6 ms·

Dubai is not self sustaining, it needs a lot of money to run. It's a bunch of half-empty skyscrapers in the desert. They need to be air conditioned, water needs

• mseebach 14y ago
  Best prepared to survive != currently self sustaining. Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy. It's also moving the fastest towards becoming more liberal and getting a more diversified economy. The kicker here, of course, is the meaning of being the most liberal "of all the ME petrostates" - the bar is not very high. That said, if you're married, western, well-paid, can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life), you could find much worse places to live.
  • ghyhh 14y ago
    Might as well be dead
  • potatolicious 14y ago
    > "can keep your hands off your partner in public, don't routinely get obscenely drunk and don't do drugs (many, many people fall into this bucket without giving up any quality of life)" In my experience, the number of people who actually live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life is a far, far, far smaller number than the number of people who apparently live this lifestyle without giving up any quality of life. The greatest myth of modern Western society is that freaks are actually uncommon.
    • mseebach 14y ago
      I didn't say that you can't be a freak. The list I made is actually quite exhaustive (OK, add "don't criticize the royal family and/or islam" and "don't proselyte").
  • rorrr 14y ago
    > Of all the ME petrostates, UAE is by a long shot and then some the most liberal and has the most diversified economy Being the best among the worst is not exactly a good indicator. Dubai doesn't have a very diversified economy - 90% of exports is oil.
    • mseebach 14y ago
      > Being the best among the worst is not exactly a good indicator. And I claimed no such thing. But there is value in comparing countries to comparable countries. In the case of UAE, that's Saudi Arabia, not Sweden. > 90% of exports is oil. Yeah, no. Dubai is a major trading hub with a significant financial and services sector. Oil accounts for just under half of exports of all of the UAE[1] - and the oil isn't in Dubai, it's in Abu Dhabi, so the local number for Dubai is likely much lower. The economy of both the UAE broadly, and Dubai specifically, is still deeply dependant on oil, and there's no doubt that a collapse in oil prices would be totally devastating to the economy. But, as previously stated, they are rapidly diversifying (while they have the money to do so), but this is a process with a horizon of several decades. 1: http://www.indexmundi.com/trade/exports/?country=ae http://www.indexmundi.com/trade/exports/?country=ae