Dubai and Abu Dhabi don't need a ministry of happiness – they need justice

People cannot be truly happy if they live without freedom, no matter how flashy their golden shackles are. Behind the UAE's ministry of happiness is a happiness deficit – you can't be truly happy living in a golden cage, even if it's a five-star cage with indoor ski slopes, six lane highways, and even a Louvre and a Guggenheim. And you cannot be truly free if you witness others being persecuted and cannot raise a voice or a finger to protest or to help.

It would rather be helpful if Western commentators kept their wits about them and noted that to successfully tackle tolerance and happiness deficits, a country doesn't need to give each its own ministry – rather, it needs to uphold and protect freedom of speech and expression, fix its flawed and politicized justice system, hold everyone responsible before the law regardless of rank or position or family connection, take a hard look at its treatment of non-citizens and at the rampant abuse and racism in its jails, and have a conversation about the destabilizing effects of its foreign policy.

But given this list, it's probably easier to just appoint a minister of tolerance and another for happiness, and invite a Western journalist to a 51-floor skyscraper overlooking a six-lane highway.