You didn't get to East Asia, but do you mind if I do? I lived in Korea for a few years and my wife is Korean.

Things work a bit differently than in the UAE, though there are some similarities, based on your description. The ethnic Korean majority is the top of the heap. After that, it's really hard to say... within that majority, men definitely have a couple rungs on women. Among minorities, "westerners" or people from developed countries (this would include places like Japan or Taiwan, I think) are at the top of the heap (and among them, whites are generally treated better than black, brown, or Asian westerners). Yet its hard to say that "white privilege" applies- while whites in Korea do have certain privileges compared to say, laborers from Cambodia, it's clear that Korean males run the show- privilege is based on power.

Anyway, a theme throughout East Asia in "race" relations is ethno-nationalism (ethnicity is tied to national identity) and a dynamic relationship between economic and racial/ethnic status of outsiders. A black American would be somewhat more positively viewed than a black African in many such countries. A Thai American might have to deal with more shit in Japan than a white American (including stuff like "so... where are you really from?"), but will probably have a bit more social status than a Thai-Thai.

So on that note, I would agree, to a small degree, with sentiments expressed in this topic that American race relations don't necessarily apply to a global discussion of race. "It's a white man's world" requires some qualification (ethnic minorities in China might say it's a Han man's world), but we can certainly say "It's a white man's country". But that's kind of nitpicking, and I think the original post is spot-on to frame the issue in the US.