[Leica] Dubai

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Actually, I have been going to Dubai quite regularly from the mid 1980s.
They attracted capital by being the first Gulf state to loosen ownership
controls at an export zone cum port they built up called Jebel Ali on the
outskirts of Dubai city. Prior to this any business in the Gulf states had
to have 51% local ownership, which led to all sorts of misuse and problems.
They also loosened the liquor laws to entice expats in - the last time
someone mentioned permits to me, an expat could buy 30 bottles of hard
liquor a month, and this was 20 years ago). Lastly, they made Dubai an
airline hub, which it still is, by having a duty free, in the 1980s and
1990s which was the cheapest in the world, especially for liquor - a bottle
of JWBlack used to cost 50% in Dubai Duty Free compared to other Duty Free
shops, for example. This was a masterstroke, as Dubai became the major
airline hub for the Middle East/West and Central Asia region, followed now
by Europe. They realized, quite early on that, as they had no oil wealth,
they had to become a trade centre. At present there are more Indians,
Pakistanis and Palestinians, each as a distinct expat group, than there are
locals in Dubai.

Cheers
Jayanand

On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 6:40 PM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote:

> I was aware of that, Jayanand, but the bathloads of oil money came in from
> their neighbours after the place was turned into a Persian Gulf Las Vegas...
>
> Douglas
> Recovering from a morning having root canal work done. My endodontist had
> an interesting dental microscope - made by Global, not Leica.
>
> On 12/09/2017 11:00, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
>
>> Dubai has no oil at all!
>> Cheers
>> Jayanand
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On 12-Sep-2017, at 15:28, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'd agree Bharani, and even though Dubai is slightly more liberal than
>>> some of the other places out there, I'd hate to live there. I like Hannes's
>>> stuff. The Chill Out Lounge shot shows a sort of haunted emptiness in the
>>> man's face and evokes contemplation of the preposterous artificiality of
>>> the population's lives living amidst the artificial landscapes of a country
>>> wrenched from its back-history by bathloads of oil money.
>>>
>>> Douglas
>>>
>>> On 12/09/2017 03:10, scleroplex wrote:
>>>> Dear Tina,
>>>> I think the fact that it is hard to get into the private spaces that
>>>> characterise life in the Gulf made Nick's portfolio attractive to the
>>>> judges.
>>>>
>>>> Dubai and the entire Gulf is a place that loathes transparency and
>>>> street photography.
>>>> Women threaten you with arrest or worse for taking photos on public
>>>> streets.
>>>> So of course I usually end up daring them:
>>>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex/35214658460
>>>>
>>>> Cheers!
>>>> Bharani
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Message: 33
>>>> Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2017 18:34:53 -0400
>>>>
>>>>> From: Tina Manley <tmanley at gmail.com>
>>>>>
>>>> To: MUGers at yahoogroups.com, Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>,
>>>>          paw <paw at micapeak.com>, seephoto <seephoto at micapeak.com>
>>>> Subject: [Leica] Dubai
>>>> Message-ID:
>>>>          <CA+yJO1DQdExU1o4SGrw4ipZ0kLtagaCquwmiuGhBgawp6NEEfA at mail.
>>>> gmail.com>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>>>>
>>>> I continue to be dismayed at what passes for interesting photography
>>>> these
>>>> days.  And this is Magnum:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170717-striking-photos-
>>>> of-the-las-vegas-of-the-gulf
>>>>
>>>> This year?s Magnum Awards have just been announced. The documentary
>>>> series
>>>> winner, Nick Hannes, gives an insight into his project revealing how
>>>> Dubai?s super-rich live.
>>>>
>>>> I guess I just don't get it.
>>>>
>>>> Tina
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Tina Manley
>>>>
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