Dubai on The Huffington Post

Best Buildings Of The Decade (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-12-19T12:21:00Z

Every decade brings with it new buildings that stir the imagination and push the limits of what was sought possible in terms of design. In the slideshow below we take a look at 10 of the best buildings to be constructed (if not entirely finished) over the course of the last decade. Vote for your favorite, and let us know in the comments what other architectural visions deserve a place on the list.

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Dubai: Tiger Woods Golf Course Will Still Be Built

2009-12-16T12:22:58Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tiger Woods' business partners in Dubai on Wednesday wouldn't comment on the golfer's personal woes, but say despite the emirate's cash problems they are still pushing ahead with plans to build a course he laid out .

"The Tiger Woods Dubai ... can confirm that it remains committed to the completion of its centerpiece al-Ruwaya golf course," the Dubai state-linked developer said in response to questions Wednesday. "Progress continues on the first golf course designed by Tiger Woods Design."

Abu Dhabi Supplies $10 Billion To Dubai To Cover Debt

2009-12-13T23:46:40Z

DUBAI --Dubai's government Monday said it received $10 billion in financing from Abu Dhabi, which will pay part of the debt held by conglomerate Dubai World and its property unit Nakheel.

Mohammed Majid Al Muhairi, Jean-Marc Sanchez Dead In Dubai Powerboat Crash

2009-12-11T15:55:53Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Two competitors have died in a world championship powerboat race in Dubai after a high-speed crash.

The two killed Friday were driver Mohammed Majid Al Muhairi of United Arab Emirates and throttleman Jean-Marc Sanchez of France.

Dubai World Loses W Hotel In Union Square In Foreclosure Auction

2009-12-08T18:04:43Z

NEW YORK — Dubai World's investment arm, Istithmar, lost ownership of the W Union Square New York hotel in a foreclosure auction Tuesday.

One of the hotel's interim lenders, a private equity firm called LEM Mezzanine, acquired the 270-room hotel for $2 million, according to Dow Jones. The sale was another financial blow to Istithmar, which acquired the hotel in October 2006 for $285 million, according to Real Capital Analytics, a data tracking firm.

Meet Dubai's Billionaire Ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

2009-12-04T01:43:27Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai's ruler writes poetry, rides horses across the desert in long-distance endurance races and hobnobs with royals like the Queen of England. Mixing extravagance with boundless ambition, he commanded the desert city-state's meteoric rise – and helped sow the seeds, some observers say, of its debt crisis.

Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's business-over-politics approach turned Dubai into a city-state with the surface trappings of Western liberalism – a thin veneer over the conservatism and strict political boundaries familiar throughout the Arab world.

Nouriel Roubini: Lessons From Dubai World

2009-12-03T09:37:25Z

t the heart of the saga is a message that investors shouldn't assume implicit government support. Credit ratings for Dubai-owned companies now reflect this lesson, based on a fundamental credit outlook, not an implicit government backstop.

Dubai's Age Of Excess (PHOTOS)

2009-12-03T08:03:34Z

Dubai's decade of oil wealth, property speculation and wild dreams created a roster of projects that are awe inspiring in their ambition.

The world's tallest building, the world's biggest mall, islands in the shape of the world (?!) - it was almost too good to be true.

Well, perhaps it was. Time reports that some 400 projects are now stalling, including, it seems, "The World."

As the AP wrote this week, the Burj Dubai -- the world's tallest tower, which is slated to open in January -- may be the 'last hurrah' of Dubai's age of excess. "Most other of the unfinished super-projects announced in recent years, such as a second palm-shaped island or a tower to surpass the Burj Dubai, are either recession roadkill or being considered on a far smaller scale, if they are still considered at all."

And so, here is a look back at some of the more ambitious projects from this era of grandiosity. Was it all sheer decadence? You decide.

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Burj Dubai, World's Tallest Tower, Is 'Last Hurrah' To Dubai's Age Of Excess

2009-12-02T12:32:01Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — When work began in 2004 to build the world's tallest tower, Dubai's confidence also was sky high with a host of mega-projects on the drawing board or rising from the sands.

That swagger seems positively old school these days. It's been tripped up by a debt crunch that has humbled Dubai's leaders and exposed the shaky foundations of the city-state's boom years – leaving the planned Jan. 4 opening of the iconic Burj Dubai with a double significance of hello and goodbye.

Kenneth Rogoff: Dubai's Prospects For Prosperity Are Still Strong

2009-12-02T09:57:31Z

There are those that revel in what they see as a come-uppance for brash Dubai's outsized ambitions. I, for one, do not share this view. Yes, Dubai, with its man-made islands, hotels simulating Venice, and roof-top tennis courts, is a real-world castle in the sand. Yet, Dubai has also shown the rest of the Middle East what entrepreneurial spirit can accomplish.

Raymond J. Learsy: Wall Street Compensation and Accountability Gone Off The Rails

2009-12-02T06:26:48Z

We are all subject to making right and wrong decisions. But in the world as most of us know it, we are held accountable for the decisions we make. What has become so grating about the financial sector is that all too often these rules do not apply. Win or lose, it is the shareholder or taxpayer that is left holding the bag whereas the financial players come out whole irrespective of the consequences of their decisions.

In an illuminating article for the New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin ("A Financial Mirage In the Desert" 12.01.09) while recounting the Dubai financial implosion informs us that an $8 billion dollar Citigroup loan was made to Dubai on December 14, 2008 and is now at precarious risk of default. This loan was made by Citigroup after they had received tens of billions under the TARP program weeks before. As we all know, the TARP program was instituted to support bubble offshore economies such as Dubai (Really!?), while the pressing needs of our downward spiraling domestic economy for capital/liquidity were secondary to the world class ambitions of our leading bankers.

Clearly, given his comments, part and parcel of the process that went into making this bone-headed decision was the role presumably played by Citigroup's then Chairman Win Bischoff, who was quoted at the time, "This is in line with our commitment to the UAE market in general and reflects our positive outlook of Dubai in particular". Duh?! Here was a disaster in the making not only for its lack of incisive due diligence, but the very nature of arranging this bizarre offshore loan when the domestic economy was crippled and in desperate need of funds.

Certainly Prince Alwaleed bin Talal could not have possibly been thinking of his very significant deeply underwater investment holdings in Citigroup when quoted, "These banks are very mature banks, and they have to differentiate between a corporate loan and a sovereign loan," Alwaleed, said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "When things go sour, you can't have some banks in the West going to Dubai and saying 'oops' and crying wolf and saying, 'You should have guaranteed those loans.'"

In the real world, anyone party to such wrong headed thinking would find themselves on the street looking for a job. But not our friends in finance. I do not know the level of Mr. Bischoff's remuneration but I would venture to guess the Dubai loan will be swept under the rug by his friendly compensation committee wherever, and he will have walked away with the many millions that had been set aside for him. After all, it's really only taxpayer money. Heads I win, tails you lose would be the appropriate moniker.

David Leonhardt: Financial System Better Despite 'Flare-Ups' Like Dubai

2009-12-01T22:33:48Z

Thanks to low interest rates and other recent policies to support the real estate market, houses in this country are not especially cheap today, compared with incomes or rents. They're just no longer ridiculously expensive. Stocks were briefly inexpensive last spring, but they are now more expensive than they have been for most of the last 60 years, relative to corporate earnings.

So we should probably expect some more mini-busts -- some more Dubais, if you will -- in the near future.

Fareed Mohamedi: The Resilience of Dubai and the Gulf

2009-12-01T18:38:32Z

The collapse of Dubai World has called into question the failure of the Dubai economic model and even undermined confidence in the economic future of the Gulf. Much of these sentiments are misplaced as was the loss of confidence in the "Asian Model" in the late 1990s. In fact, both are quite similar since Dubai largely copied Singapore and the other Southeast Asian tigers. Structurally, both had three essential features:

An efficient and effective state planned and built world class infrastructure to attract private businesses. Of course, the seedy side of this was the use of virtually indentured labor from South Asia (in the case of Southeast Asia it was the Philippines and Indonesia).

Business investment was encouraged and actually established directly by the state to provide services to a globalized market place (i.e. tourism, business services, media, telecom, cargo handling and even additions to the global production chain)

Regional gaps and shortages created by restrictions and blockages in trade and finance in specific countries (for Dubai these target markets were Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and the FSU) were filled and alleviated.

Two additional features facilitated and ensured the development of the economic space:

A heavy reliance on debt financing, which in the specific case of Dubai also exploited the innovations of Islamic finance seen in the last decade

The creation of commercially run government companies that had the implicit guarantee of the sovereign. In Dubai's case there was an additional implicit guarantee from Abu Dhabi. These mobilized capital and created core sectors which then led to the in-gathering of other private sector businesses

Both the Asia Model and its Gulf clone had a big weakness - over reliance on debt. This was partly a function of the government guarantees and in this case, Abu Dhabi's back stop role. The success of Dubai in promoting itself also played a major role in the financial overstretch as local, regional and international lenders indulged the Emirate. Given the enormous amounts of excess liquidity in the Gulf and worldwide, prior to the financial crisis, it was almost inevitable that Dubai borrowed excessively, just as the Southeast Asian had in the run up to the crash in 1997-1998.

Despite this proclivity towards over borrowing, the fundamentals of the Dubai model are still sound. The infrastructure has been built and is still very useful. The underlying business logic of Dubai Inc - i.e. globalization of services and meeting regional finance and trade needs -- is still very viable even if demand for these services is somewhat more muted due to the problems of the world economy, financial instability and reversals in globalization. Moreover, this will put more pressure on the Dubai Executive to tighten up on regulations and improve governance, including financial management, which should improve the ability of Dubai to weather future storms. Ironically, one of the consequences of the financial bust, a sharp reduction in asset prices, will enhance the Emirate's competitiveness.

What appears not to be sound is the political issue which underpins the Dubai model (see separate forthcoming MIS memo). To get back on track, ruling families of the UAE will have to appear united and work on putting Dubai back on a more sustainable footing. Once this is done, there are few reasons for Dubai not to grow at a steady sustainable rate over the long term.

Another important factor that will help the long term growth of Dubai is that the rest of the Gulf's economies are resilient and their growth models (adaptations of Dubai and the Asian Model) are sound. Saudi Arabia is embarking on a huge capital investment program financed not by debt but by government cash reserves and a determination to keep prices above the Kingdom's threshold price of $55/b. Foreign and domestic private investment in petrochemicals and other downstream industries will also prolong the strong growth prospects in the Kingdom.

Similarly, Abu Dhabi is trying to develop its economy again from its vast foreign exchange reserves. While Abu Dhabi's development could be competition to Dubai, it most likely will complement its neighbor because many of the services it requires could be more economically purchased next door. The overall Gulf's growth will certainly help Dubai - Iraq's reconstruction is still on the horizon and could be another fillip to regional growth prospects.

The ultimate threat to the wellbeing of the region in the medium term is a sustained fall in the price of oil. There the prospects overall look fairly favorable despite a few dark clouds on the horizon. Most excess capacity is in the hands of the Saudis who are loath to do anything to destabilize the price. Other potential competitors to the Saudis and overall OPEC - the BRINK countries - potential output surges are not expected for a few years and there is still a high degree of expectation that they will absorbed without being disruptive to prices. Overall, the fundamentals and the economic policies of the Gulf, including Dubai, are sound and we will likely see this episode fade into the past --just as the Asian crisis did after the late 1990s.

Dubai's Ruler: World Suffers From 'A Lack Of Understanding' About Debt Crisis

2009-12-01T08:12:09Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai's ruler looked to calm panicky investors Tuesday with a message that all was well in the glitzy city-state after the largest government-owned company shook global markets by saying it needed to delay payments on its $60 billion in debt.

Dubai World, one of the government's chief investment arms, has stakes in holdings ranging from luxury retailer Barney's New York to a grandiose six-tower hotel-entertainment complex in Las Vegas. In its first statement since revealing its debt problems last Wednesday, the conglomerate said it had started negotiations with creditors on restructuring some of its debt.

Dave Zirin: Tiger Woods Deserves Your Scrutiny

2009-11-30T13:08:59Z

First run at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091214/zirin

During the Bill Clinton impeachment idiocy of 1998, many on the left said if Clinton were removed from office, let it be for gutting welfare or for imposing sanctions on Iraq, and not l'affair Lewinsky.

Today, Tiger Woods, the most famous, wealthy and most PR conscious athlete on earth, finally finds himself subject to scrutiny. But, similar to Clinton's scandal, it has more to do with his personal life than issues of substance. The media has staked-out his Isleworth home for round-the-clock coverage of a bizarre "car accident" involving his wife, a fire hydrant and a golf club that occurred this past week. The questions being posed are as breathless as they are weightless: "Were Tiger's facial lacerations the result of the car crash or an attack from his wife Elin?" "Is this about the rumored 'other woman' in New York City?" "Did Elin Woods smash the rear of his car with a golf club to rescue Tiger or was she smashing up the car as he pulled away?" One last question: who the hell cares? Granted, there is a "man bites dog" aspect to this story. In Woods's roughly fourteen years in the public eye, he has never even been caught littering. His image has been cemented as a man of ungodly intensity.

This squeaky-clean reputation has helped Woods become the richest athlete in history, the first billion-dollar man. His career course earnings are $92 million. Only when you factor in advertisements, corporate appearances and other off-course aspects of "Tiger Inc" does Woods reach billionaire status.

As the saying goes, behind every great fortune is a great crime. Following his car "accident" Woods's agent said that it is unclear whether he will attend his foundation's Chevron World Challenge Golf Tournament. In 2008, Chevron entered a five-year relationship with Tiger Woods' foundation under the guise of philanthropy. But if Woods had a shred of social conscience, this partnership would never have existed. Lawsuits have been issued against Chevron for dumping toxic waste all over the planet. Alaska, Canada, Brazil, Angola and California have all accused Chevron of dumping. Even worse, Chevron has a partnership with Burma's ruling military junta on the country's Yadana gas pipeline project, the single greatest source of revenue for the military, estimated at nearly $5 billion since the year 2000.

Ka Hsaw Wa, co-founder and executive director of EarthRights International, wrote in an open letter to Woods, "I myself have spoken to victims of forced labor, rape, and torture on Chevron's pipeline -- if you heard what they said to me, you too would understand how their tragic stories stand in stark contrast to Chevron's rhetoric about helping communities." Chevron is underwriting a dictatorship but Tiger Woods apparently sees them as upstanding corporate partners.

Then there is Dubai, the site of the first Tiger Woods-designed golf course. Located at the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, Dubai has been a symbol of both economic excess, and most recently, economic collapse. It has been called an "adult Disneyland" -- complete with indoor ski resorts and unspeakable human rights violations. As Johann Hari wrote in the Independent, it is a city that has been built over the last thirty years by slave labor. Paid foreign laborers work in more than 100-degree heat for less than three dollars a day. Dubai also has a reputation as ground zero of the global sex trade. The Tiger Woods Golf Course cost $100 million and Woods said nary a word about his benefactor's business practices. This is business as usual for Tiger who would sooner swallow a five-iron than take anything resembling a political stand.

Now that Woods appears to have been involved in a domestic dispute, the media is wondering if there is "another Tiger." They are desperate to pillory the man for his personal problems. It would be more appropriate if they took this opportunity to scrutinize him for the right reasons. Woods has every right to keep his personal problems personal. But when he makes deals that benefit dictatorships and unaccountable corporations, all in the name of his billion-dollar brand, he deserves no privacy.

[Dave Zirin is the author of "A People's History of Sports in the United States" (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.]

UAE Official: Dubai World's Debt Is Its Own

2009-11-30T07:59:28Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — If global investors were looking for reassurances from Dubai that it would stand behind its massive, debt-swamped investment conglomerate, they got none Monday. Instead, the Gulf city-state seemed to wash its hands of the financial woes that have rattled world markets.

The muddled message from Dubai has fueled worries over a possible default by the conglomerate, which is involved in projects around the world – from Gulf banks and ports in 50 countries to luxury retailer Barneys New York and a grandiose six-tower hotel-entertainment complex in Las Vegas.

UAE Will Back Banks Despite Dubai Debt Crisis

2009-11-29T10:28:02Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates has pledged to stand behind foreign and domestic banks in the country, offering additional money while extolling the strength of the Gulf nation's financial sector as world markets brace for a potential day of reckoning Monday over Dubai's crushing debt.

The UAE's immediate priority was arguably to avert any run, however unlikely, on banks by panicked depositors. But the promise of cheap funds also signaled to global investors that the country's federal government – backed by oil money – will do what it can to limit the fallout from its indebted emirate's woes.

Tom Gregory: Dubai Completes 110 Story Middle Finger!

2009-11-29T01:35:21Z

(Reuterz - Dubai) Visible from space, Dubai has completed construction of the World's largest structure, the 110 story "Burj Dubai Middle Finger Tower."

The dedication festivities were hosted by Dubai's Sovereign Ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who took the opportunity to simultaneously announce he was suspending payments to the international lenders who financed it.

"We wanted to show the world a great symbol," he said. "You gave us $59 billion in loans and a payment schedule -- and we give you this!"

Economist Predicts Just 2% Growth In 2010

2009-11-28T19:04:18Z

A Robust economic recovery in 2010 is certainly on most investors' wish lists as this year draws to a close. A return to prosperity would not only mean an end to our long financial nightmare, but it would also buttress a rebounding stock market, one of 2009's few bright spots.
S
The news out of Dubai late last week, however -- that its investment company is struggling to meet repayments on some of its $59 billion in debt -- reminds us that we are far from finished with a ferocious deleveraging process...

Johann Hari: Dubai Has Always Been Bankrupt -- Morally and Environmentally

2009-11-28T17:02:43Z

Dubai is finally financially bankrupt – but it has
been morally bankrupt all along. The idea that Dubai is an oasis of
freedom on the Arabian peninsular is one of the great lies of our time. Yes,
it has Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and the Gucci styles, but beneath
these accouterments, there is a dictatorship built by slaves.

If you go there with your eyes open – as I did
earlier this year – the truth is hidden in plain view. The tour books
and the bragging Emiratis will tell you the city was built by Sheikh
Mohammed, the country's hereditary ruler.

It is
untrue. The people who really built the city can be seen in long
chain-gangs by the side of the road, or toiling all day at the top of
the tallest buildings in the world, in heat that Westerners are told
not to stay in for more than 10 minutes. They were conned into coming,
and trapped into staying.

In their home
country – Bangladesh or the Philippines or India – these workers are
told they can earn a fortune in Dubai if they pay a large upfront fee.
When they arrive, their passports are taken from them, and they are
told their wages are a tenth of the rate they were promised.

They
end up working in extremely dangerous conditions for years, just to pay
back their initial debt. They are ringed-off in filthy tent-cities
outside Dubai, where they sleep in weeping heat, next to open sewage.
They have no way to go home. And if they try to strike for better
conditions, they are beaten by the police.

I
met so many men in this position I stopped counting, just as the
embassies were told to stop counting how many workers die in these
conditions every year after they figured it topped more than 1,000
among the Indians alone.

Human Rights Watch
calls this system "slavery." Yet the Westerners who have flocked to
Dubai brag that they "love" the city, because they don't have to pay
any taxes, and they have domestic slaves to do all the hard work. They
train themselves not to see the pain.

But
Dubai's bankruptcy does not end there: it is ecologically bust. This is
a city built in the burning desert, where everything shrivels up and
blows away if it is not kept artificially cold all the time. That's why
it has the highest per capita carbon emissions on earth – some 250
percent higher even than America's. The city has to ship in desalinated
water – which is more costly than oil. When it runs out of cash, it
will run out of water.

Today Dubai will be
bailed out by the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich country of which
it is only one state. But the oil will not last forever. More
importantly, there is no Bank of Morality that could provide a bailout
for this sinister mirage in the desert.

To read Johann's full report from Dubai, click here.

Johann hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here.

Read more: Dubai, Dubai Bankrupt, World News

Abu Dhabi Won't Bail Out Dubai

2009-11-28T10:36:21Z

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi, wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates, will "pick and choose" how to assist debt-laden neighbor Dubai, a senior official said on Saturday, after fears of a Dubai default sent global markets reeling.

Dubai's Debt Problems Cast Shadow Over Entire Region

2009-11-27T20:33:07Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — For years, Dubai seemed unstoppable, an oasis of excess boasting indoor ski slopes and manmade islands, the world's tallest tower and dreams that reached even higher.

Now the bills are coming due, and the emirate's debt problems are tarnishing a place built on borrowed time and money – and threatening to spill into other Gulf Arab nations.

Dubai Jitters Pound Stocks

2009-11-27T17:21:53Z

NEW YORK — Gold prices fell for the first time in 10 days and oil slid as jitters over debt problems in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai drove the dollar higher and pounded stocks.

Investors grew worried this week that the emirate's government-backed investment company was in danger of defaulting on $60 billion in debt. The city's main investment arm said it was seeking more time to repay its borrowings. Overseas markets fell Thursday and Friday. U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving but the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 155 points in a holiday-shortened session Friday.

Dubai Debt Crisis: Will It Cause Another Financial Panic?

2009-11-27T09:12:39Z

NEW YORK — Dubai's debt crisis rattled world financial markets Friday, raising concerns that some banks could further tighten lending and stall the global economic recovery.

The possible spillover effects centered on fears that international banks could suffer big losses if Dubai's investment arm defaulted on its $60 billion debt. Stock and commodity markets tumbled in New York, London and Asia as investors flocked to the U.S. dollar as a safe haven.

Dubai's Request For Debt 'Standstill' Shakes World Markets

2009-11-26T22:27:41Z

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills – causing a drop on world markets Thursday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.

The fallout came swiftly and was felt globally after Wednesday statement that Dubai's main development engine, Dubai World, would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May. The company's real estate arm, Nakheel – whose projects include the palm-shaped island in the Gulf – shoulders the bulk of money due to banks, investment houses and outside development contractors.