I agree that these are all saliant points, Fubar. There was some commentary that seemed a bit unfair though.

Articles like these often paint the expat community of the Gulf States rather negatively. Jeremy Clarkson wrote one recently where he referred to the kind of sad losers that have to come to the Gulf to work, the insinuation being that we are not up to it back at home.

I am sure that we are not all greedy, racist and lazy with an appetite for Russian hookers... Hopefully! On the contrary, most expats I know are here to save a bit of money, maybe make a dent in their mortgage back home and provide security for themselves and their family. I think most of us are only too well aware of the shortcomings of the place in which we live but we hope that things improve for those people who have built so much of these countries for such little reward.