Over the next several days I’m going to share posts written during my recent trip to UAE and Oman.
The opulence in these two recently built, oil-rich countries is astonishing. Their precarious location in the Persian Gulf gives one pause. And the interactions between my travel group (mostly retired women from the Washington DC area) and the locals who dealt with us (mostly young Muslim men) provided material for dozens of posts. Most remain unwritten. I hope over the weeks ahead that will change.
Not a Country of Immigrants
Citizens of the USA are almost all immigrants and their descendants. Were this not so, only Native Americans would hold citizenship here.
The United Arab Emirates is not a country of immigrants. For the most part, only the descendants of native Emiratis may hold citizenship. Those who move there will never fully belong, and neither will their children, no matter now many generations their ancestors have been there. As a result, about 80% of the population of the UAE consists of expats.
Read the full post at Not a Country of Immigrants.
Find my other posts about this trip at Having Lunch in Dubai for World Peace, We All Just Want to Have Fun, and I’ve Seen the Future, and It’s 8 Time Zones Away. I hope more will follow.
S. R. Cronin 
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