Sorry that I forgot to follow up to your point. The UAE example was not a major part of the book's thesis, and I can't even recall if the example made it into the book; I may have been conflating the book's arguments (which were mostly European-based) with my own thoughts on the matter.
The UAE most certainly treats workers poorly, and outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi (i.e. in Sharjah, etc) women are treated the same as in Saudi Arabia. I am not sure about your argument regarding Christians, because Dubai built 4 churches for Christians about 10 years ago, which were the first churches on the Arabian peninsula since Mohammad closed the existing ones in the 640s.
Also, UAE makes a big distinction between its own citizens and foreign workers, so perhaps I should have been more clear in my argument, that for actual citizens of the country, it is a rather great place to live given the economic freedom available to its citizens.
Sorry that I forgot to follow up to your point. The UAE example was not a major part of the book's thesis, and I can't even recall if the example made it into the book; I may have been conflating the book's arguments (which were mostly European-based) with my own thoughts on the matter.
The UAE most certainly treats workers poorly, and outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi (i.e. in Sharjah, etc) women are treated the same as in Saudi Arabia. I am not sure about your argument regarding Christians, because Dubai built 4 churches for Christians about 10 years ago, which were the first churches on the Arabian peninsula since Mohammad closed the existing ones in the 640s.
Also, UAE makes a big distinction between its own citizens and foreign workers, so perhaps I should have been more clear in my argument, that for actual citizens of the country, it is a rather great place to live given the economic freedom available to its citizens.
Of course, I would rather live in the USA.