What you see as the “Dubai Dream” it’s often wealthy investors, lucky crypto kids, celebrity-types and tall Ukrainian women (no, I won’t go into the X-rated parties they have… that’s a difference post, not by me). On the surface, it looks to be all glamour, wealth and a businessman’s paradise. The English translation of Do-Buy works well, since it appears that everything is being pushed for you to buy in this reformed dessert paradise.
Well I’m writing today to tell you that while some of this is true on the surface–it is generally a hellish place steeped in lies, deceit, authoritarianism and complete anti-freedom governance (which may shock investor-types aiming for freedom or entrepreneurs looking for their next big break). It’s a place that is entirely surrounded by continued illusion and propaganda obsessed with maintaining it’s vain image, with a two (or more) tiered legal system, that squashes any bit of liberty, freedom and individualism to a scale that generally thought of as being tyrannical states do not even come close in the same governance. Plus it’s hot as hell!
Truth
There’s a dangerous trap that I see freedom-oriented folks falling into either due to ignorance or self-censorship. Lately known as the place where Bitcoin millionaires and Russian prostitutes hang out as a sort of heaven for the wealthy. I am writing this for those who are convinced that it is a beacon of freedom, liberty, tolerance and unfettered growth. In fact, it’s quite difficult to find negative information on the place, one must really search (an impossibility to do for locals, but I’ll get to that).
Let’s Begin
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I wanted to investigate this further after I heard of a fellow who sold his business’s office chair for cash and was apprehended when leaving his apartment because he had not filled out proper paperwork for the removal of the chair. Given that free independent thought is illegal and the average IQ of workers is tremendously low (more below), I found this robotic, lack of thinking or rationality, is the standard.
In fact, I know some individuals who have previously worked in the Emirates who highlight that the only reason why they stay is their pay is higher–and the only reason why their pay is higher is because all of the other workers are the world’s stupidest.
3rd World
The services in Dubai and the rest of the UAE reminds me of the mini-paparazi you receive when you land in Cancun airport asking for a taxi, except, they’ll actually drive you. The services in the UAE are disarrayed, inaccurate, unhelpful and sometimes outright fraudulent with lying and promising the earth and the stars being the norm. I have experienced this myself, with many scammer follow up emails–one member emailed be 16 times within the span of 9 days after I asked one question. The quality of service on-the-ground is subpar and nothing compared to financial centres such as Cayman Islands or Switzerland. The idea that UAE comes remotely close to these nations is laughable.
They do not have the manpower, the brain power, the values, the work ethic, the skillsets nor the motivation to provide a streamlined service for you. It is a place where paying for no service is allowed & permitted to ensure more money comes in and yet sending a text message to a friend is policed with harsh, costly punishment.
Dubai keeps doing these stupid publicity stunts of "cool people" jumping off their ghey 30% occupied buildings, in an attempt to get rich people to move there.
It's all a lie. Very few rich people are moving there. Some have moved money there yes. But very few are actually…
Moreover, I have to apologize that I’ve had an excellent compilation on a forum and on X of business-oriented people articulating the real nature of the place–but it upset too many people online apparently for it to be taken down. Regardless, the “Dubai” play has been reduced to nothing more than a tax or accounting formality to do the bare minimum to plug in zero tax or be resident “somewhere”. It is a matter of checking into hotels long enough, checking paperwork boxes, paying for expensive licenses and filing documents just to ensure that a full international portfolio abides by international laws of paying zero, or very little in tax. Even your Dubai fanboys don’t even live there.
I left because it’s a hot, islamic golden cage, only good for islamic people and foreign nation state fugitives, which have nowhere else to go and of course, for crypto wannabes and other insecure people, signaling fake success.
I left because normal people prefer “low key life”, surrounded with their family and friends, in a climate worth living, which actually allows one to throw a BBQ party at their backyard and post what they want without being under Israeli spyware.
I left because It has an artificial feel. What I mean is that there are cultural & legal restrictions A transient society Extreme climate Basic economic & privacy issues Lack of political influence Complete cultural disconnect (for me)
All for Cost of eliteliving costs
After all the campaigning and advertising to get wealthy people to move there over the last 15+ years, by spending hundreds of millions of dollars, with the benefit of zero / little taxes, why are still so few wealthy people living there?
Indian Crypto Investor said it best (@Nishant_Bliss):
People who think Dubai is BIG and is the land of endless money and opportunity, here’s a quick reality check :
Mukesh Ambani’s net worth alone is more than the entire GDP of Dubai.
Mumbai’s GDP is 4 times that of Dubai
Dubai is basically a giant shopping mall, brilliantly marketed. It thrives on real estate hype, retail therapy, and gold sales.
No real natural resources, no major manufacturing or tech industries to speak of just the core economy runs on tourism, real estate flipping, sustained by a fake image.
Others joining in say, while you save on income tax, you’ll end up paying heavily through indirect taxes, licenses, fee penalties and inflated living costs. Perhaps thats one reason why they don’t bother living in 50 degree weather.
Business Friendly?
UAE being business friendly is quite a joke–I can speak from experience on this matter. A friend and I are working on a business idea that involves gold and we thought UAE would be a suitable location. Turns out if you have any gold which isn’t certified (which is a flimsy, arbitrary segment in law) than it’s a prison sentence and/or a huge fine. Imports of gold have similar very strict penalties.
It would be too long of a post to articulate each and every change that businessmen and investor have encountered with respect to filing, registration, taxes, regulation, permits, renewals & the innumerable banking issues. However, it’s worth noting that they are increasing nearly every 6 months, with rules changing on a whim. The penalties for not knowing the new rules (and of course, with the poor quality of service (even in the white collar space) chances are you will not) are enormous. How can you focus on running your business when you have to be reading the rulebook the entire time?
I wanted to share with you great accounts on Twitter explaining their experience but UAE doesn’t allow negative tweets about them to linger on the site for long. That’s why you only see positive takes on it. They are obsessed with being liked
Personally, I have been met with 2 cleverly designed scams; many quotes that exclude many required fees, overcharging, being ignored once a payment has been made and berate an email address with sales & promotions like taxi drivers at Cancun Airport. Overall, their corporate service providers are less interested in your business aspirations as much as their initial commissions for creating another Business ID. Never mind difficulties faced with the government, free zone authorities or additional services (changing licenses, changing operating agreements, adding members to company, amending visa options), they received their money up front—and you are left to navigate the desert alone after that. The contrast between every other country worth incorporating and here is staggering.
Furthermore, I found it is genuinely challenging to find very competent, fully informed and intellectually honest service providers (to say nothing of “average workers”). There was one account that was on offshorecorptalk.com that had a habit of answering “Just incorporate in Dubai, Bro” to every forum post–now, he is nowhere to be found. When I reached out to him, I found his name, credentials and address couldn’t be verified nor could I find any guarantee that services would be provided as mentioned (an English-crafted, give me money and I’ll run off). No terms and conditions to his site, no company (weird he’s incorporating companies without one himself), and many positive internet reviews of newly created accounts. It’s worth mentioning that his price was very expensive under the guise of offering 1st class services.
Tax
I don’t buy it. Relative to many jurisdictions, the place is too inherently unstable and changing to be able to plan for the long term, especially for family office planning or severe wealth. I personally (contact Open Door Consultancy for advice) can to speak to other locations with superior and legally solid structures without the “he loves me; he loves me not” type guessing. I do realize that they have been the recipient of lots of capital amid sanctions from the Ukraine war. However, I do not believe this capital will remain in this jurisdiction as taxes are increasingly brought to it. One man recently wrote, “Taxes are why people move and do business here, if it’s not zero tax, it’s over for them, the zero taxes allows them to overlook the lack of freedom, the desert, the high cost of living.. etc.”.
The OECD & EU cartels’ have been able to extort their officials to have implemented economic substance requirements as well. The cost of running certain corporate structures or investment funds is simply not competitively priced–and last time I checked it’s only worsening.
Now an annual audit is now mandatory, greatly raising the accounting costs of owning UAE companies which has made the whole process a lot more expensive.
Businesses are always at the mercy of their permits, licenses, residency cards, filings and now, tax returns to remain operating. It’s an expensive bill to save on taxation
Freedom? Not Even Close
When you are in Dubai, you have 0 rights. If you cross a local, you will always be wrong/guilty and can then get blackmailed or be forbidden from leaving the country. Your Western embassy will do absolutely nothing to help you. It’s a relatively common occurence, but deliberately kept quiet as to not stop the gravy train. It doesn’t mean this will happen to you, but people should be aware of this as it rarely ever gets mentioned.
Medicine time, slave
An Emirati court on March 4, 2025, rejected all appeals by people convicted in the United Arab Emirates’ second-largest unfair mass trial, upholding the unfair convictions and abusive sentences of 53 human rights defenders and political dissidents, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision is final and cannot be further appealed.
Restrictions in Practice: Despite constitutional guarantees, the government actively restricts freedom of expression. This includes limiting criticism of national rulers, speech that could incite social unrest, and local media censorship to prevent any negative commentary about the government, officials, or royal families
Reporters without borders scores them horribly as seen below:
🇦🇪 IN DUBAI, YOU PAY WITH YOUR SMILE
No card. No phone. Just a camera, your face, and a quiet cha-ching.
Biometric payments are live in Dubai – scan your smile, walk away billed.
I found another crypto investor write that it’s the largest cesspool of garbage that the world has to offer after a recent trip to see it for himself. In 24 hours he was able to witness ugly gold diggers, broke people posing as wealthy to continue their fake lifestyle, local scams everywhere and hidden charges with no service associated (reminded him of India) and it’s populated almost exclusively by low-IQ Indians who operate as slaves. He goes on to say that every aspect of life is authoritarian like a twisted Sci-Fi movie with speed cameras every mile. “I can’t understand how anyone could actually live here without going insane”
The UAE Central Bank has banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments, says UAE crypto lawyer Irina Heaver. According to Heaver, there are new regulations saying that no person can accept crypto for goods or services unless it’s a licensed Dirham payment token. Registered foreign payment tokens can only be used for buying other virtual assets. The Central Bank can impose penalties and sanctions for breaches as they deem necessary. Just earlier this month the UAE central bank approved licensing system for stablecoins, and it has been working on a CBDC as part of its FIT initiative.
Another digital entrepreneur writes, “I was planning to stay for a month possibly longer, fled the country after 2 weeks, that’s how fed up I was. There is zero atmosphere or character, terrible infrastructure, extremely expensive. I witnessed an Indian getting harassed and assaulted by another Indian because someone claim he opened a can of beer. Did I mention there’s no sewage system?”
Everybody loves China, because it’s illegal to not love it–same thing
You get this when you have no sewage system in 50 degree temperature:
Fun fact: in Dubai there are machines that spray parfum
One of the number one complaints of this digital police & slavery state is that it has no soul, no face, no uniqueness, no life. It is a kingdom for those amongst the Kingdom and that is it. Any attempt at self-expression, artistic ability, independent thought, interaction and discussion is immediately squashed. Become a robot and that’s it. The rest is propaganda, lies and illusion; the wizard of oz of countries. This is not a shot at monarchies, which I tend to favor as political entities, but something more deep. If you take away the superficial aspects of the place, there’s nothing that feels “home” about it.
Funny breakdown I’ve seen–note tyrannical and idiotic
However one aspect that grants it this no soul is that everybody who works there (either for a 1 month contract for has been there for 30 years). It is impossible to know for certain that your home will be UAE as they do not issue passports and you are always at the helm of some government official, some employee, some bureaucratic procedure to pay or renew a card and unfortunately for some, some accusation (even if innocent), especially from a local Emirati, that will send you to prison until they deport you to be banned entirely. Even if allowed free expression and story telling, its turnover of residents is too rapid to establish a type of character. They simply think “you’re just another Filipino, we have more that will come to replace you”.
And even if you think that this point is completely wrong and it’s nothing but soul and character–you cannot argue that for the most time, it’s ironically…deserted. Most of the time the streets are empty, few people are out walking (likely due to the heat), but there are no small rugged, upbeat friendly markets like you see in Uzbekistan, Mexico or Italy. People are at work–and at home.
vibe
More Exciting in the Dangerous 3rd World
Expats do not cherish UAE character, uniqueness without any domestic art scene nor any history worth telling. Partly because of their system disallowing one to express oneself to give it a soul or feel. Contrast with a chaotic and disorderly place like Colombia; there are songs, sayings, food, traditions, history, modern and old architecture, many demographics and landscapes—speak to any Colombian and they are filled with character (if I can generalize)! This is simply squeezed out & blocked from life in the UAE. I believe this lack of unity or purpose within is required for a place to hold long-term stability.
My friend who works there cannot use certain social media accounts to contact her family in war-torn Lebanon; of the apps she can use, she is monitored 24/7. She’s not afraid of jail-time like others are, but she’s constantly afraid they deport her on a moment’s notice
Dubai has a Hooters?
I’ve recently heard a clip from Sadia Khan, a Pakistani actress and master in Psychology state that Dubai is the only city where the women are more promiscuous than the men. This is owed to the fact that women will go to Dubai in searching for a rich partner, who therefore has tapped out of all emotional intimacy in exchange for financial intimacy. A rich man may expect loyalty in exchange for her material items, but the women are simply uninterested because they are detached emotionally from the beginning.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard from a local that Dubai is “loaded with hookers and escorts, they know where the money is & you can see them everywhere”. I am all for the free market for what two individuals contractual agree, but I believe this to add to the point that the city is without a soul; a funny characteristic for a place so staunchly religious.
Parents have no say over what their children receive in terms of medical interventions
Cloud Seeding
I had a number of tweets saved highlighting the cloud seeding in UAE, only to come back to the article and find that the tweets had been deleted. Freedom anyone?
Hell on Earth if this is what you encounter in the desert. They have now lost billions and billions of dollars worth of cars, building infrastructure and shop inventory and so much more–it’s completely washed now.
How would this holier than thou business paradise respond? Would they come together in one community and raise money together for support & rebuilding? No. Prison sentences for the truth, again.
Strike Against It
The region is always trying to offset Mother Nature by dealing with the desert. The desert is without a food source for it to eat (and survive the scorching temperatures), there is no fresh water supply, imported food spoils quickly, managing the sand that blows on by and the continual cost of making the buildings pleasantly cool is an expense baked into the cake. As difficult as it would be to try to start a community in Venezuela right now, at least it has a natural, fertile surrounding to do so.
Free from Tax? Not from Breathing in Death.
A map of the air quality of UAE at any given time, notice that there is no well air (or no reading at all) anywhere and some “harmful” readings.
The difficulty of knowing that UAE is a scam is that it’s a worldly secret and its in very few people’s interest to release it who have anything to do with it. One quote that really stuck with me was “There’s two types of people who are telling you how great Dubai is, one group are total ignoramuses who would believe anything that you told them, these people take no care about the world around them and drift aimlessly; and there’s people who aren’t allowed to say otherwise. The first are too daft to realize how anything really works or somebody who enjoys parroting the narrative of this place being fantastic and “the future”. The second are those who are likely in UAE (or have their businesses/bank accounts/real estate there) who know better about the place but realize that they are not able to utter any sort of truth. Any sort of third Freedom of speech and freedom of law between all people does not exist there (nor the Gulf for that matter). Leaving no real third type of person because if you hear about Dubai, there’s a very little chance that you’re going to hear anything but how great it is–the state will not tolerate otherwise.
The marketing campaigns are now so weak and shallow that it’s quite comical at this point. I believe the bubble is popping and foreign investment is running thin into this dystopian scam secret.
Every single advertisement I see for something quick and easy, such as cell phones, accounting services, taxi services are from a desperate, bothersome Indian; whereas any real estate or corporate act of sales are always done by a Ukrainian or British female model. Perfect for the naive or the shallow.
The one I am hit with recently with “Are you still wondering how much it costs to incorporate in UAE?” in a new commercial. Ironically, the answer is yes, because her company failed to do so the first time.
Numerous studies place UAE’s IQ of their native population at around 83-84
Intelligence; A unifying construct for social sciences
In some instances, IQ of the Persian Gulf Arab states is sub 80. While this may seem strange given their immense expansion and development over the years–it’s important to realize that it has been high IQ Chinese, Brits, Canadians and Russians who have done the intellectual hard work; they were simply funded via oil profits.
The present research found that the Muslim country mean IQ of 81 is half a standard deviation below the mean IQ of non-Muslim nations and is not related to strength of Muslim culture as defined by the percentage of Muslims in the country. The mean IQ of 84 in Arab countries is not associated with per capita income and is incompatible with the intellectual achievements of the golden age of the Muslim Empire–Mankind Quarterly 50 (3) 188-209
If you’re unclear of what this really means, you need to read my full breakdown of the importance of IQ and it’s long-term ramifications
It’s all built to impress, but not necessarily built to last.
House of Cards
Approximately 11.5% of the UAE population are Emirati citizens, while the remaining 88.5% are expatriates. This means that UAE nationals, also known as Emiratis, represent a significant minority within the country’s total population.
In effect, the UAE is always dependent on new workers, which means it always needs to provide new economic activity or jobs, and there’s only so many buildings that can be built with an occupancy rate of 0%. It will have to either change it’s immigration policy (since nobody can become Emirati) or continue to grow indefinitely, the former won’t happen given their class system and the latter sounding much like an economic bubble. Now add in the fact that there are locations that may pay equally as well but with the added tax savings, freedom and livable temperatures. The last I heard, they are full steam ahead building homes that nobody can live in.
Why is this especially relevant? Because they’re totally dependent on rich foreigners, who are now leaving.
Contrary to popular exaggerated online narratives to sell real estate, everyone’s leaving. Leases are not being renewed and yields are in the toilet. Too much over-supply and new incremental buyers aren’t showing up.
As already shown with a very small percentage of the the global wealthy moving there, this is a major loss for the country & emirate. It’s mainly for people still hoping to become rich, often using cryptocurrency.
Will This Demographic Change? No.
UAE citizens are outnumbered. 89% of their population are expats, who range from the upper-tiered UK, Canadian, Australians or Germans, to the mid-tier … to the low tier Indians, Bengali, Filipinos (check wage rates, I’m not joking). It’s not uncommon for immigrants to become the majority when moving to newfound lands, look at Southern South America or New England—but the difference is that these new migrants were coming to settle with common linguistic, religious and ethnic backgrounds; they weren’t dependent on an employer granting them a stay (who can cancel it for no reason at any point). These people came to buy farmland or work in servitude until they could fit in to their new home. My great-grandfather was an orphan buy who was adopted into a home as a child worker. Sounds awful, but he made something of himself, saved in gold and had a happy family himself years later. It is simply not possible to become an Emirati citizen or become “one of them”. You are there for money, and you work—hard. It’s a place where prostitutes flourish for a reason.
If Doha, Qatar can be hit with an airstrike by Israel randomly, is UAE still off-limits?
Abu Dhabi has oil; Dubai Doesn’t
I am not an expert in Arabic or Arabia’s history–but just looking on the surface you can see another house of cards within the UAE. So far, the 7 Emirates have been able to develop to a great degree from their oil and gas profits–but, this has been from the largest and most influential Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
It’s difficult to see any issues for the time being, but historically, these families have been at each other over control, influence and power and still on some-level dislike that Abu Dhabi remained such a large slice. Effectively, AD has been the main source UAE wealth to catapult Dubai and the other Emirates.
Now, non-oil sectors account for 75% of UAE GDP, give or take, perhaps UAE have diversified to a greater extent given their immense reliance on importing intellectual capital and slave labour (during a time of wars and volatility in the Middle East). This is paired with the fact that they all seem to be adopting the anti-oil climate change hysteria policies of phasing this out. Boy do I have a conspiracy cooking here…
In essence, the oil profits are recycled to make sure the propaganda machine ensures that you continue to spend money in other ways that aren’t oil. It’s a bubble, a trick, a folly, they are absolutely not what they project to represent–it’s all for more money.
Further Reading; A Region of Conflict
It’s been suggested that World War 3 is likely to even begin from this region (quite cleverly; although this was nearly 10 years ago)
Ironically, the place for prostitutes is being used as one big prostitute. Most of the people living there, especially labour workers are working their ass off for several years knowing that when they go back to their country of Indonesia they will be well off. There is already the understanding that this move has an expiry date, regardless of pay rate or how they’re treated.
I believe there is a pop-culture residual effect too. Most are catching on to the real nature of the place, but the world who has only looked into as long as their 9 second TikTok videos are still convinced in their 100% positive 0% negative messages. There are positives, just like anywhere, but when something is too good to be true, it often is. The takeaway here is that there is immense power and influence to be able to convince the world of this matter. This does not come easy and hats off to them to emerge as the world’s top country influencer. For you and I as investors and freedom-loving folks, we’re beginning to see the other side of the coin.
Oil is a great stability factor in their favor. But, few people actually realize that the UAE collectively has little oil—it is Abu Dhabi who possesses a significant majority of all the oil. The head of this Emirate, who controls the country and has since its company formation, all of the other Emirates try hard but they’re ultimately the little brothers in the family.
Any expression of thought, culture or tradition that doesn’t get strict state certification is effectively squashed from taking place.
Extra Moral Point
It is a country that supplies many mercenaries and wars throughout M.E.N.A. but explicitly denies all of their funding, supplying of weapons or holding interests throughout. At least the United States is open about their intentions to overthrow or topple a government. Here, the oil money is put towards the same thing, but it’s intentions are hidden–just like everything else in the country.
It is a place that has received notorious coverage on their slave labour policies, which as far as I can tell is how the entire Gulf operates. I cannot comment on this, but you can do your searching yourself to find ample amounts of reporting on this specific topic.
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Closing
The country is a place that has seen a tremendous amount of capital and development in just a few decades, you cannot dispute this fact. However, as the old saying goes, all that glitters is not gold–I believe Dubai is a desperate, illusory, overhyped location that has little resilience in the long-run.
It was quite revealing while writing this as I was being constantly reassured of my point since all of my links of showing you the truth of the country were disappearing (I’ve deleted 19 links from this article that were destroyed before I could have shared them, I’m amazed). Which is the general theme, it’s that truth, open discourse and independent thinking is antithesis to the dystopian culture that exists in this “paradise”.
Economically, Dubai is simply a ponzi scheme. They NEED more and more citizens, slave labour if you will, to continue to run their society. At some point, when it’s no longer safe or economically attractive, or when people begin valuing their independence and privacy again, you will have a major hole that the Emirati’s themselves cannot fill themselves leaving no excuse for the propaganda machine to continue turning.
Due to the immense control of the airwaves or “cloud” it’s quite difficult to find the full story from this region. You are only getting one side of the equation from scared liars, or inexperienced fools. Of those who do try to get the word out–as I am trying to do–they’re often censored and the social media post is difficult to find. If you want to make sure that posts like this continue to be published be sure to grab my free newsletter and consider joining others as a paid subscriber!
All in all, when you think of this place you may think oil, Maseratis, Russian models, tall rise buildings and flashy wealth. I tend to view that these are nothing more than a façade—the book cover—a sort of trickery to lure more motivated folk into their trap that this dystopian world feeds upon.
I believe if one values their independence, freedom, sense of stability (from a food & residence perspective) and a comfortable body temperature—they will find other places on the globe. People view this region as ‘the cleanest’ dirty shirt place in the Middle East, until they realize their public perfume just isn’t doing the trick any longer.
Once this scam is revealed and the foreign investment, tourism, and employment dries like their desert, its failure will shock many. Some things will remain; The dishevelled, stressed Indian man following you down the road saying, “Dubai, do, buy. Do, Buy. Please. Please!!!”. Hence the name I suppose… Well, if we’re lucky, we’ll get the Ukrainian model chasing us instead.
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