Dubai is finally financially bankrupt - but it has been morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis of freedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time.

Yes, it has Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneath these accoutrements, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.

If you go there with your eyes open - as I did earlier this year - the truth is hidden in plain view. The tour books and the bragging Emiratis will tell you the city was built by Sheikh Mohammed, the country's hereditary ruler.

It is untrue. The people who really built the city can be seen in long chain-gangs by the side of the road, or toiling all day at the top of the tallest buildings in the world, in heat that Westerners are told not to stay in for more than 10 minutes. They were conned into coming, and trapped into staying.

In their home country - Bangladesh or the Philippines or India - these workers are told they can earn a fortune in Dubai if they pay a large upfront fee. When they arrive, their passports are taken from them, and they are told their wages are a tenth of the rate they were promised.

They end up working in extremely dangerous conditions for years, just to pay back their initial debt. They are ringed-off in filthy tent-cities outside Dubai, where they sleep in weeping heat, next to open sewage. They have no way to go home. And if they try to strike for better conditions, they are beaten by the police.

I met so many men in this position I stopped counting, just as the embassies were told to stop counting how many workers die in these conditions every year after they figured it topped more than 1,000 among the Indians alone.

Human Rights Watch calls this system "slavery." Yet the Westerners who have flocked to Dubai brag that they "love" the city, because they don't have to pay any taxes, and they have domestic slaves to do all the hard work. They train themselves not to see the pain.

But Dubai's bankruptcy does not end there: it is ecologically bust. This is a city built in the burning desert, where everything shrivels up and blows away if it is not kept artificially cold all the time. That's why it has the highest per capita carbon emissions on earth - some 250 percent higher even than America's. The city has to ship in desalinated water - which is more costly than oil. When it runs out of cash, it will run out of water.

Today Dubai will be bailed out by the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich country of which it is only one state. But the oil will not last forever. More importantly, there is no Bank of Morality that could provide a bailout for this sinister mirage in the desert.

© 2009 Independent/UK
Johann Hari is a columnist for the London Independent. He has reported from Iraq, Israel/Palestine, the Congo, the Central African Republic, Venezuela, Peru and the US, and his journalism has appeared in publications all over the world.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/27-4

Sooooo, you went, you saw, you reported.
Did you speak out or demonstrate there?
Did you inform the Embassy you would let the world know?
Did you attempt to set some of them free?

What kinds of trinkets did you buy, tax-free?

Liberals are the ones who support slavery. That's why they fight tooth and nail against deporting Illegals.

You seem to be of the mind that you don't care for slavery. Do you condone the slavery here? There are unscrupulous folks here that hold papers so, the Legal Immigrant can't leave. If they complain, they get detained and deported. I remember one case in Florida, one company got busted doing that. But, that was when the Immigration Laws were being enforced. The Legal Immigrant was protected and holding them as slaves was frowned upon. You Liberals have made sure the slavery here can continue. Here's to your success!

Sure, you won't see Illegals chained together along the roadside. That don't mean they aren't enslaved.

why does anyone care about Dubai?

we can't even handle Mexico

I think its a great example of a capatilist paradise and what you get when you follow the republican example, ya know no taxes no environmental laws no human rights etc etc. If one cannot see that there is realy no point in continueing this conversation. Funny though the top countries in the world to live in are all social democracies and the worst are capitalistic nightmares. Take a good hard look at Dubia and picture it the future of uber america if the right wing actualy gets exactly what it wants.

thats quite a stretch

Dubai is a kingdom (or an Emirate which is the same thing) the US has no kings

Dubai is neither right or left. It is Arab

and you really believe that Dubai is the only place in the Arab world where slavery exists?

and lastly if you have an opinion say it. Stop copying other peoples opinions. We can read the blogs and news as easy as you can without needing them pasted here ad nauseum as if we're in a re-education camp

That is toooo funny. China is possibly the biggest offender of human rights and here we have Hussein and Hillerbeans over there kissin' Commie a$$ with no shame whatsoever. They also pump out the most pollution.

All hail wannabe Kang Hussein. Your followers are blinded by yo light!

rather Ironic isnt it the countries that we count as allies, China, Saudia Arabia, Isreal, all countries with a rich history in human rights abuses. The countries mocked by th right wing Palin crowd? France, Canada, Most of wesern Europe all are far bettr places to live and raise families than our country or the countries of our economic alies. I dont think its me who needs to wake up. But then again I tend to live in reality.

Kinda sad that after 8 years of Bush China now owns our butts, it wasnt Obama who created this nightmare but like the adult he is, he is forced to confront it.

Sooooo, who's forcing Hussein to kiss Commie a$$. He could grow some cahones and tell China to get their act together but, as with Bush, that's not in the agenda of the puppet masters.

Do you enjoy your slaves we have here in the U.S.?

If you are serious about sounding off about this call this guy. Zbigniew Brzezinski. He is the one that pulls Hussein's strings. Ask him if he will allow Hussein to do something. Just don't tell him I sent you.

Thanks for posting this. I needed a good laugh.

Ok, I admit I know that Dubai is quite corrupt. You rarely get a rich dictatorship without exploiting someone else.

However, this is hardly the capitalist philosophy and hardly the structure of government proposed by us fiscal conservatives. You see, there are stark differences in the situations of the two. Comparison would be like comparing healthcare between us and France - sure, on face value it has one appearance but once you look at the underlying factors, it's all very, very different.

So go ahead and play your little game of pin the tail on the republican and stretch examples to make it fit your argument. If anyone here is not living in reality, it's you.

the differance Andrew is the democrats if you republicans had your way our country would be bankrupt............Oh I forgot

I'm gonna form a Whig party..tired of these 2 blaming each other, while both are pretty much the same.

I pretty much agree to this Ralph Nader said it best. "The differance between the democrats and the republicans is the velocity their knees hit the ground for big business" But lets take a look at current events for a second. Realy what has sunk the country is big business and its massive exports of jobs and imports of slave labor products. Before some right wing fanatic blames the unions I would point to western Europe. They have a far stronger Union presence and rank higher in every catagory in quality of life.

<-- not republican, remember. I have to have told you at least two dozen times now. besides, today's republican party is not exactly the best demonstration of fiscal conservatism.

You always criticize without substance and avoid an argument by attacking the poster. Yes, the Republicans were irresponsible when in power. Guess what... the Dems are too! They were at the end of Bush's term and they are far moreso now. It's not going to change. This is reality. The sooner everyone realizes it, the better off we'll all be.

Everytime I hit a truth, I either get ignored by the extremist liberal or the say,"It ain't true!" and don't even bother to prove the point.

They even believe if a person disagrees with their savior-in-chief, you must be a racist.

Instead of claiming there are racists here posting, point 'em out so, we can avoid them. Or are the Extremists libs just makin' it up for just something to say?

Oh boy I dont realy have time to give you a history lesson but I have never met someone who needed it so badly so here goes........... Bush Jr inherited the the best economy of any modern president and proceeded to cut taxes on the rich and cut funding to the government. The results were all verry predictable 8 years later we are broke and bankrupt and shame on Obama for trying to clean up his mess. I sometimes think America is nothing more than the worlds largest open air insane asylum.

ummm no

Bush inherited the dotcom bubble burst and he ameliorated the effects on the economy by cutting taxes to ALL tax groups. Its dishonest and deceptive to say he cut taxes for the rich. He cut taxes for ALL. He even completely eliminated the lowest tax bracket. So the poor actually got the best deal. So yeah he cut taxes for the rich because everybody just happens to include the rich

and most political (non propagndizers) agree that this economic crisis was one of the few things not attributable to Bush. As a matter of fact he sent the Treasury Secretary twice to Congress to warn of an economic collapse if they didnt start regulating the mortgage industry

If you MUST drown us with this constant barrage of propaganda at least be honest and don't assume people are fools and will fall for the lies and manipulations that you so willingly embrace

I was referring to Hussein kissin' Commie a$$. Who's forcing him to. Who's standing up to China about their human rights atrocities. Example, Chinese are limited to how many kids they can produce. Boy babies are preferred. If they have a kid and it's a girl, good chance the girl baby winds up at the bottom of the lake.

Hussein is a lyin' kiss-a$$ and he not gonna' say one word to the commies, (his bosses),who send him back here with his orders.

I think its called "diplomacy"