect of this is not what surprised me. I had not heard that Dubai was building a Las Vegas in the sand. It seems to play right into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who love to point out how corrupt most of the Arab regimes have become. The idea that "my son will ride a camel" seems particularly lost here. Maybe they mean "YOUR son will ride a camel. MY son will ride a Russian prostitute."

by **shakespear1** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 17:56:46

Ardalla you crack me up :-D

by **MacG** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 18:06:31

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'D')ubai's futurism is obviously the past. It's ugly, 19th century modernistic nonsense. It's too bad to be kitsch, it's not good enough to be camp.
Nobody will remember Dubai's steel and concrete mediocrity. The Sheiq will never get a clue. Dubai does not exist.

by **Jaymax** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 18:15:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') bet the Dubai development will be built it will be a great place for the mega rich to run to when things turn south.

by **jaws** » Sun 17 Jul 2005, 19:15:52

I can't imagine what it's going to cost to aircon this place once the oil is out. Maybe they'll open the windows at 1000 meters of altitude.

by **SinisterBlueCat** » Fri 17 Feb 2006, 12:27:22

This little bit was on Lou Dobbs last night. It seems that United Arab Emirates, a country with ties to the supposed 9/11 terrorists has gotten approval from the white house to buy 6 major US sea ports on the east cost. While this article does not say so, the reason cited on TV last night for the major concern is because less than 5% of all shipments that come through these ports are ever inspected by homeland Security.

I am happy to see that more republican law makers are equally unhappy about this.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')U.S. lawmakers formally asked the Bush administration Thursday to reconsider its approval of a sale giving a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports.

by **crude_intentions** » Fri 17 Feb 2006, 12:54:29

Good to see that the Bush Administration is continuing to put the safety of the American people above everything else. :roll:

Seriously what idiot could'nt see problems from this both politically and national securitywise. This is a gift horse for Democrats if they play thier cards right, and it looks like they are.

Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal

by **dukey** » Fri 17 Feb 2006, 13:04:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t seems that United Arab Emirates, a country with ties to the supposed 9/11 terrorists

by **SinisterBlueCat** » Fri 17 Feb 2006, 13:29:49

I have not been brainwashed at all. I was simply pointing out an inconsistency in white house policy.