"The thing you have to understand about Dubai is - nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing - a modern kind of place - but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."
The article isn't fair at all. It isn't meant to be. But it does give one a window into the peculiar paradoxes of Dubai, and in a hyper-charged manner the effect of naked capitalism upon human societies over the past 200 years.
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"it's a medieval dictatorship": on the whole those were preferable to 20th Century socialist dictatorships, surely?
since people immigrate to it, no doubt.
Good article. Tacky high rises, and no community to speak of. Dubai is painfully soulless. I suppose it's good if you need to wash money.
Immigrant workers sleeping on top of each other in filthy shacks hidden in the ghettos on the outside of town while rich ruling-class leeches lounge around in fancy hotels driving fancy cars convinced they're entitled to live lives of luxury because they've worked so hard. Capitalism is sick.
"it's a medieval dictatorship": on the whole those were preferable to 20th Century socialist dictatorships, surely?
Not sure if Ivan the Terrible's reign was preferable to Stalin's. Might be a wash.
since people immigrate to it, no doubt.
People immigrated to those socialist paradises too, but getting out again was more difficult. Judging by the article, there are some parallels...
People immigrated to those socialist paradises too
proportionately very few compared to dubai, where 90% are immigrants. the passport confiscation is certainly true, it is reported in too many outlets. but there are also many immigrants from south asia even who are not among the slave class.
Not sure if Ivan the Terrible's reign was preferable to Stalin's. Might be a wash.
Nope, Ivan's is infinitely preferable. Stalin is right up there with Pol Pot, Mao, and Hitler.
Immigrant workers sleeping on top of each other in filthy shacks hidden in the ghettos on the outside of town while rich ruling-class leeches lounge around in fancy hotels driving fancy cars convinced they're entitled to live lives of luxury because they've worked so hard. Capitalism is sick.
Obviously, it's less sick than whatever system they have in place wherever the immigrants came from. And, yes, the rich are entitled to pretty much whatever they can afford.
Not sure the immigration rate is a very reliable index for comparing Dubai and the old Communist countries. The vast majority of people who go to Dubai do so temporarily because it is (or they believe it is) a place where one can make a lot of money very quickly - not something that was ever a major part of the sales pitch for the Communist dictatorships. Also, it's a place that is always open to casual labour, even unskilled or semi-skilled... which sets it apart from many other places which also have a reputation for being good places to make a buck.
How long could a company keep that kind of contract-violation going? One of the biggest factors in job-related immigration is the reports going back home from those who have already gone which cause their associates to decide it's a good idea. You'd think it wouldn't take long for the families receiving remittances to realize they weren't receiving as much as they should be. It would take longer to figure out that the guest-worker hasn't returned home by the time they expected. Do the recruiters have to continually change their names to avoid reputational hits, or is communication so poor in the countries of origin that they can do whatever they want without people getting wise?
Wow. Cheap illegal alien labor, middle-class fools overspending and falling into debt, construction cranes halted in mid-air.
I cannot imagine what such a place looks like.
Nope, Ivan's is infinitely preferable.
"Infinitely"? LOL. If you like serfdom and living in holes in the ground, I suppose.
Stalin is right up there with Pol Pot, Mao, and Hitler.
That's not in dispute.
LMAO!
Nice one, D.
Like Las Vegas.