​Global security tour, part II: Asia and the Middle East

By Anne Krapu

Given that the Russians have intentionally violated the security of the confidential digital data of both major American political parties with the intent of causing problems with our 2016 federal election, let’s be honest folks, we’re at war.

One of the downsides to democracy is that it is slow and messy. Russia and China can make decisions at the highest levels affecting the United States much more quickly than we can respond. If the U.S. President acts quickly, he or she is guaranteed to get caught up in a quagmire of debate in the press from the opposing party. Russia and China forming an authoritarian counterweight, to seriously challenge the unipolar system currently in place, is a huge concern.

Living in China last year changed my life. A two-week period in Beijing, waiting for my Mongolian visa, coincided with a major military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

The neighborhood adjacent to mine was put under martial law so as not to ruin any of the spectacle for the dignitaries and media present. The government turned off the neighboring factories and used cloud seeding to ensure the normally toxic sky was the cleanest shade of blue possible. In addition to the usual metal detectors, six Beijing police officers were manning each entry and exit point to the Beijing metro. While on the metro, the normal cartoons usually shown in the cars during the early afternoon were replaced with government propaganda showing terrorists with blond hair and blue eyes.

And less than 48 hours after I had been shopping in the Uniqlo store in the Central Business District near my apartment, a woman was stabbed to death with a sword in that same store by a Chinese man who killed her because she “looked American.” After that, plus four days trapped in my apartment in military lockdown, I left to go back to the U.S. for some mental R&R, which was the first time I had done that in my life. This was bad.

The social safety net in China is gone and the rock of traditional Chinese society, the family, has been destroyed as members scramble away from each other for the opportunity to make a living in the cowboy capitalist reality that is China in 2016. The government is openly trying to replace the void with blind nationalism.

I made a joke last week that Beyoncé should be the new DNC Chairwoman because she can at least get everyone to fall in “Formation.” The Chinese do this much better than we do. If we reinstate the draft, all hell is going to break loose domestically. If the Chinese put up a call to arms to get more folks in uniform with adequate salaries, they’ll be rushing to sign papers in an orderly fashion. Donald Trump being loose with words related to the Chinese is only going to expedite this process, and we really, really do not want to poke the tiger right now.

On a more positive note, I loved living in Dubai. It bothers me so much when Muslims and Muslim countries are all lumped together as violent and reactionary. Visionary leadership in the country beginning several decades ago, when oil resources were discovered, has led to a diverse economy including financial services, education, tourism, media, and so much more.

The United Arab Emirates are a true nation of immigrants as more than 75% of residents are not Emirati citizens, but rather hail from other countries, taking advantage of high salaries and driving the UAE economy in the process. As long as one respects Emirati law (women are not required to cover and alcohol is available legally), it can be a great place to build up savings. Yes, there is significant social stratification, but it is far less severe than other countries in the Gulf like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Trump golf course project that got pulled by Dubai after The Donald’s anti-Muslim rhetoric was deemed having gone “too far,” was just a metro stop away from my old neighborhood. Donald Trump’s style of hate has no place in the Emirates at all. UAE National Day, which commemorates the date on which the seven Emirates joined together as one sovereign nation, is an amazing holiday. Both Emiratis and migrant workers from all around the world celebrate the country and the opportunities it has given them.

We need to work more closely with the UAE if they will allow us to. It is basically the Switzerland of the Middle East. They have modern weapons technology, and as a way of giving the finger to ISIS, actually let a female fighter pilot do one of the first flyovers against them.

The UAE is probably the only country capable of getting all of the quarrelling governments in the Middle East to sit down and really talk. They also have a no tolerance policy for terrorism. When I was working there, a radicalized Muslim woman killed an American teacher in a shopping mall. She was tried and executed in less than three months, to send a reminder signal that this sort of behavior would not be tolerated in the UAE. The government keeps an up-to-date list of terrorist groups whose members are not to be allowed onto their soil and this is enforced.

If things really go downhill in the Shire (my pet name for the U.S.), you’ll find this writer in Dubai. Donald Trump being banned from developing there is just another thing to go in the plus column.