UAE quiet on streets but Web reformers face heat

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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. The main challenge to authority so far has been a modest online petition urging for open elections and the creation of a parliament. 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 tribal-style rule that keeps power in the hands of just a few. The Emirates' tight-grip controls have long been accepted as just part of the Gulf political equation for its Western allies and even touted by the country's leaders as the critical ingredient for their bold-stroke 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 high-stakes diplomacy.


UAE quiet on streets but Web reformers face heat