LA Times: Risk, opulence and reality in Dubai

[marmar]

Risk, opulence and reality in Dubai
Boom goes bust in a glittering land envied by neighbors, 'the first Arab city that proved to the world that it could compare to a Western city with its buildings and its vision,' one analyst says.

By Jeffrey Fleishman and Meris Lutz
November 30, 2009


Reporting from Cairo and Beirut - Dubai is a clever blend of audacity and architecture, a shiny monument to the egos and ambition that turned a tiny emirate into a Middle East financial giant. Russian oligarchs stroll along man-made islands shaped like palm trees, and sheiks race down a ski slope built inside a shopping mall.

Lacking the oil reserves of the emirate's neighbors, Dubai's ruling family created a parallel economic reality fueled by real estate, international investment and the art of the possible. The emirate was fashioned into a sleek cityscape of startling images: Islam balanced against the seduction of Western capitalism, and tribal traditions brushing the fleeting trends of globalization.

Cranes like countless arms moved across a skyline that grew more crowded by the day, if not the hour. The world's tallest building went up, highways looped through the desert, the airport never closed. Dubai expanded into a commerce crossroads for Asia, Europe and America, a place of cigar salons, horse races, a seven-star hotel and suitcases full of money.

And then boom went bust. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-dubai-bust30-2009nov30,0,3752910.story

[nonationbuilding]

1. Hmmm. Why do they want to be a Western city??

Western cities are full of drunks, loose women, ham-eating people, apostates, and infidels.

[marmar]

2. Are you suggesting that all people in the Middle East think of people in the West that way?

:shrug: