zlacker

I take the salt the Earth approach with countries that would imprison me, as a gay man for being gay. Or countries where simply being born a woman affords you fewer rights. I have zero respect for the UAE.

Your argument is a logical fallacy. Yes I'm sure the UAE is improving, but that doesn't mean we should stop vilifying it for the terribly evil laws it has and things it does. It's not "complex", there's just no motivation to make actual, sweeping change, only token change to appeal to the West, whom the UAE relies on to do business with. Dubai should not exist, it's an artificial Oasis in the desert in a world where global warming is becoming a serious threat. Dubai was built on slave labour.