Preamble: My first trip to Dubai was a 3-day layover after spending 2-weeks vacationing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in February 2010 (link), and then a quick stop again on my way back from being introduced to الزعيم, the “Boss”, in Bahrain in March 2010 (link). Over the next few years, I would be back to Dubai several times before living in Dubai for much of 2015 -- although I was only packed for a 2 week stay. Crazy. Being in Dubai for a year wasn’t exactly planned. It just sort of happened. There weren’t trips home. I was there for 10 months straight. I’ll explain. Nonetheless, 2015 also included that 1 unforgettable day in Abu Dhabi (link), and was just a five months after my memorable 10-hours in Amman (link).

Why do Middle Easterners Hate Americans? Dubai — It’s reported that only 6% of the people living in Dubai are Emirati nationals, so with 94% of the 4.5M being expats, by default, most interactions people have with others are either with tourists or expats, so then how can any conclusions be made if Dubaiers Hate Americans, since most are expats from all over?

As I introduced in my earlier Blogs, this series of Blog posts recount, in detail and as an American, very real yet different experiences I lived through in various Middle Eastern countries that speak directly to what many claim to be either a very provocative myth or fact: Why do Middle Easterners Hate Americans? From watercooler claims to media reports, hyperbole or fake news, I will substantiate what I say by offering photo evidence or documentation, and may the chips fall where they may…

Context: It’s reported that only 6% of the people living in Dubai are Emirati nationals, so with 94% of the 4.5M being expats, by default, most interactions people have with others are either with tourists or expats, so then how can any conclusions be made if Dubaiers Hate Americans, since most are expats from all over? Moreover, before my numerous visits to Dubai, the drumbeat of the US media, including conservative XM radio and cable-TV punditry, painted Dubai as part of a greater Middle East that isn’t kind to Americans. Perhaps this media hyperbole, or fake news, contributed to the fact that only 40K of the 4.3M expats living in Dubai are Americans. So then, what real conclusions could be drawn? As I learned from how one views that shadowbox exhibit in the Art Museum at the Emirate Palace in Abu Dhabi (link), I’m choosing to examine Dubai from a different perspective.

For about 16 months before January 2015, our company, which by then included The Boss, first prepared for and then worked to obtain counterparty registrations with oil and distillate suppliers in the AG, or Arabian Gulf. We already had upstream oil and gas assets in Texas and Oklahoma, and wanted to add a downstream business unit to market distillates for overall company revenue growth. Once we obtained our counterparty registrations, we secured our Trade License from the DMCC or the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (link), and worked to launch and establish our trading company in Dubai. It was during this effort that I saw, firsthand, and personally experienced several remarkable realities about life in Dubai as an American, or global citizen, that offered me clarity as to the societal objectives of Dubai Emirate.

Remarkable Reality – Workers or Labor Rights: And this really bothered me: for years the US media would pontificate about the slave labor in Dubai -- how Dubai takes advantage of immigrant workers to build all the amazing buildings and landmarks that became the celebrated symbols of Dubai opulence. But then, I was able to see, firsthand, and witness, day after day, reality. Please know that I had to take the same train, ride the same bus, walk on the same shady-side-of-the-street, and wait at the same government office for my UAE ID, etc., etc., as all other expats, including the migrant worker. In fact, I was at the same government office on 11 April 2015, with hundreds of migrant workers, waiting at the same location, to get my UAE ID. There were no available seats, so most had to sit on the floor. I stood. It was packed full of people -- mostly from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. How do I know? because the guide I hired to help me at the UAE ID place was from Sri Lanka and was able to help the migrants while he and I waited for my turn at the service booth. Help them, how? These migrant workers couldn’t read, nor write. They couldn’t recognize the printed number on their ticket with the number posted on the giant screen when it was their turn for help. Most all of the migrant workers were illiterate. But I was told they work hard. Real hard. They wanted to work because then they had a chance to earn money that they could send home, so they needed their UAE ID. OK. I was getting my UAE ID because we were building a business in Dubai, and I needed one (link) like everyone else who either worked or employed workers in Dubai. As an employer, I also had to learn and adhere to Dubai worker rights laws -- for both skilled and unskilled labor -- administrated for our company via the DMCC. In the USA, we planned for labor costs by adding a “payroll burden” that included all benefits of employment (insurance, taxes, etc.) to the salary or per period wage as our overall labor cost. We budgeted a 40% add-on, or payroll burden, to the wage or salary for planning. What I learned about worker rights in Dubai shocked me -- more because it made me rethink our human capital needs and how we value workers in the USA relative to how human capital is valued in Dubai. I reverse-engineered real wages for migrant workers so let’s compare…

Assume migrant workers in the USA -- regardless if legal or illegal -- and assume that workers are paid $10 per hour which could be a fair comparison to the migrant worker wage in Dubai. Slave-like. Assume further that each worker works 10-hours per day and 6-days per week -- earning $600 per week or $2,400 per month. Cheap-labor. In Dubai, the worker has no Income tax, FICA tax, nor Social Security taxes deducted, whereas in the USA, they do, or should. Let’s say that’s worth $500. In Dubai, all workers get full health insurance (including dental, vision, and life insurance) as a benefit of employment, or with NO PAYROLL DEDUCTION. That’s easily worth $400 per month. In Dubai, workers also get Housing paid (add $500 in rent equivalent); Transportation paid (add $200 in bus fare equivalent); Laundry paid (add $50); all Food paid (add $800); WIFI paid (add $30); and all Prescription Drugs are covered. The payroll burden of the migrant worker in Dubai is $4,880 per month, whereas in the USA it is $3,360 per month. What this means to the migrant worker in Dubai is that each can send ALL of his $2,400 wage earnings home to his family, whereas the migrant worker in the USA would probably only be able to send $400 or so home after he pays his rent, buys and prepares his food, does his own laundry, arranges his own transportation, and pays for any medical expenses from his $2,400 monthly wages since I doubt employers offer full health insurance to their migrant workers. AND, WE’RE NOT DONE: employers in Dubai are also obligated to pay the education costs for all children of their employees. Granted, most migrant workers do not travel with their families, but if they did, employers would need to pay for the education of their employees’ children.

Even more, when I walked on the shady-side-of-the-street when going to wherever and passed a construction site and saw migrants during a shift change waiting in lines for food, their bus, or whatever, many were on their iPads or iPhones FaceTiming with their families -- similar to the guy near the right-side of this pic I found online (link). Again, as a business owner in Dubai and an employer, I had to plan my payroll burden accordingly, and I experienced all of this firsthand, not once or a couple times, but every day.

Societal Objective – The Culture of Dubai: Remember when I said that with 94% of the people living in Dubai being expats, how can any conclusions be made if Dubaiers Hate Americans? The best way I can answer this is look at Dubai from the perspective of the culture HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum established for Dubai many years ago, and that he now carries forward with his son: CP Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Rashid Al Maktoum. Notwithstanding the culture of family the Al Maktoum Monarchy has for all Dubai citizens, including American expats, both are very accessible as I ran into them walking near the Dubai Marina one afternoon (link). Further, Dubai is clean, safe, and where all peoples coexist in peace. Both Sheikh and the Crown Prince emphasize family activities, fitness initiatives and challenges, and both promote a vision for Dubai that sets global standards for health and medicine, business innovation and cooperation, architecture, and cultural activities for all peoples. They’ve created a cosmopolitan yet joyful lifestyle for all who live in Dubai. For me, this was most evident where I lived in 2015, in the Media One Hotel. Home.

When I arrived in Dubai in late January 2015, my objective was to get the Trade License, required IDs, meet with our banks, and start ramping up the office -- a couple weeks, tops. I can come back if need be. Well, nothing works in parallel in Dubai, meaning that the first task needs to be completed and the document in hand, before you can move to the next task, and so on. So I kept extending my stay as I had to work through the requisite tasks. Ughh. I only packed for two weeks as I travel light. Ughh. Ever mindful of my predicament, the team at the Media One hotel knew how much I missed beautiful Zivile, and created innovative ways to make me feel at home (link). Even when the Blackhawks were playing in the Stanley Cup final and won, they never missed an opportunity to make me feel at home (link). And when I finally was set to go back home to the States, they all gathered to celebrate with me and send me off with great memories (link). I recently returned to the Media One and was warmly welcomed home by the General Manager and dear Front Desk Manager, and several others (link).

So Why do Middle Easterners Hate Americans? They don’t. Just the contrary, and this American is so very grateful for our friends in the Middle East, and I truly love Dubai -- my home away from home. And every time I hear someone talk about the Emirates or being somewhere they’ve never been, or claim some oppressive societal norm that they’ve never experienced, I respond by recounting what I’ve seen, what I’ve experienced, and then I show them the photos.

Some will continue to say that this, too, was anecdotal. I disagree. In fact, a respected Emirati equipped that, “…it’s the Europeans who hate Americans, not the Middle Easterners…” Now there’s a thought…

Why do Middle Easterners Hate Americans? – Dubai

Why do Middle Easterners Hate Americans? – Kingdom of Bahrain