I live in the UAE and I was aghast when I saw this yesterday. The newspaper is very low quality, to be sure, but it's read by a lot of people.
I saw the paper when I went to have coffee with a local (Emirati) friend. We talked at length about vaping (I should mention he was in Texas last fall and I got him to bring me back a mod) and he understood that it's all about money. This government, like almost all the others, makes money from cigarettes. In fact, the cost will double to triple next year, going from $2.70 to as high as $8 for the big brands. I don't think they realize that at the current price the economic incentive to vape is low but now they're going to bring it to the fore. The GCC also has one of the highest smoking rates in the world so there are a lot of potential vapers here. My understanding is that it is growing despite the ban.
Then later in the day I went to a large get together of expats. What was interesting was how many were smoking. I estimate at least 25% were doing it. I know many of them but haven't seen them in awhile. I brought a couple of mods and had conversations about vaping. Keep in mind that most of the adults there were highly educated, yet not one of them knew anything about vaping, other than the shit they've gleaned from the rags. They also understood the forces arrayed against vaping. A few even tried my mods, but there was a general lack of interest from most of the smokers even though we were all outside talking in a large group. No one said to me that they would like to start vaping. I figure that I've done what I can do and perhaps I've piqued some interest. I despair at times when I envision the future of vaping.