**BUZZ!** Another Muslim here. About the last thing you said that Islam as a religion is pretty stone age in philosophy, you couldn't be more wrong. Heck all these technological advances and making Dubai a metropolis alone refutes your claim. Separate the doer from the doctrine. It's certain "Muslims" that take their BS ethnic culture and customs from whatever backward village they reside in that come up with whacky rulings and philosophy and then they ignorantly attribute it to the religion which sadly makes Islam in some places appear "stone age". Example: I'm Pakistani...a microscopic number of weirdo/nutso Paki/Arab people do "honor killings" when they get upset with a family member that does something offensive to the family and threatens their rep. They kill that family member and like idiots attribute it to Islam when there isn't a single verse in any Islamic scripture that allows this or any indication of this being a rule, law or suggestion. It's completely against the very principles of the religion. And the reason they didn't wasnt because of some religious duty but because reputation is everything to some people so they do abhorrent things when they think their rep is gonna be tarnished. But what then gets labeled backward and barbaric? Muslims and the religion of Islam. Islam has contributed to many modern advances in medicine, mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, architecture, art, literature, and history. And when the authorities in Saudi Arabia say women can't drive, it's preposterous and against the religious principles of Islam that they don't properly follow. Rant over. As for the whole Dubai thing, yeah that place is nuts. They are going way out of hand with the building of palaces and skyscrapers and such, I mean who the hell is going to be in that huge building, what businesses? Whoever is in charge over there, the King or whatever who they treat like some holy person is so arrogant and full of pride that he just wants his land to be noticed by the World so he can feed his ego so he allows and encourages such things. Sure the stuff looks awesome and majestic and beautiful but some of these things are way too unnecessarily extravagant and excessive.
Never been, have no real desire to. Monumental waste of resources to feed the egos of ass-backwards megalomaniacs who are better suited herding goats.
Leave it to a bunch of clueless internet nerds to place a premium on practicality. Historically, empires have always had extravagant monuments erected as a sign of their wealth. Did the statues, poems and ruins of ancient civilizations have any practical purpose? Were they known for their world class artistry or the fact they tried to accommodate everyone in a fair, practical manner? Haha, the hate is laughable. There should always be places in the world where the wealthy can go and be... wealthy. Be separated from the bitter working class with an appreciation of the finer things, have their own space, be surrounded by like minded types, and just be enveloped in the gaudy. That's the aim of capitalism and the winners it produces. And unless you have some form of influence, power or wealth in your life, you aren't in a position to make a judgment on how those who do spend it. Personally, I'm not the ostentatious type. I'm mellow, low key and don't agree with a lot of what goes on in Dubai but have no problem with those who've made it, or are heavily faking it in hopes of one day making it, throw their money around. It's the nature of the common man to make the most of his life by the way he knows best - that doesn't change who I am. If cruising on a yacht blasting usher and hopping around with giggling girls makes you angry, then perhaps it's time to retire from life. That being said, it is the HUGE community of young professional expats who make the scene in Dubai - not the locals. Vacationing there won't alienate you as much as you think.
Are they even making any revenue from all those huge, futuristic architectures? It seems like maintaining them alone would far outweigh any $$$ coming in.
Wasn't there a poster that mentioned something along the lines of helping to get another poster a job over in Dubai????? Well, I'm interested, to say the least!! Please, email me thru the board! I'm single, with no children, 23 years old. Ready to start a career! Help a fellow Clutchfan out!
There's a lot of black money from Russia and all over the middle East propping up places that otherwise would've never made it through the production process. None of these projects are going to turn profits or fill out in the near future but they attract a lot of attention to Dubai and it's ease of life. Some office buildings were completely empty and there were a few residential ghost complexes in '09, but things are much better now. A lot of middle and upper class professionals from Europe have no issues paying 2-3x what they pay in their home countries because 40-60% of their income isn't taxed anymore... Although, I'm more interested in the infrastructural development of Baku and Doha over the next 15 years. We will see some crazy **** happening there.
Didn't know Russia was directly involved. What was their reasoning? Know any links where I can read up on these things you just mentioned? Sounds like an interesting read.
You won't read about this on the net - it's all g-14 classified. There's no such thing as investigative journalism in the UAE, unless it's the cautionary tale of a slave laborer/maid tricked into a life away from home. The media knows where their limits lie. A lot of money came into new hands in Russia since the fall of communism, legitimate and illegitimate, and they had to diversify it somehow. This was the same time Dubai was beginning to take off, and safety + lack of accountability for money spent there worked out well for them. Now half of Russia is there, either trying to marry rich, carve out a career away from the cold, or just as tourists. There are entire grocery stores and restaurants with only Russian products. The biggest gangsters of the Indian underworld also operate out of Dubai. Under the veil of Islam, it's a soulless place run by the almighty Dirham and globalized minds with no care for religion whatsoever.
If you're an American, getting a job in Dubai is great. The Expat packages are crazy... huge base salary, housing allowance, food per diem, housekeeper, nanny, school for your children, 1 month vacation, and they pay for 2 trips a year back to your home country. And this is for the Hospitality Industry... I wonder what other fields offer.
Spaceport America (Virgin Galactic), Baikanour Cosmodrome (RSA), Kourou French Guiana (ESA), KSC (NASA), and Jiuquan (China) beg to differ with this statement.
Want to visit Dubai just to marvel at the architecture. It's cool that they are building all of this, but I don't understand why they decided to build it in probably the worst geographical area ever. That place is a desert, intense heat during the summers, sandstorms etc. The climate there is just awful, couldn't they just do all of this in Australia or something? Oh well, I could never see myself living there because I don't want to live in a damn desert.
psshhh whatever i used to design building like this in my industrial tech 2b class at spring branch middle school. at least i credited star wars for my inspiration. Dubai, please (rolling eyes).
