Flights to Nowhere
A secret history of seven Emirati detentions and extraditions
Hi, and thank you for reading.
I’m starting a reported limited series here that looks at a somewhat unusual subject: how the United Arab Emirates conducts detentions and extraditions of foreigners.
The Persian Gulf state, a close Washington ally, now finds itself a victim of a war it did not start and did not want as Iranian missiles and drones erode its hard-earned standing as a safe haven in a turbulent region. The federation of seven hereditary emirates has managed to create a booming global business and travel hub by parlaying its hydrocarbon wealth into a diversified economy, and by welcoming foreigners from all over the world to augment its small native population and help build an unlikely success story in the desert.
While being sensitive to the current precarious moment for the UAE, this series will not add yet more coverage of the regional impact of the war in Iran. You have plenty of other, better placed sources for that. The best analysis I’ve seen so far is by my former colleagues at The Wall Street Journal: “How the Iran War Unraveled the Gulf’s Image as a Luxurious Safe Haven”.
There are also two fascinating essays that explore the uniqueness of Dubai and ponder its past and future. Janan Ganesh of the Financial Times writes about how and why Dubai evolved into the world’s “convening point” and concludes that “we will always have Dubai.” WSJ’s Yaroslav Trofimov, an old friend and a long-time resident of the Gulf metropolis, lashes out at those who have gloated over Dubai’s current problems while failing to understand its real nature: “It’s fashionable to hate Dubai,” he writes. (All the links above may be paywalled, sorry)
The stories I will tell you over the next week explore a different side of the UAE: how and why the country conducts detentions, abductions, extraditions, and renditions of foreigners. These stories may be a footnote to the UAE’s otherwise successful expat experiment, but they are an interesting footnote.
A little bit of a backstory: a few months ago I wrote an article for the New York Times that described an abduction and an international rendition involving the UAE. It got me thinking: is this a one-off thing, or are there more? Well, there are more.
Starting Monday, March 16, I will publish an article a day here, for seven days. Each one is a self-contained narrative involving different characters, different countries, and different circumstances. They will all run under this series logo:
At the very least, I can promise you these stories aren’t boring, and they are all meticulously reported. Thank you for considering subscribing, and see you tomorrow (I hope).
-Philip
As new episodes drop, they will be linked below
03-16-2026. Episode 1: Zurab and George
03-17-2026. Episode 2: Christian and Latifa
03-18-2026. Episode 3: Zack
03-19-2026. Episode 4: Matthew
03-20-2026. Episode 5: Ahmed
03-22-2026. Episode 6: Ulugbek
03-23-2026. Episode 7: Paul