Spending a fortnight in the Emirates … always interesting to learn a people and nation from inside out. Amazing hoe Dubai is orienented on the Saudi kingdom and its oil exploration beneficiares the British with BP and Yanks with Standard Oil and Aramco of old.
Agressive PR about the soldiers of fortune fighting the war in Yemen against the imaginary foe Iran. Of course the US goods of war fully on display with Apache fighting machines and fighter planes. Sheikh … whatever Needs You. Same old US influence on local culture or thereof. Television news casts CNN – Fox – Sky News – BBC and the Gulf States’ broadcasts.
Modern life mixing with the conservatieve Islamic culture … amazing. Dubai Mall displays the top brands for the extreme wealthy next to 100% trash goods from Japan, China and Taiwan … just unreal. Desert temperatures outside pushing 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Strictly a male society with with all inequalities of gender and minorities. Display of care quite similor to the American way of life … big, bigger, biggest. Adolescent behavior with most expensive cars reminding me of my teenage years of the 50s and 60s. Rolls Royce, Ferraris, Porches and the largest of Asian brands. No midsized cars or European standard cars. See little goods from mainland Europe.
Just had celebration of Islamic New Year, holidays and the Friday day of prayer. Just the first impressions of a tourist on a mission. Am aware UAE is a full security state with Sharia als basic law.
It’s weekend so I bought the local issues of the Gulf News and National newspapers. Picked up the October issue of the National Geographic with an article on Dubai – Can the Desert Metropolis Go Green. Always gains my intention. Noticed some smudges on the pages. A little study proofed these blackened out a single term in the article on Dubai. Persian Gulf was censured by the local authority. Let’s make war, not love. The Hallmark of the propaganda Hollywood style mixed with the military industrial complex. Where did these Arab tribes gain so much wealth during the Bush years, Iraq War and the sky rocketing oil price.
Thanking Uncle Sam … more to come soon, not The End yet. 😉
