Journalism or advertising?

Interesting development on a similar thread on trf which suggests from previous blog entries on the RP site that the author is/was an employee of Darley Stud.
 
While the article is pretty vomit inducing - the place itself on the RP video looks pretty awesome. It will be some sight come World Cup night.
 
Gutted that IM not likely to get there this year now - loved it last year, and was astounded when we went the next day to have a nosey at Meydan in the making....
 
Christ, that really is pukeworthy crap, isn't it? Craven by name, craven by nature. As for 'the ancient desert' - uh, what then - older than the rest of the world? :confused: Is there a Nouveau Desert somewhere? Dubai was best known in the Gulf for trading silver with India and for its smuggling activities in Days of Yore. As for Westerners guffawing at the young sheikh - what utter bollocks. The big congloms couldn't wait to charge in, courtesy of the locals who held the registrations for all the new building, and who made their millions by sitting back and signing to the highest bidder for the right to do business. The Burj al-Khalifa (or Dubai, or whatever it's been called) is vulgar beyond comprehension and Dubai is, like much of Saudi, in thrall to all things Western, hence its dismissal of the beauty of Islamic architectural devices, which do not grace its miles of new buildings.

As for the bloody palm islands - they're silting up the Gulf and causing algae blooms which were never there before, meaning the water around them goes stinky and stale, and has to be regularly cleaned. And they're also not just stinking, but sinking, like the Dutch-built causeway between Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

Meydan may well be a wonderful race course, but just think of the carbon footprint needed to run all those desalination plants required to produce non-saline water for all the greenery that Dubai's so proud of, and which it wastes so profligately. It's an environmentally hostile place with a total reliance on all things Western. Apart from badly-treated and poorly-paid Indian labour, which, along with other Asian countries' workers, has built the place. Never mind the sheikh's vision - let's hear a cheer for the thousands of poor guys living in roll-on/roll-off containers, working 12 hours a day, who put the place together. The little sheikhdom's raison d'etre is money brokering, and trying to turn itself into an Islamically-correct gambling paradise. There aren't any bookies there, of course, but it doesn't mind staging a huge arena for punters to keep supporting it by outside methods.

Many of the Gulf Arabs don't mind this sort of nouveau riche display (after all, the Saudis beat 'em to it some 20 years earlier), but it's the bane of the more traditional Muslim, let alone the fundamentalists, and one contributory reason why there's so much chest-beating about Islam being threatened by the West's materialistic values.

But Briony's obviously angling for a week's paid stay at the Burj, so better not let a few alternative thoughts taint her puff piece!
 
Very good post Kri, not to mention the contradictory notion of not being able to hold hands with your partner down the street yet the hotel bars are crawling with prostitutes and the authorities turn a blind eye.

It's an odious place and one I found abhorrent in every way, bar the racing!
 
davidjohnson said:
Interesting development on a similar thread on trf which suggests from previous blog entries on the RP site that the author is/was an employee of Darley Stud.
Click to expand...

A quick Google suggests 'is' is the right word, at least up until last June at the latest.
 
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