The only place in the world to make Oral Roberts University look good.
And all built with imported slave labor from South Asia.
With any luck, global warming will wash it all away.
And largely paid for by the US and Europe as a result of imprudent economic and foreign policies.
Among other things, thanks primarily to the Iraq War, oil has gone from $30 a barrel to over $100 a barrel over this time. The US is busily exporting its wealth directly to oil-producing countries like the UAE or indirectly to oil-producing countries by transferring US industry to China, which in turn buys oil from the middle east. At least in Dubai they’re wasting some of this oil wealth on extravagant display instead of funneling it to the enemies of the US like they do in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
My wife lived in Dubai for seven years in the 1980s, when the buildings in the top picture weren’t even there yet. Fifty years ago, there was hardly anything in the emirate except some crumbling buildings, two small market towns, a few fishing villages, and several thousand herdsmen living in tents. Westerners should remember that Dubai—unlike Abu Dhabi up the coast—has limited natural resources: a little oil (representing less than 15% of the local economy), some fishing, a few camels, and a lot of sand. The emirate has been built almost entirely on capitalism, on being the middleman in an increasingly large share of the world’s financial and commercial transactions. These guys are good at what they do!
Very interesting. As a fairly staid Anglo-Catholic, I read the Left Behind books with a very critical eye, and more as a “thriller” than as a theological work. However, I have to say this explosion in growth reminds me a lot of how the Left Behind authors, at least, envisioned the “New Babylon” from which Antichrist will rule.
Yes, James Manley. And isn’t that scary? And the first thoughts I had when viewing these, Ouroboros, was of the Tower of Babel and then of Babylon the Great. It is all rather creepy.
Is this happening before or after Dubai buys the United States?
Seriously, though, one of my friends was involved in building the Burj al-Arab Hotel, and he said the sheikh in charge of the project for Dubai was an extremely honorable and honest person. One of those rare people whose words was his bond and if he said it was so, you didn’t need it in writing.
C. S. Lewis, commenting on the US-USSR space race, said that there were very few more harmless ways of conducting a great-power rivalry than building expensive hardware and then throwing it away. Building artificial oases in the desert is in the same class, I think.
If those guys were building missiles, they might be dangerous.
##2 & 11: Again, you guys are missing the point. This isn’t about conspicuous consumption. Dubai citizens (and specifically the ruling family) don’t spend money on these things. They [b]make[/b] money, quite a lot of money. These projects are not a way to waste oil money (of which Dubai has relatively little) but a way to separate a whole lot of rich folks from all over the world from their money. The oil reserves in Dubai will be exhausted by 2025, but the emirate won’t even notice when they are gone. By then, Dubai will be the financial center of the world if current trends continue.
I didn’t say anything about them producing oil. My point was that if building hundred-billion-dollar oases in the desert makes them happy, that’s a pretty harmless way to neutralize some huge and potentially destabilizing capital flows. I also remember what usually happens to boomtowns, which means I’m not buyingany Dubai real estate.
Dubai seems to be the Middle Eastern equivalent of a saloon keeper in a gold rush town–better money, no digging, no risk. Neither one would be there if other people weren’t producing the gold.
I just had my wife look at this thread. (Corrections: She lived in Dubai for nine years, not seven, and her first apartment was in the first building in the near distance on the 1990 picture.)
She actually started laughing at #11 and #14–these projects are not designed to “throw money away” or to “neutralize capital flows,” but to generate additional revenues, largely from people outside the Middle East. The Al Maktoum’s have quite deliberately not relied too heavily on the petroleum wealth of the surrounding Gulf states, because they know that the oil money is going away in a couple of decades.
Despite appearances, Dubai isn’t a transitory boom town, but is being built for the long haul. The rulers are turning Dubai into a holiday destination and second home for wealthy Europeans and Asians (and more importantly, into a key financial and commercial center). To repeat, less than 15% (I won’t argue with 6%) of the local economy is directly dependent on petroleum revenue. The rest is being siphoned from other people’s pockets.
The ruling family are perhaps the most visionary capitalists in the world at the moment, and that is having global consequences. The local currency is tied to the dollar, which is seriously devalued compared to other world currencies, so the only reasonable place for them to spend the revenues from these projects (besides on local infrastructure) is by investing in the United States.
Oh, and yes, #13, the UAE are the world leaders in the use of desalinization and have been for over twenty years. They are developing alternative energy sources for the natural gas that currently generates electricity to run the plants (and that also drives the Dubai Aluminium refinery).
It’s okay with me that you’re a Dubai fan. I’m sure there are lots of good people there doing good things, and intending to earn lots more money. We can legitimately differ on the likely actual effect of their efforts–as distinct from their intentions–and on the relevance of their proximity (both geographical and social) to the Gulf oil producers. Recent history hasn’t been all that kind to boomtowns, but this one may possibly be different. I’m glad to have afforded your wife some innocent amusement, anyway.
Re #17: The issue is not whether my wife finds the remarks in this thread amusing. If he were to stumble on this discussion, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum would no doubt laugh his head off at the stupidity of Americans and Europeans who think that investing in their economies is somehow less threatening to their long-term independence than if the United Arab Emirates were investing in missiles.
I’m not particularly a Dubai fan, but I don’t need to be a fan to notice that Emirates Airline is about to become the world’s largest carrier or that Dubai World Ports is already the world’s largest port operator (besides the Port of Dubai itself, it runs ports in Vancouver, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Adelaide, Jeddah, and 16 other places). It doesn’t take a fan to notice that Dubai International Capital is among the largest stockholders in Travelodge, Daimler, Mauser, Sony, EADS (Airbus), and HSBC (the world’s biggest bank), and is in negotiations to buy the Liverpool Football Club.
None of that suggests that Dubai is no more than a boom town dependent on the oil wealth of its immediate neighbors. (In Dubai’s less flashy but wealthier neighbor, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority may control $1 Trillion in assets, mostly in the West, including the $7.5 Billion they just sank into Citibank.) We dismiss these folks at our peril.
Having read this discussion and looked at the pictures, I found myself wondering at opportunities for ministry in this situation. I know, for instance, that the UAE and some of the other smaller gulf states are much more accommodating to Christianity–at least in a limited way–than is Saudi Arabia and much of the rest of the Muslim world. My searching took me to this interesting article from 2005 on the CMS web site, [url=http://webarchive.cms-uk.org/news/2005/eye_of_needle_110805.htm][i]Living in the Eye of the needle[/i][/url]
#18; Yet it’s also the case, Dale, that Dubai has been built using virtual slave labor from India and Pakistan, workers paid almost nothing and with almost no rights – and this, in the midst of the most hideous display of opulence. Still, I am glad of the Christian presence there (#19 – I’ve met this fine couple) and we can hope that a Christian beachhead (!) on the Arabian peninsula will grow.
This is an interesting discussion, I especially appreciate the idea of ministry opportunities.
For more information on this situation, I commend the 60 minutes piece entitled Dubai incorporated. The videos come in two parts and can be found here:
Re #20: As long ago as the 80s, Dubai was one of the few Middle Eastern states that allowed Christian churches to operate openly. Many of the 95% of Emirate residents who aren’t citizens are very poor South Asians (who are still better off than the families they send their incomes to at home) who are obvious objects for humanitarian ministry. There are also many who would benefit from an evangelistic ministry. I suppose my main point above was to suggest that those who dismiss Dubai as a transitory flash in the pan fueled solely by oil could be as mistaken as those who never thought Las Vegas could be bigger than Reno. It is a major presence.
You might be interested in [url=http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/pagesdetails.asp?nid=13241&ccid=9]this recent news item[/url] on the work of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.
Oops, I meant to include a link to [url=http://www.christchurchjebelali.org/]an Anglican parish in Dubai,[/url] Christ Church Jebel Ali, in the last one.
The Maktoum brothers are major landowners here in Central Kentucky where they have developed some of the most important thoroughbred operations in the world. They have contributed greatly to the local economy and are model corporate citizens. They are genrerous with them employees and have enhanced the beauty of the region with their gorgeous farms which have been developed with exquisite taste in buildings and landscaping.
The only place in the world to make Oral Roberts University look good.
And all built with imported slave labor from South Asia.
With any luck, global warming will wash it all away.
And largely paid for by the US and Europe as a result of imprudent economic and foreign policies.
Among other things, thanks primarily to the Iraq War, oil has gone from $30 a barrel to over $100 a barrel over this time. The US is busily exporting its wealth directly to oil-producing countries like the UAE or indirectly to oil-producing countries by transferring US industry to China, which in turn buys oil from the middle east. At least in Dubai they’re wasting some of this oil wealth on extravagant display instead of funneling it to the enemies of the US like they do in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
My wife lived in Dubai for seven years in the 1980s, when the buildings in the top picture weren’t even there yet. Fifty years ago, there was hardly anything in the emirate except some crumbling buildings, two small market towns, a few fishing villages, and several thousand herdsmen living in tents. Westerners should remember that Dubai—unlike Abu Dhabi up the coast—has limited natural resources: a little oil (representing less than 15% of the local economy), some fishing, a few camels, and a lot of sand. The emirate has been built almost entirely on capitalism, on being the middleman in an increasingly large share of the world’s financial and commercial transactions. These guys are good at what they do!
Very interesting. As a fairly staid Anglo-Catholic, I read the Left Behind books with a very critical eye, and more as a “thriller” than as a theological work. However, I have to say this explosion in growth reminds me a lot of how the Left Behind authors, at least, envisioned the “New Babylon” from which Antichrist will rule.
$3 a gallon gas can buy some nice toys.
But at least they are smart and investing in a future economy…they know oil won’t last forever.
Oil and natural gas provide only 6% of Dubai’s national income. They could never make another cent from oil and never miss it.
Yes, James Manley. And isn’t that scary? And the first thoughts I had when viewing these, Ouroboros, was of the Tower of Babel and then of Babylon the Great. It is all rather creepy.
#1 Gordian – LOL! I did some time at ORU and this is too true. Thanks for the great laugh.
I had exactly the same thoughts as jobeena.
Is this happening before or after Dubai buys the United States?
Seriously, though, one of my friends was involved in building the Burj al-Arab Hotel, and he said the sheikh in charge of the project for Dubai was an extremely honorable and honest person. One of those rare people whose words was his bond and if he said it was so, you didn’t need it in writing.
C. S. Lewis, commenting on the US-USSR space race, said that there were very few more harmless ways of conducting a great-power rivalry than building expensive hardware and then throwing it away. Building artificial oases in the desert is in the same class, I think.
If those guys were building missiles, they might be dangerous.
Cheers,
Phil Hobbs
##2 & 11: Again, you guys are missing the point. This isn’t about conspicuous consumption. Dubai citizens (and specifically the ruling family) don’t spend money on these things. They [b]make[/b] money, quite a lot of money. These projects are not a way to waste oil money (of which Dubai has relatively little) but a way to separate a whole lot of rich folks from all over the world from their money. The oil reserves in Dubai will be exhausted by 2025, but the emirate won’t even notice when they are gone. By then, Dubai will be the financial center of the world if current trends continue.
And I thought Las Vegas was bad, yeesh!
Move over New York, from these pictures they are looking to build the premier city of the modern world. Please tell me they’re using desalinization.
Re #12:
I didn’t say anything about them producing oil. My point was that if building hundred-billion-dollar oases in the desert makes them happy, that’s a pretty harmless way to neutralize some huge and potentially destabilizing capital flows. I also remember what usually happens to boomtowns, which means I’m not buyingany Dubai real estate.
Dubai seems to be the Middle Eastern equivalent of a saloon keeper in a gold rush town–better money, no digging, no risk. Neither one would be there if other people weren’t producing the gold.
Cheers,
Phil Hobbs
And what happened to Atlantis???? And what about the City of Alexandria, the one at about the time around 335BC????
I just had my wife look at this thread. (Corrections: She lived in Dubai for nine years, not seven, and her first apartment was in the first building in the near distance on the 1990 picture.)
She actually started laughing at #11 and #14–these projects are not designed to “throw money away” or to “neutralize capital flows,” but to generate additional revenues, largely from people outside the Middle East. The Al Maktoum’s have quite deliberately not relied too heavily on the petroleum wealth of the surrounding Gulf states, because they know that the oil money is going away in a couple of decades.
Despite appearances, Dubai isn’t a transitory boom town, but is being built for the long haul. The rulers are turning Dubai into a holiday destination and second home for wealthy Europeans and Asians (and more importantly, into a key financial and commercial center). To repeat, less than 15% (I won’t argue with 6%) of the local economy is directly dependent on petroleum revenue. The rest is being siphoned from other people’s pockets.
The ruling family are perhaps the most visionary capitalists in the world at the moment, and that is having global consequences. The local currency is tied to the dollar, which is seriously devalued compared to other world currencies, so the only reasonable place for them to spend the revenues from these projects (besides on local infrastructure) is by investing in the United States.
Oh, and yes, #13, the UAE are the world leaders in the use of desalinization and have been for over twenty years. They are developing alternative energy sources for the natural gas that currently generates electricity to run the plants (and that also drives the Dubai Aluminium refinery).
Dale,
It’s okay with me that you’re a Dubai fan. I’m sure there are lots of good people there doing good things, and intending to earn lots more money. We can legitimately differ on the likely actual effect of their efforts–as distinct from their intentions–and on the relevance of their proximity (both geographical and social) to the Gulf oil producers. Recent history hasn’t been all that kind to boomtowns, but this one may possibly be different. I’m glad to have afforded your wife some innocent amusement, anyway.
Cheers,
Phil Hobbs
Re #17: The issue is not whether my wife finds the remarks in this thread amusing. If he were to stumble on this discussion, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum would no doubt laugh his head off at the stupidity of Americans and Europeans who think that investing in their economies is somehow less threatening to their long-term independence than if the United Arab Emirates were investing in missiles.
I’m not particularly a Dubai fan, but I don’t need to be a fan to notice that Emirates Airline is about to become the world’s largest carrier or that Dubai World Ports is already the world’s largest port operator (besides the Port of Dubai itself, it runs ports in Vancouver, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Adelaide, Jeddah, and 16 other places). It doesn’t take a fan to notice that Dubai International Capital is among the largest stockholders in Travelodge, Daimler, Mauser, Sony, EADS (Airbus), and HSBC (the world’s biggest bank), and is in negotiations to buy the Liverpool Football Club.
None of that suggests that Dubai is no more than a boom town dependent on the oil wealth of its immediate neighbors. (In Dubai’s less flashy but wealthier neighbor, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority may control $1 Trillion in assets, mostly in the West, including the $7.5 Billion they just sank into Citibank.) We dismiss these folks at our peril.
Having read this discussion and looked at the pictures, I found myself wondering at opportunities for ministry in this situation. I know, for instance, that the UAE and some of the other smaller gulf states are much more accommodating to Christianity–at least in a limited way–than is Saudi Arabia and much of the rest of the Muslim world. My searching took me to this interesting article from 2005 on the CMS web site, [url=http://webarchive.cms-uk.org/news/2005/eye_of_needle_110805.htm][i]Living in the Eye of the needle[/i][/url]
#18; Yet it’s also the case, Dale, that Dubai has been built using virtual slave labor from India and Pakistan, workers paid almost nothing and with almost no rights – and this, in the midst of the most hideous display of opulence. Still, I am glad of the Christian presence there (#19 – I’ve met this fine couple) and we can hope that a Christian beachhead (!) on the Arabian peninsula will grow.
This is an interesting discussion, I especially appreciate the idea of ministry opportunities.
For more information on this situation, I commend the 60 minutes piece entitled Dubai incorporated. The videos come in two parts and can be found here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/12/60minutes/main3361753.shtml
Re #20: As long ago as the 80s, Dubai was one of the few Middle Eastern states that allowed Christian churches to operate openly. Many of the 95% of Emirate residents who aren’t citizens are very poor South Asians (who are still better off than the families they send their incomes to at home) who are obvious objects for humanitarian ministry. There are also many who would benefit from an evangelistic ministry. I suppose my main point above was to suggest that those who dismiss Dubai as a transitory flash in the pan fueled solely by oil could be as mistaken as those who never thought Las Vegas could be bigger than Reno. It is a major presence.
Dale, thanks for your insights, they have been very helpful.
You might be interested in [url=http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/pagesdetails.asp?nid=13241&ccid=9]this recent news item[/url] on the work of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.
Oops, I meant to include a link to [url=http://www.christchurchjebelali.org/]an Anglican parish in Dubai,[/url] Christ Church Jebel Ali, in the last one.
[i] Comment edited by elf. [/i]
15. One Day Closer wrote:
“And what happened to Atlantis????”
Plato wrote about it?
“And what about the City of Alexandria, the one at about the time around 335BC????”
Illiterate Christans burnt it?
And your point is?
The Maktoum brothers are major landowners here in Central Kentucky where they have developed some of the most important thoroughbred operations in the world. They have contributed greatly to the local economy and are model corporate citizens. They are genrerous with them employees and have enhanced the beauty of the region with their gorgeous farms which have been developed with exquisite taste in buildings and landscaping.