IAP Political Forum

http://www.itsallpolitics.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,26/topic,204.msg38377/#msg38377

Here is the link to my pics...as requested by Jericoacoara, aka Fort, here's a little description of my trip:

I hoped on a 13 hour flight from Atlanta to Dubai on the 1st of January when I had only got 3 hours of drunken sleep.  I had stayed out all night on New Year's eve and had an early morning flight to catch from Chicago to Atlanta.  I felt AWFUL.  It was pretty much the one of the worst flights I've ever taken.  I only stood up once during the entire flight to use the bathroom.  Its the first time in my life my feet actually swelled up and I had difficulties putting on my shoes when we landed :(  The Int'l airport in Dubai was the nicest airport I've ever seen.  My time in customs took about 30seconds in Dubai.  I then went to my hotel, Novotel, and the World Trade Center in Dubai.  We did some touristy things like seeing the Burj Al Arab, Burj Dubai, Dubai shopping centers (which were like 5th Ave. in NY city).  The cost of things was comparable to NY city or San Francisco.  Pretty expensive costs on things, but it wasn't too extreme.  We (my group of students from Thunderbird School of Global Management) met with several companies and gov't officials gathering data and making contacts for research and future employment.  We had a change to meet a rep from the Dubai Department of Economic Development.  He was western educated and well spoken, but he was a politician nonetheless.  He only spoke of positive things.  When we asked him what type of obstacles that faced Dubai and its exploding growth he replied, "There are none" ;D

I'm sure most of you know the current state of Dubai and its role in the int'l community.  Its becoming the worlds tourist destination for the upper class...and its moving FAST.  Everyone I spoke with including taxis and fast food cashiers spoke English well.  Most of our time was in the business districts and free trade zones where companies don't have to pay any type of tax.  I know that Americans who work over there do not have to pay income tax either if they make under 87,000USD a year.  Its very common for employers to offer Americans a salary of 86,999USD with 100% medical, housing and transportation allowance, and a few free trips back to the states.  We spent days with Dubai Ports World (the company that acquired US ports and was forced to sell them off thanks to the US gov't) Jay McDermott, GM, and some other non fortune 500s. 

The Emirs of Dubai knew the city's future did not lie with oil (they are actually supposed to run out in 5-10 years); therefore, a different method of national income and imports were needed.  The vision was to increase tourism.  Tourism is big with large amounts of coastline so the Emir's have decided to double the countries coastline from 70km to 140km.  Hence these INCREDIBLE land reclamation projects:
http://www.chiefengineer.org/content/content_display.cfm/seqnumber_content/2318.htm
http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=31260104897
(http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/7979/452581420929580/1600/Masterplan-of-Dubai.png)
http://cu-megablog.blogspot.com/2006/09/manmade-landscapes-in-dubai.html

Some obstacles facing Dubai:
-There are still partnership requirements for foreign companies
-90% of the country are not citizens
-app. 60% of the countries growth is financed by debt (US and British banks)
-possible instability with Iran and the West which would limit tourism
-high rate of inflation
-Dihram currency pegged to US dollar which lowers the nations purchasing power; however, it does make it more attractive for European tourists

I am currently pursuing some career opportunities and internships in Dubai.  I would love to relocate there.  Its safe, clean, new, and family friendly.  I'm sure the GF (soon to be fiance, but don't tell her...ssshhhh) would have no problem relocating there.  Everyone I met was very friendly and tourist shopkeepers were not too pushy.  I understand the Dubai isn't representative of the ME as whole, but its a great place to be for Westerns who want to experience the ME before they total immerse themselves in non western like state such as KSA, Jordan etc.

I was fortunate enough to miss President Bush's time in the UAE.  He was in Abu Dhabi at the time I was in Dubai (neighboring Emirate/city state).  That wasn't the case in Egypt though.  I'll make a post later about my time in Egypt.

Neo, thanks for that post.  :) Really interesting reading about Dubai. Looking forward to your post on Egypt  :)

I must admit, my experience in Dubai was totally different to yours. I am not sure why, but i never felt totally comfortalbe there. I have been in some pretty dangerous and risky places before but with Dubai, i always felt like I was a foreigner. Just the way people look at you, it is like "you are a westerner, you don't belong here". Anyway, just an impression I felt.

What you described with the business part of it was how I felt too. It is absolutely booming. When I was there some years ago, they were constructing the new airport so I havn't seen the new airport. You walk through the city and it smells of wealth and opulence. You see the sheiks walking down the streets with their wives armed with gucci and armani shopping bags.Many businesses are moving their head offices to Dubai. For example the International Cricket council which has been housed since the 1900's in the home of cricket, lords London, moved to Dubai a couple of years ago. The UAE government is offering so many incentives to get businesses to move there. Emirates airlines is also very progressive and spsonsors many sporting teams and sporting associations around the world.

What did you feel that the UAE people thought of you or americans in general? I laways got the impression that many arabs look down at people from other cultures, but maybe that is a wrong impression, and based on my time there.

For me, it is really interesting to see a progressive city such as Dubai, expanding and prospering in a region, where many despise the west and the materialism. It is a fascinating contrast and interesting to see the future of Dubai. Do you think the clash of the cultures between Islam and the west will impact on this at all?

Thanks for the post. What do you want to do there? You should contact corpuscollosus as he moved there some time ago so he might be able to give you some information on business opportunities there or general impressions.

BTW, Dubai is one of the worlds best cities for designer clothes shopping so make sure you emphasize this when selling the idea to the gf  ;D

I can tell you that the Emirates (UAE people...its pronounced Em-er-Rot-ey) people treated me VERY well while I was there; however, I got a bit of the royal treatment.  I didn't really connect with any people from middle or lower economic classes, b/c I didn't interact with them.  I wasn't around any...all the Emirates I spoke with were either tied to royal family or were aristocrats.

IMO the Emirates have a favorable view of Americans for a couple of reasons:

1. We bring and supply a lot business there and Emirates are business people...usually well off.  The poorer types are either way out in the desert away from civilization or they are laborers from other countries.
2. They do a lot of business with our federal gov't and military...I do mean a lot.  I saw two US NAVY ships docked up in their port facilities.  WHen the king says Americans are okay...the country tends to agree.

The UAE is VERY different than the rest of Arab society.  They aren't building this Utopia for middle class arabs (maybe even rich arabs) to come and visit.  IMO all the tourism and real estate is being built for the highest bidder, which is a western one.  As long as you have money and you abide by their laws, you're golden IMO.  The UAE doesn't despise the West.  Its prolly more tolerant of difference and diversity than the US or Europe.  you can see a women in a bikini sitting next to a woman in the burqa...the only discrimination i heard about was its treatment of jews.  I know you can't dial out to Israel and I also 'heard" if you have Israel on your passport you get flagged, questioned, and possible even detained.  They typically will not let you back into the UAE if you have an Israeli stamp on your passport....but I don't know anyone who has experienced this....its just what I've heard.

There were people who did come from Israel in our group who had spoke with the Israel customs agents and told the agents where they were going...the Israeli agents did not stamp their passports and gave them a piece of paper instead...so it has some credibility.

The only impact I can see is if some crazy terrorist starts blowing stuff up in Dubai (which is possible).  I've heard some arabs look down on the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc for the western cooperation and western materialism.

I'd like to work in gov't relations for a US manufacturer or US consulting firm...something that has a high degree of gov't interaction, but with a private sector salary.  I tried getting in contact with Corpuscollosus....no response.