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The Dubai Debt Trap

economist.com

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Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#41

Post by roystonvassey »

retube wrote: post #5

All I ever hear is horror stories about this place: environmental destruction, structural racism, serious abuse of human rights, culturally hyper conservative, corrupt legal system, plus it's absurdly hot. I can't believe anyone would voluntarily go there, seems like hell on earth.

Even visiting the place as a tourist left a bad taste - everything is made up, the service industry is mostly unfriendly (our sightseeing bus left us stranded somewhere and then later on the desert trip, the car broke down middle of nowhere and the driver had no other help so we had to help him fix it), no public transport to speak of, fanciest cars on one side and hapless labourers trudging in the heat alongside. Apart from the choice/variety of food, I cannot think of any redeeming feature about Dubai.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#42

Post by alistairSH »

zivkovicp wrote: post #11

I can't say I'm surprised, but I can't help but feel he would have been much better off if he wasn't so rich. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept him locked up for life to ensure there is no possibility for anyone to contest the property seizures. Corruption at its finest.

He admits he committed fraud (using DIB funds for the Plantation on a project in Pakistan), so how is this corruption? I'm not fond of the continually extended jail time, but he is a criminal. The story title should really be "The Dubai Financial Fraud Trap".

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#43

Post by brthsim »

brthsim wrote: post #39
_hhkg wrote: post #25

As a Bay Area native who moved to Abu Dhabi / Dubai roughly four years ago, I have a lot of issues with the way the UAE is portrayed across sites like Hacker News and Reddit. A lot of them are in the comments for this story, focusing on all the negatives of the country, structural racism, human rights abuse, etc and we certainly have a right to raise these things (of which I actively fight against here every day). Th…

Anyone who says "We certainly have a right to raise [...] (issues with) racism, human rights abuse, etc." and immediately follows with "That being said however", is automatically not entitled to an opinion. You're clearly biased and enfatuated with the richness of the country and easy access to slavery and are more than content of looking the other way.

No post body was provided.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#45

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

baybal2 wrote: post #10

ProTip: Never ever open a credit card in the UAE, or just never deal with anybody on credit here. Cash, cash, cash only.

Oh please. This is absolutely nonsense. I have lived in Dubai. Used a credit card and when I have left, I have closed the credit card.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#46

Post by brynx97 »

brthsim wrote: post #39
_hhkg wrote: post #25

As a Bay Area native who moved to Abu Dhabi / Dubai roughly four years ago, I have a lot of issues with the way the UAE is portrayed across sites like Hacker News and Reddit. A lot of them are in the comments for this story, focusing on all the negatives of the country, structural racism, human rights abuse, etc and we certainly have a right to raise these things (of which I actively fight against here every day). Th…

Anyone who says "We certainly have a right to raise [...] (issues with) racism, human rights abuse, etc." and immediately follows with "That being said however", is automatically not entitled to an opinion. You're clearly biased and enfatuated with the richness of the country and easy access to slavery and are more than content of looking the other way.

Well said. They shield themselves well, and they package it up nicely for business interests and tourists to tolerate it or never experience problematic situations.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#47

Post by spiderfarmer »

JohnGB wrote: post #7

One of many reasons that I will never enter the UAE. There is no rule of law, and so no protection if anyone decides to charge you for anything. I've read of women being raped and then being charged for reporting it which essentially admits sex outside of marriage, or of foreigners who get driven into by a local and then charged as if they were the ones being reckless. That's not even going into their de facto slaver…

After some bad experiences I will never visit an Arab country again. They'll have to do something against the sexism, constant heckling and the bad state of law before I even think about going there. Or they can do whatever they want, they don't have to change just for me.

I'm 6 ft 6 and I have a blonde wife who's just a bit smaller. Even though we behaved very polite and dressed like locals it was like we had a big target on our backs and were looked upon with resentment everywhere we went.

I will not mention the countries we visited but it was pretty much the same everywhere.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#48

Post by logicchains »

brthsim wrote: post #43
brthsim wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who says "We certainly have a right to raise [...] (issues with) racism, human rights abuse, etc." and immediately follows with "That being said however", is automatically not entitled to an opinion. You're clearly biased and enfatuated with the richness of the country and easy access to slavery and are more than content of looking the other way.

Quoted post unavailable.

No post body was provided.

Re: The Dubai Debt Trap

#50

Post by zivkovicp »

alistairSH wrote: post #42
zivkovicp wrote: post #11

I can't say I'm surprised, but I can't help but feel he would have been much better off if he wasn't so rich. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept him locked up for life to ensure there is no possibility for anyone to contest the property seizures. Corruption at its finest.

He admits he committed fraud (using DIB funds for the Plantation on a project in Pakistan), so how is this corruption? I'm not fond of the continually extended jail time, but he is a criminal. The story title should really be "The Dubai Financial Fraud Trap".

Oh I agree that he should be jailed for fraud, especially considering he admits to it, no argument from me there.

> I'm not fond of the continually extended jail time

This is kind of the point, because the bank (and I'm guessing ministry, politicians, etc.) seized assets, ignored or outright altered the terms of contracts, and participates in other shady business, the jail time seems like a convenient (and effective) means of suppressing push-back.

The spoils end up in private hands, those that were in charge of the banks, ministries, courts, etc. It is not only Dubai, you can see similar behaviour all over the world. But hey, if you want to play with the big dogs, you might get bit.

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