OK I have a lot of crap to get off my chest today.
Firstly, the disgraceful slandering of Dubai for the prosecution and possible imprisonment of Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors on Jumeirah Beach. For those that have heard already, these two were sort of having sex on the beach... ahh what fun. Then they sort of realised that the UAE had strict
laws about that sort of thing and sort of found themselves arrested and charged. The whole world has kicked up a fuss, including several major newspapers and the blogosphere, about how: "oh its so unfair... oh oh *hand wringing* this is a clash of cultures... Dubai shouldn't tempt people to its shores with fun and then put them in jail for having it... oh oh" which is just bloody stupid as
this Editorial from The National points out:
"They broke the law: it’s as simple as that. The behaviour of Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors on Jumeirah beach in Dubai would also have been against the law in London, Paris and New York. Not only that, it would have been against the law in the fleshpots of Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Bangkok. That is why they were arrested, that is why they were prosecuted, that is why they were found guilty and that is why, if their appeal fails, they will go to prison."
Bloody right, first rule of international travel states, know the law of the country you're in, respect it, and don't break it. We all know that British expats are not going to leave Dubai because they want a piece of that money pie as much as anyone else does but, for every British idiot who leaves... there will be more than enough expats from all over the world ready to pounce on his job (me included).
Read here
another absolutely brilliant piece from
Tony Karon, in the National, on the geopolitical after-effects of the global financial crisis. He rightly points out that most people blame poor stewardship on the part of the US for the crisis, that right now the US is nto taking any innovative steps in leading the world out of it and that this will strongly change the global financial, and geopolitical, landscape. Karon explores the aftermath of the bailout and its likely effects on several other pressing issues.
In US Elections related news... I very much am hoping that I can soon say that it's all over red rover for Mr. McCain. Not only has Obama just shredded all sorts of records with his
$150m September donation figures (remember he rejected public funding!) and
gathered a rally of over 100,000 people in Missouri but he has just landed
the endorsement of Colin Powell! Colin Powell is not only a Republican and one of the earliest proponents of the war on Iraq, but he also happens to be one of the most popular politicians in the US (not to mention
an accomplished rapper)... surely this is End Game.
Fashion/Design-wise, I came across this awesome looking stool. Yes it's actually a soft scuplted Hercules' head that this chap is sitting on. I want one! You want one too? Buy it
here.
Also get a sneak peak at the
new Converse Spring collection. I'm not a huge fan of what I've seen so far but new Converse is always an exciting thing. I find the platinum chucks on the left rather interesting but I don't think they're anything that I would wear.
And finally, Mr. Sachin Ramesh
Tendulkar has overtaken Brian Lara as the highest run-scorer in the history of test cricket. 12,000+ runs and counting. I, like many Aussies, am not impressed by the thorough shelacking that has been dished out to our team in the second test so far, and am growing rather worrisome about this series... but hats have to go off to the little master. It has been an amazing innings, still not out and still yet to see when and how he will hang up the pads - no doubt it will be a grand event.
Labels: cricket, design, dubai, fashion, US Elections 2008, world happenings
Dubai ticking time bomb
Thanks to my man
Tom, formerly of Zemalek-Cairo fame, soon to be of Abu Dhabi fame, for providing these links and prompting this blogpost.
A very interesting viewpoint aka.
leftist/socialist take on the phenomenon that is Dubai.
While the Dubai piece is certainly far from unbiased, and it does lampoon Sheikh Maktoum's gigantic ambitions fairly cleverly, it does also bring up some very interesting points about Dubai's history, srategy, laws and class society.
Historically, the article talks a great deal about Dubai's very humble beginnings, and how, interestingly, it has used many underworld links to ensure the security that it currently enjoys.
Dubai now enjoys high marks from Washington as a partner in the War on Terror and, in particular, as a base for spying on Iran; [26] but it is probable that al-Maktoum, like the other Emirati rulers, still keeps a channel open to radical Islamists. If al-Qaeda so desired, for example, it could presumably turn the Burj Al-Arab and Dubai’s other soaring landmarks into so many towering infernos. Yet so far Dubai is one of the few cities in the region to have entirely avoided car-bombings and attacks on Western tourists: eloquent testament, one might suppose, to the city-state’s continuing role as a money laundry and upscale hideout, like Tangiers in the 1940s or Macao in the 1960s. Dubai’s burgeoning black economy is its insurance policy against the car-bombers and airplane hijackers.
The article also points out how, rather obviously, how much the Gulf economies are reliant on positive fluctuations in the oil price, and how these fluctuations come about:
Every time insurgents blow up a pipeline in the Niger Delta, a martyr drives his truck bomb into a Riyadh housing complex, or Washington and Tel Aviv rattle their sabres at Tehran, the price of oil (and thus Dubai’s ultimate income) increases by some increment of anxiety in the all-important futures market. The Gulf economies, in other words, are now capitalized not just on oil production, but also on the fear of its disruption.
The article also makes a very interesting point of the current guest worker situation, that is of course applicable to all the other Gulf states (though not quite so much as Dubai with its ridiculously tiny single-digit local population).
The unruly voice of labour echoes louder in the deserts of the uae than it might elsewhere. At the end of the day, Dubai is capitalized just as much on cheap labour as it is on expensive oil, and the Maktoums, like their cousins in the other emirates, are exquisitely aware that they reign over a kingdom built on the backs of a South Asian workforce.
The question on everyone's lips of course, is how sustainable this strategy is exactly. Perhaps because the article was published in October of 2006, it fails to mention the impact that the falling value of the US Dollar is currently having on worker morale in the Gulf. If we look simply at the state of the US economy, and the concurrently nosediving interest rates (down 0.75 percentage points last month, and another 0.5 a week later), the picture for the US currency sure looks bleak indeed. Which also means that the outlook for those of us earning Bahraini Dinar, Saudi Rial, Emirati Dirham, or any of the other Gulf currencies pegged to the USD is similarly not good. Particularly for those that are earning these wages in ridiculously tiny amounts, all on the premise of being able to send some home to South/South-East Asia. Now when these currencies begin to depreciate at a great rate to the Indian Rupee and other South/South-East Asian currencies, the trouble begins. Working conditions have not improved, wages have not appreciated in nominal terms and are depreciating now when stacked up in real terms against the wages they are meant to supplicate in the workers' home countries. Combine this with the already simmering discontent of being treated like slaves with no rights to mobilisation, let alone collective bargaining, and you really have a problem. It does indeed seem that, at least in this respect, the Gulf is a ticking time bomb. Food for thought, and we thought sectarian unrest or a strike against Iran were the problems, this seems to be the least of our worries.
..
Labels: bahrain, dubai, politics, world happenings
Dubai Sleaze or Dubai Dream?
There's something about sleazy hotel bars that fascinates me. I always think of Bill Murray hunched over his whiskey in Tokyo, lost in traslation. The bar in this particular hotel that I am staying in is, for me, a perfect representation of Dubai in all its glory.
Let's recount, the bar is called "Rendezvous", a sleazy enough name in itself. The night's entertainment consisted of three Russian women in their early 30s wearing slinky, tight, short bright sparkly gold dresses shimmying around on stage to Arabic songs played by their probably Egyptian keyboardist. They were also singing Arabic songs (impressive), along with Russian and English songs, much to the delight of the crowd. These girls were followed by a Russian belly-dancer with amazing cleavage, much to the delight of said crowd.
And the crowd, what a mix. Khaleeji men in thobes (something tells me mostly Saudi with a few Qataris mixed in), clapping and cheering on these girls like there's no tomorrow. Middle-Aged Russian girls standing around the bar smoking slims furiously, dressed in all sorts of gaudy attire, one enormously fat one yelling "Masha!" at her friend constantly, flirting outrageoulsy with thobed men. Are they prostitutes? Possibly, maybe not though, that's the sad thing.
Another group of thobed men stands at the back of the bar, clapping and laughin racuously, flirting with their Russian whores, saying "ya tebya lyublyu... ya TEBYA lyublyu..." as the very same lyrics of the song are belted form the stage. It's always easier to say "I love you" in another language, just like swearing, you never really feel the impact of your words.
And what about that lone thobed man sitting hunched Bill Murray style over his beer? Looking at everything with a slight bemusement, or is that disdain? Why is he not like his more loose thobed counterparts? What about the group of Indian businessmen, pointing and conversing? What about their African counterparts on the other table? What about the conspicuously American man, sticking out like a sore thumb, with his short-sleeved blue shirt tucked into his light blue jeans and runners on his feet? "Budweiser, thanks", seemingly oblivious to the relatively poor quality of his chosen beer, caught in a subtle patriotic fervour.
What about the serving staff? Filipina barmaids in tiny skirts run around asking if I want another beer and putting nuts in front of me. South Indians behind the bar quite clearly incapable of pouring the beer properly (too much head is bad), let alone knowing the difference in taste between the Danish, Australian, Dutch, Belgian and American offerings on tap.
In fact the only nationalities seemingly conspicuously absent from this bar are Western Europeans. Perhaps they prefer sleaze in Spain, Italy or Eastern Europe, something a little closer to home?
What is it about this place? Is it the sleazy dim lighting? The ridiculously loud music? The wood-grain as far as the eye can see? Is it my table? With its Aussie beer branded coasters, American beer branded advertising, Indian beer branded ashtray, Danish beer branded receptacle holding my Belgian beer which is slowly emptying?
Those who think these bars are confined to the sorts of hooker pickup hotels you find on the appropriately titled Exhibition Avenue in Bahrain, dont fool yourself, this is a four star hotel.
What are these people doing here anyway? It's a freakin' Tuesday night. Are they looking for some entertainment on a business trip? Looking to escape their family back in Saudi, buyoed by the relative freedom and control their society bestows upon them? Are they looking for action? Money? Are they lonely?
As I sit on my balcony looking out over the street below, typing this, trying to picture in my mind's eye the goings on of "Rendezvous", I hear a distinctly female Russian voice calling, almost pleading, from below... "Masha... Masha... Slushai menya (listen to me)" Lonely indeed.
For those people that said Dubai is a city with no soul, maybe it doesn't have one heartbeat, but it has many, all so segregated yet thrown together, chasing something but no one really knows what. The reclusively wealthy, above-it-all Emiratis? The fornicating Saudis? The sore-thumb Americans? The desperate, tactless but endearingly confident Russian girls? The curious but aloof Indian businessmen? The poor labourers eking out a meaghre living? The Egyptian concierges and hotel staff, smiling and smarming their way through the day? And many, many more... All chasing something. Dubai is the land of opportunity of the East.This is the Dubai dream.
Labels: dubai, people, travel, voyeur
