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It has nothing to do either with me or Canada; everything to do with
Dubai and the expats living there.

Simon Jenkins say that Dubai could survive as the playground of India!

Indians will always be one the main drivers of demand here in UAE.....going foward I do see more innovation on the part of the authorities pertaining immigration!
The policy of issuing long term visas on the purchase of properties, is the single most influential policy that could define Dubai's future!

sharfraz wrote:is that what you ask ... or looking out....

there was a post about that before...a few members even replied and gave their contacts...go figure...

sorry...but what's happy simple and recession supposed to mean?

Snow wrote:
sorry...but what's happy simple and recession supposed to mean?

hey, are you still serious?

anyways .. this is just going off-topic for the OP.....

Del wrote:Mine started with: Loss-of-face is a big thing among the Arabs. Therefore Abu Dhabi will not allow Dubai to be consumed by dunes with wild animals inhabiting its buildings, as per Simon's wishes.

There are practical reasons too. Like Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both part of the same country, not different member nations of the GCC. Like Dubai accounts for a third of total UAE GDP. Like non-oil foreign trade through Dubai is five times the level through Abu Dhabi.

bonk wrote:

Del wrote:Mine started with: Loss-of-face is a big thing among the Arabs. Therefore Abu Dhabi will not allow Dubai to be consumed by dunes with wild animals inhabiting its buildings, as per Simon's wishes.

There are practical reasons too. Like Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both part of the same country

That was my implication.

Sad to see some journalist just expressing his thoughts rather than speaking facts..

immortal01 wrote:Sad to see some journalist just expressing his thoughts rather than speaking facts..

This is a very true comment, they just love to try and trash Dubai, I still believe that Dubai will get through this World Recession, because thats what it is, guys like this are just idiots pure and simple.

I know Simon Jenkins of old. Never met him personally ,mind!! But I've been in touch with him, on and off , for about 10 years , in sending him information on what goes on in Wales.
For those that have not heard of him, ...... SIR Simon Jenkins,[ knighted about 2 years ago] is just about the MOST RESPECTED AND ABLE journalists in the UK. He writes in THE TIMES ; SUNDAY TIMES ; DAILY MAIL [sometimes] and GUARDIAN.
He is a genuine academic, the son of a Welsh Minister of religion. His hobby is walking the WILD MOUNTAINS OF WALES.......away from buildings and crowds !! No wonder he dislikes Dubai!!

Don't UNDERESTIMATE this very intelligent, perceptive man. His writing has huge following.......ALWAYS being quoted elsewhere.

Since he loves the lonely , natural Welsh hills, he HATES the useless wind turbines that are despoiling them.
About 10 years ago, he wrote ....after walking Pumlumon , the highest mountain [and very green] in Mid Wales , near Aberystwyth........."the view from Pumlumon is now akin to a Kuwaiti oilfield!"

He was referring to the 200 or so 150ft to 320ft wind turbines that are desecrating the unspoilt Cambrian Mountains of Mid Wales and visible from Pumlumon .
That is why I used to write to him. I sent him info on new wind farms in Wales, because I hate the useless follies too.Wind turbines will generate next to nothing.

Simon Jenkins is around 64 years of age and has travelled the world. He knows plenty about a lot of places.

VERY well written article !! Maybe overly pessimistic, but it COULD happen to Dubai if it did not get financial support!!

His point about India is interesting ! A richer India , not too far away, could really feed in people to Dubai. It is close enough!!

Sir Simon Jenkins' reference to Ozymandias is the poem of that name by Percy Bysshe Shelley.


Shelley wrote:-
Ozymandias - a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Jenkins is firing out a warning here of what COULD happen in time to Dubai. He points out that Detroit, once a thriving icon of American industry is now dying due to the decline in the American car.
MANY cities have come and gone throughout human history. Carthage , Luxor, Babylon, Ephesus etc, were all great cities in the past.
Beirut has suffered in recent years.

The problem Dubai has , is that it has not only OVERSPENT , but it needs WESTERNERS TO FILL IT. Unless it becomes a thriving financial centre , they won't come. So the transformation needs to WORK.
Tourism needs to be ATTRACTED !!

MARKETING AGAIN !!!

Otherwise, as he says, the people of India could fill it, quite easily ....but will they all be well-off people?

RedKite wrote:Don't UNDERESTIMATE this very intelligent, perceptive man.

Ah. So the Dubai article was just a temporary lapse on the part of Mr Jenkins rather than an indicator of a permanently high level of ignorance?