Dubai buys Time Warner!

OK, so Istithmar only purchased 2.4% of Time Warner, but I'm sure the US press will be all over this one in light of recent events with P&O, think that the UAE is trying to control the media, and treat it in the same way.

The Three Musketeers of Dubai

While nearly all the US Press is still fuming about the Dubai port company, DP World taking over P&O and thus controlling 6 US ports, the New York Times publish a simple overview to understanding what Dubai is really all about linked in with a profile of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. They unravel the inner workings of how the Emirate works listing Suleyman, Gergawi and Alabbar as essentially the guys who sort it all out.

"Sheik Mohammed, "asks a lot of questions and these three guys go looking for the answers.""

There is also an interview with Bin Suleyman in the Guardian.

The Inshallah Factor

For those of you not signed up for the Grapeshisha Newsletter , I have just sent out the latest one on Arabic Catchphrases, that you hear regularly in the UAE and the Middle East. Enjoy!

Someone correct them please - the UAE is NOT a terrorist nation.

What I can understand with the P&O Debacle is why the US would have issues with another country looking after their ports. What I can't understand is the bending of truth stirred up by this Associated Press journalist that caused a furore that has the US chairman of the house homeland security committee asking the White House to reconsider the deal. They continue to cite the UAE's history as an operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against New York and Washington. That's like linking the UK to terrorism because the 7/7 bombers were born in the UK. And the US didn't have a problem having good old blighty looking after the ports.

The fact is that the DP World has already gone through U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. They could have blocked the transaction. Next thing Michael Moore will come up with some hair brained theory that this is the pre-cursor to the next 9/11, and make a film called Celsius or something.

Even though the UAE has taken patent steps to counter terrorism, handing over and expelling suspects, the US press seems to be generalising that 'Middle East' equals 'Terrorism' and therefore the UAE falls under that banner. What balony! If the UAE aligned itself in such a way or was seen to be doing so, the foreign investment would disintegrate over night and the fall out would lead to the decline of Dubai Inc. Perhaps 'Connie' will apologise for this next week.

More on the anti-UAE sentiment here, here and here

This is not good press for the UAE. What I can not understand is why the UAE Press are not defending the country on this. Maybe they are more worried about cartoons or swimming pool closures in The Springs.

VAT for Dubai?

The issue came up when the IMF and and Dubai Customs were commissioned to conduct a study. The reason why it is needed because of the UAE wishes to set up free trade agreements with the US, EU, Australia and China, and that would involve reducing import levies. So, with this reduction in revenues, the UAE needs to look at other revenue sources - and VAT seems the obvious move. Apparently it wont be for some time, and apparently will be phased in, and apparently will start with tobacco, alcohol, luxury items, electronics etc. But, once that starts, expect the sheen to go on Dubai, the number odf items taxed to increase, the percentage to slowly veer towards 20% and inflation to rocket. More about it here, here, and here.

Jebel Hafeet is the World's Greatest Driving Road

The UAE boast many greats, and many craziests in its short life, but this driving site gives the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road the thumbs up for giving your car a spin. Many people dont have this down as a to-do lists when visiting Dubai, but now expect the racing car enthusiasts to use this route to test out their bi-annual car upgrade. Worth 5 minutes of your time, if not for just for the photo of Jebel Hafeet by night. Stunning.

Is there room for another Airline?

First there was Emirates (confused with the country), then came Etihad (with the forgettable name), then Air Arabia (with the Arabic South Park Characters).....and now, wait for it, RAK Airways will be operational by early 2007 with 2 used airbuses. We all know that the airline market in the Middle East is going through significant growth, but another one? Next thing you'll tell me that UAQ will want one, then there be one called UAE airlines which will claim to be the UAE flagship airline, stealing it from Etihad who stole it from Emirates.

I haven't been to RAK, and don't intend to go, from some of the bizarre stories I have seen in the press, but I'm sure that one day I'll need some good quality ceramic. And I suspect that it is safer to fly to RAK than go by road, what with the death rate from ego driving.

Dubai Slips

No, not underwear. As seasoned yacht owners, you will all know that a slip is where you dock your boat. Some crazy fool is auctioning off the domain name dubaislips.com with a minimum bid of 5000 bucks under that premise. You would be forgiven if you thought that this was something to do with the Dubai Financial Market which has slipped to a 6 month low. My advice is to buy now (the stocks, not the domain)

I've got more money than you have so tough.

We all knew that once Singapore started the game of poker over P&O, that Dubai Ports weren't bluffing. And because they wanted it, they got it. Obviously such a move makes strategic sense for the Dubai, in the ports business and also for the shareholders who voted today 99.5% in favour of the bid. With shares having jumped 70% since this was all talked about, that's a nice little earner. But the matter of fact way that Bin Suleyman acknowledged that it was theirs is a qualified arrogance:

"it was important to pay a high price so as to speed up the outcome of the deal."

Money is power, and now money is speed. The way that Dubai Ports did it, reminds me of the invincibles of Sport, Pele & Brazil, Mohammed Ali, Borg - you just know that they are going to win. Well, most of the time.


When someone at Dubai Holdings figures out what this information superhighway internet thingy can do, expect simultaneous bids for Microsoft, Oracle and Google.

Dubai is in Algeria?

I hadn't heard this until today but, yes, there is a market in Algeria called Dubai - affordable prices and a choice of goods.

"You can find anything except your mother and father in Dubai"

This is starting to get confusing for me, what with the World in Dubai, 2 Taj Mahals in Dubai, Dubai in Algeria. What next? India in Dubai? Israel in America? The country formerly known as Denmark.

Ok, enough.

The Dubai Sandwich

This recent article from the Guardian Newspaper paints a pretty unbiased view of Dubai, telling it how it really is. While some of the information maybe slightly skewed, by and large Adam Nicolson gets it just right. The concluding paragraph gets Dubai right down to a nutshell (or sandwich)

This is the Dubai sandwich: at the bottom, cheap and exploited Asian labour; in the middle, white northern professional services, plus tourist hunger for glamour in the sun and, increasingly, a de-monopolised western market system; at the top, enormous quantities of invested oil money, combined with fearsome social and political control and a drive to establish another model of what modern Arabia might mean in the post-9/11 world. That is the intriguing question: can Dubai do what Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, or almost anywhere else in the Arab world you might like to mention, have failed to do? Is Dubai, in fact, the fulcrum of the future global trading and financial system? Is it, in embryo, what London was to the 19th century and Manhattan to the 20th? Not the modern centre of the Arab world but, more than that, the Arab centre of the modern world.


At a time where the Western perception of the Middle East is at an all time low, this article gives a realistic view that rises to the surface of the gunk that seems to be written about the region nowadays and puts articles that link the UAE with 9/11 to shame

Dubai drivers are the best

Great little short piece in the Gulf News today with some deep insight at the end:

Motorist reverses into a lot of mess
By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
Dubai: A motorist, who lost his composure while reversing, damaged nine cars on Sunday at the parking lot of Dubai Police Headquarters.
The Asian, who was leaving, reversed his car from the parking space.
However, instead of slamming the brake, he stepped on the accelerator and hit two cars, pushing one of them on to the pavement.
Then he turned his vehicle to the right, but again pressed the accelerator instead of the brake and damaged two other cars.
On impact, one of the damaged cars hit two other cars parked near it. Two more vehicles were reported damaged.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Police said the man might have been confused.


And I am sure this guy had to go through the customary 5 tests before getting his licence, which probably led to him being so confused.

UAE Cost of Living Spreadsheet 2006

I have compiled some general data to produce a cost of living spreadsheet to assist those moving to the UAE. Data consists of groceries, services, entertainment etc., amongst others. This will hopefully help the large number of expats who move to Dubai and Abu Dhabi every year. You can locate it from the home page of the grapeshisha website.

It is not meant to be a work of genius, just something useful to make transitions to this country that much easier. I remember when first came over to this country, and the Economist didn't cover Dubai as part of their Big Mac Index.

Please feel free to share with anyone you feel may find the information useful. And also, if you have any corrections or ammendments, I would welcome those as well.

Broken Back

For anyone unclear about whether the UAE turns a blind eye to homosexuality can now be certain that getting caught will result in five years in jail. With Brokeback Mountain also being banned from a UAE release, there is absolutely no doubt that it will not be tolerated here. Allegedly, the defense's argument was that if alcohol is allowed in the hotels, then so should homosexuality, but that, I think, is just an old wives tale. With all the demonstrations these days, expect gay rights activists to be lobbying for a release.