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Territory in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, ruled since 1971 by the Dawlat al-Imārāt al-‘Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah

The United Arab Emirates (UAE; Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة‎‎ Dawlat al-Imārāt al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates (Arabic: الامارات‎‎ al-Imārāt), is a federal sovereign absolute monarchy in Western Asia at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north. The country is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a Ruler; together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the rulers serves as the President of the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, the UAE's population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates.

Geographical type: Territory

Latitude: 24° N — Longitude: 54° E

Area: 83,600 km²

ISO 3166-2 code: AE

Notable Places

  • Dubai - Metropolis and capital city of the Emirate of Dubai

Measures of Freedom

Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2021
2019: 6.06, Rank: 131, Personal Freedom: 5.2, Economic Freedom: 7.28
Level of Economic Freedom, Economic Freedom of the World
2014: 7.98, Rank: 5
United Arab Emirates | Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022
2016: Status: Not Free, Aggregate Score: 20, Political Rights: 6, Civil Liberties: 6
The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued to suppress dissent in 2015, restricting the use of social media and utilizing an expansive antiterrorism law that criminalizes criticism of the regime. Amid security concerns exacerbated by the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Yemen, the UAE also retained a role in helping challenge the regional spread of Islamist militancy, providing support for the Egyptian government and participating in a Saudi Arabia–led coalition against antigovernment forces in Yemen.

Articles

Arianna Huffington, Racial Profiler, by Justin Raimondo, 24 Feb 2006
Criticizes Huffington on her 22 Feb 2006 post titled "Dubious About Dubai: Cutting to the Heart of Bush's National Security Hypocrisy" about the Dubai Ports World debate
According to Arianna and her army of "progressive" blogger-harpies, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a snakepit of radical Islamism, the lair from which Osama and his fellow vipers sallied forth to strike out at the West ... The UAE, unlike our own Coast Guard and Homeland Security, actually inspects all tonnage bound for the United States that transits Dubai. As noted above by those geniuses over at AmericaBlog, that "alleged top al-Qaeda combat coach" was arrested, presumably by the UAE authorities – hardly evidence of complicity between bin Laden and the government of Dubai.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Dubai, Middle East
Dubya and Dubai, by J. Neil Schulman, Rational Review, 22 Feb 2006
Commentary on the Dubai Ports World deal and related maneuvers by the Bush administration
Moreover, the U.S. wants the United Arab Emirates, where we have U.S. military bases, and which has been a strategic ally of the United States since the 1970’s, to stick with us as we have a showdown with Iran over their clandestine nuclear weapons development ... possibly the United Arab Emirates — which has been providing intelligence to the United States — knows or can find out [the Iranian timetable] ... and it's likely that the Bush administration believes that any slight to the UAE could derail our strategic alliance with them, and our intelligence flow, at a time of looming crisis.
Related Topics: George W. Bush, Dubai
Hating Arabs, by Justin Raimondo, 22 Feb 2006
Counters the criticism of the Dubai Ports World deal coming from both Democratic and Republican politicians, as well as pro-union sympathizers and Christian fundamentalists
The ... United Arab Emirates ... is one of our staunchest allies in the region ... The State Department reports: "In 2004, the UAE continued to provide staunch assistance and cooperation against terrorism" and "the UAE Central Bank continued to enforce anti-money-laundering regulations aggressively" ... Fearful of Iran, the U.A.E. has cozied up to the U.S. like no other country in the Middle East, except, perhaps, Kuwait. What's more, they have developed into precisely the model free market, modernized, relatively tolerant country, culturally if not politically, that we in the West have been urging on the region.
Related Topics: Dubai, Israel
Ports and Political Hypocrisy, by Xon Hostetter, 25 Feb 2006
Discusses the controversy over the pending acquisition of six U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World (now DP World) as part of their purchase of the British firm P&0 (Note: the transaction was later blocked by the U.S. Congress and DP sold them to AIG)
The United Arab Emirates is not a totalitarian European country from the 1930s, nor is it a socialistic western European democracy like we see today. It is a country that is governed by extraordinarily wealthy businessmen. ... As has been pointed out on Lewrockwell.com before, the UAE is a bastion of unregulated free market activity, tax-free paychecks, and (surprise surprise!) economic expansion.
Related Topics: Business, Dubai

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "United Arab Emirates" as of 26 Jul 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.