TRAVELER

Something for sure

 is that their government is more democratic than IRI and their people are more tolerant than Iranians. The women in the full Islamic hejab are not trying to harrass bikini bottom ladies or as our mollas say, amrebe maroof o nahye az monkar! 

...........

It is interesting that chadors/hejabs and bikinis coexist!

This article says the seven star hotel, Burj Al Arab in Dubai, has the biggest Christian cross in the world:

//blog.miragestudio7.com/burj-al-arab-world-largest-christian-cross/1419/

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQrNoaH3Ssc&feature=related

The giant cross on the hotel faces the ocean!

//3.bp.blogspot.com/_EwHFDoNVVRY/RvZjccBB23I/AAAAAAAABnA/3dS3hpdSdh0/s320/burj_al_arab_christian_cross_dubai_islam2.jpg

Disney's version of Arabia

How sad to see a total lack of character and irrelevant socio-cultural footprint.

I think Myron will be ultimately proven to be correct. It has to reach a minimum level of ridiculousness, which I think from these images, they are just about there.

To read more bahmani posts visit: //brucebahmani.blogspot.com/

Let's take 100 pictures

Isn't it a big deal to have a job, a home and food on the table?  I am not sure if the freedom comes first in here. 

They provided so many jobs for devastated families including many Iranians who have no place in their homeland.  Why do you call Iranians in Dubi slaves, but not the ones in the US?  What a big difference using your mind or hands?! 

I don't think we can build our own country by blaming others for our own fault.

Let's take 100 pictures every morning before breakfast.

Nice Pictures!

So many contradictions!  Bikinis next to full hijabs!  I think they've taken Las Vegas's playbook and built their buildings as such.  Also, some Atlantic City influence.  So basically they were going for the gambling Meccas look! 

Everything is sacred

Unbalanced dreams...

A shameless pileup of concrete and plastics..........And nothing, absolutely nothing, worthy of praise..............

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//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDc8V5bhbg

بردگان ایرانی در دبی

***
دیده ببند وجدان مفلوک من!
بخواب! ، تا نبینی بردگان ایرانی را در دبی
که خسته
رانها به روی هیولاها و پیکره های شنی می گشایند!
***
//iranian.com/main/blog/zendanian-5

FEAR AND MONEY IN DUBAI

"On the rim of the war zone, a new Mecca of conspicuous consumption and economic crime, under the iron rule of Sheikh al-Maktoum. Skyscrapers half a mile high, artificial archipelagoes, fantasy theme parks—and the indentured Asian labour force that sustains them"
//newleftreview.org/?view=2635

poverty of rights

Thanks for a very interesting photo essay. I think Myron Weiner was not wrong when he said, "an oasis of wealth would not endure in the middle of a desert of poverty." But his prediction does not really apply here.

Dubai and other oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf are not suffering from a difference between rich and poor. There is a divide between the super rich and people who make a lot less but no one is hungry or destitute.

What makes these states unstable or unattractive to the masses is the lack of basic freedoms. You can have a job, a home and food on the table but these things are not going to keep you happy and content as long as you have no say in your future and all power is concentrated in the hands of a few.

Look at Libya. People there were not poor. Qaddafi's regime shared a lot of the oil wealth with the general population. What people wanted was freedom and respect as human beings.

reminds me of early usa

no rights

None of it very esthetic,

None of it very esthetic, IMHO.