Brigid Delaney writes:

For people living in close proximity to a war zone, the lack of sympathy for Australian and British expats and influencers in Dubai has been, on the face of it, curious.

Since their adopted home was bombed in the initial days of the war, they have faced mostly ridicule and contempt in their home countries.

In the UK, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, called out “tax exiles and washed-up old footballers” in Dubai who “mock ordinary Brits” but now expect the UK military to rescue them.

On Good Morning Britain, presenter Susanna Reid asked: if Brits moved to Dubai to avoid paying tax, shouldn’t they pay for their own evacuation?

Shona Sibary, a British writer for the Daily Mail who divides her time between England and Dubai, captured the almost Zoolander vibe of the city when she wrote a piece titled “I’m trapped and under attack in Dubai – while back home in Chichester my daughters are furious, the labradoodles are sick and, worst of all, I left my Mounjaro pen in the fridge”.

And Australian influencer Louise Starkey was widely mocked for her Instagram video after the bombs started falling. “It’s not meant to be happening here,” she said on her balcony in Dubai, clearly afraid, as missiles sounded in the background.

There is a lot to unpack in that one line. “Here” – where “it” is not meant to happen – is Dubai, a city where you can play mini golf, shop at Marks & Spencer and have all-day champagne brunches at luxury hotels.

And “it”? War. Violence. Missiles. Airports being attacked. No flights out. Having to flee across the desert to Egypt or Oman. Living in fear of a drone attack and your family being injured or killed.

The broadening of the theatre of war has simply made the wider tableaux in the Middle East visible.

The whole social contract of Dubai involves a wilful blindness to the proximity of suffering and violence. After all, Gaza is geographically close. [Continue reading…]