Comments on: The cranes of Dubai. Are they the answer to Edward Hugh’s question? http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:25:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95219 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:25:20 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95219 "...And I'm going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life." Your forbearers never made the British empire what it became by not venturing out to the "cultural backwaters" and your kids may not have decent jobs if they do not look beyond London. "...but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won't happen." There's more to expat communities and notions of cosmopolitanism than just British bankers. You make such conceptual flaws at your own reputational peril. “…And I’m going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life.”

Your forbearers never made the British empire what it became by not venturing out to the “cultural backwaters” and your kids may not have decent jobs if they do not look beyond London.

“…but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won’t happen.”

There’s more to expat communities and notions of cosmopolitanism than just British bankers. You make such conceptual flaws at your own reputational peril.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95218 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:27:09 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95218 >>>And I'm going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life.>but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won't happen. >>>And I’m going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life.>but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won’t happen.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95217 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:03:05 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95217 blog isn't allowing responses with quotes. blog isn’t allowing responses with quotes.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95216 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:02:12 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95216 >>>And I'm going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life. >but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won't happen. >>>And I’m going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life. >but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won’t happen.

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95215 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 07:57:59 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95215 >>And I'm going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life. >>but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won't happen. >>And I’m going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life. >>but the scale of the construction almost requires that all the bankers in london who now manage gulf assets (and russian assets) relocate to the gulf, which probably won’t happen.

]]> By: OldVet http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95214 OldVet Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:04:17 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95214 I've been wrong before, but years ago a friend bought a condo in Dubai, and this year another. The increase in tenancy and population won't come from London, but from around the Middle East and from neighbor states incl Pakistan. Outflux of Iraqis ring a bell? Let's not be too Western-centric in looking at the gamble in Dubai. GDP growth in rest of world outside US is higher and likely to stay higher for a long time. I don't see Dubai filled with French bakers and London bankers, but with a different mix of people entirely. Maybe they see that too? I’ve been wrong before, but years ago a friend bought a condo in Dubai, and this year another. The increase in tenancy and population won’t come from London, but from around the Middle East and from neighbor states incl Pakistan. Outflux of Iraqis ring a bell? Let’s not be too Western-centric in looking at the gamble in Dubai. GDP growth in rest of world outside US is higher and likely to stay higher for a long time. I don’t see Dubai filled with French bakers and London bankers, but with a different mix of people entirely. Maybe they see that too?

]]> By: Anonymous http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95213 Anonymous Tue, 27 Feb 2007 04:53:03 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95213 >>>And I'm going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life. >>>And I’m going to change my London job for a Dubai job and a total cultural backwater? Not likely in my life.

]]> By: Guest http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95212 Guest Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:09:51 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95212 Whether Saudi Arabia proves to be a different story: "Lyondell Chemical said yesterday that it had agreed to sell its titanium dioxide pigment business to an affiliate of the National Industrialization Company of Saudi Arabia for about $1.2 billion..." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27chemical.html Whether Saudi Arabia proves to be a different story: “Lyondell Chemical said yesterday that it had agreed to sell its titanium dioxide pigment business to an affiliate of the National Industrialization Company of Saudi Arabia for about $1.2 billion…” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27chemical.html

]]> By: Guest http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95211 Guest Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:59:17 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95211 Dubai's rise is the mirror of Lebanon's decline. They are both in the same niche, but Israel has made Lebanon unviable as a banking/money laundering/hideout/ "booze, gambling and girls" centre. Enter Dubai... Dubai’s rise is the mirror of Lebanon’s decline. They are both in the same niche, but Israel has made Lebanon unviable as a banking/money laundering/hideout/ “booze, gambling and girls” centre. Enter Dubai…

]]> By: Guest http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95210 Guest Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:40:57 +0000 http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2007/02/25/the-cranes-of-dubai-are-they-the-answer-to-edward/#comment-95210 ironically, perhaps a bubble in alternative energy investments as well: "...While SunPower Corp. and Theolia SA are among more than 180 companies whose shares have surged as much as 240 percent this year... the market's nimblest investors... reduced their stakes in solar-power and ethanol producers in the fourth quarter... The hedge funds manage about $86 billion. ``As an investment play,'' global warming is ``a bubble''... Anyone looking for corroboration of that assessment may find it in the so-called short selling of U.S. alternative-energy stocks last month, which climbed 45 times faster than the average for Standard & Poor's 500 Index members...." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqBr9N4m4Rko&refer=home ironically, perhaps a bubble in alternative energy investments as well:

“…While SunPower Corp. and Theolia SA are among more than 180 companies whose shares have surged as much as 240 percent this year… the market’s nimblest investors… reduced their stakes in solar-power and ethanol producers in the fourth quarter… The hedge funds manage about $86 billion. “As an investment play,” global warming is “a bubble”… Anyone looking for corroboration of that assessment may find it in the so-called short selling of U.S. alternative-energy stocks last month, which climbed 45 times faster than the average for Standard & Poor’s 500 Index members….” http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqBr9N4m4Rko&refer=home

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