New Dubai and - deeply uncomfortable

Is it? I couldnt say I would even notice if someone in an ad (or real life for that matter) was wearing a ring

Didnt they write a long report about how the Prevent programme is racist?

So no, I dont find them a reasonable or valid organisation either.

Ok, I guess I can’t have an opinion on the taliban because I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia.

The Taliban are in Afghanistan, that completely different country.

Ok, I guess I can’t have an opinion on the taliban because I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia.
Well even jf you went to Saudi, you still would not experience Taliban...

Op, beach life is a big part of life in the region and people camp overnight on the beaches. In fact my own family have even done week long camps with friends and family. Do we swim at night? Some do and it can be really funny seeing them coming out of the water covered in phosphorous. Do I swim at night? No. Because I’m well aware of what can routinely be found in the water and swimming during the day is my limit even though I’m nervy about it. I can recall one catamaran trip we were on where I counted many different species of sea snakes swimming under the nets we were sitting on. There’s no way I’d take the chance on encountering them in the dark - daylight was bad enough.

Then you have private beaches attached to hotels but those would be closed for safety sake once dusk falls. Why should a lifeguard be put at risk of having to rescue someone swimming in the dark?

And places like the private residences on the Palm that have their own beach? I don’t know if they’re open or not after dusk either.

I know you don’t want to be told people do swim late at night but the fact is they do (and not just after a night out if that’s what they fancy).

Not been, don’t comment?? 😅😅

Ok, I guess I can’t have an opinion on the taliban because I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia.

Dubai is gross.

I have a v interesting book by Leo Hickman called The Final Call
It was written in 2007, & gives a damning picture of freedom of speech & treatment of migrant workers in Dubai. I'm willing to believe it has improved since then, & that boycotts might not be the best way of improving it, but otoh I dislike when any disagreement w Dubai's autocratic system is put down to being a bored armchair Dubai-basher or similar. Ofc, some people reflexively bash without checking if their opinons are based in fact, but others have knowledge of current events/policies & legitimately disagree.

I agree it is not about Islam. It is about a dictatorship and exploitation of vulnerable people.

Sadly we had lots of brought in breeds around alongside Arabian Mau. One of the OG's being THE boss. And very vocal about food. Shelters are permanently full here.
It's not usual people who brought pets from abroad who leave them.

I agree that mass euthanasia is upsetting choice.

People go to Florida and other US destinations happy enough dont they?

The US is virtually a rich third world country to my mind.

They are mostly Arabian Maus who have been there for about 1000 years apparently. A lot of them live as street cats but they are the opposite of feral - often very easy to adopt because they are descended (allegedly) from the first cats to be domesticated. Most of the expats with pet cats there didn't bring them into the country but had a local cat decide they were their humans now. I can understand going to mass euthanasia where other options (spaying etc) hadn't worked. But it is just the automatic choice.

Obviously there are much worse things than cats being put down. But it was just an example of really jarring behavior and completely different to other Muslim majority countries like Turkey, Morrocco etc I visited where there are a lot of problems/economic inequality but you also see locals being incredibly kind to animals.

Best thing to do about the number of strays would be to ban sale of pets really in such a transient place. People get pet, then have to move and just... Leave them. We had cases of dogs being dropped off near us by random cars. People are absolutely stupid sometimes.

Dubai doesn't feel like a Muslim country though. They are not very nice to a lot of Muslims if they are poor/come from another country etc. They are much crueler to animals than in Muslim majority countries like Morroco, Turkey etc despite having the money not to be. While all religions have faults and there are parts of the Koran that are not great, I don't even think the main problems (I have with) Dubai come from Islam.

Well some argue, I had a teacher that argued that theft was just and fair if society was set up in a way that was going to unequally distribute resources and this was after they were burgled.

Does the teacher not realise that few, if any, thieves are Robin Hood figures who will distribute their ill-gotten gains to the less well off?

I find there is a lot of "This is nice, aargh this is terrible" juxtapositions.

e.g. super friendly cats everywhere, but the authorities just intermittently round them all up and kill them all rather than spay/try to find homes (one of my friends cats got killed in one of these sweeps even though she had a collar). When this happens in other countries there is public outrage but nobody cares enough to even complain. Also my (Muslim) friend pointed out its deeply unislamic to do that.
Racism/exceptionally poor treatment of some migrant workers below the surface but if you are an expat from the UK its fine so long as you don't get into a dispute with a local because the authorities will always side with them. But most of the time that doesn't matter.

It doesn't feel like a theocracy. Its oddly soulless. But the weather is fantastic.

I also tried to google the ad obviously.

Fcdo does not list holding hands as not to do. UAE's own website states holding hands is acceptable.

I think also because the reality is, in a lot of countries where you don't have those civil rights it is basically more or less fine for lots of people most of the time. e.g., Russia was been sliding down into dictatorship for a long time. But you could still visit Russia and have a nice time, lots of people in the big cities were having a great time so it all looks great. Until you dig below the surface a little and see the massive poverty in the sticks/the corruption. But hey, countries like the UK and US have poverty too. And then suddenly Russia is in a war that is killing 10000s of young men but... meh, keep your head down.
Afghanistan is led by a hardline religious right who are discussing whether women should be allowed near windows. But there are lots of (male) western influencers videoing themselves visiting the country and talking about how friendly and safe it all is for them. Therefore the Taliban are misunderstood. Rory Stuart also thinks Afghanistan is safer (for him, a posh British man) now than it was before so it's good. It's not safe for women with medical issues who can't see a doctor, or girls being sold to older men, or women who previously fled DV being returned to those husbands, or children in households where the mother was the breadwinner who are now starving etc etc. But it is safer for Rory.

Everyone knows the poem "first they came for..." but the problem is, sometimes they come for the "other" and then they DON'T come for you. At least for a long time. So its much easier for people to tell themselves its OK. And much harder to defend liberal democratic values when in the short term liberal democratic countries have a lot of issues/the advantages aren't immediately obvious. The idea that everyone is of equal worth and should have equal rights is a nice thing to think but there have been so many failures to put that into practice, its easy for regimes which don't even pretend to think that to look better.

Dubai and its treatment of some migrant workers etc compared to its image is a part of that. But I have visited there and it is a lovely place to live/work in if you are a well paid Westerner. But of course you can't vote, you don't have many civil rights if shit goes wrong. Most of the time that doesn't matter though - it doesn't feel like an authoritarian hell hole. And Dubai is Dubai and always will be. But we need to find a way to defend "traditional British values" within Britain (and I don't mean in a Nigel Farage/Elon Musk kind of way) despite the fact Britain has done some awful things.

Well why don't you Google it?

Very strange and confusing as the Foreign office list stuff you shouldn't do there and one is holding hands in public. Google that as well.

I lived in Qatar and travelled to Dubai regularly, no amount of money would drag me back to those countries.

The veneer is very very thin.

The only thing I liked out there were the female only spas.

I’m sure they miss your presence there …

As said, didn't see advert (no one seems to be able to find it online) but holding hands and going for a swim (NOT naked) as unwed couple is fine. They can even live together.
Absolutely no bearing on this if they are married or not really. Friends and I were hanging out on beaches and desert all the time. Couples married, non married, various nationalities, holding hands for walk, swimming.

That's an observation about seemingly no justice arising from a criminal act, it does not follow that people want to therefore adopt this strict rule of law. Of course, some on the extreme ends of political spectrum may but they aren't common that is why these extreme punishments are more headline news in the UK as we are shocked by such Draconian measures.

Because these liberal, romantic gestures in public are not acceptable in a conservative society as well you probably know.

But why would they need to convey a couple is married?