Comment by nymph | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nymph | Hacker News Reader

How'bout a drone to enforce the death penalty for the open practice of homosexuality (UAE being one of 10 countries in the world to do so):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_United_Arab_Emi...

http://www.arablawsworld.com/uae-laws-in-english.php

Or to assist with the forced deportation of Shi'ites:

http://abna.co/data.asp?lang=3&id=390575

Or torture drones for jails (torture being a "systematic practice" in UAE state security facilities, according to HRW):

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/27/uae-reports-systematic-to...

Or a drone to help husbands "chastise" their wives (or children) -- being as "the UAE penal code, sanctions beating and other forms of punishment or coercion providing the violence leaves no physical marks" -- as determined in 2010 by the UAE's highest court:

https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/10/19/uae-spousal-abuse-nev...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/10/19/uae.court.ruling/i...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/UAE-cou...

Or my personal favorite, the Sheik Issa Mark V -- a drone that can run over a man while driving a Mercedes SUV; rub salt into his wounds; and set his genitals afire with lighter fluid -- all while instructing a camereman (filming everything for the world to see), "Get closer. Get closer. Get closer. Let his suffering show":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issa_bin_Zayed_Al_Nahyan#Trial...

The possibilities are endless.

So lets shit on NSF grants that fund research for various things because the USA does evil shit too.

Not a bad analogy (despite the fecal reference). Arguably the U.S. should also have been sanctioned by the world community for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Bagram and elsewhere. Not to mention for the conditions endured by prisoners in solitary confinement in its own domestic system.

But what you need to understand is that the UAE is perfectly aware of its horrendous human rights record, and so undertakes "feel good" campaigns like this "good drones" program (and its partnership with NYU... and all the scholarships, and funding for the arts) specifically to distract your attention, and to burnish its image.

And BTW, speaking of shit:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - An American held in the United Arab Emirates for nine months for his role in an online parody video about youth culture in Dubai said Friday that he was scared at times and was kept in filthy conditions where guards "shouted at everyone like dogs."

...

Cassim said he stayed for about two months in the Dubai jail, where guards "shouted at everyone like dogs" and conducted room searches in full riot gear. The food was abysmal, and for a time Cassim ate just enough bread to keep himself going.

He said the conditions were unsanitary. Blankets were shared without being washed, and 130 people had to use a communal bathroom.

"The smell was horrendous," he said, adding that he thought the toilets were made of clay until one detainee cleaned them - only to find they were metal and had been covered with caked-on feces. When the communal sink was cleaned with bleach, he said, black maggots crawled out from the tile.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/01/17/american-recounts-expe...

Positive activities like this competition will probably help make an end to this insanity so I don't see what exactly is your point?

Positive activities like this competition will probably help make an end to this insanity

How, exactly?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com