In the game Nationstates, Dubai would be called a Compulsery Consumerist State. Or maybe a Corporate Police State. No kidding: this country is a nation-wide monument to the purest form of capitalist depravity.

There are virtually no taxes, because the government has very few expenses. There are no syndicates. There are no political parties: the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his family rule alone, and their only objective is to get rich and to make their country some kind of neo-liberal paradise. But liberty is present only in business and economy: there is almost no free speech and no one is allowed to protest against the government. There is no concern for the poor and the unemployed: the only money they can get must be obtained through hard work.

Dubai is an important destination for tourists. There are:
-The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall, with a huge aquarium.
-The World, an artificial archipelago built in the shape of the continents. Without any concern about the impact on the environment: business is business after all...
-A seven-star hotel. No kidding.
-What will become the tallest skyscraper in the world.

And many other things, including an internal skiing center...


Comments?


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Never fails to amuse me that most have more money than sense. As to the artificial islands, they aren't totally inconsiderate to supporting habitats. They are looking at stimulating such aqua-marine life. It is amazing how much money they pay to create these man-made islands. (I specifically refered to man-made since Dubai is gender-biased, from best recollections).

They also stimulate the private security sector's growth... as an alarming number of people see their flagerant spending as the ultimate rebuff to other's starving in the world or dying of disease or climate exposure.