Don't bash America... promote Dubai.

Although not the usual subject matter of this blog, the DP World controversy which blew up in America in February 2006 has some bearing on the ongoing development phenomenon in Dubai, of which Dubai Marina is an important part.


Jebel Ali Port operated by Dubai Ports World. Photo by Brian McMorrow (22 Feb 2006).

It has undoubtedly cast a shadow on the reputation of Dubai among Americans, who have begun to link Dubai to issues like Middle Eastern terrorism, Islamic extremism and turmoil in Iraq. This can seem incredibly uninformed to those familiar with a Dubai that could hardly be more different from such characterizations.

Edmund O'Sullivan, editor of the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), summarizes this view and quotes a New York Times columnist:

Objective observers agree the attacks are unfair and ignorant. "The security argument is bogus and, I would add, borderline racist."

Clearly, on the part of the American public, there is ignorance -- Dubai? Never heard of it. And there's indifference -- oil, big money, sheikhs! Not really the kinds of things that garner sympathy. On the other side of the aisle are the saavy, no crafty, politicians who know that words like "security threat" resonate loudly in the American psyche.

DP World became an easy political football to kick around and has incited politicians to fall over themselves to show how much they know and care about American security. Despite the "DP World" in the headlines, the basis of this controvesy has nothing really to do with Dubai and everything to do with American politics.

That being said, the whole matter does have an impact on Dubai and, again quoting Mr. O'Sullivan,

More US-bashing is tempting but wrong... the absence of rebuttals from credible people in Dubai and the UAE was a lost opportunity.

That is to say, Dubai has missed (and may be still missing) an opportunity to not only defend itself, but promote itself "to show American business the emerging opportunities" that Dubai offers.

The DP World controversy will subside, but America most likely will continue in its ways. Whatever the case, the United States is important if not essential to Dubai's vast and ambitious goals. Dubai wants to be a center of trade, commerce, tourism and technology. Despite its hollow ring, a cliché like a place where dreams become reality would aptly describe Dubai, or at least what it is trying to become.

The leadership in Dubai has already shown an admirable level of maturity in not responding in kind to the demagoguery being levelled at it in the United States. No Iran-style tantrums warning of dangers or adverse consequences. Of course not. The response from Dubai has been conciliatory and calculatingly pragmatic. The next step is to engage America--its politicians, its business leaders and its public. Not with slick advertizing campaigns or marketing but with multi-level, multifarious engagement.

Don't bash America... that is not to say the mis-representation of the ports deal and Dubai for crass political objectives was not deplorable. But in the end it isn't productive to do anything less than continue to do business with the most important economic, political and military power on the globe.

Of final note, there are signs that the negative reaction to the DP World deal is starting to give rise to just the sort of attention that Dubai will benefit most from. Who in America now has not heard of Dubai? At present a US congressional delegation is in Dubai to learn not only about the scuttled US portion of the ports deal but also about Dubai itself.

Dubai is one of the best kept secrets in the world... and I have been impressed with what I've seen here.

The words of US Republican Senator Saxby Chamber on CNN with Wolf Blitzer--also on recent assignment in Dubai. The prominent CNN correspondant reports that there are over 500 US military ship visits to the UAE per year. "Extraordinary Dubai" is how CNN titles its latest report, which opens with scenes from a helicopter (like that below) of Dubai Marina and the Jumeirah Palm.


Dubai Marina from Jumeirah Palm island. Photo by Volker (late 2005).

Don't Bash America... promote Dubai. That's exactly where events appear to be heading.

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TAGS: Dubai, Dubai Ports World, DP World