So That's Where All The Money Went 01/08/2010
Must say, nice fireworks.
John Gravois thinks the schadenfreude about Dubai's trouble is a bit overdone:
In the end, what so many of these articles offered was not analysis but catharsis, sometimes of the ugliest variety. In some cases, Dubai was simply written out of the future. “As they did Ozymandias, the dunes will reclaim the soaring folly of Dubai,” was the headline on Simon Jenkins’ March 20 column in The Guardian. His 1,200-word essay culminates in a kind of prophetic vision whose language is a little more sensuous, a little more enthusiastic than a punishment fantasy should probably be in polite company.
Update: Dear UAE, I think I figured out why people like to laugh so hard when you fail. It might just have something to do with the fact that your legal system is bizarre, your courts are a complete farce, and you don't understand the concept of victims rights.
Yesterday Sheikh Isa, a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family, was acquitted of torturing an Afghan grain seller despite the fact that there was clear and indisputable video evidence. Apparently the court found that the Sheikh had "diminished liability" because two of his Lebanese business associates allegedly tried to use the tape to blackmail him.
Meanwhile, in Dubai, a British national trying attempting to report to police that she had been raped was instead charged with having "illegal sex" with her fiance and drunkenness outside a licensed premises.
John Gravois thinks the schadenfreude about Dubai's trouble is a bit overdone:
In the end, what so many of these articles offered was not analysis but catharsis, sometimes of the ugliest variety. In some cases, Dubai was simply written out of the future. “As they did Ozymandias, the dunes will reclaim the soaring folly of Dubai,” was the headline on Simon Jenkins’ March 20 column in The Guardian. His 1,200-word essay culminates in a kind of prophetic vision whose language is a little more sensuous, a little more enthusiastic than a punishment fantasy should probably be in polite company.
Update: Dear UAE, I think I figured out why people like to laugh so hard when you fail. It might just have something to do with the fact that your legal system is bizarre, your courts are a complete farce, and you don't understand the concept of victims rights.
Yesterday Sheikh Isa, a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family, was acquitted of torturing an Afghan grain seller despite the fact that there was clear and indisputable video evidence. Apparently the court found that the Sheikh had "diminished liability" because two of his Lebanese business associates allegedly tried to use the tape to blackmail him.
Meanwhile, in Dubai, a British national trying attempting to report to police that she had been raped was instead charged with having "illegal sex" with her fiance and drunkenness outside a licensed premises.
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