Golden Dubai
1970: Dubai is in strange and welcome contrast to anywhere else on the Gulf
If the accident of oil had not brought such wealth to Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed, remarkable a man as he is, would not have been the unchallenged leader among the Trucial states' rulers. His neighbour, Sheikh Rashed bin Said al Maktum, a shrewd, cunning and hard-working merchant who has ruled Dubai since 1958, would have been as likely a candidate. And Dubai, which in effect is a town straddling a 6-mile long creek (although there are 1,500 square miles of desert too) has for centuries been the main port and trading post serving the Trucial states and the interior of Oman. Sheikh Rashed intends that it shall remain so.
More from Middle East & Africa
Hamas talks a big game but is in chaos
Look beyond the latest bravado and brutality and it is bitterly split
Iran’s alarming nuclear dash will soon test Donald Trump
There is no plausible civilian use for the enhanced uranium Iran is producing
Syria’s new rulers say they are keen to integrate foreign fighters
Outsiders continue to see them as a threat
Rwanda’s reckless plan to redraw the map of Africa
The fall of Goma could trigger another Congo conflict
Three big lawsuits against Meta in Kenya may have global implications
One was prompted by the murder of an Ethiopian professor
Trump should try to end, not manage, the Middle East’s oldest conflicts
And he should see the region as more than a source of instability and arms deals