I used to call Panama the Dubai of Latin America as it was booming in a similar uncontrolled fashion. Of course the scale was dramatically smaller, but the marketing and hype was way over the top for what you will get in both places. Now that the booms are over and the truth is coming out.
I get emails regularly where readers are weighing on whether to close on a city condo or just walk, but in Dubai you have other considerations to make. The laws of this Muslim land are not at all kind or forgiving and if you are there, you are subject to that law.
The treatment of the foreign construction workers is even worse. Slavery has been a part of these countries life blood for thousands of years and when you read how the people have been duped into coming to work in Dubai and then treated as slaves it becomes increasingly clear that Dubai is a real snake pit. All glamor and beauty built on the backs of the poor and unfortunate who have been enslaved to build it. Now, it will crumble and go back to the desert where it belongs. God help those who can't get home.
The dark side of Dubai
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports
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