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I went to Dubai and other Emirates around 2018 as part of a work related Mid-East trip. There are definitely problems but this woman has an ax to grind that's s

I went to Dubai and other Emirates around 2018 as part of a work related Mid-East trip. There are definitely problems but this woman has an ax to grind that's so large it makes her commentary unreliable. First - Dubai is notable having grown from a fishing village to making money on oil to - wisely - finding a way to move beyond oil into something that's sustainable and beneficial. That's admirable even on its own. It is notable that very few people you see in Dubai are "natives." Most people you see are either foreigners there on business/vacation, or imported labor. The author takes issue with something related to that in a weird way - the more straight forward story would be that without the opportunities created in Dubai, both the business folks and the laborers would be doing something else - in both case less appealing to them. So whatever judgement you have on it, in practice everyone involved is better off than they would have been. The author then can't avoid but take a dig at Israel and Zionism - her point/connection is a bit hard to understand but also feels warped. The Emirates being part of the Abraham accords was one of the greatest signs of the possibility of cross-religious existence and cooperation in the region - symbolic that mutual benefit can be a stronger motivator than historical division. This should be celebrated.

pydry 1y ago
>The author then can't avoid but take a dig at Israel and Zionism - her point/connection is a bit hard to understand but also feels warped. The Emirates being part of the Abraham accords was one of the greatest signs of the possibility of cross-religious existence and cooperation in the region It's a sign of little more than that the United States will throw its weight around on behalf of the Israeli regime, no matter how racist it is, even when doing so is diametrically opposed to the interests of the United States (which these days is almost always the case). In the case of the Abraham accords, Trump's son in law traded normalization of ties with the regime for an (empty as it turns out) promise to the UAE that further colonial annexation of the West Bank was off the table. The accords led to a dramatic uptick (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/11/un-experts-alarmed-rise-settler-violence-occupied-palestinian-territory https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/11/un-experts-a...) in colonialist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in the run up to Oct 7th.
ryandrake 1y ago
> First - Dubai is notable having grown from a fishing village to making money on oil to - wisely - finding a way to move beyond oil into something that's sustainable and beneficial. That's admirable even on its own. I think one of the main points of the article is that what they are doing is only sustainable because it is sustained on the backs of exploited, disposable, imported labor. Just because it's slightly better than not being employed at all doesn't make it right.
yapyap 1y ago
is it admirable to move on from a fishing village to oil to becoming a “money can buy you _anything_” land of degeneracy?

pydry 1y ago

>The author then can't avoid but take a dig at Israel and Zionism - her point/connection is a bit hard to understand but also feels warped. The Emirates being part of the Abraham accords was one of the greatest signs of the possibility of cross-religious existence and cooperation in the region It's a sign of little more than that the United States will throw its weight around on behalf of the Israeli regime, no matter how racist it is, even when doing so is diametrically opposed to the interests of the United States (which these days is almost always the case). In the case of the Abraham accords, Trump's son in law traded normalization of ties with the regime for an (empty as it turns out) promise to the UAE that further colonial annexation of the West Bank was off the table. The accords led to a dramatic uptick (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/11/un-experts-alarmed-rise-settler-violence-occupied-palestinian-territory https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/11/un-experts-a...) in colonialist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in the run up to Oct 7th.

ryandrake 1y ago

> First - Dubai is notable having grown from a fishing village to making money on oil to - wisely - finding a way to move beyond oil into something that's sustainable and beneficial. That's admirable even on its own. I think one of the main points of the article is that what they are doing is only sustainable because it is sustained on the backs of exploited, disposable, imported labor. Just because it's slightly better than not being employed at all doesn't make it right.

yapyap 1y ago

is it admirable to move on from a fishing village to oil to becoming a “money can buy you _anything_” land of degeneracy?