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Postcard from Dubai

Posted by: Tim Halbur

12 October 2009 - 11:00am

A TIME reporter attempts to pay a visit to The World, the collection of manmade islands off the coast of Dubai that has gone from dream to disappointment in the economic crisis.

"Only one island, reportedly belonging to Sheik Mohammed, ended up occupied, its palms shading a large mansion. The 299 others are barren smears of sand. From his lonely vantage point in the eye of the World, the sheik, a horse-racing enthusiast and multibillionaire, recently waved aside Dubai's financial crisis — economists say the emirate is $80 billion in the hole — as a "passing cloud.""

Full Story: A Five-Star Ghost Town at the End of 'The World'
Source: Time, October 12, 2009
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Dubai a ghost town...

Submitted by chrisinsobe on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 00:49.

Writer Tim McGurk says “Dubai today has the feel of a futuristic, five-star ghost town blasted by sandstorms.”

This is essentially the same story, written by another, which appeared in The Times (UK) and reprinted in Planetizen last month. My comment on the earlier story applies.

Obviously this writer (I guess they write these stories on slow news days) didn’t see much of Dubai. It’s as if he flew in here for a look at The World which is all what he apparently came here to see, then left, proclaiming Dubai a ghost town. Obviously Mr. McGurk didn’t get stuck in this ghost town’s traffic either.

chrisinsobe

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Instead of demeaning so-called "third world cities", we would do well to observe, understand, and adapt such approach on a much more widescale basis.
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