Dubai, UAE, August 30, 2006 – Who was the fool in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who upgraded the travel warning for Dubai in the wake of the Lebanon crisis?

Travel warnings are not worth the paper they’re written on. No warning in the world would have prepared tourists for the bombings in London, Madrid or Mumbai.

I was in India a few months ago. Security was looser than Eminem’s trousers and nobody said: “Oh, India, I wouldn’t be going there, prime terrorist target, that is.” And warnings about places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia belong in the stating-the-bleeding-obvious file.

But the department reckons that the United Arab Emirates is now in greater danger. Did the pen-pusher who issued this warning visit Dubai before declaring it to suddenly be more dangerous?

I’m getting panic-stricken emails from home asking whether I’m all right and if security’s been stepped up on the streets. Seriously, I’m fine. We’re all fine. The expats keep partying. Construction companies still make daily announcements of big developments. Local men still proposition unveiled women in daylight in case we’re Russian hookers. Women are still shopping at the summer sales.

Nobody is hiding under the bed in fear. We may only have Saudi Arabia as a buffer between us and Iraq, but the chances of errant suicide bombers getting here overland via Saudi’s inhospitable desert or through airport security are pretty slim.

Dubai has a large Lebanese community and the UAE doesn’t recognize Israel, so there has been plenty of media coverage on Lebanon. But aside from giving aid to Lebanon and making lip-service statements, the UAE is too busy making money to poke its nose into regional politics. And the UAE army seems to be more decorative than anything else.

In an ironic twist, there are banners flapping all over town advertising Motorola phones. They use images of a veiled woman and a man in national dress – despite the fact Motorola has massive factories in Israel.

Someone here is making a fortune from the sale of Motorola phones and the fact this supports Israel’s economy is of little concern. Marks & Spencer, a company of Jewish origin, has huge stores in Dubai.

Political and religious principles here are somewhat elastic.

I feel perfectly safe here. There’s no need to worry about little ol’ me. The Middle East is not just a big homogenous blur of bloody violence. Just as not all people of “Middle Eastern appearance” are jihadmad, infidel-slaying terrorists, not all Middle Eastern countries are dangerous war zones.

Glad I’ve cleared that one up. Right. Off to a pool party now.

Would the tensions in the Middle East stop you visiting? Join the forums at radar.smh.com.

Source: Radar. Com

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