Dubai/UAE - where did you think you were?

[WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing]

I’ll preface this by saying I wish the best for anyone out there, working or holidaying. I hope you are and remain safe.

but do people go there with next to no concern for where in the world it’s located? Do they pay no attention to news or the general geopolitical situation, it’s hnot exactly a secret.

are we really that dense that most people don’t look past the bling, the weather, the tax perks, the bloody influencers?

I haven’t the energy to get nuanced so expect to be picked apart and blah blah blah, but on the “legalisation” of rape…do you know how shit rape conviction rates in this country are? What’s the actual difference?!

Last time I looked, rape victims in the UK weren't being arrested and imprisoned for having sex illicitly.

Ffs, It was entirely predictable this was coming in the near future. It’s not like Trump is subtle. “Help is coming,” he said. “If you do anything, we’ll attack all your bases and friends and unleash armageddon,” Iran said. Knowing Trump and knowing the Iranian regime, and knowing Netenyahu, imvho, only a complete twerp didn’t see this was going to happen, and with all the build up, only an even bigger twerp would have been surprised it happened around about now.

😂🤣😂

Well I visited Iran a few years ago (beautiful country, wonderful people, but a terrible government) so I'm not about to criticise anyone for visiting a neighbouring country. This thread is basically just (very) thinly disguised snobbery.

Far more people have died in terrorist attacks in London than Dubai, the world still continues to come here to visit.

I take my DGC to a SEN chess club every week, I met a Ukranian women who lived and worked there for years. She told me, if you are a legally married woman you ‘can live the absolute life of Riley’
if you are unmarried ‘god help you and don’t go’

think that says it all for me

we travel via the place for our yearly long haul trips to the Maldives - no real desire to venture outside the airport , although for all my friends turning 50 /60 it’s the place they want to go to so no doubt will have to at some point

find the idea of ‘7 star luxury’ built on slavery cringey at best
appalling at worst

I'm not sure many people would have anticipated the scale and the escalation of what has happened in the middle east over the last 72 hours.
I can't recall dubai being attacked in my lifetime although Google tells me there was some trouble in 2022. I have not travelled to Dubai, but the fear of being bombed was not on my list of why.

And far more people have died in Dubai and UAE marked as ‘natural causes’ when it’s anything but. At least if you get killed in London it’s logged as that.

7 star luxury built on slavery… IS the Maldives though

We all know the rich people who get rich doing illegal and underground things move to Dubai, along with tax dodgers, men who like to own women and drug dealers who want to run their empire being able to bribe whoever comes sniffing.

Anyone willfully ignoring this is a playground for rich men, like Epstein's island on a grand scale, is delusional.

On your way to the Maldives???

Where outside the designated tourist areas the locals live under a repressive and corrupt government, and dissenters are ‘forcibly disappeared’?

Have a read through this

www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/maldives

This is far too reasonable a conclusion to belong on MN 🤣

Did the Foreign Office warn people not to travel to Dubai after Trump told Iran he that ‘bad things’ would happen?
If not, why not?

The Dubai fans on here seem rather defensive.

🙄

Yes the Maldives, its magical,
where we along with tens and tens of thousands of other holiday makers/travellers go to enjoy the spectacular beaches, castaway experience, snorkelling, diving and spectacular water bungalows and 5 star luxury.
there in the next two weeks
buzzing xx

Trump has been making threats since January, at least. If only because people won’t shut up about the Epstein files, I’m not surprised that he went ahead with it. If you’re living there, then it is what it is but to pop over there for your hols any time in the last few weeks is, frankly, baffling. Hey ho.

Not a huge fan of Dubai but I also don't like the stereotype of everyone out there being vapid/influencers/tax dodgers/criminals. They definitely do tend to congregate out there but there's also normal people sent there for work etc. The influencers are very loud and very annoying so they stick out more...
But I can see why people who do live out there or who have family who do would be more defensive this time. Usually I find the "Dubai's really great and your just jealous and anyone who can is getting out of the hellhole that is the UK" posts that pop up on every discussion irritating. But the place is being bombed.

Yes, isn't it just for thick 'influencers' and chavs who love the tacky shopping and shiny high-rises, and have zero knowledge or understanding about culture or human rights?

Yeah but if you booked and paid for your flights months ago and then decided to cancel a few weeks ago I don't think you would have been refunded. So I can see people deciding to risk it...

I agree with you OP. I have no problem with people going to Dubai but it’s the ignorance of treating like it like it’s a western country which is weird to me. It’s in the Middle East so you need to be aware of the risks. Especially with tensions rising over the last couple of years, if I was going there I’d want to be keeping my eye on things.
The other part is the laws over there for women, yes I do think it’s very safe on a day to day basis which is great. But if something goes wrong then you are in trouble, it’s basically a crime to even report a rape. I’ve been listening to an experience of a British woman who got raped and she herself ended up in jail for a time. There’s also a few other women who have shared their stories of ending up in jail for basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don’t think the UK has any moral high ground when it comes to slavery tbh.

Great answer! 😀

I’m sure most of them did book months ago. Personally, I’d happily take the financial hit but we’re all different, I guess.

As for people planning to move to a country that they can’t locate on a map. WOW!

And forget the luxury part but a fair proportion of Western Europe including the UK was also built on slavery and exploitation.