apostle
03-07-2006, 05:14 AM
From Business Week Current Issue: A very interesting and long read about this area. If you've never been, you would be amazed at it. They are certainly spending that black gold.
The New Middle East Oil Bonanza
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_11/b3975001.htm
The Dubai Ports deal, though, is just one relatively small episode in the second great Mideast oil boom. The boom is characterized by hugely ambitious projects that are transforming the shores of the Persian Gulf into a Xanadu with some of the most fantastic and expensive structures on earth. The rush of petrodollars is creating enormous private and public wealth and reshaping Gulf business and society.
All this is happening when the other Mideast -- of Iraq, radical Islam, and Palestinian-Israeli relations -- is wracked by violence and strife. That turmoil could certainly threaten the Gulf's prosperity. Just look at what happened in late February when al Qaeda fighters unsuccessfully attacked a key oil facility in Saudi Arabia. But for now the authoritarian regimes running the Gulf are seizing the opportunity to build new economies and satisfy their restive populations with a new level of affluence.
The New Middle East Oil Bonanza
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_11/b3975001.htm
The Dubai Ports deal, though, is just one relatively small episode in the second great Mideast oil boom. The boom is characterized by hugely ambitious projects that are transforming the shores of the Persian Gulf into a Xanadu with some of the most fantastic and expensive structures on earth. The rush of petrodollars is creating enormous private and public wealth and reshaping Gulf business and society.
All this is happening when the other Mideast -- of Iraq, radical Islam, and Palestinian-Israeli relations -- is wracked by violence and strife. That turmoil could certainly threaten the Gulf's prosperity. Just look at what happened in late February when al Qaeda fighters unsuccessfully attacked a key oil facility in Saudi Arabia. But for now the authoritarian regimes running the Gulf are seizing the opportunity to build new economies and satisfy their restive populations with a new level of affluence.