If you’ll be in the UAE anytime soon, you may want to be careful with what you say. Gulf News is reporting that the UAE’s Attorney General, Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, is taking action against those who sympathize with Qatar:
“Strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows sympathy or any form of bias towards Qatar, or against anyone who objects to the position of the United Arab Emirates, whether it be through the means of social media, or any type of written, visual or verbal form,” said Al Shamsi.
The Federal Public Prosecution also announced that according to the Federal Penal Code and the Federal law decree on Combating Information Technology Crimes, anyone who threaten the interests, national unity and stability of the UAE will face a jail term from three to 15 years, and a fine not less than Dh500,000.
If you’re traveling to the UAE, be careful with what you say! Hopefully it’s okay that I still consider Qatar Airways’ new business class to be slightly better than Emirates’ business class. 😉
Dubai, UAE
I love how articles like this bring out people's biases regarding the countries there and their polices. And Islam too occasionally.
@n Hey, it was also reported by The Russia Times, so it has to be true. :)
Okay, okay, I'm pretty what your response will be to that.
How about Reuters then?
"Clinton's charity confirms Qatar's $1 million gift while she was at State Dept."
"The Clinton Foundation has confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state without informing the State Department, even though she...
@n Hey, it was also reported by The Russia Times, so it has to be true. :)
Okay, okay, I'm pretty what your response will be to that.
How about Reuters then?
"Clinton's charity confirms Qatar's $1 million gift while she was at State Dept."
"The Clinton Foundation has confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state without informing the State Department, even though she had promised to let the agency review new or significantly increased support from foreign governments.
Qatari officials pledged the money in 2011 to mark the 65th birthday of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's husband, and sought to meet the former U.S. president in person the following year to present him the check, according to an email from a foundation official to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta. The email, among thousands hacked from Podesta's account, was published last month by WikiLeaks.
Clinton signed an ethics agreement governing her family's globe-straddling foundation in order to become secretary of state in 2009. The agreement was designed to increase transparency to avoid appearances that U.S. foreign policy could be swayed by wealthy donors.
If a new foreign government wished to donate or if an existing foreign-government donor, such as Qatar, wanted to "increase materially" its support of ongoing programs, Clinton promised that the State Department's ethics official would be notified and given a chance to raise any concerns.
...a foundation spokesman, Brian Cookstra, this week said that it accepted the $1 million gift from Qatar, but this did not amount to a "material increase" in the Gulf country's support for the charity. Cookstra declined to say whether Qatari officials received their requested meeting with Bill Clinton."
Reuters Friday Nov 4, 2016
So apparently that $1 Million was just one of many "contributions" since "this did not amount to a "material increase" in the Gulf country's support for the charity" ;)
LOL lucky, your blog onemileatatime@boardingarea was recorded, then no more DUBAI?
9:50am - Etihad Airways: Qataris barred from travel/transit via UAE
Abu Dhabi state-owned Etihad Airways said all travellers holding Qatari passports are currently prohibited from travelling to or transiting through the United Arab Emirates as part of government instructions.
Expatriates residing in Qatar and in possession of a Qatari residence visa will also not be eligible for visa on arrival in the UAE, Etihad spokesman said in an email.
I think @n might be the new Credit. Geez man take a chill pill. With that thought we should never fly to Japan for their abuse on shark fin soup, Singapore because it is illegal to chew gum, or any state in the US that allows hunting if you're pro-animals. Might as well stay home then?
Lousy train of thought my friend. I admire your intention but one does not travel to a country...
I think @n might be the new Credit. Geez man take a chill pill. With that thought we should never fly to Japan for their abuse on shark fin soup, Singapore because it is illegal to chew gum, or any state in the US that allows hunting if you're pro-animals. Might as well stay home then?
Lousy train of thought my friend. I admire your intention but one does not travel to a country like Dubai or Saudi Arabia to applaud whatever thing youre against that they do, they go for holiday, entertainment, etc. The world isnt perfect and theres no way one human person can fix it all.
It must be Ramadan...the lack of food and water is making these people say stupid things...
The daily mail? That's not a serious news source. It's called the "daily fail" for a reason. The Clinton foundation didn't take anything from it. You must be a trump supporter.
According to the Daily Mail:
"Clinton Foundation took at least $1,250,000 from Qatar and World Cup committee embroiled in soccer bribery scandal"
So it seems in the Trump/Saudi vs Clinton/Qatar tug of war, Clinton once again loses big time.
Sad... ;)
And no one takes the ginger peril seriously - bigger international joke than W. And I never thought that could actually happen...
All about the $$$
For all those saying 'don't support these evil regimes who treat their citizens so badly'. Don't support the US selling them the weapons to do this! The West is happy to sell weapons, but not 'support' their regimes by flying their airlines!?!?!
@Chuck, Saudi Arabia cuts people's heads off because they stand up to the government. Trump has business ties to them. He's just as bad. Plus, he's orange. How can anyone take that seriously?
Yeah, stop supporting those bad, bad governments! Support Saudi Arabia instead! After all, they pay a top US official big money---they're good guys.
thank you, Cipta
@n you are a funny guy. Like a frog in a shell
@Pita, I don't drive, and Ben's tickets do fund the governments.
@n Stop fueling your car because oil money probably funds terrorism more than Ben's first class tickets.
@malc there is a bit of concern in general from the expats, we have seen similar things before just not so big. A lot of us will be out of the country soon for summer vacations so we are hoping it will be all over by the time we come back.
There was small scale panic buying on the first day (pretty much all expats, no locals) but shelves were full again the following...
@malc there is a bit of concern in general from the expats, we have seen similar things before just not so big. A lot of us will be out of the country soon for summer vacations so we are hoping it will be all over by the time we come back.
There was small scale panic buying on the first day (pretty much all expats, no locals) but shelves were full again the following morning.
If it carries on long term it could have a big affect and I imagine western expat numbers will start to drop.
"If you’re traveling to the UAE, be careful with what you say! Hopefully it’s okay that I still consider Qatar Airways’ new business class to be slightly better than Emirates’ business class:
That's it, no more transiting the UAE for you. We don't want to wait 3 years between trip reports. ;)
@sullyofdoha, I'm on no cross.
Ben has said before that he carries on going to the middle east because of the people, they don't hold the views of the regimes etc.
As a gay man himself, he should know about the prejudice and persecution we face on a daily basis in "civilised countries", but he still continues to fly there and spend money there which eventually goes to the governments.
He has shown he...
@sullyofdoha, I'm on no cross.
Ben has said before that he carries on going to the middle east because of the people, they don't hold the views of the regimes etc.
As a gay man himself, he should know about the prejudice and persecution we face on a daily basis in "civilised countries", but he still continues to fly there and spend money there which eventually goes to the governments.
He has shown he has no care for the human rights abuse. If he had any compassion, he would stop funding them.
I second @n
@n, get down off the cross...someone needs the wood! :p
Surprised they won't behead them. Ben, you really should not support these regimes. Yes, you have said the people don't feel that way etc, but you flying there gives money to them. If you had any compassion for people and their suffering because of the lack of human rights in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Tunisia, Qatar etc, you would stop flying there. Your money goes to their regime. Please think about what you're doing.
@Ben W, if you have the new resident card and you passport does not have the old resident visa you should be fine. However, if you pass through customs and immigration you could be asked to produce your itinerary. If you, as a U.K. Citizen, could not show your arrival from, or onward travel to the Uk, you might get some friction and turn out a bigger loser on the day than the British and...
@Ben W, if you have the new resident card and you passport does not have the old resident visa you should be fine. However, if you pass through customs and immigration you could be asked to produce your itinerary. If you, as a U.K. Citizen, could not show your arrival from, or onward travel to the Uk, you might get some friction and turn out a bigger loser on the day than the British and Irish Lions against the Blues ;) .
@Malc, little concern from Expats. This is a Khaleeji (Gulf Arab) matter. For many, the biggest issue is now having limited choices flying home for the summer (Qatar Airways ALWAYS bones people with the cost of a flight from Qatar...just the old hub and spoke model that many markets face).
@Ben W How are expats like yourself reacting to the current situation: concern or alarm? Are people planning to leave or just hoping it'll blow over?
Qatar's government is as guilty as the rest of them in the middle east. It's been a mess out there for a while now and they all continue to fund terrorism. On top of that, Africa has the same exact problem in more of the northern regions (with funding terrorism and just being a not great area).
I wonder what those two regions have in common that could explain that ... hmmm...
Just the type of threat shows what kind of Govt. UAE has and what kind of rulers she has. Just by looking at this type of undemocratic threat, my sympathies are with Qatar.
There have been reports that all those currently Qatari residents (not Qataris) would not get visa on arrival in the UAE. I doubt anyone has tried this yet seeing as it's difficult to get to from Qatar! Also not sure how they would know? I am a resident in Qatar with a British passport but we no longer have resident visa pages in the passport. With have ID cards now. So would be interesting to see what would happen if I flew to UAE from another country?!
@Steven Good? Wow, maybe you can go get thrown in jail there for saying the wrong thing. Pretty disgusting the people who go to the UAE to fly first class which helps prop up a regime that is soo oppressive of its people. Don't kid yourselves. You enable these tyrants and people who live there suffer as a result.
@Jill - Associating the middle east with people who hate and kill, that's a pretty wide net. Your bias is your bias though. As far as I know they haven't killed anyone on the planes going to/from the Middle East yet on the Middle Eastern carriers.
@Steven - In the same vein, why should anyone support Saudi Arabia with their association to terrorism and the UAE for human rights?
On a related note, I will be going to CAN to DOH with 20 hours transit and possibly a visa on arrival on my passport then DOH to 3rd country, on Qatar; and then hours later 3rd country to USA transiting through AUH on Etihad. Given I don't go through immigration at AUH, I assume that is taken care of. But any chance Etihad will deny boarding at the 3rd country given the Qatar visa?
The 3rd country is not a middle east country, btw.
@ zz -- No way, shouldn't be an issue.
NOT JUST QATAR -- case of kettle calling the pot black
Lucky loves the mid-east - I can never understand the love for people who "HATE" and KILL
Good,
Qatar has been a long time supporter of ISIS and terrorism, why should anyone support such a government.
Thought so! Though I remember going to Ukraine a few times (with Russian visas) I was directed for secondary screening. Argh, politics ;-)
whats next, the thought police ?
Hi Ben!
Do you know if there will be any problems entering the UAE if you have a stamp from Qatar (or vice versa)?
@ Stephen -- Shouldn't be any issue just having a stamp.