Where is Dubai?

Dubai has ultramodern architecture, luxury shopping and a opulent nightlife scene. Burj Khalifa, an 2723.1 ft tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies Dubai Fountain, with jets and lights choreographed to music. On artificial islands just offshore is Atlantis, The Palm, a resort with water and marine-animal parks. The newest building will be called The Tower. It will surpass Dubai’s (2,723 ft)-high Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building, was laid out by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will be 3284 feet tall. These loving compassionate and very religious people are driven to spending billions of petro-dollars, completely ignore their fellow muslims in Mosul. Hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside their homes in Mosul "are at extreme risk," with dwindling fuel, food and water and scarce electricity. The United Nations said nearly half of all food shops were closed and bakeries had shut down for lack of fuel and an inability to purchase costly flour. Prices of kerosene and cooking gas have skyrocketed, and many of the most destitute families are burning wood, furniture, plastic or garbage for cooking and heating. Peter Hawkins, of the U.N. agency for children, said: "Three out of five people now depend on untreated water from wells for cooking and drinking as water systems and treatment plants have been damaged by fighting or run out of chlorine."
As their fellow muslims suffer, children starve, and old freeze to death, Dubai spends it’s money on gold statues and Ferrari police cars. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other Christian countries, provide their freedom with our blood.
www.telegraph.co.uk... ding/
www.foxnews.com...

a reply to: Violater1

Ahhh, they're busy skiing at the indoor ski resort in the desert.

Im onboard with the disgust at the extravagance but you lost me at the US shedding blood for them.

Reality check mate, the US is the reason the place is so messed up.

There is a major disparity all around the world between the most wealthy and the poorest amongst us, which is saddening.


Your OP reminded me of a prophetic hadith

Narrated Abu Huraira:

One day while the Prophet was sitting in the company of some people, (The angel) Gabriel came and asked, "What is faith?" Allah's Apostle replied, 'Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, (the) meeting with Him, His Apostles, and to believe in Resurrection." Then he further asked, "What is Islam?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah Alone and none else, to offer prayers perfectly to pay the compulsory charity (Zakat) and to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan." Then he further asked, "What is Ihsan (perfection)?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you." Then he further asked, "When will the Hour be established?" Allah's Apostle replied, "The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its portents.

1. When a slave (lady) gives birth to her master.

2. When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of higher buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah.

The Prophet then recited: "Verily, with Allah (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour--." (31. 34) Then that man (Gabriel) left and the Prophet asked his companions to call him back, but they could not see him. Then the Prophet said, "That was Gabriel who came to teach the people their religion." Abu 'Abdullah said: He (the Prophet) considered all that as a part of faith.


Sahih Bukhari

I spent about 2 weeks in Dubai back in 2009-2010.

They have an Irish village area with Irish pubs and they import real Irish people to work there.

I got to hear an Irish folk version of Along the watchtower that was pretty awesome.

originally posted by: IkNOwSTuff
Im onboard with the disgust at the extravagance but you lost me at the US shedding blood for them.

Reality check mate, the US is the reason the place is so messed up.

No, technically Churchill is from when he drew random lines on a map to make up the borders.

It's fine really.

Think of it this way, how high can you stack anything really.

Answer: Only so high before it falls.

That's where we are with capitalism, it's dying, not because it doesn't work, it works well, for those with money in the 1st place to invest.

For those without that inital capital, loans aren't even an option if you don't have a home or a co-signer, which always bothered me. If you were born into a poor family, how would you ever get a loan? You don't until you build up good credit, which is even more insane if you barely make enough to make ends meet.

People will either revolt eventually because that's where the current situation of things is going. Slowly people are seeing that protesting doesn't do squat, they will instead see that their actions get more news coverage and wait till that trend catches on, it's already pretty trendy to protest.

We are either set up for a Universal Basic Income to take effect or a global revolt against wealth in general, which will not end the way people think, there are more poor and pissed off than well off and happy, and I bet you can guess what side can handle themselves in the streets or without basics, since they go without on a daily basis of those basics.

We always wondered when the poor and supressed would rise up, let the status quo continue as it has been and you'll see how fast they loose it.

Duibai is just an example of what happens when you allow a group of people to ignore reality and focus on themselves, you get a place that would make sodom and gomorrah look pristine.

A country where rich men can do basically whatever they want, but rich women still cannot even drive a car.

Yeah, humane place huh, picture of the future huh, give it time, we're not here to build anything but bridges to one another and experiences that help us define who we are.

Karma is a b!tch

a reply to: Violater1

My sister went there probably about 20 years ago. She said it was insanely opulent even back then. She was amazed.
I personally have never been there, but... I can tell you that from what I have been told, there's not anything even in the United States that's comparable to it.

originally posted by: watchitburn
They have an Irish village area with Irish pubs and they import real Irish people to work there.

Dubai imports maybe up to a third of a million foreigners, and treats them like crap, especially the Pakistanis and similar. Dubai's human rights to foreign workers is abysmal. Suggested reading Amnesty, or HRW reports.

a reply to: Violater1

1. Dubai is tiny, at less than a measly 1,600 square miles. To put that in perspective, it's smaller than 49 of the 50 States in the US.

2. Dubai is just a single "State/Emirate" in the new nation called the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The UAE was only formed in 1971.

3. Dubai has 2.7 million people, which is the equivalent of Chicago. 51% of its population are Indian immigrants/workers/expats, and the population has drastically increased from just 1.7 million people in 2009! In other words, overcrowding is probably already rampant there. Imagine the strain on the economy and social structure if your State's entire population nearly doubling in only 8 years. (found here)

4. Those properties and developments you're talking about are new & were a huge part of the investment boom there in the last 2 decades or so. Remember the 2008-2009 Wall Street crash? It also crashed large parts of Dubai's economy, leaving a lot of developments unfinished and/or unfunded. To put it another way, oil was only discovered in the area of Dubai in the 1960s and oil revenues only started flowing in 1969. In other words, their current prosperity is new and their city is a modern day oasis that lacks the capacity to expand outwards much.

5. As signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention, our countries have literally signed up to provide help for refugees. The GCC nations never signed up for it, and thus, aren't bound by it. (The UAE is a part of the GCC.)

6. Nevertheless, the GCC nations still are bringing in migrants and refugees; they just don't label them refugees because of the treaty I mentioned in #5. Remember, "refugee" is an international legal status, not just a word people throw around. Anyway, the criticism GCC nations get in the region is that they typically only allow the refugees who are related to immigrants who are already living in their countries. So if you're going to fearmonger, at least use the correct talking points. This interview explains it in more detail:
Gulf countries take in refugees and call them “guests”

7. Are we supposed to forget the West's constant military campaigns in the region? LOL The phrase "you broke it, you bought it" comes to mind here. For example, we wouldn't be having the problem with Libyan refugees if NATO wouldn't have toppled Qaddafi and obliterated Libya's safety and economic situation. We wouldn't be having the problem with Iraqi refugees if Bush and his "coalition of the willing" didn't invade, occupy, and decimate Iraq. And we wouldn't be having the problem with Syrian refugees if the West, Israel, and the GCC would stop propping up the Syrian "rebels".

8. As for this:

As their fellow Muslims suffer, children starve, and old freeze to death, Dubai spends it’s money on gold statues and Ferrari police cars. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other Christian countries, provide their freedom with our blood.

That's simply ridiculous. If you're going to phrase it like that, why not include the fact that those same Christian majority nations are the ones who're attacking those Muslim countries in the first place? Or does that blood not count? And we can use the same argument here: why doesn't the Christian majority Republican try to end homelessness & suffering here for poor Christians? Instead, it decimates the social safety net, constantly slashes programs like food stamps, and is trying to repeal the healthcare system that has given 20 million or so additional Americans
healthcare.

Besides, there are Muslim citizens/taxpayers/voters like myself in Western countries too (not to mention the Western Jews, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, etc). So don't act like it's only Christians who are dealing with this situation here. Besides, the vast majority of Hispanic people are also Christians. So what's your religious excuse for our Christian-majority country's attempts to deport them? LOL Or do those Christians not count?

a reply to: enlightenedservant

What exactly are you eluding to with all this?
You somehow try and blame every ME problem on America. I agree the American government is no saint. But you seem to always be defending some very shady governments and people on here. Where as I am all to happy to point out the flaws in my(since you like sides so much) government that I actually have no control over. Much like the individuals and entities I continually see you defending here.

The entire city of Dubai was basically built by slave labor living in cargo containers.
Slaves of happiness island(vice)
Yup beacon of humanity that Dubai...

originally posted by: JAY1980
a reply to: enlightenedservant

What exactly are you eluding to with all this?

I responded to the OP. Duh.

You somehow try and blame every ME problem on America.

No, I'm blaming the refugee crisis mentioned in the OP on the countries that had the biggest impact on creating those refugees in the first place. It's pretty simple: If you bomb the crap out of a country, some of its citizens will try to escape to a presumably safe place. And I'm guessing you don't know about the 1951 Refugee Convention that I referred to, huh?

But you seem to always be defending some very shady governments and people on here.

That's your opinion. I disagree. I try to see each "side" of an issue before running my mouth about it & my previous post outlined fairly well what my conclusion is on this topic.

Where as I am all to happy to point out the flaws in my(since you like sides so much) government that I actually have no control over.

Then what are you complaining about? As a US citizen, I'm also pointing out the flaws in my government that I actually have no control over. lol

Much like the individuals and entities I continually see you defending here.

Umm ok?

The entire city of Dubai was basically built by slave labor living in cargo containers.
Slaves of happiness island(vice)
Yup beacon of humanity that Dubai...

I never once said Dubai is a beacon of humanity or whatever. You act like I have to either completely love or hate them, which is absurd. I know all about the Kafala system and I'm completely against it.

But mentioning that Dubai was built on slave labor: 1) has nothing to do with why they can't or won't accept refugees (which is supposedly the point of this thread), and 2) is hypocritical, seeing as my own country the US was also built on slave labor. In fact, both the White House and Capitol Building were built by slaves; major universities like Harvard owned slaves; and more than half of our first 18 Presidents were slaveowners.

So what point are you trying to make there? And more importantly, what does it have to do with their inability or unwillingness to accept refugees, which is supposedly the point of this thread? If anything, you sound like you just wanted to complain about me.

The fact is that the rich Gulf States, of which Dubai is one, are not receivers of refugees from places like Syria and Afghanistan and the rest of the broken Middle East and North/East Africa. Other nations, like Turkey and Jordan host a huge number of refugees displaced by internecine conflict in places like Syria.

It is unfortunate however, that these rich states do not take a greater share of the burden of refugees, and seek to care for their fellow Muslims. However, we know that Muslims seem to be more intent on killing each other, such as Shia vrs Sunni than actually working together.

Dubai is only interested in Mammon and rich tourists, or poor ill-treated workers that keep the country going. Besides, refugees and migrants know where there is opportunity and (yes) wealth and it is not in other Muslim countries. It's in Europe, the US and Australia.

originally posted by: IkNOwSTuff
Im onboard with the disgust at the extravagance but you lost me at the US shedding blood for them.

Reality check mate, the US is the reason the place is so messed up.

So your saying that it's Americas fault that women in the Middle East have to wear blue head to toe sheets over their bodies, Christians are being beheaded, that Sharia law allow the murder of homosexuals...... Uh-uh, right.
Back on track. The rich Middle Eastern countries like Dubai, are doing nothing, except allowing the millions of muslims to flood into Europe, the U.S. and the rest of the world. All the while, the U.S. sends it's troops over there to stop this insanity.
Lost you say, then ok, get lost.
Now that's what I call a conspiracy.

It is strange !

Those GCC countries are all dogs of elites in USA and EU. They have supported terrorism in the middle east, they have funded ISIS, Nusra, AlQaeda, Taliban and ........ even Turkey helped the terrorists. Their zombies are all over the middle east.

They have done this to ruin Syria and Iraq and to make chaos in the middle east and to ensure the safety of Israel and to establish their stupid new middle east and to materialize the stupid end time games of the extremist evangelists in USA so that Jesus returns !!! for money, for oil and their stupid hegemonies.

Now you expect them to help the Muslims in Mosul !?

Why do they never support referendum and will of people in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Gaza, Palestine and ........... instead of dictating and imposing their own wills on the people through their puppets and zombies.
I think everything is vivid.