Dubai - the contradiction of the postmodern Middle East.

One of the most comprehensive tourist overview articles about Dubai, from the September 2006 issue of Travel+Leisure magazine.


It's like another world—not the Arab world and not the Western world. The sheer amount of material, money, and labor that is gathered here is both menacing and exciting. It's the first place I've heard the word architecting used like lawyering, a noun becoming a verb. The scale and volume of construction dwarfs humanity—looking up at the rising skyline from any given intersection, you feel a rush of sci-fi vertigo.

More like this at the site.

Aside, for non thought provoking articles like this, that I have to read, I'm using spreeder to wizz through them. It could just change my life.

The 9/11 Report (a Graphical Adaptation)

If you haven't seen it, it is worth checking out the "The 9/11 Report- A graphic adaptation" by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón. Slate are excerpting a chapter a day until September 7th. You can start from the beginning to catch up.



Launch it here.

Sign the petition

Will it work? Will it get noticed? You never know. Stranger things have happened. I think it is in the hands of both the TRA and Etisalat.

If you want skype access, and want to add some weight to the cause, sign the petition:

Petitiononline: Internet Calling in Dubai, UAE

...and spread the word...

Muslim Racial Profiling

The world is getting profiliphilic in relation to growing islamaphobia. The worry with Racial Profiling is that is too general, and more people get treated as criminals, than are actually caught. The generalism of such targeting gives you a label. And that is the problem. If you are Muslim, you have a problem. Male - a bigger problem. Not married - and that's it, you are on a watchlist, even though other those out of those categories are also part of the spectrum.

The US have a rigorous protocol:

In addition to matching names, birthdates, and addresses against terror watch lists, agents have been combing through credit-card accounts, phone numbers, e-mails, and even rental car reservations looking for suspicious links -- for example, unrelated passengers who bought their flights with the same credit card, shared a hotel room or traded e-mail messages.

And now they want to get the EU on the action. But more often than not, if you look the profile, you'll get picked out of the queue, or if your name sounds a little suspect, you'll be highlighted on the manifest. And now, because everyone is afraid, people just associate skin colour with terrorism.

I'm all for some sort of profiling, but not for on a whim pidgeonholing.

Dubai related cases:
1. UAE student falls victim to profiling
2. London Plot Revives Profiling Debate

I'll leave you with something from that second CBS piece:

The Iberahim family claims they were recently detained and questioned for six hours with no explanation after returning to JFK Airport in New York on a flight from Dubai.

"We were constantly being yelled at, we were threatened with arrest, and our requests to speak to supervisors were denied," Sumia Iberahim tells Orr.

U.S. officials deny that any passenger is being targeted because of race. But they're unapologetic in their push for access for the kind of personal information they believe could stop the next terror attack.

Do you know your Middle East?

Do you know all the countries in the Middle East & North Africa, and where they are located?

PROVE IT!

Qatar Steps Out From the Shadows

DOHA, Qatar Long overshadowed by its more glamorous or more oil-rich Gulf neighbors, Qatar is stepping into the real estate limelight, the result of some ambitious plans, valuable resources and enormous overseas investments.

Good overview of what is going on nearby. From the NYT/IHT

Carousel Fraud

You learn something new everyday, although I don't think I'll be actioning my new knowledge. Carousel fraud:

lets a company pocket the VAT after resale. One form of the scam also has a second party re-exporting the goods and reclaiming their VAT costs from the HM Revenue and Customs, even though the original tax wasn't paid. Goods are then often exported to the UK for another round of fraud.

This all came to light when the trade figures between Dubai and the UK were released.

In Dubai, an entire criminal industry has grown up to service carousel fraud in Britain. Underground factories, mostly operated by Pakistani businessmen, have been equipped to change the serial numbers of mobile telephones, allowing them to be counted as new products each time they enter Britain. The growth of the racket has produced some startling statistics. This year, Dubai, which has a population of barely 900,000, officially became Britain's 10th-biggest trading partner. Suspicions were raised, however, when, in June last year, our exports to the kingdom soared to £529 million from just £204 million in the previous month. A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics admitted: "Something is wrong. This is organised crime."

This is crime, whereby someone has fiddles the lax tax system in the UK. The fraudsters are making a lot of cash through this. Stricter cash monitoring, even though the US is eagle eyed on all of this, for terrorist funding issues.

Check the Telegraph article

The Dubai Life starts blogging

Another new blog from my compadre at The Dubai Life. Check it out.

Dallas speaks

First word from Dallas Austin was that "it was blown out of proportion".
1. He had cocaine on him
2. He admitted he had cocaine on him (but by mistake)
3. The penalty for this is life imprisonment.

I don't think that is blown out of proportion. It's just that he had enough wasta to get out of it!

Classic end comment:

“I wasn’t in prison, it was nothing like that,” he clarifies, adding that the facility where he was kept had plasma TVs and other creature comforts. “Knowing that I was gonna leave this place, I had one of the best experiences I could ever have.”

If you ever need a place to stay for a while, you know what to do, assuming you have real wasta.

The Future of Dubai

It's always good to view skyscrapercity's videos once in a while. Check out the latest Dubai megaprojects video (2), below. It's an hour and a bit long, but if you really want to get a feel for what Dubai will be like. And apparently will be the centre for inspirtional music. (:>) Love the ambient build up to: "what I have achieved for Dubai is only 10% of my vision for it". That phrase will go down in history, I'm telling you.

Maafi Arabi

Don't speak Arabic anywhere where it is not the main language:

London Eye bosses have apologised to a family from Dubai who were initially stopped from boarding, apparently after being overheard speaking in Arabic.

From the BBC

...and this was before the terrorist threat to blow up the planes!

If there was a title.

If there was a title for the best name for a UAE blog, it would go to this youngster from Abu Dhabi. Check out the new blog.

Dubai Waterfront & Arabian Canal

Of course I knew about Dubai Waterfront, but Im not too familiar with Arabian Canal, that is mentioned about 5 minutes into this promo video.

What if?

Specualtion from NYT - What If 9/11 Never Happened?


Without 9/11, would the London plot have been foiled? Without 9/11, would there have been an Iraq war? Without the Iraq war, would there have been a London plot?

The Real 'New Middle East'

The Washington Post reports that while the world's eyes has been on the conflict between the Israelis and Hezbollah, the real new middle east is being built, spearheaded by none other than Emaar.

The company, Emaar Properties, the most widely traded stock in the United Arab Emirates, also happens to be the richest real estate development firm in the world, with a market capitalization near $25 billion. It's also one of the most ambitious. On Aug. 1, as war raged, the company bought a major British real estate firm. The next day it announced an expansion into Algeria. It's building nearly 100 shopping malls in India, and retail and residential properties from Casablanca to Cairo to Karachi. Oh, and it's also constructing what will be the tallest tower in the world, known as the Burj Dubai.

Yes, Emaar's succes is crucial to both the UAE and the region. The company appears to be well run, and is well ahead of the pack. Stock tip: Emaar, I believe is undervalued right now, based on its market cap. Unless it is heavily in debt or has further significant investments, I would expect the price substantially in the medium term (but this is more D@R's territory than mine).

Prices & Earnings

Those interested in price and earings comparisons that compare like for like migth want to check out UBS' Wealth Management section which contains a report (pdf). The data looks comprehensive, with understanding Dubai cost of living in the current climate an important issue. The data is good for comparing like for like and you will see some interesting comparisons both on the price and earnings side. However, you must put the data into context, and look at the "like for like" across the various components.

Counting and customer service

Lies I have heard this week: "It will be done in 2 hours", "Come back in 3 days. It will be ready", "it will take 5 days to check" and "you will only need these 3 documents". More often than not, they just don't have clue, the efficiency is poor, or they just don't know how to count. For me, the customer service in these departments in the UAE is poor.

For these people, I present "pinball" from Sesame Street. Some of you might be old enough to remember this from the 70's.



Oh the good old days.

Dubai Rotating City

So, it has been just under a week since the rotating city was announced. And the rotating tower, will be housed within. But, to be honest, I was a little sceptical about it. It comes almost in the same league as the Bubble City spoof. However, all seems to be on course for this crazy place. The weird and wonderful in Dubai. It will be the place of dreams and nighmares! Some of the projects just sound as if they have come out of fantasy land, and until they come to fruition and are maintained, they will be just that.

Proposals for further projects:

Mobileland: Where you can only talk to people on your mobile phone. Good for first dates.
Food Tower: Hansel and Gretal style, rebuilt monthly
Oxygen City: For those with medical conditions to recuperate quicker.
Sand Land: Live in a tent. Freehold allowed.
Dubai Mosque Central: More mosques per square foot than anywhere in the world
Shisha City: Where each tower will be be scented with smell of a specific flavour. (Shotgun on the grape penthouse)
Emoticon Island: Similar concept to the World, but with a smiley face.
Singleton Avenue: one side male, one female. Rental for 1 year to find a match. Penalty if not married by the period.
Pay per sleep: One bed units, Japan style, charged by the hour. No showers, just a bed. Single occupancy.
Chatroom Castle: A castle with specific rooms, associated to certain topics. Can remain anonymous by wearing a mask.
BumperCarLand: On entry, swap your car for a bumper car, to limit wreckless driving.
Prisonland: bunk bed units designed cell-like. Sounds familiar....


Any further proposals?

Popularity

Popular V Unpopular

hint: Americans, Nasrallah, Bush, Egyptians.

Do we feel fine?

There have been a number of blogs citing Sala's websites as graphs recently amongst the UAE bloggers. Sala was the same person who coined the one thousand painting idea which seems to have netted him some cash.

What I found today was a great idea called We feel fine showing "An exploration of human emotion, in six movements" on the web, predominantly bloggers.



Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any UAE data, althoguh it is listed as an area they will collect from, but I found the whole thing riveting. Check it out!