The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Politics4us on April 29, 2014, 03:34:51 pm
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http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/scorpions-drummer-james-kottak-jailed-for-insulting-islam-in-dubai-airport/
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Good grief.
Reports: Scorpions Drummer Jailed in Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates April 29, 2014 (AP)
Associated Press
Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates are reporting that the American drummer for the rock band Scorpions has been sentenced to one month in jail after being convicted of offensive behavior in Dubai.
The government-backed National newspaper reported Tuesday that James Kottak was convicted of insulting Islam, raising his middle finger, and being under the influence of alcohol while in transit at Dubai airport.
The Gulf News daily says he was arrested April 3 en route from Russia to Bahrain, where the German band was scheduled to perform at a Formula One race. Kottak was a no-show at the April 5 concert.
The newspapers say Kottak admitted to drinking but denied other charges.
The Scorpions' manager did not respond to requests for comment. Kottak's local lawyer couldn't immediately be reached.
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Well, I guess that will teach him! Seriously, why would anyone go to Dubai - even just to switch flights? I would avoid the place like I would a leper colony - wouldn't set foot in a place that I could be arrested for such things.
Disclaimer: Although in fairness, there are probably fewer and fewer places on this earth - including the US - where one can exercise such freedom of speech anymore. Sad to say.
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(http://www.best-drummer.com/_/rsrc/1337276084971/drummers/james-kottak/James%20Kottak%205.jpg)
Oh my. They'll love him.
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American?
I thought the Scorpions were German...
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I wonder if the stiffer part of the sentence was for the alcohol, or for the "insults."
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I wonder if the stiffer part of the sentence was for the alcohol, or for the "insults."
I thought that as well. Sounds like he was 'disturbing the peace.'
However...........a MONTH in jail???
If you have to change flights in a Muslim country, perhaps it's best to not cause a ruckus.......
He might never get OUT of jail.
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I thought that as well. Sounds like he was 'disturbing the peace.'
However...........a MONTH in jail???
If you have to change flights in a Muslim country, perhaps it's best to not cause a ruckus.......
He might never get OUT of jail.
In the past I changed planes a couple of times in Dubai. Stayed mostly in the airline lounge and a couple of duty free shops. Was very careful to just mind my own business and talk to no one!!
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In the past I changed planes a couple of times in Dubai. Stayed mostly in the airline lounge and a couple of duty free shops. Was very careful to just mind my own business and talk to no one!!
Wise decision..... ^-^
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Some years ago (like 30... wow, I'm getting old), I spent 4 months in the UAE. A month lock-up was common for every little misstep. Often it was just because of total hearsay by someone else. I can tell so many stories. My own little story was sitting in a tiny windowless room in the Dubai airport waiting to be deported to India because my papers were not in order. I had dysentery from a trip to Egypt. In the middle of the night, just before my flight to Bombay was about to board, they put me in a van and we traveled to Al Ain, Abu Dhabi where I was left in an unfurnished apartment with a liter of water. God... what an awful experience. There are more details, but it was awful.
One day I will tell you about the public flogging and execution in the town square... It took two days to administer the 150 lashes.
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American?
I thought the Scorpions were German...
They are, with an American drummer.
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Some years ago (like 30... wow, I'm getting old), I spent 4 months in the UAE. A month lock-up was common for every little misstep. Often it was just because of total hearsay by someone else. I can tell so many stories. My own little story was sitting in a tiny windowless room in the Dubai airport waiting to be deported to India because my papers were not in order. I had dysentery from a trip to Egypt. In the middle of the night, just before my flight to Bombay was about to board, they put me in a van and we traveled to Al Ain, Abu Dhabi where I was left in an unfurnished apartment with a liter of water. God... what an awful experience. There are more details, but it was awful.
One day I will tell you about the public flogging and execution in the town square... It took two days to administer the 150 lashes.
Yikes! That's awful!
Are you free to say what you were doing in UAE?
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Yikes! That's awful!
Are you free to say what you were doing in UAE?
Oh sure... I was a private consultant providing services to a Swiss company that had a contract to install heavy industrial equipment in an area that was being developed in Al Ain. At the time, Al Ain was just starting to develop and grow. I had received my work visa at the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC. I then traveled to Zurich for meetings and preparations and had the papers checked by the UAE Consulate there. Traveling to the UAE, I needed to stop in Cairo for some meetings. I spent 6 days there, some of it as a tourist. Landing in Dubai started a chain of events that began with my papers being "incomplete". I was so sick... God, it is crazy to think about it. And here is the punch line - I was invited to work there by the UAE government.
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Oh sure... I was a private consultant providing services to a Swiss company that had a contract to install heavy industrial equipment in an area that was being developed in Al Ain. At the time, Al Ain was just starting to develop and grow. I had received my work visa at the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC. I then traveled to Zurich for meetings and preparations and had the papers checked by the UAE Consulate there. Traveling to the UAE, I needed to stop in Cairo for some meetings. I spent 6 days there, some of it as a tourist. Landing in Dubai started a chain of events that began with my papers being "incomplete". I was so sick... God, it is crazy to think about it. And here is the punch line - I was invited to work there by the UAE government.
Sounds like you were blessed to get out of there alive!
You haven't been back since then, have you??
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Sounds like you were blessed to get out of there alive!
You haven't been back since then, have you??
Overall it wasn't bad... I actually came to like it in a strange way. I worked with some good ex-pats. Brits, Swiss, Japanese, a couple of Danes. A Canadian. Once we were settled, it worked. I never went back, though.
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Overall it wasn't bad... I actually came to like it in a strange way. I worked with some good ex-pats. Brits, Swiss, Japanese, a couple of Danes. A Canadian. Once we were settled, it worked. I never went back, though.
But actually if professionals from the "Free World" stopped working in these countries they would be required to do it themselves. We would then be treated to stories of 150 story skyscrapers built to the "prophet's" specs collapsing in the slightest wind and causing calamity and much death.
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They are, with an American drummer.
On Red Eye last night they said the CIA should go get him out because the Scorpions were...on Tour!
That would probably not be a stretch for this administration.
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I know the band has had problems with him drinking, but they should have said something about him being in jail.