DRAWING on OBSERVATIONS

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The United Arab Emirates claim to be one country, but the religious, oil rich Abu Dhabi and it’s current emir, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan seem hesitant to step in and bail out the secular, upstart Dubai, leading many to speculate about a rift between the two emirates. Dubai’s reported debt now stands at 148% of it’s GDP.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

An unprecedented construction boom, down turn in the economy and real estate markets, and the world-wide banking crisis, has caused the heavily leveraged, secular Dubia to seek help from the conservative, religious and financially sound big brother, Abu Dhabi. Stay tuned.