Aug. 3, 2008
A Visit To Dubai Inc.
Steve Kroft Reports On A Success Story In The Middle East
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Play CBS Video Video Part 1: Dubai Inc. Oil-rich, a magnet for business and tourism and a stable island in the turbulent Middle East, the Kingdom of Dubai is the success story of the region. Steve Kroft reports.
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Video Part 2: Dubai Inc. Oil-rich, a magnet for business and tourism and a stable island in the turbulent Middle East, the Kingdom of Dubai is the success story of the region. Steve Kroft reports.
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(CBS)
Photo
(Mimi Chakarova)
Photograph of a sex worker by Mimi Chakarova. She has chronicled the plight of sex workers in the Middle East and Europe for several years. She has made a film about prostitution in Dubai for PBS' Frontline/World. Click here for more information.
"No way. No," Al Rashid says.
"What is it about the rest of the Arab world that that would've made it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to do what's been done here?" Kroft says.
"I think lack of vision, heavy bureaucracy, lousy governments and corruption," Al Rashed says.
Asked what Dubai's reputation is in the rest of the Arab world, Al Rashed tells Kroft, "Remember, we have 300 million people live in this region. Eighty-six percent of the youth being questioned, they say they want to come to Dubai. Their destination number one is not London, is not New York, as it used to be in old days, or France. It is Dubai."
But the sheikh is also trying to construct a new society based on religious tolerance and gender equality, at least in the work place. He has made recruiting and promoting women a priority.
"I think we, the government, we are doing all that we can to really make of you a leader and we are concentrating on the woman," the sheikh remarked at a meeting.
That's a significant change for women from a conservative Muslim culture.
"The resistance that people already have in our society because of the religious background and cultural background should reduce," a female attendee at a meeting said to the sheikh.
"That's right. I agree with you, but ah I only worried that you take over all," he replied, to laughter.
It isn't the only cultural change taking place in Dubai. For starters, being outnumbered by foreigners nine to one has had a huge impact on the local population. Bikinis are mixing with burkas, and churches with mosques, as traditional customs are challenged by modern sensibilities.
Take the ancient sport of camel racing, an extremely popular local sport. Traditionally, the camel jockeys were always small boys, but an international uproar over the way they were being treated led to a novel solution. The boys have been replaced with radio-controlled robots. The riding crops are controlled by owners, who follow their camels around the track in SUVs.
It was a high-tech solution that preserved an old tradition but the solution to Dubai's other problems, like prostitution, aren't so simple. The U.S. State Department estimates that 10,000 women from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe may be victims of sex trafficking, lured to Dubai under false pretenses and pressed into service as prostitutes.
"You allow alcohol. A lot of the women wear Western dress. You have some prostitution. Are those concerns?" Kroft asks Itbisam Al-Kitby, a local college professor.
"Yeah. This is main concern of people here. Of course!" Al-Kitby says.
Asked what he thinks the effect has been, Al-Kitby tells Kroft. "People, you know, they've been put in a situation they didn't choose. Nobody asked them, 'What do you want? Is it really, this is what you want?'"
"What do you think of Sheikh Mohammed?" Kroft asks.
"He is great. He is original. But his ambition without any limits," the professor says.
Professor Al-Kitby warns that the sheikh's ambition could have some consequences. "And those people are coming from democratic countries. They cannot be ruled with undemocratic way. It will be a political risk for you in the future. Did you think in that? Did you think about this?" Al-Kitby wonders.
"We are not talking about a democracy here," says Dr. Rochdi Younsi, the lead analyst for the Eurasia Group, a firm that does political and economic risk analysis for companies interested in Dubai and the other Gulf states.
"You get a sense of freedom when you are in Dubai. You do not really feel that you live under an oppressive regime. At the same time, freedom of expression is not guaranteed," Dr. Younsi says.
"Dubai, in many ways, is a Western country. A Western-style country. Why hasn't it become a target, you think, for al Qaeda terrorism?" Kroft asks.
Says Younsi, "If you're concerned about the risk that al Qaeda may pose to Dubai in the future, I would look at the labor issue in Dubai. Many of these people have been disgruntled for years now because of the horrible working and living conditions. And it is pretty easy for an organization like al Qaeda to exploit that kind of anger."
Produced By Harry A. Radliffe II
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 38 CommentsWe are such small minded people...Limited perspective will be our undoing.
But with the chimpy/darth media filter running rampant in this story, NO ONE will get the correct message...
We are such small minded people...Limited perspective will be our undoing.
But with the chimpy/darth media filter running rampant in this story, NO ONE will get the correct message...
You did not tell the whole story about Dubai !
Within 5 years they will have the busiest airport in the world. More takeoffs and landings than O''Hare or Atlanta, or any other place in the world. Perhaps a little more than five years to reach the goal.
To accommodate the entire number of visitors going to where there is everything in one place, not necessary to go to the beach or mountains or to a shopping center: They will get it all in Dubai. Expensive, but for people with the ability to go where they want, this will be the ultimate destination. Look for that to happen sooner than later.
LOUSHOR
Oh -
Thought this was a discussion board about Bu$hCo...
Sorry.
"I want my people to live better now. To go to high school now. To go to good health care now. Not after 20 years," the sheikh explains.
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Everyone in the world wants that.
America is currently helping them and every other country develop. Right now, at the cost of its own.
I look forward to the day we can rebuild America and continue down a truly globalized society where we all prosper.
Or, as he is known in America, VP Di*k Cheney.
"Once they arrived in the new country, they were priced and sold, and their documents taken away. The young women told me they were forced to service mechanics, soldiers, priests, butchers, tourists, and even U.N. personnel who were supposed to protect them...
(You can hear Vika''s story in the FlashPoint slideshow, Moldova: The Price of ***.) She told me she had been trafficked to Dubai, at times serving 30 clients a day. She quickly learned the only English words necessary to keep her owner from hitting her: "How much?" and "With or without plastic?" Once, without plastic, her luck ran out and she got pregnant. It didn''t matter. Her pimp kept her working for the duration of her pregnancy."
Some job mbburch06, let us hope your daughter gets one of these jobs.
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YES SO TRUE !!! YES SO TRUE !
Workers from Southeast Asia brought there with promises,...for $ 4 an hour,..more than they can make at home,...They put them in camps,...They CAN`T QUIT,,...They Can`t go home,...I`ve seen this kind thing First hand !!
YOU BIGOTS Go To Faux Noise !
You Scumbugs ARE the Filth of this nation !!!!!
If You had Your way,..Everybody would work for nothing,...GET a Clue !! YOU HAVE NO IDEA !!
You live in Fantasy world where You believe all the lies You are Told by YOUR KING,...Go listen to Rush,..Get Your Brains washed some more by the Shrubbie-scrubbing s,..
YES,..These workers Have Been EXPLOITED,..not all,..They Have Only the law of the RICH,The Corrupt,The Greedy,.....Just Like The GOP would Love to enjoy here,..BUT,THIS ELECTION WILL ERADICATE the GOP Stranglehold on Our Once Proud Nation !
Shrubbies,..Crawl back into Your Holes,..You ARE The Lowest forms of Life,..Amoebas,Slimy,Greedy,Liars
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