Talk:Dubai/Archive 2

Human Rights and Labor Laws should be removed

Human Rights and Labor Laws are not specific to Dubai City or the Emirate. This section should be removed from Dubai Section and placed only to the United Arab Emirates Human rights' issues only. There is no point having it here and stop treating Dubai like a country, it is just a city in a country. I haven't seen any single city that has similar editing in the world that has human rights and labor issues. People tend to do that because they know some people want to know more about the city so they wanted to post any bad things about it, We basically call this Cultural bias.

Human Rights Section has been merged with the UAE's human rights page

A link to the new page has been replace the article. The same article exists in different page.

Thanks for doing that. The Dubai page as it was, was incredibly biased. Now it's more balanced.

NPOV dispute Human Rights section

Laborers come to Dubai for the same reason they come to the US from Mexico. This section is biased and makes it sound much worse than it actually is.

I also note that someone cannot edit Wikipedia from Dubai, as the proxy IP address used by the national ISP has been blocked from posting. Imagine if Americans were unable to edit the entry on United States.

Not quite correct. Most internet users in the UAE are supposed to go through Etisalat's (the ISP) proxy server which has a dynamic IP assigning system. Some wikipedians block IPs from editing - User:Khoikhoi, "User:Can't sleep, clown will eat me", and User:Naconkantari are three that seem to do this habitualy eg I tried twice to edit this page and IP changed while editing to one that Naconkantari had blocked, hence I signed in. A PITA. signature 20:20, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

=NPOV dispute Human Rights section

Yes, I agree. This section should be merged with the country Human Rights page. No need to have it in the city section as it is not only specific to one city and it is not related to the city information overall.

Good Article nomination has failed

The Good article nomination for Dubai/Archive 2 has failed, for the following reason:

Short lead section Anonymous_anonymous_Have a Nice Day 14:46, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

History section

The History section on this page is minimal and not accurate. While I appreciate that it is impossible to find any official history that recounts the true history of Dubai, given most have been destroyed by the authorities, some attempt should be made to provide at least a minimal account of the truth.

Homosexuality?

How does Dubai view homosexuals, is it an open minded city or is it very negative and homophobic towards homosexuals (like most Arab cities).

It's 100% illegal here, so you cannot be "openly" gay or lesbian. People are prosecuted throughout the UAE for homosexual activity. However, there are (obviously) many gay people here, and so long as they are discreet, they won't be singled out. The same goes for cohabiting couples (also illegal). They can unofficially turn a blind eye if people are discreet, but if anyone (eg your neighbours) complains, then the police are required to investigate.

Flag

Flag is confusing, looks like it is just a red box. Should a black outline be added, perhaps? Damiancorrigan 19:29, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Grey outline added. --Lambiam^Talk 08:50, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Didn't see the outline was, it removed? (132.20.251.4 06:26, 18 December 2006 (UTC))

Motor racing

More is needed on this. This is as much a note to myself as to anyone else, as I'll do it at a later date if no one else will. I don't have time now. Damiancorrigan 19:34, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Failed GA

This article failed to become a GA due to existence of unsourced statements. Cheung1303 02:49, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Street numbering

The end of Physical Geography tries to explain street numbering, but I was confused: "even numbered streets run perpendicular to the coast and increase in number as one goes inland." What is increasing, the house numbers? The street numbers of streets perpendicular to the ocean would increase away from the creek, not the coast. ChrisEich 00:16, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Chris, take a look at these maps to help you understand http://www.gis.gov.ae/en/downloads/downloads.asp?nPage=4 What is increasing is the street numbers. Even numbered streets run PARALLEL to the coast. And yes, the streets perpendicular to the coast, i.e. the odd numbered streets, increase as one moves away from the creek; but only within each individual community. Once a new community is reached, the numbering restarts. Bedu Boy 15:42, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Sheik Usher bin Jumma Al Makhtoum

I didn't know sheik mani was ruler of dubai for just 3 days!!! (15-18 april 1959). It would be important to know this story in further detail.

Another one which should be included for completeness is this: Sheik Saeed (Said) should have been followed by his brother Jumma, and this by his eldes son, Usher. But it seems that the Brits didn't quite like him, and therefore put Rashid, son of Saeed, at the lead of the city. It sounds a lot like "Syriana", but that's what I collected from the speech of local friends. Anyone has more information?

Repository of images

Greetings,

I have made an Asian repository of images, similar to the one that exists for Europe. Please complete the part pertaining to this country as you see fit, preferably similar to those of France, Britain et al:

Thanx.--Zereshk 14:56, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Economy

According the the CIA website (cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ae.html), the UAE's oil and gas account for 30% of its GDP, yet here it says 6%. So what's the real deal?

The UAE includes more than just Dubai, whose oil and gas revenues are much smaller than that of Abu Dhabi. Both figures are correct. siafu 15:25, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Non-existent Theatres

As neither Dubai Pearl nor Hydropolis are yet built, should their theatres be included in the Culture section?

Jews entering Dubai

Is the following statement that all Jews are strictly banned from entering Dubai accurate?

"If one accepts the commonplaces of the debate on world cultures, Dubai is an impossible city. On the one hand, it's more cosmopolitan than eastern Germany and southern Italy, more tolerant than Poland or Louisiana, and consumers spend more here than in Munich or Madrid. But on the other hand it's a dictatorship, almost a rogue state, a desert regime without a parliament or a political opposition, without trade unions, political parties or associations. All books and newspapers are subject to censorship. Sharia law is observed, including corporal punishment, and all Jews are strictly banned from entering the country." From Der Spiegel online edition http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,druck-437017,00.html

I don't think this is accurate — many American Jews have previously visited Dubai. However, the UAE, like almost all Middle-Eastern countries does not recognize the state of Israel. AreJay 21:05, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I saw that same article! I put in some info, in the human rights section, please expand. Sdedeo (tips) 17:46, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

ِA British Jew, a friend of mine, checked with the UAE Embassy or Consulate about the issue about a month ago, they told him he's welcome to visit, just as long as he doesn't enter with an Israeli passport. So, it is quite inaccurate. --Agari 18:34, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Do you have any sources? Right now we only have two -- the Der Speigel article above, and some web posting which says what you (Agari) just did. Sdedeo (tips) 19:54, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

They wont let you in if you have an israeli stamp in your passpoer either.

It's written that " Der Spiegel writes that "all Jews are strictly banned from entering the country",[15] while other sources state that only Israeli citizens, including Muslims, have their visas routinely denied" However I have personally seen an Israeli Arab leaving Dubai at the airport with the Israeli passport at passport control. They just didn't stamp the Israeli passport ( and thus recognizing Israel). They stamped another piece of paper instead. I have also heard of Palestenians with only the Israeli passport living in Dubai. I think with approval, Israelis can get into Dubai, though I cannot provide any concrete evidence for this. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102200293.html it is written there that "rarely allowed to enter". Thus implying that it is possible.

safety

how safe is dubai for americans? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.130.187.53 (talk • contribs) .

Like most of the Middle East, it is very safe for Americans - there have not been any issues at all concerning foreigners in Dubai. --Amjra 09:09, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

• I'm an American and I LOVE Dubai! It's magical, I love it, love it, love it! It's completely safe, friendly people, and an endless amount of activities for a young man to enjoy. For any Dubai Emiratis here, I just want to say that you have the best city on earth. Much love from America! Roland Deschain 21:09, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Agreed!

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is not the Palestine capital.

I guess that's good, because it doesn't say it is any sort of capital in the article. The only point to be made about twinning is that the Jerusalem that Dubai considers itself twin to is not Israeli (a state that Dubai, along with most other Arab states, does not believe to be legitimate) but Palestinian. siafu 12:39, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes and Jerusalam is not one of the citys in the Plastine authority. And I don't think that what Dobi thinks or not about Israel make any diffrence about it :).--87.69.100.4 16:59, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

BTW using another name for Jerusalem (e.g. al-Quds) is not acceptable. plz change it to Gaza or Palestine authority.

--87.69.100.4 17:04, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

You lost me. "Al-Quds" is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, why is it not acceptable? Jerusalem != PLA or Gaza, so why would we want to change it to that? As for the first point, it absolutely does matter; "Dubai maintains cultural, economic and educational ties with:" CANNOT apply to any place in Israel as that would be a blatant falsehood. Dubai does, however, maintain ties with Palestine and Palestinians living in Jerusalem specifically. siafu 19:01, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Because: Jerusalem, Yaroshalim (ירושלים) , al-Quds or any other name, is the name of the same place (Jerusalem in English). None of this cities belong or at the authority of Palestine. If Dubai want to help Jerusalem then fine write Jerusalem Israel, if Dubai want to help Palestine even better ( god know they need all the help they can get) but don't include cities witch r not at their authority. Thank u for your time. If the Dubai can't ties with Israel then I guess they can't tie with Jerusalem becuse is Israeli place.--87.69.100.4 20:49, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Ah, if only it were so simple. Of course, you keep changing it to say "Palestine, Palestine" which is worse than any other option because "Palestine" is not a city, and a fortiori not a twin town. It's not just Dubai that sees things this way; if you look at List of twin towns and sister cities under Palestine, you will see: "Al-Quds – New York City, New York (USA) (1993), Toledo, Spain". In an effort to defuse this, I've been looking through the Dubai government portal and other FAQ websites to try and find the source of the claim that Jerusalem and Dubai are twin towns at all, and I haven't found anything. Even more disturbing is that I haven't been able to find a source for any twinning with Dubai at all except for Detroit, Michigan [1], so this whole issue may well be moot. siafu 14:21, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

If u can't find then erase it, because Jerusalem is not a city of Palestine and if Dubai don't see it as her twin city then here is another rezone whey u should remove it from the list... I really don't understand the problem here... and don't forget its WIKIPEDIA u should write here only facts. In the mean time Jerusalem is not Palestine city so work it out or remove it. (sorry for my bad English) and thenks for your time.--87.69.100.4 15:29, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Being the only one who has even attempted fact-checking in this discussion, I think the lecture on facts is rather misplaced. siafu 15:45, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Check your facts again. I live in Jerusalem and as far as I can c it's not part of Palestine. More then that, I will quote u - "try and find the source of the claim that Jerusalem and Dubai are twin towns at all, and I haven't found anything." if u can't find justifications, then don't write those things! And if u find Jerusalem (or "Al-Quds" or whatever name u come up with for Jerusalem) then write Israel. Again, Palestine has many cities but NONE of them is Jerusalem. This is not a political debate it's just a simple fact. If Dubai have a problem with Israel, let her solve it.--87.69.100.4 22:47, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Your English skills are apparently insufficient for this discussion. siafu 23:40, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Jerusalem is not an Israeli city. The status of Jerusalem under international law is that of an OCCUPIED City. Israel annexation of Jerusalem in 1967 was never recognized by the international community. The fact that the Palestinian Authority does not excersize any direct control of the city, does not make it Israeli by default.

Jerusalem is a DE FACTO Israeli city, and the only reason that the annexation of Jerusalem was never recognized was because the countries out there needed Arab oil. Were it not for the oil, the international community would be stampeding over to Jerusalem to put up embassies, instead of having to ferry diplomats to the Knesset from Tel-Aviv. 204.52.215.107 19:06, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Air

Under the Air subsection of the Transporation section, they note that Emirates has ordered "46 of the new Boeing 777". Considering the 777 has been around since 1994 and I know Wikipedia didn't exist back then, it can't be that it just wasn't updated in 12 years (sarcasm). I'm curious if that's meant to be the Boeing 787, which is the new aircraft. --MPD01605 (T / C) 04:58, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Demographics: Expat Population

This section mentions "Dubai is also home to some 100,000 British and other western expatriates." There is some disagreement on this figure. The British embassy puts the total of British Exapts in the UAE at 120,000. The UAE census (http://www.zu.ac.ae/library/html/UAEInfo/documents/CensusResults2005.pdf) puts the Dubai population at 1,200,309, meaning Western expats make up approx 10% of the population which I believe cannot be correct. Other sources (http://www.mydsf.com/dsf/eng/dsf_people.asp) put this percentage at 4%. Does anyone have a citation to confirm the breakdown of the Dubai population by nationality. Thx Iwallace 13:00, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Don't equate "western expat" with "british expat". There might be 100,000 british expats in Dubai, but there's many thousands expats of other european nationalities, making this 10% a low estimate!

New information on this subject but still no citation on this subject to confirm the number in this article. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6161705.stm.Iwallace 09:28, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you may be looking at this wrong. If the British Embassy puts the population of British nationals in the UAE at 120,000 then we're talking about British nationals in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other emirates. UAE's population should add up to more than 3-4 million, which means British nationals consitute about 5% of the population, which seems plausible. AreJay 20:39, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Please read at my original post. The article is about Dubai - not the UAE. If Dubai is home to 100,000 Western expats therefore 8.3% of the population is western expats, which is incorrect. I am looking for a citation for a accurate breakdown of the expat population i.e. western, sub-continent, other Arab etc. Can anyone find a reliable source for this?

Cost of Living??

I am being offered a job in Dubai. What is the local (Ex-Pat) cost of living for a 30-plus American Female? Compared to, say New York City or London?? Also. are there any restrictions on single females in Ex-pat-Land and in Old Dubai? 216.164.192.157 21:14, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Confusing Paragraph

The last paragraph under "Human rights and labour" is confusing and seems out of place. I think it should be deleted or rewritten to fit the heading and for clarity. 216.83.24.242 12:06, 20 December 2006 (UTC)Gsd666

General information section

"Dubai is the most populous and second largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates after Abu Dhabi. " This is poorly worded. It implies that (1) Dubai is the most populous emirate and (2) Abu Dhabi is the largest. This is not true. Abu Dhabi is the most populous emirates (http://www.zu.ac.ae/library/html/UAEInfo/documents/CensusResults2005.pdf), at least up to the 2005 census.

Language and Religion

This section claims that German is widely spoken. This is probably overstated. You're more likely to be able to communicate in Russian than in German in Dubai (or in the UAE for that matter). 192.165.213.18

Sure, Russian is very popular in Dubai, comes right after Swahili.

Women's rights in Dubai?

Does anyone have information on women's rights in Dubai? Since it is developing so rapidly as a center of international tourism, I think it's important to include this information to help people make an educated decision whether to spend their money there.

I lived in UAE for 9 years and I must say women are quite free here. They can drive and go out without any male relative. The local women are employed in gov. as well as private offices. Dubai is a namesake islamic country. Talking about women's rights in Dubai is just nonsense. Go and see for yourself.

Want to add an external link

I would like to add a link to a web site that has high quality independent reports on four and five star hotels in dubai. The site is not a booking engine but provides high quality independent information based on physical inspections and has many independent photo's. For any person wanting to find out more about dubai hotels this as the richest source on the web and therefore a useful addition to Wikipedia.

The url is:

http://www.cranley.com/hotels/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Emirate-List/Dubai.shtml

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mgm2007mgm (talk • contribs) 20:45, 23 February 2007 (UTC).

I think they are equal124.185.116.134 03:53, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

This is clearly a Web site with moderate commentary, mainly designed to sell hotel reservations. It would be akin to putting a link to Hotels.com on the main page for Paris. This looks like a useful and thoughtfully designed website for tourists, but has no place on Wikipedia. I welcome opposing opinions. Ag1246 15:26, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Skyline image

I think Image:DubaiSkyscrapers.JPG would be the better lead image, becuase it simply looks better than some of the other images.--Sefringle 04:15, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Fresno: Sister city?

I cannot find on either the Fresno Wiki page, nor on the Fresno official Web site, any mention of Fresno and Dubai being sister cities. Can anyone else find a source on this? Ag1246 15:23, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Dubai City vs Emirate of Dubai

would it make sense to split the article in two? --Diligent 18:00, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

Probably not, there's not much that would be worth a Wikipedia page outside Dubai City. Maybe Hatta but then you could have a page on Hatta anyway. signature 20:22, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

150.101.102.188 16:37, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Lock has been established to protect the content

Editing “Dubai” article has been locked for unregistered and newly registered users. In recent month, most of unregistered users tend to visit this article to write baseless claims, which are one of the causes that lower the quality of this article. Attempts to fabricate and manipulate information to serve different propaganda have targeted this article and the United Arab Emirates pages in general. In order to clean up this article and maintain considerably higher quality information, a mechanism was needed to prevent further vandalism attacks. Therefore, a lock has been established to this page. Please, if you would like to help us in improving this article, register first or let us help you to edit this article.

Nadirss 17:16, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Only administrators can protect or semi-protect an article; simply attaching the template to the top does nothing. Since this article is not, in fact, protected (I logged off and attempted to edit it just to be sure), I removed the tag. siafu 00:35, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, and i dont think there is a need to protect the articles, Dubai and UAE. Placing some ban on a repeat offender will do. Thanks.

Jeddah

Jeddah city is consider as sister city of Dubai[2] with shared hishtory and buisness.

Major revamp

The Dubai article has for sometime needed some major housekeeping and I made a series of changes today to make the article more readable and encyclopedic. Here is a summary of the changes that I made:

• Images The article was image heavy, with most images centering around a common theme (sky scrapers and exotic buildings). While there is no doubt that there is a real estate boom in Dubai, a balance needs to be maintained for the article to retain its relevency. Wikipedia is an enclyclopedia, not a travel brochure.
• Subsections most of the subsections were extremely verbose and were not written in Wikipedia:Summary style. I have moved extended commentary around most of the subsections to new independent articles and have consolidated the subsections to make them more readable
• Statistics Various figures had been quoted without citation (eg., 6% of Dubai's revenue comes from oil and natural gas. I discovered this to be untrue and have provided appropriate citations). I have also provided citations around other sections.
• A summary of my changes
• General grammar and spelling corrections as needed.

AreJay 01:27, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

The image in the infobox should be restored. There should be at least 1 skyline image there, and I personally like Image:DubaiSkyscrapers.JPG best of the image choices. Compared to most major city articles I have seen on wikipedia, this article actually has very few images. I suggest maybe making a gallery box.--Sefringle 03:14, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I disagree. Most city articles in WP:FA have no images in the infobox, and certainly no gallery box. Gallery boxes do not help in users getting a better understanding of the article in question. Besides, there's already a link to Wikipedia Commons in the article, which already has a gallery box of images from Dubai. AreJay 03:38, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

See the following featured articles: Ann Arbor, Michigan, Boston, Massachusetts, Cape Town, Chennai, Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Hamersley, Western Australia, Houston, Texas, Kochi (India), Kolkata, Louisville, Kentucky, San Francisco, California, San Jose, California, Sarajevo, and Seattle, Washington. All of these featured articles have images in the infobox. Most of the city articles have an image in the infobox. Only of the Indian cities are the majority without an image in the image.--Sefringle 03:54, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

That's fine. I still don't like the idea, but I'm willing to compromise on that. However, none of the articles mentioned above have gallery boxes, so my stance on gallery boxes still stands, I think it makes the page look ungainly and does little by way of providing value added content. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, first and foremost. AreJay 04:00, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Good Work Arejay, that's quite an improvement. 213.42.2.27 07:06, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Things still unsourced

The {{More sources}} tag is here because the introduction is partially unsourced, the history section contains no sources. The demographics section, two paragraphs are unsourced, economy, last paragraph needs sources, transportation, last paragraph is unsourced, and other paragraphs need to source last sentence, the education section needs to source the last paragraph, and the meida section contains no sources. So basicly, much of the article is unsourced.-Sefringle 03:39, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I will try to address this tomorrow. I'd like to make a quick comment though — the question isn't "how many paragraphs are unsourced"...many of the subsections draw from 1 or 2 references and they are sourced earlier on in the section and as a consequence some of the later paragraphs of the section appear to be unsourced, but are infact appropriately cited. That being said, I'll try to do what I can to add more clarity tomorrow. AreJay 03:44, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

With regards to the Infobox image, I'm going to have to go with 213.42.2.27. The other image that is being used is a random photo that someone took from within their car while driving on Sheikh Zayed Road. It doesn't even give you a good enough view of the actual road, much less of the entire city. I am completely against the idea of using photos in infoboxes, but if we're going to have to use one, I would go with the one that gives you at least a decent enough view of the city. AreJay 22:20, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

sex trade in Dubai

You should write more about this Fact

all the world must know what the Dirty Work this Country UAE do for Money and Torism —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.228.123.44 (talk) 13:25, 25 April 2007 (UTC).

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not Amnesty Int, HRW, WHO, any other NGO or political organisation. As soon as you write a phrase like "Dirty Work this Country...", you have introduced a POV. 213.42.2.27 07:09, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Dubai is wasting our natural resources! I mean, they are making the tallest building in the world, they already have 300+ artificial islands out there (the king/prince wanted them there, himself), and are making MORE buildings! They are obsessed with their tourism!

Margham Desert photo

The current picture of the "Margham Desert" is really beautiful! Unfortunately, it's also computer-generated. Appropriate? 68.160.58.152 14:25, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

It looks fairly realistic to me...how do we know that it is computer generated? Thanks AreJay 14:49, 2 May 2007 (UTC)