Reddit mentions of After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies

A really good book to check out that helps explain some of why Saudi Arabia is acting so irrationally these days:

http://www.amazon.com/After-Sheikhs-Coming-Collapse-Monarchies/dp/0199330646

aaaaah, le reddit "UAE is SHIT" circlejerk.

Where to start:

preface: I lived in the UAE for 3 years.

>Palpable lack of freedoms.


Day to day living there is really no different from living in Europe.
In the UAE you can't insult the religion or the country, In Germany you can't display Nazi signs or the Hitler Salute. In most of Europe you cannot deny the holocaust.

There are curbs on freedom in most civilized countries.

Where I would agree would be the lack of freedom of the presses and the restrictions on media.

> Restrictions on alcohol

Alcohols sales are restricted in every country on earth.



Sweden, has some of the strongest alcohol restrictions, and the USA restricts its sale to those over 21.

You can literally join the military, fight, kill, and die for your country; many years before you can purchase alcohol.

In the UAE alcohol is available, very, fucking, widely, in bars and clubs and licenced shops (and even in illegal bootleg deliveries to your appartment)

>restrictions on eating during Ramadan

This is true that you cannot eat IN PUBLIC in hours of sunlight, for 1 month of a year.

The vast majority of restaurants remain open and simply put up screens on the doors and windows.
You can eat inside any of the restaurants, or any other private place.


>Absolute imposition of their beliefs on all people.

You mean aside from the multiple churches and temples?
There is a HUGE christian population in the UAE.
Many, many, of the workers you encounter will be Christian, or Buddhist. Not to mention that there are also a large community of Shia mulsims in the UAE...

The UAE is not Saudi Arabia...

> perhaps the most tolerant and westernized Muslim country in the world

It's a great place to live, but it is not the most tolerant and Westernized Muslim country in the world...
Even suggesting this loses you a lot of credit and makes me realise you don't know much about the Islamic world.
Try: Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tunisa...

>I take for granted the freedoms I have

This I can fully relate to.
Having lived in countries that do not enjoy the same level of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of congregation, etc.. I do appreciate more the rights that I have in the West.
But most of your argument on this is factually wrong, and misguided.

 

TL;DR##

The UAE has it's faults, and there are less freedoms of political conscious and expression than countries in the west, but "restrictions on alcohol" and "Not eating in Ramadan" they most certainly are not.

I would suggest anyone looking for more information, may well wish to check out: After the Sheikhs: The coming collapse of the Gulf Monarchies
It's an insightful read into the political situation of the whole Gulf region.