DUBAI, United Arab Emirates No protesters have taken to the streets calling for reforms. There's been barely a public whisper about whether the Arab uprisings could intrude on the cozy world of the United Arab Emirates' rulers.
But even that crossed a line. Security agents have arrested at least five Internet activists over the past month. The swift government action to snuff out any whiff of dissent shows that, despite the UAE's transformation into a cosmopolitan showcase, it has never outgrown its tribalstyle rule that keeps power in the hands of just a few.
The Emirates' tightgrip controls have long been accepted as just north face outlet locations part of the Gulf political equation for its Western allies and even touted by the country's leaders as the critical ingredient for their boldstroke ambitions: no debate, just build.
Yet the UAE may be opening itself to a new era of scrutiny as it has inserted itself into the region's upheavals backing Bahrain's embattled monarchy, looking for an exit for Yemen's president and supporting the NATO force hammering Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. UAE envoys are suddenly thrown into highstakes diplomacy.
On Tuesday, the Abu Dhabi crown prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, met with President Barack Obama in north face outlet in berkeley Washington. Western officials, including British Foreign Secretary William Hague, have made Abu Dhabi a critical stop on Mideast factfinding missions since the uprisings began.
"All my life I have been listening to the sheiks saying we want to be number one in everything.
He is among a small group of Emiratis turning to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to voice their complaints, including a public role in political affairs, shifting development to poorer areas outside the gleaming cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and creating more job opportunities for Emiratis who are outnumbered by foreign workers 5to1.
The demands might appear minor compared with the violent struggles for change in places such as Syria or Gulf neighbor Bahrain. But in the Emirati context, any public dissident is considered a potential time bomb.
The five activists detained including a prominent blogger and an outspoken academic are under investigation for "perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security" and insulting the rulers of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the sevenemirate federation, the staterun WAM news agency said Monday. If convicted of the charges, the men could be imprisoned for decades.
The jailed blogger, Ahmed Mansour, led a popular online political forum that was blocked last year. Another of the detainees, Nasser bin Ghaith, a financial analyst and a frequent lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of Paris' Sorbonne university, has criticized the Gulf's rulers for failing to provide a legal code to prevent corruption and abuses during the staggering economic advances of the past decade.
"We have this frustrating feeling inside us, but we are not allowed to express it," the activist Waleed said during a recent tour of one of the poorer sheikdoms in the north, Ras alKhaimah.
The international watchdog group Human Rights Watch sharply criticized the UAE for "punishing peaceful criticism."
"This shows how far the UAE has to go to become a rightsrespecting country," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for the New Yorkbased group.
Political activity is severely restricted in the UAE. There are no official opposition groups and political parties are banned.
The Emirates' main elected political body serves only in an advisory capacity and its 40 members are either directly appointed by the ruling sheiks or elected by a small group of handpicked voters.
Loyalty is also bought. Emiratis receive generous state benefits such as subsidized utilities, free health care, education and generous retirement benefits as well as interestfree loans to build a house.
Sultan alMuazzin, a parliament member from the emirate of Fujairah, called the state money pipeline "an important factor of stability." It includes millions of dollars handed out last month as antigovernment protests raged in Bahrain and smaller rallies took place in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and neighboring Oman.
As the protests grew around the region, the UAE's crown prince took a highly publicized tour of the lessdeveloped emirates in the northern part of the country, pledging $1.6 billion to upgrade electrical and water systems in an apparent attempt to discourage Emiratis from taking their grievances to the streets.
AlMuazzin claimed most Emiratis are content with the traditional desertstyle system of rule rooted in customs that allow people to discuss their problems directly with the rulers or their aides during weekly audiences.
"There is no election culture here. There is no interest in the democratic process to begin with," alMuazzin claimed. The curbs are seen as further efforts by the state to monitor cybertraffic. They were replaced by stateappointed substitutes.
"The powerful sons of the UAE's founder, Sheik Zayed, have strengthened an autocratic rule," Davidson said. "They have been quietly building up a police state, massively extending the internal powers of the security forces and heavily investing in the surveillance and censorship technologies."
Most Emirati activists are now keeping a low profile. Some discussions about reforms still occur on the Web. But the UAE's official media have barely mentioned the activists' detentions.