UAE protests unlikely

eFinancialCareers:

But is trouble in the UAE really beyond the realms of possibility? David Butter, regional director for Middle East and North Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit, tells us that "it's not outlandish that there could be trouble in the UAE", but that the "idea would of course be laughed out of court".

“You’ve got the presence of Emirati angst: the feeling that you’re not doing as well as others and did we really ask for our country to look like this?,” he says.

The crucial difference, says Butter, is that Emiratis are a small minority. Although there's simmering resentment at the way their country has turned out, they lack the numbers and support to take to the streets. And expats, self-evidently, won't be protesting about falling house prices or the deep disappointment that is The World.

Is that it -- that Emiratis are such a minority in their own country that even if there was a protest it wouldn't be effective as tactic?