Middle East Unrest !!!
 

Has any of you expats been affected by the recent unrest in the middle east and do you see a future for us expats regarding stability and security for our families staying in the middle east.

Flightnight
 

Way back in '78, my Dad was extremely prosperous & wealthy inTehran. I expressed concern at developments which he dismissed as a "few little skirmishes in the Villages" ! The rest is history. The Captain of the RAF Hercules which airlifted him & others out of there broke the icey silence after an hour or so by saying, something like.."Ladies & Gentlemen, we have just crossed the Iranian Border. If you would like to reset your watches, wind them BACK about 2000 years.

I wish nothing but prosperity but mainly, safety to all my friends & colleagues who have decided to remain in the Middle East. I fear for those who are unable to find safer havens. The wake up call has just gone off.

I think what the Captain really meant to say was...

A380
 

You remind me of the Captain of the Titanic who turned to his First Officer and said; "What f.....g iceberg ?" !!

Question is what will happen if Saudi's east coast joins forces with its brethren in
 

Don't worry, they've closed the causeway

Very interesting regarding the causeway closure.

Back in the mid/late '90s when there was a spurt of unrest in Bahrain the Saudis basically told their brotherly neighbors 'get it under control of we will.' (need to look up my source for the precise details)

In light of the violence of the past few hours I'm sure Riyadh has issued a similar decree.

From what I hear protesters are mostly disgruntled Gulf Air Pilots and Cabin Crew, police and army sent in at SMs request. :p

Getting really ugly there

What are the chances of this protest to get Saudia, Qatar and UAE?

Well as regards the UAE - I'm not sure the locals are that energetic.... :ouch:

Time to raise the Amwaj drawbridge :p
Mind you we might need to let it down on Saturday to let the booze delivery trucks in :E Hic!

What's pissing me off is all these western journalists who in their desperate attempt to link this to Cairo are calling it Pearl Square.

It's Pearl (or Lulu) Roundabout not a f@#king square.

:mad::mad::mad:

No worries here.

Piss up and brewery spring to mind!

Locals in UAE have it all on silver platter! They don't need any revolution here. But ya, if the remaining non-local 80% population come out, there's going to be a LOT of chaos for sure. Imagine democracy in UAE - a South Indian as your president with Pakistani ministers in the parliament. Filipinos will still be at cashiers though. :}

Ah yes! The Bakala Brigade!

"Hello Sirrrrrrrrrrr. I'm sorrrrrrry sirrrrrrrrrrr."

"That will be Phipe Dirhams and Phipty Phils Maam"

You have to pity them! - 1200 a month

The DXB crowd seem to have it slightly better than here in MCT.

Just heared that the protests are spreading across the bridge from Bahrain..is it true ?

Shooting at people with machine guns from helicopters... Put to rest, yes, you could call it that.

I never thought the people of Bahrain would start to demonstrate. Even the women are out in the streets shouting: Down with Khalifa!
Now, I will not be surprised if the same happens in Qatar, UAE and Oman.

Loads will certainly not increase because of this. Close your eyes if you want to, but this could turn ugly very fast.

Hope against hope
 

It is not about to die down. Forget "loads", the problem is how this affects the West, which will impact directly on the oil-producers/oil beneficiaries.

IMHO I fear the unfolding drama is not good news for most in the short-term. But maybe, just maybe, the future will be brighter with some form of freedom for the Arabs. As for the Gulf States airlines, it is unlikely that their growth projections will be realised. EK, EY, QR are built on "bubbles", which is hardly a new thing in economic history.

street killings by troops
 

BBC, CNN showing U tube videos of killing of peaceful protestors in Bahrain.

glf

I guess peaceful people who demonstrate for more justice,democracy in this part of he world It's considered as a security threat...:uhoh:
I'm afraid that the authorities by acting like that have just put oil on fire...

Kuwait
 

Protests have already started in
kuwait.

news and comments
 

Place your vote

Bahrain Uprising

Dubai unrest ?

Unrest?! What unrest? No, everything's fine. Really.

There's a good reason that land in Barsha is given away for building on. And jobs in banks for the boys. I still don't see Dubai or UAE in that Al Jazeera pic there NLH. It does make interesting reading though:ok:

Why would you protest when you can afford a Ferrari at age 20:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Only that the 20 year old in the Ferrari is probably a Sunni. In Egypt we witnessed the masses more or less united against a common foe. In Bahrain it is the inequalities between Sunni and Shia which ignited the flame.

I don't believe there is enough kindling here to cause a flame but there still discrimination between the two.

Indeed. The ruling families here are Sunni as are the majority of Emiratis, so not likely to be an issue as you rightly point out.
Any aggro is likely to come from 'foriegn workers' who will just be booted out!

OMDB-PiLoT, I'm sure you're not an Indian, nor a Pakistani, nor a Filipino let alone an Emirati, but wherever you come from i suggest that you go back there. Your racist remarks don't have a place here!
I'm sure these Asians are more intelligent than you could ever be! You're just lucky you have white skin or a passport worshipped by Arabs. If these Asians had the same and you all stood before an interview panel, I'm sure you'll be the first to be sent home!
That goes to you too, Farrell! :yuk:

Contacted; The oil wealth that is controlled by AUH is theirs, under their soil. Dubai gets to control what wealth it gets from it's much smaller oil and gas reserves.

The UAE is a federation with the central government in Abu Dhabi but with each emirate having independence in their internal affairs and control of their assets.

@contacted
it looks like you have a positive grasp on UAE, if you know, can you say the same for Qatar?

LMAO!!
Quite successful in that it had to turn to Abu to bail it out?? Yes, quite successful :D

Qatar... well recently I heard the following:

1-Qataris think Democracy is for poor people
2-To protest do you need to get out of the Land Cruiser?
3-Can the protest area be Shaded with A/C and Shisha?
4-How much should we pay to every Indian who will protest in our behalf?
5-Can we have the protest between 9 pm and midnight?
6-any gifts or prize for those who attend?

if protest are a success and democracy comes can we have the world cup earlier than 2022??

@contacted, thanks ... so according to what you know it looks like all the expats are pretty safe in the QR arena!


those characteristics in addition to a freakishly big belly, the smart-phone head set in their right ear while drinking a spice-latte at Starbucks are actually a very good sign of democracy!

haha. the same in Oman.
there was a demonstration the other day, totally pathetic. according to local newspaper> "as many as 300 citizens have gathered and walked ALMOST 200m carrying signs "we love you sultan, but give us more well paid jobs"
needless to say i ALMOST pissed myself laughing when reading it...

This is just the beginning
 

The unrest will spread to many countries. It is inevitable. Only the timelines are in question.

Our economy is based on depletion of resources not their protection. Our monetary system is based on debt. Profit is maximised at the expense of other humans. The most successful managers are those who are in fact mentally deficient. The best lack the empathy prevalent in most human beings, thereby making them the most efficient at maximising profit as the consequences to others are transparent and irrelevant to this missing function of their abnormal brains.

See:

YouTube - ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011

The world revolution begins. It will be bloody. This is only the beginning. Greed and gross inequality will force millions into the streets in countries all over the globe. Those addicted to power and money will not give it away without considerable bloodshed.

These Arabs should have taken lessons from the Chinese on how to suppress these damn infidels asking for political freedom...........:mad::mad::mad:....How stupid are they......:ok: All is not lost they can outsource to the Chinese still.........HU is listening. :}

The Chinese are having the biggest problem in the world right now.

Although the economy is booming many Chinese are hungry and want to have a piece of the cake.

Before there was nothing to linger for, today there is.


Tension is the result of the gap between the have not and the have it all ad it a challenge to keep the balance right.

Chinese already taking over UAE
 

With the down turn, the Indians, who populated the building sites, have been reducing in numbers, and the Chinese slowly taking over.

Does any one have statistics to show the number of Chinese workers, and Chinese firms in UAE.

Glf