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It turns out that when faced with finding themselves trapped in a warzone humans encounter, absorb and rationalise their new normal in different ways.
Many, faced with living in a warzone with ballistic missiles and suicide drones buzzing overhead immediately duck for cover in the nearest underground carpark. Then there are a group, just as terrified, but who can control instinct screaming at them to run.
The third group are less anxious but also cautious. These guys are constantly risk-assessing; every task, every activity, is re-examined through the filter of the new reality. The last group seam fearless, refusing to let their lives be impacted, or perhaps they’re just terrified like everyone else and their ‘carry on as usual’ mentality is a form of denial?
Enough cod psychobabble already! Point is all civilians react differently to being plonked into a war and, when things get weird it’s the help and support from those in positions of power that matter the most.
In my recent extended stay in Dubai due to the ongoing Gulf conflict, I encountered both heroes and villains, and it seems appropriate to give out praise and criticism where appropriate.
First up are a couple of bozos who should be thankful of the title ‘villain’ as others might equally well describe them. ‘War criminal’ or just plain ‘mass murderer’ would be a couple of good ones for Donnie and Bibi (Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu). They have killed thousands under the pretext of saving Iranians from death at the hands of their own leaders. Death is death and murder is murder fellas – You are both total Villains!
Only slightly less villainous than the two narcissistic bullies above is, or at least was, the Iranian Supreme Leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a religious zealot, who would have, under torture most likely, listed his interests and hobbies as: religious contemplation; mass executions; political speaking; torture and imprisonment without trial; reading and writing poetry; supressing the freedoms of 93 million Iranians; executing subversive poets; gardening and hiking.
Ali Khamenei finishes runner up in the villain category to the two blokes who murdered him and his family with a fatal combination of US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers; F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters; Blue Sparrow air launched ballistic missiles (ALBMs), and submarine launched Tomahawk Cruise missiles. Dead but not forgotten. Definitely a Villain.
On the other side of the coin, you have the leaders of the Gulf states – UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, who didn’t sign up for a war with Iran, and had made that clear to the Bozo Boys by explicitly banning the US from using its military bases to attack Iran. I guess they thought, or hoped, that such a move would avoid them being on the end of angry Iranian drones and missiles. Sadly, that move didn’t work out so well.
By default, these states irrespective of some of their less popular (with some in the west) laws and actions cannot be villains. And for me an ‘Angel’ award should go to Dubai leader (and VP and PM of the UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who under a hail of Iranian missiles kept millions of Emiratis, ex-pats and foreign tourists calm and safe.
Faced with tens of thousands of stranded tourists, many in transit without accommodation, the Dubai royals decided to stump up for the hotel bills for this group. These guys had also previously paid out close to a trillion dollars for the state-of-the-art air defence system that has kept the city safe from attack. And finally, in a great show of faith, not to mention PR coup the Sheikh, his son the Crown Prince, and a gang of their ministers, rolled up to the Dubai Mall, a massive shopping and entertainment complex next door to the iconic 163-floor Burj Khalifa, and stopped at a public café for coffee. No question, Angels every time.
Less helpful was my own government who sent word that all Brits stuck in the Arabian Gulf should register their whereabouts on a UK government website. There followed numerous emails telling us to ‘stay in place’, followed by one that implied that we should have made our own way across 300 miles of desert during a war to catch a UK government mercy flight, which in the end didn’t take off the day they said it would.
At the same time our illustrious leader Starmer battled with trying to pick a side on supporting the US or not. Unlike many of his European counterparts who made their views clear, our Keir went for the weasel-words approach to events and pissed off everyone, including the Cypriots who copped a load of missiles for hosting a UK airbase on its soil. Embarrassingly the UK had no ship nearby, or even mission ready, to protect our Cyprian neighbours, so the French Navy had to come to the rescue. So, not necessarily villainous, but in this theatre Keir Starmer and the UK government are 100% Villains of the piece.
There are many more worthy of an angel shout-out, including British Airways Holidays, who through drafting in staff from other parts of the airline’s business ran a 24-hour emergency service that rebooked flights via whatever airport was showing signs of opening. On one occasion they even organised a chauffeur service from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to catch a flight back to the UK which was ultimately cancelled.
Ultimately my extended holiday ended with a BA provided coach transfer across the desert, nicknamed ‘Operation Sand Horse’ to Muscat in Oman, from where I was flown home by the best BA crew ever assembled on one Dreamliner. At various time senior and junior crew, including the captain, roamed the cabin, reassuring anxious passengers over any fears of the flight, its route and ultimately their person safety. Total Angel operation!
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