Dubai: Photos (3)

11 things Indians must never do in Dubai
11 Things That Make Dubai Truly Unique
15 Normal Things You Can't To Do In Dubai Unless You Want To Get Arrested You can take as many photos as you like in Dubai, but it's important to be weary of what you're photographing. There are some buildings and places where photography isn't allowed, so just be wary of your surroundings and look for no-photography signs.
10 Types Of People You Meet In Dubai

People from Dubai want to show Muslim kings as hero: Subramanian Swamy on Padmavati row
Nearly 5 million people visit Dubai in three months; visitor arrivals up 2% in first quarterIndia remains the biggest source of arrivals, with the South Asian state delivering more than half a million (564,836) visitors to Dubai during the first quarter of the year.
Dubai top city for Ultra High Net Worth people
Being Black in DubaiNewsflash, there is conflict everywhere. Black people are targeted everywhere. It can be unsafe for a woman to walk the streets, anywhere. This is the world that we live in....... Dubai is increasing in its diversity and is no stranger to welcoming foreigners of all shapes, colors, and sizes...... All of them, as African Americans, had nothing but phenomenal reports of the experiences that they had there, both as an ordinary traveler and as an African American....... With a diverse community coming from African Heritage, there are many pockets of black culture throughout the city of Dubai. As a resident of Dubai for many years now, Entrepreneur Monique who is the CEO of her own entertainment group defines the black people in Dubai as, “Entrepreneurial, Well-dressed, and Well-Educated.”..... Dubai is a city for the smart, forward-thinking, well-cultured, determined individuals. ....... It is a city that represents tomorrow.
Dubai 100: the most influential people in the emirate
The 10 Richest People in Dubai in 2019
Princess Haya: cherished and supported by the Jordanian people

Dubai population to double by 2027
One Billion People Have Gone Through Dubai Airport

Dubai set to emerge as world’s friendliest place for People of Determination: Sheikh Mohammed
Why Dubai Should Be Seriously Worried About The Damage The Guptas Are Doing To Its Brand
Jackie Chan Meets Dubai Crown Prince H.H. Sheikh Hamdan
A Haven for Money in the Middle East, Dubai Is Losing Its Shine Ever since the first gleaming towers sprang out of the desert, Dubai has gotten used to rapid change. It’s no stranger to boom-and-bust. What’s happening now is different: a slow bleed....... Expatriates, the lifeblood of the economy, have started to pack up and go home -- or at least talk about it, as the cost of living and doing business surges. ....... Business unease was already apparent in April, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum convened a meeting with more than 100 executives in his palace overlooking the Persian Gulf. The bosses raised issues including hefty government fees -– which are eroding the comparative advantage of tax-free Dubai –- to strict visa rules that push foreigners out when they lose their jobs. The conclave was followed by a flurry of decisions, still working their way through the system.......... Sheikh Mohammed and his predecessors built a fishing village into a hub for finance, trade and tourism in the region –- but now that region is changing, perhaps for good........ The oil slump since 2014 hit big spenders from neighboring Gulf states who used to flock to Dubai (tourists from China and India are filling the gap, but they’re more price-conscious). ............... Dubai prospered as a kind of Switzerland in the Gulf, a place to do business walled off from the often violent rivalries of the Middle East........ Now the state that Dubai is part of, the United Arab Emirates, has become an active player in those conflicts, fighting in civil wars from Libya to Yemen and joining the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar........ “You can go to war with your neighbors, or you can trade with them. It’s really hard to do both.’’....... “It was a very unpleasant surprise when U.A.E.-based companies found out they could no longer fly or ship goods directly to Doha.’’ The dispute rumbles on....... Governments “shouldn’t be able to access accounts in other countries based on a simple request.’’........ Dubai also faces consequences of its own success. Lacking energy resources of its own, the city had little choice but to build a non-oil economy. The 2014 crash jolted other Gulf countries into following suit. They’re all planning for a post-crude era, and trying to emulate their thriving neighbor by marketing their own capitals as regional hubs............ In 2013, it ranked as the 90th most expensive place for expats to live, according to New York-based consultant Mercer. It’s now vaulted to 26th on the list........ Jobs became scarcer after companies from financial services to retail and energy enacted “massive layoffs’’ in 2015 and 2016 as profits slumped.............. When the consultant surveyed 500 firms two years later, it found that half of them have no plans to boost hiring and don’t expect growth to return to 2013 levels.......... When the upturn does arrive, Dubai’s companies will emerge leaner and more competitive........ The big problem is in wholesale and retail trade. “It’s a third of the economy, basically flatlining over the past two years, which is a big drag’’ ......... The government of neighboring Abu Dhabi has promised almost $14 billion of stimulus over three years. Sheikh Mohammed in Dubai, after his meeting with the fretful bosses, is working on a raft of measures that should help: Freezing school charges, relaxing curbs on foreign ownership of business, and scrapping billions of dollars of government fees. The visa regime is also being loosened, to make it easier for expatriates -- 80 percent of the population -– to come, stay longer, and spend more........... Prices and rents are plunging across the board, as new capacity outpaces population growth and consumer spending......... Authorities are reluctant to stabilize the market by restricting permits, because land sales are a source of revenue. Retail space will expand 50 percent in the next three years......... Dubai will host the World Expo fair in 2020. Meant to showcase the city’s future prospects, it’s become almost an end in itself, a reason to keep the cranes at work. “The biggest saving grace’’

Trump’s Big Bet on Saudis Goes Bad as Ragtag Yemen Rebels Resist Iran-backed group has grown in sophistication since war began.......... Conflict has opened up deep regional and sectarian wounds ......... “The Iranians have never taken the Saudis seriously,” said Kamran Bokhari, founding director of the Center for Global Policy in Washington. “The war in Yemen only confirmed their view. The fact that Tehran engaged in this unprecedented attack speaks volumes of how weak it sees Riyadh.” ....... described them drinking “Red Label by the quart in the afternoon to come down from their Qat high,” adding: “They LOVE to fight.”....... Missiles have been repeatedly fired into Saudi cities, reaching as far as the capital Riyadh, and since 2018 they’ve attacked using drones......... In September 2014, residents of Sana’a awoke to find the streets full of unshaven rebel gunmen wearing ragged traditional clothing and brandishing AK-47s........ As they took over, President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fled to Oman and then Riyadh, prompting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to enter the war to reinstate their ally -- and prevent the establishment of a Shiite-ruled state sympathetic to Iran on the Arabian peninsula........ Saudi military budget is 2 1/2 times the size of Yemen's whole economy.......... “They are militarily well-organized and have an ideology or dogma,” said Maysaa Shujaaeddin, an independent Yemeni researcher. “The Houthis have developed their fighting capacity throughout the war and got logistic and training support from Hezbollah and Iran.”........ The attacks on the Saudi oil facilities have now spurred efforts to end the conflict

How Dubai became the ‘third-culture’ hub of the East at least 85 per cent of the emirates’ population is comprised of expatriates ....... While many have travelled from war-torn or underdeveloped countries looking for safety and security, many have come to Dubai from developed countries also looking for security as well as prosperity and opportunity. ....... Dating back to when the first census was undertaken in 1975, non-nationals comprised of 63.9 per cent of the population and that number grew steadily year-on-year to 88.5 per cent as of 2010........ there is a heavy expatriate population, all of which have to be sponsored for residency either through an employer or by a family member, there is a tangible feeling of transiency........ The social fabric of the UAE, and Dubai in particular, is akin to other melting pots such as Australia, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. ........ what is particularly interesting about the UAE is the fact that there is not a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship, at least not yet......... I once met a young woman in Paris whose father was Persian and her mother was Danish. She was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Singapore, went to boarding school in the United Kingdom and lived in Paris for graduate school. She was fluent in five languages and held two nationalities. ............ A prominent goal for generations has been to migrate to the West, but let’s be honest, the idea of having the quintessential 2.5 kids and a white picket fence is no more. Today, despite working hard, you are competing with a ton of kids from all around the world not only for a spot in a top school but also in any good company. Crime has become rampant in so many western cities as nationalism threatens to tear apart communities, so not only are millennials looking outside the bounds of their country where they can build a life, but the older generations are looking for somewhere that is safe and sound for retirement......... In just under 50 years the UAE has built an infrastructure that beats that of developed nations, and has managed to attract the business acumen and human talent to build just about everything else......... In 2017, the UAE was ranked second only to Finland as the safest country to live........ Looking around, the whole city, actually the whole country, is practically under construction and it’s for something much bigger than just Expo 2020.

Masa, MBS, And The Broader Investment Climate

I am not counting WeWork and Uber out yet. They still might come back. But Elon Musk is hellbent on eating Uber's lunch. And it is hard to bet against Elon Musk.

What I note is both Uber and WeWork have had culture problems. When your company's valuation goes into dizzying heights, it is easy to congratulate yourself. It is easy to take all the credit. It is easy to say you did it all by yourself. It is easy to get giddy. It is easy to lose your fulcrum. It is easy for the corporate culture to deteriorate. When the corporate culture is poisoned, it is only a matter of time before a company goes belly up.

What do I think of Masa Son? I think he is a genius. He ranks with Steve Jobs. What Steve Jobs was to technology, Masa Son has been to finance. But I would not give Imran Khan a cricket bat today. He is better off running a country. Maybe Masa is past his prime. Maybe Masa became lazy. His specialty was spotting Alibaba before anyone else. He went big on Yahoo before anyone else. But in recent years he went into WeWork and Uber after everyone else had spotted them. He went into WeWork and Uber for all the wrong reasons. He went into them because they were grabbing headlines.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia put a lot of money into Masa Son's kitty. Masa talked him into it. I say to MBS, congratulations, you have failed spectacularly. And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. The number one quality of the Silicon Valley culture is that failure is celebrated. If you have a bunch of failed tech startups in your past as a tech entrepreneur, venture capitalists find that highly attractive.

Where technology is going to go in the next 25 years is going to be 100 times more spectacular than whatever has happened in the past 25. So it is not that MBS' timing was not right. And it is not that he bet on the wrong person. Masa is rightfully a legend.

If I were MBS, I would plot to put something like 100B into some company (or companies) that firmly rest on the Blockchain and target the poorest two billion on the planet. That 100B would become 1T or even 2T in a 10-year timeframe.

Maybe I can help!

Saudi Arabia needs to make a few bold moves like this one if it is not to see a decline in 10 years. Clean energy is good news for everybody. It does not make sense for there to be no planet. If there is no habitable planet left, it does not really mean much that a country is rich. Rich loses meaning in that scenario. But a country like Saudi Arabia must diversify. That is the mantra.

I am a very political person. I can't think of Saudi Arabia (or any country, for that matter) and not think politics. And let me say at the very outset, as an avid student of American politics for decades now, it is my strong opinion that the American political system is severely lacking, and requires fundamental change. Not only that, I see enormous resistance to any suggestions for change. And not only from people who might in the short term not benefit too much from the change. The very people who might benefit drag their feet.

I don't think the American political system is the ideal that every country needs to move towards. Even if the idea is a western-style liberal democracy, look at the many countries of Europe. Each so-called western democracy seems to carve out its own unique path. And so it can be said every country on earth is destined to carve out a unique political path.

If the United States will move up to its next level of economic development, it must transform its politics. If China is to avoid the middle-income trap, it must transform its politics. If Saudi Arabia is to diversify and not see decline in 10 years, it must transform its politics.

My recommendation to every monarchy in the Gulf is to create a path to a constitutional monarchy. Again, the pace will be unique to every country. And the monarch need not be as laid back as Queen Elizabeth. It is possible to create a constitutional monarchy where the monarch stays a fairly active figure. As to the unique path for each country, and the shape of that particular constitutional monarchy, there can be debate and discussion.

A more participatory political system is likely to exert that requisite pressure that will force the Gulf economies to diversify and maintain their vibrancy even during the fast-approaching clean energy era. There is a major economic incentive for political reform.

And this is the least disruptive way to transform. Arab Springs, by definition, are phenomenon that blindside you. They come out of seemingly nowhere. So it makes sense to be proactive about it.