The Future of Watchdog Reporting Brightens as Nonprofit Groups Organize a New Network
Iran judiciary told to confront hostile satellite TV
For the first time in Iran, foreign-based satellite and TV played a part in providing news and comment in Iran's election. The BBC started Persian TV in January, beaming in news and commentary past Iranian attempts to block the station.
( When Germany did it, it was "Lord Ha Ha". Japan had "Tokyo Rose." We're well past Orwell's Radio Service today. )
Church's anti-Islam sign protested
Hatemonger Signposted
Democracy Going Dark : The Electronic Police State
Light-sensitive proteins from algae illuminate the brain, providing a more sophisticated view of neural circuitry from Current
There are signs that the parasite-ridden American 'consumer' is finally dead
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. ... it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.
Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all. It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time. Nobody told her there is no concept of bankruptcy. If you get into debt and you can't pay, you go to prison.As soon as you quit your job in Dubai, your employer has to inform your bank. If you have any outstanding debts that aren't covered by your savings, then all your accounts are frozen, and you are forbidden to leave the country.
This isn't a city, it's a con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing – a modern kind of place – but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship.
There are three different Dubais, all swirling around each other. There are the expats, like Karen; there are the Emiratis, headed by Sheikh Mohammed; and then there is the foreign underclass who built the city, and are trapped here. They are hidden in plain view. You see them everywhere, in dirt-caked blue uniforms, being shouted at by their superiors, like a chain gang – but you are trained not to look.
Sonapur is a rubble-strewn patchwork of miles and miles of identical concrete buildings. Some 300,000 men live piled up here, in a place whose name in Hindi means "City of Gold".
Sahinal sold his family land, and took out a loan from the local lender, to head to this paradise.
As soon as he arrived at Dubai airport, his passport was taken from him by his construction company. He has not seen it since. He was told brusquely that from now on he would be working 14-hour days in the desert heat – where western tourists are advised not to stay outside for even five minutes in summer, when it hits 55 degrees – for 500 dirhams a month (£90), less than a quarter of the wage he was promised. You have to carry 50kg bricks and blocks of cement in the worst heat imaginable ... This heat – it is like nothing else. You sweat so much you can't pee, not for days or weeks. It's like all the liquid comes out through your skin and you stink. You become dizzy and sick but you aren't allowed to stop, except for an hour in the afternoon. You know if you drop anything or slip, you could die.
This is a dictatorship. The royal family think they own the country, and the people are their servants. There is no freedom here.
A Filipino girl tells me it is "terrifying" for her to wander the malls in Dubai because Filipino maids or nannies always sneak away from the family they are with and beg her for help.
All over Dubai, crazy projects that were Under Construction are now Under Collapse. They were building an air-conditioned beach here, with cooling pipes running below the sand, so the super-rich didn't singe their toes on their way from towel to sea.
This is the most water-stressed place on the planet. The city is regularly washed over with dust-storms that fog up the skies and turn the skyline into a blur. Sheikh Maktoum built his showcase city in a place with no useable water. None. There is no surface water, very little acquifer, and among the lowest rainfall in the world.
We are building all these artificial islands, but if the sea level rises, they will be gone, and we will lose a lot.
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