Yay, you're posting again!

Those Crieff Brownies were always my weak spot...

Ha, so that was YOU,a pixie and a tent pole badly assembled on the front of the Comrie Chronicle some years ago.'Twas the eyes and the cheap blouse that gave it away.

Simple. Build Quality is better in canvas.

they can afford to live in A?C tents because they pay bugger all for their electricity

ohhh...still so bitter, inselaffen...

MM, xx

always
hows you?

all good, looking forward to doing my fave shallow and pretentious thing, brunch, today...

MM, xx

Al Qasr?
havnt tried Singapore Brunch's. things a bit tight so they are out of budget

no, the new meydan one...

MM, xx

But you stewed on it enough to post, submit, then delete.....and wrote not worth it, then did the whole thing again

Touchy?

C'mon...MH's response was good.

don't be silly - they don't show 2nd division football on the telly in the desert

it was dark, maybe he was sitting on a fat lass in her abaya

ohhhhh...what did i miss...??

MM, xx

aye I've seen them round there as well in the past, sitting on the top of a hill on a sofa, seems weird to us but maybe its very natural to them.

Like the new pic btw.

COPIED FROM A UAE NATIONALS BLOG - he was discussing another artcile but it refers to this also

My thoughts on Foreign Policy's Dubai Goes Legit story

I have been casually bothered by the quality of coverage Dubai has received for many years now. The same publications, and some of writers, who blatantly paraded it as the beacon of hope of not only the Arab world but, frankly, the world, are now calling it the manifestation of all things wrong with Islam, capitalism and anything that comes in between. I’ve been casually bothered by it because, as I’ve said before, that the world is run those who show up; and we have failed to show up. This is all the more poignant when you think of how comfortable we were at promoting ourselves as the city of all things which I still believe we are meant to be: a culturally diverse, socially tolerant, economically diversified progressive emirate.

So when the Sun and or the Independent say Dubai is finished this lends itself to morning tea (with milk) ‘edutainment’. I say this because, save the Economist, British journalism has reached a state of disillusionment that is so senile that one can no longer expect objective coverage from it; everything has become tabloid.

When Foreign Policy (FP) magazine does the same my reaction is significantly higher than bothered and I assure you it is not casual either. My bias is by driven the high regard I hold the FP. Moreover, it was very unsettling to see how wrong they had gotten Dubai and how much of inaccurate picture was drawn.

After quoting Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi’s recent article calling clarity on public behavior and Dr. Abulkhaleq Abdullah’s calls for preserving national identity, they go on and quote that the National has said that ‘many‘ Emiratis are moving back to the desert because of the number of foreigners in Dubai. The National’s story doesn’t even come close to insinuating that the number of Emiratis moving to the desert is significant, let alone state that they are ‘many’. Alas, the average North American reader who relies on the FP for accurate ‘foreign’ analysis now thinks that Emiratis are deserting (all pun intended) their houses in Jumeirah for tents in Al Lisaili.

The story moves on to demystify the shift in power in Dubai Inc. They start off well, saying that astute members of merchant families of Dubai are taking over the helms from Western-educated Emiratis in public entities. Then they go on to state that those very merchant families are poorer but politically stronger than the Western-educated civil servants. How can the traditional merchant families be poorer than civil servants?! Even the corrupt ones. Then they site the replacement of Sultan Bin Sulayem as chairman of Nakheel with Ali Lootah as proof to that. What does Sultan Bin Sulayem’s American education have anything to do with his removal? Why isn’t Mohammed Al Abbar removed as well then? Could it perhaps be due to the varying levels of financial and managerial health Nakheel and Emaar are respectively in?

I especially enjoyed the drawing of Sultan Bin Sulayem as the young progressive Emirati and Ali Lootah (do they even know what he looks like?) as the epitome of all things conservative.

After this the story attempts to flirt with the possibility of Dubai becoming as conservative as Sharjah. They liken Dubai’s current financial troubles to Sharjah’s financial woes in the 1980s which allegedly called on Saudi for financial support and in return, by banning alcohol sale and consumption and enforcing a dress code, it became the UAE’s most conservative emirate. They quickly dismiss it as a far fetched scenario of course siting Abu Dhabi’s commitment to Dubai. FP Tabloid?



FP comforts though, saying that the Burj Khalifa name change is so far the only interference by Abu Dhabi in Dubai’s affairs so far. Let’s see, you provide a $20 billion bailout and you ask for a name change? Does anyone believe that a phone call came from Abu Dhabi ask for the tower's name to be changed? Petty analysis.

The Iranian analysis is probably the only interesting part of the article though it is too general and fails to understand how much more complex the UAE(not just Dubai)-Iran relationship is.

Only significant difference from the usual Dubai bashing article was the closing that Dubai will improve the manner by which it conducts its affairs and quoting three others analysts of Dubai beyond Professor Christopher Davidson.

I expected more from Foreign Policy, much more.
Written by Mishaal Al Gergawi