Something of a harsh critique of Doha in Indian newspaper Daily News & Analysis today, in which the author points out many of the already established stereotypes: Land Cruisers, air conditioning, and fake American veneers everywhere you turn.

But the interesting part, is when Krish Ashok weighs in on the seemingly permanent divisions of Doha’s residents:

There are three distinct kinds of people who live there too.

The locals, who drive around in super-luxury cars; the white expats, usually oil executives who dress casually in cargo trousers and summer prints; and the brown expats, the engine of the economy. Workers from South Asia seem to dominate the demography in every one of these cities.

…

Black slaves eventually mixed with Europeans to form a multiracial country like Brazil, but I don’t see Arabs, Caucasians and immigrant labourers ever being anything other than a salad, loosely mixed together and quite often, not tasty.

Read the rest of the article here.