Storm Brewing Among Gulf States
All is well in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At least, that is what we are supposed to believe.
The United Arab Emirates (and Dubai, in particular) has been featured in such recent films as “Sex and the City 2” and “Furious 7.” The new Dubai Mall is the largest shopping center in the world. Dubai boasts the world’s only “seven-star hotel,” the Burj al Arab. The Burj Khalifa is currently the world’s tallest building (until the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, tops off in 2018), despite the fact that the city has only a little more than 2 million people spread out over 1,588 square miles (its population density is around 1,359 people per square mile, compared to New York’s 27,858 people per square mile). Much of the city’s infrastructure, particularly in transportation and other especially visible aspects, is state-of-the-art. Multi-billion dollar housing projects such as the Palm Jumaira and the World Islands have been designed to defy nature, and brag such celebrity residents as the Beckhams.
