Basically the Emiraties were at the top of the chain, significantly below them are the expats. Then at the bottom of the tree all the other folks from round the world who got treated like utter shite
Sounded a horrible place to live tbh
There was a 3 part documentary on iplayer called Inside Dubai - Playground of the Rich, which made for pretty grim viewing.
The stereotypical ex-pats were exactly what you’d expect. Basically they were all Richard Tice and Isabella Oakshott. Truly vile!
The Emiraties all appeared to live like royalty.
The ‘workers’ who all seem to be from India or the Philippines, were essentially bonded slaves. A mate worked out there for a couple of months (that’s all he could stomach of the place) and said the Emiraties literally regarded these workers as sub-human and essentially disposable.
Throw in the unbearable heat and the fact that all there is in every direction is desert and I find it completely incomprehensible why anyone would want to live there. I can’t think of anything worse!
Yeah it's pretty horrible.. A lot of the Indian workers went with a view to sending money back to the wife and kids or whatever.. Found themselves living in settlements of porta cabins with pretty much no facilities...
Basically people trafficking but for cheap/free construction labour rather than prostitution.
I worked out there for nearly 6 months in 2009 on a construction project.
Pretty eye opening with regard to the pecking order.
The Indian workers were definitely at the bottom - they were bused in from camps. As the labour was so cheap there were so many of them it made working slow and inefficient.
I remember walking into an electrical plant room where they were installing conduit for the lighting etc.
There was one guy to pick up the conduit, one guy to mark how long it should be, one guy to put it in the worl stand, one guy to cut it, one guy to thread it and one guy to put it on the wall.......
20 minutes work too about 45 minutes.....
At the opposite end the British project managers brother in law was over to visit.
He was out driving and got cut up on the highway. He flipped off the driver and thought nothing of it.
Later that evening the Police rocked up and basically told him the Emirati driver had reported him and if he didn't apologise they'd lock him up...... Basically don't piss off the Emiratis as they hold all the power.
Anyway I was glad to get out of there - it's very false.
Most of the ex-pat guys I worked with were crap - which is why they moved there - they were better than the locals and got paid a shed load. One even commented they why would he go back to the UK - the weather is better, the pay is mental, no tax and he could fill his Humvee up for about £40........
This is all waaaay O/T
Press conference background fail:
I find it just as incomprehensible that anyone would live in any of those places through choice.
The thing about the UAE is that it in many ways is the world in microcosm. Those exploited workers are still making your bricks and tiles and ceramic bathroom fittings and cycling shorts, and picking/making your avocados, sardines and cocaine (try it, it's quite a breakfast). It's just that you're physically detached from them in the global south by distance and supply chains, so you're oblivious to their existence. Whereas in the UAE you might see them with your own eyes because you have your office cleaned by them or have their buses pass you at 5am or glimpse the construction workers living on site under tarps. If you live like a normal western consumer, your pearl clutching is an aesthetic choice because you don't want to see the exploitation, not an ethical one because you don't want it to exist.
But all the same it's a depressing shithole full of blaggers and it's not for me.
on the plus side
America gets to test its latest tech in combat
on the downside their enemies get to see them
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3mg4blyixk22h
I find it just as incomprehensible that anyone would live in any of those places through choice.
The thing about the UAE is that it in many ways is the world in microcosm. Those exploited workers are still making your bricks and tiles and ceramic bathroom fittings and cycling shorts, and picking/making your avocados, sardines and cocaine (try it, it's quite a breakfast). It's just that you're physically detached from them in the global south by distance and supply chains, so you're oblivious to their existence. Whereas in the UAE you might see them with your own eyes because you have your office cleaned by them or have their buses pass you at 5am or glimpse the construction workers living on site under tarps. If you live like a normal western consumer, your pearl clutching is an aesthetic choice because you don't want to see the exploitation, not an ethical one because you don't want it to exist.
But all the same it's a depressing shithole full of blaggers and it's not for me.
I think the point was, why would someone from the uk live there? the answer is easy, if you igrore the human rights abuse, you pay low to zero tax.
If you're a migrant labour worker living there, you're basically a slave, but you probably went there on a fake premise of making good money and now you are stuffed, they probably even take your passport off you, too.
Decided to watch this again from Jiang Xuequin talk us/his class through why a U.S. attack on Iran means failure,
In his May 29, 2024 class, Jiang Xueqin explains that an American invasion of Iran would be a catastrophic mistake:
If Trump were to win a second term, he would likely contemplate invading Iran. While an initial invasion would seem successful, American forces would quickly become bogged down in Iran's mountainous terrain.
The American invasion would be similar to Athens' invasion of Sicily in 415 BCE, as described in Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War. Despite its initial successes, the Athenians couldn't re-supply themselves, and their entire expedition was wiped out.
This disastrous defeat turned the war in Sparta's favor, and spelled the downfall of the Athenian empire.
Could the American empire in Iran suffer the same fate as the Athenian empire in Sicily?
Having watched tonight’s Newsnight, it’s a weird old position to find myself in…. in complete agreement with Jeremy Corbyn 😳
Having watched tonight’s Newsnight, it’s a weird old position to find myself in…. in complete agreement with Jeremy Corbyn 😳
I actually agree with probably 95% of what corbyn says, as much as I take the piss.
But the 5% I disagree with, is so bat shit mad I disagree so strongly as they are all 'big ticket deal breakers', for me.
The Greens are getting there, maybe, but thier officail stance on re-joining the EU is a non statement, and they want to get rid of our nuclear capability on day 1....(the Greens have clearley not been keeping up on international affiars) so, as Simon Cowel would say, "it's no, from me".
I think the point was, why would someone from the uk live there? the answer is easy, if you igrore the human rights abuse, you pay low to zero tax.
I thought there was also an alleged undercurrent of the authorities turning a blind eye to wrongdoing, so long as it stays overseas?
Even for very wealthy expats it’s not a place or a lifestyle without serious downsides, which is one of the arguments as to why a wealth tax won’t cause the multimillionaire class to leave London/Paris/wherever
its always the russians
The Russians build the Shahed 131 in a 'special economic zone', they've it called the Geran 1, and the Iranians helped them to build the factory where they're made, and the Russians paid in gold bars apparently, and weirdly,
on the downside their enemies get to see them
The LUCAS is a reversed engineered Shahed 131, so I doubt the Iranians are going to learn much. There's also so mamy western sourced parts in the original Shahed 131, it wasn't really 'reversed' either.
Looks like it was the Israeli tail wagging the US dog. Netenyahu can play Trump even easier than Putin.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/02/rubio-us-attack-israel-iran?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
That Speech by Hegseth yesterday was truly unhinged. He’s a maniac! That he’s in charge of the most powerful military on the planet is absolutely terrifying
their enemies get to see them
A wooden propeller!
Hi tech stuff indeed.
...and if someone is going to say 'it's disposable - one shot' why not make it out of injection moulded plastic?
I thought there was also an alleged undercurrent of the authorities turning a blind eye to wrongdoing, so long as it stays overseas?
There's long been masses of drugs money circulating through Dubai, as you say if you keep the crime abroad the Emirates can be very ambivalent about doing anything. The Kinahan OCG have been hiding in plain sight there for ages.
The latest episode of the rest is entertainment talks about Dubai influencers and the current war - interesting stuff especially about how UAE actively seeks our and provides support for prospective Dubai influencers
That said it really says something about our culture that there is a full blown regional war going on and the focus is being pulled by views on influencers tangentially caught up in it. I understand the fact inherent irony of me saying both these things
Double post
I worked out there for nearly 6 months in 2009 on a construction project.
Pretty eye opening with regard to the pecking order.
Just wanted to add that my experience of Dubai is exactly as described above. If you’re a Western immigrant it might feel nice to lord it over the Indian workers (slaves?), but the pecking order is well and truly there and a Westerner is not at the top. It’s a hellhole and with regard to the above, if you’re a woman assaulted by an Emirati, whose testimony do you think they’ll believe?
There’s a compound at the airport filled with abandoned luxury cars from when things went wrong for immigrants and they fled in a hurry.
My opinion is that in 100 years when we’re out of or off oil and the Emir’s credit card bill comes in bound in volumes like the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, it’ll crumble back into the sand from which it came.
when we’re out of or off oil
Dubai has virtually no oil, comparatively speaking. 4 billion barrels compared to 92 billion in Abu Dhabi
Dubai's success is based on it being a regional business hub rather than oil based revenue. If anything it was more successful as a pearl diving location before the skyscrapers arrived
UAE actively seeks our and provides support for prospective Dubai influencers
All the more interesting when you consider what Iran is targeting. Most of these regimes around Iran are desperate to be regarded as stable destinations even if they aren't democracies. They urgently need to encourage investment and western money - Incredibly even with all it's oil wealth; SA is running on deficits (it needs oil to be at $98-99 a barrel to balance it's books). By targeting airports and tourist infrastructure Iran is drawing these countries into a conflict the leadership of which may join in with Israel and the US in making retaliatory attacks which will, no doubt, be extremely unpopular with their citizenry.
if you’re a woman assaulted by an Emirati, whose testimony do you think they’ll believe?
The UAE's law enforcement agencies have zero interest in violence against women or girls perpetrated by anyone. They are there to stop things being visible and audible on the street and nothing more.
Those exploited workers are still making your bricks and tiles and ceramic bathroom fittings and cycling shorts, and picking/making your avocados, sardines and cocaine (try it, it's quite a breakfast). It's just that you're physically detached from them in the global south by distance and supply chains, so you're oblivious to their existence. Whereas in the UAE you might see them with your own eyes because you have your office cleaned by them or have their buses pass you at 5am or glimpse the construction workers living on site under tarps. If you live like a normal western consumer, your pearl clutching is an aesthetic choice because you don't want to see the exploitation, not an ethical one because you don't want it to exist.
This is an appeal to hypocrisy but it doesn't really work because it's not comparing like with like. I get the overall point - in the west we are detached from a lot of the exploitation we benefit from - but the UAE is the worst of both worlds. Yes, they too use phones with cobalt mined by children and cheap tat from the far east, just like us.
But here, I do see the people that clean my office, and as it's public sector I can tell you that they earn £24,685 a year plus DB pension. They do not have their passports confiscated and are allowed to join a union. We don't see builders living under tarps on site, not because we're looking the other way, but because they earn decent money and live in houses. None of these people are at risk of being deported because they irritated their manager, or imprisonment and torture for complaining about their working conditions.
It is indeed a bit like the world - and certainly neoliberalism - in microcosm, but to suggest that a UK builder on £35k has got it just as bad as a Nepalese migrant in UAE is a massive exaggeration.
of all the things going on in the ME right now, white knighting for....cryptogrifters, tax dodgers, pouting influencers and the Kinahan Cartel has got to be one of the strangest takes
to suggest that a UK builder on £35k has got it just as bad as a Nepalese migrant in UAE is a massive exaggeration.
Good thing no-one did that!
Currently supposed to be flying via Doha on Friday afternoon on my way to Kenya, been offered a refund but as I booked through Travelup they have to sort the refund - as I’ve tried calling about 600 times with no answer (not even a queue), I suspect my options are limited. No point delaying as I have to be at the Safari Rally in Kenya, not something that you can ask to delay too.
Frustrating.
Going back to an Iran-related question (apologies): of course it perfectly believable that the current US administration has bombed without thinking through the consequences.
But what about the Israeli government? Iran is (sort of) on their doorstep, the military-intelligence establishment is filled with smart and well-informed people, and they supposedly have penetrated much of the Iranian state. Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
Note: I am not talking about the morality here - just the practicalities.
Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
if the iranian's missiles, drones and their production facilities are destroyed I dont think theyll care what happens
I’ve heard unconfirmed reports that the US favour a Venezuela style keep the regime but change the leadership while Israel are wanting the monarchy back in charge. No idea if it’s true.
A wooden propeller!
Hi tech stuff indeed.
...and if someone is going to say 'it's disposable - one shot' why not make it out of injection moulded plastic?
Maybe they want to reduce their carbon footprint?
just the practicalities.
Personally, I reckon the Israelis are probably focused on ensuring that Iran doesn't have the sorts of weaponry that can routinely reach them currently. I don't think they really care much what regime is in power - they are after all surrounded by authoritarian Muslim states with whom they have either good or neutral relationships. Iran is sufficiently far away that a land war is next to impossible. As long as Iran isn't funding Hamas or Hezbollah, then Israel (and for that matter SA) will probably be content to let the US do "nation building"
But what about the Israeli government? Iran is (sort of) on their doorstep, the military-intelligence establishment is filled with smart and well-informed people, and they supposedly have penetrated much of the Iranian state. Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
Israel is very much like the current US regime, they may be some smart people, but the leadership absolute zealots who have been brainwashing the population for decades about their righteousness to bomb Arabs indiscriminately without any thought of what comes next.
I wouldn't even be surprised if the attack on Iran is the ploy to invade the west bank and Lebanon, I wouldn't be surprised if they take over those territories and do the same to them as they have to Gaza, with the blessing of the US and the cowardly silence of Europe.
Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
They'll probably just kill anyone they don't like who looks like getting any form of power. Like the US the only agenda is around stopping anyone they don't like. They understand how to do that and are very very good at it, building a functioning Iran which lives peacefully with it's neighbours, they haven't even the beginnings of an idea. And if someone just happens to come along who they do like they'll kill anyone that they don't like. And when they stop liking them they'll kill them. And absolutely no one is going to stop them and they know that.
It's sort of the Dominic Cummings approach taken to the max, if something isn't working the way you want, smash it to pieces and whatever replaces it will be an improvement and best of all it requires no plan at all. And if it doesn't work it can only be because you didn't smash it hard enough.
Currently supposed to be flying via Doha on Friday afternoon on my way to Kenya
They may be flying again by then.
Its really difficult to see how the US an Israeli action ends up with a more moderate Iran. The only way this could happen is some sort of peaceful popular uprising, but currently no one really knows or has even suggested how this might take place, who would lead it, and how any uprising wouldn't break down to factionalism or civil war.
So the alternative is that the regime stays in place but somehow ends up more amenable to the US? The country that unilaterally attacked them twice in the last 2 years during diplomatic negotiations? I mean really?
Shitshow doesn't even begin to describe it. It makes Iraq and Afghanistan look like genius statesmanship in comparison.
Do the Israeli regime not kind of need hostile chaos in their back yard? if the population were relaxed about their "neighbours" they might start to question the government?Going back to an Iran-related question (apologies): of course it perfectly believable that the current US administration has bombed without thinking through the consequences.
But what about the Israeli government? Iran is (sort of) on their doorstep, the military-intelligence establishment is filled with smart and well-informed people, and they supposedly have penetrated much of the Iranian state. Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
Note: I am not talking about the morality here - just the practicalities.
So the alternative is that the regime stays in place but somehow ends up more amenable to the US? The country that unilaterally attacked them twice in the last 2 years during diplomatic negotiations? I mean really?
Shitshow doesn't even begin to describe it. It makes Iraq and Afghanistan look like genius statesmanship in comparison.
thats why theyll have to just keep bombing until everyone is dead!
I suspect Trump will take a deal that involves cheap oil
But what about the Israeli government? Iran is (sort of) on their doorstep, the military-intelligence establishment is filled with smart and well-informed people, and they supposedly have penetrated much of the Iranian state. Surely they aren't also going to leave what happens in Iran next up to chance?
At the moment it kind of looks like they are aiming for... some kind of failed state anarchy?
https://bsky.app/profile/aphclarkson.bsky.social/post/3mg5z32d2522b
Israel can flex their muscles and demolish as much as they can of the state. But unless they suddenly whip a grand plan out of their back pocket it does look like the next step is either a completely rogue state, or perhaps some kind of regional warlords situation. Which is not going to help Israel or the ME generally one bit.
when we’re out of or off oil
Dubai has virtually no oil, comparatively speaking. 4 billion barrels compared to 92 billion in Abu Dhabi
Dubai's success is based on it being a regional business hub rather than oil based revenue. If anything it was more successful as a pearl diving location before the skyscrapers arrived
Weirdly when you see all the scrap yards stacked with exotic cars, what you don’t realise is that they get there from all over the world and the parts are sold worldwide or the cars are repaired with very cheap labour and shipped out.
Israel can flex their muscles and demolish as much as they can of the state. But unless they suddenly whip a grand plan out of their back pocket it does look like the next step is either a completely rogue state, or perhaps some kind of regional warlords situation. Which is not going to help Israel or the ME generally one bit.
I would say the same for the USA.
It seems there is no exit plan. No understanding of 'these are our goals, how we will achieve them, what we do when we have achieved them'.
It strikes me that the fragile and imperfect 'peace' of much of the middle east has been blown up in the last few years, and the last few days continues that process with no way to control what is happening now or in future.
I sincerely doubt any of them are phoning their GP in e.g. Walthamstow or claiming jobseekers allowance, or voting in UK elections.
One of them is an MP, sitting in Parliament and spends his time telling people the UK should be more like Dubai. His hideous wife spends her time (tax-free in the UAE) writing columns for the Torygraph stressing what a lawless cesspit the UK is
As well as the tax situation, they're obviously not too bothered about horrific human rights abuses, but then why would they be? That's only an issue for brown people, not rich white ex-pats economic migrants. According to them it's a state of affairs we should aspire to.
I literally don’t get HTAF a bloke can be a U.K. MP and literally not live in the U.K.
Sort of explains why he’s happy to rip up the ECHR.
Even Tommy R doesn’t live in the U.K.
Sort of bugs me how theses people who literally are getting elected/making a living on running the country down literally don’t live or experience it as they are in a much warmer climate with no tax or a lower cost of living and would be expensing everything whilst back in country continuing the grifting.
