How Dubai cracked the Mossad assasination caseA fascinating look at how Dubai police used “a mixture of high-tech razzle-dazzle and old-fashioned investigative work” to identify the spies behind the now infamous assassination of a Hamas commander.
Dubai
Meet a Mossad hit squad
Like something out of Le Carre: Dubai has released the details of an alleged 11-person Mossad-controlled hit squad it believes is responsible for the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
Omens of Doom: Dubai’s Burj Khalifa Tower
The new Burj Khalifa Tower dwarfs all that have come before it, a monstrous compilation of gimmicks, extravagance and expense accounts. But is Dubai’s big tower just a symbol of its decay? asks Binoy Kampmark.
Who’s to blame for Dubai’s collapse?
How did Dubai turn so quickly from the city of gold to a financial pile of dust? Or was the Dubai Dream always just that — a glittering facade built on a shaky foundation of debt and dubious labour?
Financial crunch: the new lame ducks are queuing up
The crunch may be over in the minds of bonus-focused bankers, but the horrible reality is that it’s still alive and merely resting. The Dubai bailout by Abu Dhabi simply highlights the risk.
Morning Market Report: Oil continues its slide
The market and Wall St are up, with the market bouncing yesterday on the news that Dubai had received $10 billion in financing from their neighbour Abu Dhabi.
Knight Abu Dhabi saves damsel in distress Dubai
UAE neighbour Abu Dhabi has come to Dubai’s debt stricken rescue, giving US$10 billion to the Dubai government. While its creditors will be repaid, Dubai’s economic credibility cannot be repaired as easily.
The private/public business blur
As a nearly bankrupt Dubai hits the headlines, questions are raised about the power of partially state owned businesses. Does blurring the lines between the private and public sector give the best or the worst of both worlds?
Dubai holds out as debt crash nears
Dubai’s government has told banks owed money by its major business arm, Dubai World, and its property group, Nakheel, to go jump, writes Glenn Dyer.
Dubai was already bankrupt: morally and financially
Dubai may have Western fast food chains, impressive skyscrapers and designer fashions, but beneath its modern facade, it is a dictatorship built by slaves, with the highest per capita carbon emissions on Earth says Johann Hari.
Letter from...: Dubai: the march towards conservatism
Amongst expatriates in Dubai, the gossip mill grinds on with reports that Abu Dhabi is putting the pressure on the government to become more conservative as it helps bail it out.
Dubai: much ado about nothing
Don’t believe the panic, says Zachary Karabell: Dubai won’t default on its debts — its neighbors won’t allow it to happen — and even if it did, it wouldn’t be the be the great global disaster many are predicting.
Dubai: a climate of fear for those with debts
While Americans ate their Thanksgiving turkey, financial markets were being stuffed by the Dubai goose, with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his family shocking global markets by saying he wants a six-month standstill on some of the debt issued by Dubai World.
Is Dubai about to go broke?
Dubai is more than $80 billion in debt. It has about $4b left from its recent $20b bailout by Abu Dhabi, but, according to Standard & Poor, that’s about $10b too short to keep its government-related companies afloat.
Video of the Day: Dubai sprawl — the view from the sky
Wired has some amazing (insert depressing here) time-lapse videos of the earth changing, including Dubai’s nature-defying development.
The dark side of Dubai
It might feel like Disneyland for adults. But the global financial crisis is revealing something that’s less like heaven and more like man-made hell.
Myer shelves its dreams of world domination
Myer’s dream of a gleaming new Dubai store in the Ibn Battuta Mall has been out on laybuy, maybe shelved, writes Andrew Crook.
Oils ain’t oils: Dubai in bail-out shock
The credit crunch and a 70% fall in oil prices has stepped up pressure on the oil rich Persian Gulf state, writes Glenn Dyer.
Ingham horse sale sheiks things up
This is a massive vote of confidence in Australia’s thoroughbred horse racing industry, writes Jeff Wall.
Dubai Aerospace bids for Auckland Airport
There are some things airport and airline investors need to know about the two year old Dubai Aerospace Enterprises (DAE) group of companies which has just put $2.3 billion on the table for at least 51 per cent of Auckland Airport.
Commentary / Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Sure Dubai has its problems (the dictatorship and slave labour, for instance), but it also serves as a model of development and just how much an Arab Muslim country can achieve when it opens up its economy and keeps religion out of politics, says Michael Totten.