Oh, that's easy. I'll help. The story is two-fold:
1. He's a prominent person in current tech, so people are interested in what he is doing and where he is possibly looking to relocate.
2. Indonesia is actively trying to attract wealthy foreign investors, which is relevant to HN and they succeeded in getting Sam Altman.
But Dubai has very lucrative tax incentives and tries hard to be neutral about who invests. So whether you are Russian, Chinese or Ukrainian Dubai is a good option for parking assets without being asked too many questions.
It's only a good option if you're not going to be involved with business in the West that much. Once you start thinking about moving to the West, or setting up a business in the US or EU, be prepared to be asked a LOT of questions, and being demanded non-existent paperwork (because Dubai authorities don't bother with stuff that would be important in other jurisdictions). Speaking from experience.
The income tax and the corporate tax in the free zones are the only big draws, but who knows how long they'll last? The mainland already has a 10% corporate tax.
In what way is the rule of law worse in Dubai than elsewhere?
It's one of the safest places I've ever been to.
Please note I am not saying there haven't been injustices committed in Dubai. But I do not think it's worse there than in western Europe.
Definitely doesn't seem worse than the US.
" Article 72 of the Law on Personal Status allows judges to determine if it is permissible for a married woman to leave the house and to work. Unlike the case of children of Emirati fathers, Emirati citizenship is not transmitted automatically to the children of Emirati women."
"Some of the women's rights under the Personal Status Law require the consent of a male guardian, who is often the husband or a male family member."
"Women in UAE can be victims of flogging. Flogging and stoning are legal judicial punishments in the UAE because of the Sharia courts. Flogging is used in UAE as a punishment for several criminal offences, such as adultery, premarital sex, and prostitution."
"Emirati women must receive permission from male guardian to remarry. This requirement is derived from Sharia, and has been considered a federal law since 2005. In all emirates, it is illegal for Muslim women to marry non-Muslims. In the UAE, a marriage union between a Muslim woman and non-Muslim man is punishable by law, since it is considered a form of fornication".
> what way is the rule of law worse in Dubai than elsewhere?
There isn’t rule of law in Dubai. By definition, its courts serve its sovereign. Pyongyang is also safe, that doesn’t mean it has rule of law. (Dubai is fantastic. But pretending it has the rule of law is absurd. Nobody strikes international agreements per UAE law.)
Cynically, I would say a similar scheme/desire to do what was tried in kenya where biometric data was collected from people in exchange for payment. They are a huge country by population alone, training LLMs on their data or providing jobs to train/tune/coddle LLMs there might be a huge win for their politicians.
But optimistically, I would say they just want to make their country attractive to tech business and the CEO dude just wants to get a lot of real estate in Bali.
It's going to be stronger for people living in that region of the world. Think about people living within a 5 hour flight from Dubai -
Significantly higher quality of life, fair salaries and labor laws (if you're comparing to the west, you're missing the point, these are things not found in many peoples home countries whatsoever), ample shopping/leisure opportunities, incredible winter weather, good schools, good healthcare, lack of widespread corruption, connectivity to every part of the planet. Most importantly, if you can afford the ticket to Dubai, you'll likely get the visa without much hassle, getting visas to any developed country from this part of the world is a bureaucratic complicated exercise that nobody from a western country would understand, which means that even if you can get the visa, your family can't. But in Dubai, you have a good level of confidence your family will get visas if you can.
If you have money, it's a very comfortable life there.
Nice beaches, great shopping, world class restaurants plus it's close to a lot of countries.
Direct flights to most of Europe, India, Africa and Asia.
Visited Dubai couple of years ago. Nice place to visit for a few days if you remain oblivious to how its society functions; but taking up residence will feel like living in a shopping mall always. Also, the general idea of labour abuse conveyed by this linked article[1] is mostly true. Some excerpts
> This is all supposed to be illegal. Employers are meant to pay on time, never take your passport, give you breaks in the heat – but I met nobody who said it happens. Not one. These men are conned into coming and trapped into staying, with the complicity of the Dubai authorities
> There's a huge number of suicides in the camps and on the construction sites, but they're not reported. They're described as 'accidents'. Even then, their families aren't free: they simply inherit the debts.
I was made aware of such labor traps meted out to Philippine and Thai women as well, who were forced to work in beauty & massage parlors, or as house maids. I was accompanying my parents a decade ago, who were rapporteurs on behalf of UNHRC. In many places, we were physically stopped from proceeding. The situation I am told has improved a tiny bit, but still remains grim. When you look at Dubai's manpower resources - you aren't looking at a industry, but more of a cartel working at a nation-scale.
This article is from 2009, a lifetime ago in Dubai time. It is not the first time I see this article, it seems to come up in every discussion about Dubai.
Dubai was essentially a fishing village until the 70s. Nowhere else in the world are things progressing as fast as in Dubai.
I was posted to Dubai as a new employee for my factory in 2019 and ended up staying there for two years. I did not exactly have a rosy picture of the place before I landed. In fact, I would say Dubai was at the bottom of my list of places to visit.
I worked closely with laborers from predominantly Bangladesh, India and Pakistan on construction sites, installing heavy machinery. They did not seem to regret coming to Dubai for work - many of them had saved a substantial amount of money working there. One foreman I worked with had saved 200 000 Dirhams and was going to return to Pakistan to set up his own company. Yet these many success stories never reach the western world. I cannot help but wonder if it’s because of racism against Arabs and the usual propaganda.
I do not doubt that there is a lot of terrible things happening in the UAE, but at the same a lot of the same things are happening in Europe. Passports being taken, people sleeping on construction sites in some hidden away corner.
Until I see actual numbers of how prevalent these things are, which never materialize, I will trust what I saw myself.
It is marvelous how quickly Dubai has developed.
As an example, today it is legal for unwedded heterosexual couples to live together. When I was there it was still illegal - that didn’t stop me and my girlfriend, or any of the unmarried couples we know. It was completely normal. I would walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, just like in any western country.
> I do not doubt that there is a lot of terrible things happening in the UAE, but at the same a lot of the same things are happening in Europe. Passports being taken, people sleeping on construction sites in some hidden away corner.
This sums it up. I was extremely surprised the first time I came to Europe, when I saw migrants being shuffled to and from work in trucks like cattle, or migrants having their passports taken away. And yet Western Europe has the temerity to report on "Dubai's inhuman conditions". Granted, I'm not a fan of the UAE's labor and corporate practices (which is why I left the region professionally), but Western European hypocrisy is often on a whole another level.
> It was completely normal. I would walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, just like in any western country.
While this is true, it often only applies to certain parts of the UAE such as Dubai, the city in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah for instance. In many places, if an enterprising Emirati or Arab chose to, out of spite, they could simply report to the authorities, who would have no qualms to hold you for a few days and either let you go or deport you, depending on the mood of the officers. It has happened before, although the law has been repealed now.
If you like spending your life in what is basically an artificial resort in the middle of the desert :) It wouldn't appeal to me.
Also I would want to be able to drink when I want to and walk around with trans friends. Go for a walk in nature when I need to relax.
Dubai feels like a shopping and entertainment center for the rich. It's all about materialistic indulgence and nothing else. Not somewhere I'd actually want to live even if I had money.
