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As Salam u Alaikum

I am a former UAE resident, eager to know what the reality of the situation is in the UAE, especially regarding issues like expatriates and expatriate laws, residency laws, the local political scene and the like. Living in the UAE for several years, one becomes accustomed to reading one thing in the headlines but finding out much information on the street, through the grapevine. There isn't just a lot that is unsaid, much is suppressed before it goes to press, lest it upset the royal family or portray a somewhat-negative image of the UAE. Thankfully, the truth often manages to escape from beneath the facade of normalcy, and it was to find this candid atmosphere of discussion that I set out.

If this is not the forum where people would come for this type of down-to-earth and blunt discussion, aimed at isolating the real issues from those published in the newspapers, then could someone direct me to one that is?

Thank you very much,

A former resident

Well what exactly do you want to know?

I'm living in Dubai one year already.
And I like it very much.
War in Iraq didn't affect UAE at all. At least common people didn't noticed it. Even hotel industries didn't suffered too much.

As Salam u Alaikum,

Well, for one, I was wondering about the following excerpt from an article from the Khaleej Times website posted on 5/5/2003. What are the 'reasons'?

"Cinema activities to resume in Sharjah"
By a staff reporter

5 May 2003


SHARJAH - The Sharjah Department of Culture and Information announced yesterday the resumption of its cinema activities following a three-year discontinuation of the movie shows due to some reasons.

But my post wasn't necessarily about a particular issue, it was an enquiry about the use of the site as a serious forum for discussion. I spent some time looking for one, rather unsuccessfully, since all the rest save this one were littered with people posting absolutely unrelated and/or inappropriate material.

So thanks, and I hope this is where I can turn for the 'inside information' on the Emirates.

A former resident.

Hm.
What is all this about Sharjah and cinema?
My coworker lived in Sharjah last year and he was going to cinema quite often.
At least he told me so.

Regarding the forums. We will try to maintain them as clean as possible.

About cinemas resuming in Sharjah, they have never stopped running for the last 10-15 years. I would recheck where you got that information from.