Custom «Rise of Dubai» Essay Paper Sample

Introduction

Dubai is one of the cities also known as emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Today Dubai is a global city that and a hub for businesses. The economy of Dubai has been built on oil and the model at hand of the UAE is like that of the West. Its main revenues are entirely from tourism, financial services, and real estate. Attention has been attracted to Dubai following large construction projects and events in sports. This has increased the coverage of labor rights of the large southern workforce and human rights issues. The market property deteriorated in the year 2008 and 2009 due to the economic downturn worldwide. This came about following the 2007 financial crisis. Does the continuance of the Foreign Economy need to be allowed by the Dubai government to remain a global city or can it do this on its own?

Government of Dubai and the Foreign Economy

Concerns over UAE direct investments in the U.S., those that are in controlled government  raised an issue that had little importance, appealed to jingoistic sentiments that raised fears that were exaggerated over a routine transfer of who owns a company that operates its facilities at six port terminals in the U.S. Some of the concerns were lawful, the issues of security and the Bush administration in handling the situation. The decision focused on attention that was not required and was blown out of proportion on the purchases made by the Dubai Ports World (Chatterjee, 2006). The British firm Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company were bought and the outcome led to the DP world announcing that a portion of the P&O was going to be placed up for sale to an American firm in the United States.

The agreement that had already been put in place stated that the ownership of the American ports would still be under the state and the local entities. There are a majority of port operations in the U.S. but are run by foreigners who are interested, this includes companies that are owned by other countries such as Singapore and China. The Congress did not have any objections to these operations. In the corporate version of profiling by race however, a group of lawmakers of Capitol Hill outwardly expressed anger over the fact that an Arab government will be managing some of the port operations in U.S.

Distortions over the purchase nature were made by opponents of the Arab ownership to have the ability of making a case against the new owners. This would hinder the operations in the United States. For example, Nancy Pelosi a Democratic House Leader wrote a letter to her constituents insisting that the U.S. government had made a deal with DPW to avail security at six major ports in the U.S. In real sense, no deal was made between the U.S. government and DPW but a mere approval for transfer of the company to a new owner (Chernus, 2005). It was vital due to the fact that DPW and P&O would be mutually responsible for the management of the port in its normal operations such as cranes, docking facilities and coordinate the shipment with ground transportation. The U.S. would have continued to provide security to the port. There is no company that would determine standards for security in the American port; this is in accordance to the federal law that is solely the way of the U.S. government.

Some Democrats bordered on racism, and claims were laid that transfer of the operations title at one of the terminals constituted occupation of an Arab. They added that they would not have the title transferred to the devil, and then they would not have it transferred to Dubai. The criticism of comparison of Satan and the government of Dubai, the Senator defended the statement by saying that the UAE had failed to support the policy of the U.S. about Iran and Israel (Chernus, 2005).

By UAE owning a company in the U.S. Congress had concerns but had none when they supplied the same governments with arms. If there were any concerns on Dubai doing any harm to the U.S. then an effort would have been made to block the arms sold to the government, which were worth more than $2.5, 000,000,000 within 3 years. There was determination to protect the large profits that American merchants took pride in by transferring these arms was of a higher priority (Chatterjee 2006). This was not mainly a public outcry because polls had shown that there was more disapproval by more Americans to have Chinese government companies manage operations of U.S. ports than companies that were owned by Arab governments who were friendly. The congress had not even raised concerns over the issue of management of the California Long Beach Terminal that was very vital. The company was owned the Peoples Liberation Army.

Anti-Arab racism may have been part of the motivation Pelosi, the Senator and other Democrats had, for making assertions that were far way exaggerated about the potential threats of terrorism from the UAE government. False claims of terrorism connections to other governments in the region made this easier. For example, the pre-invasion claim that was absurd of the secular Iraqi government of Hussein Saddam having some connections with the al-Qaida Islamist (Shadid, 2006). American public are suspicious of all Arab governments because of the claims and exaggerated assertions about regime of Syria had links to terrorism.

At that time, Bush- President of the United States- was in a very tricky position. He insisted that the Arab should trusted in the managing of the port facilities at the same time he distrusted them in almost all areas even individuals who lived in the U.S.. For instance, the United States administration rounded up a large number of law-abiding citizens of Arab immigrants after the 9/11 attacks and put them in indefinite and unknown detention because of being Arab. Fears on talks about threats that did not exist made the American public and the Congress not to trust Presidents Bush assurance of no worries about security four years later.

The Bush administration had ignored some security issues which may have had legitimate concerns over security implied over the DPW ownership and management of the port. For example, assessment of the coast Guard that was suppressed leaving many intelligence gaps which related to the DPW world assets that may promote terrorism. This makes it hard to do a threat assessment when they have control over the operations of the port. It was odd that the normal security reviews were not gone through which is a requirement for approvals of ownership transfers of this kind. The UAE's record had been somehow spotty even though President Bush insisted that it was a friend in the war against terror. However later it was noted that the UAE Defense Minister and the Dubai Crown Prince had visited Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan for parties in hunting and horseback riding among other Gulf Arabs who were wealthy and had influence (Moore, 1999).

There has been no evidence that puts UAE on the spot directly supporting al-Qaida and no sufficient investigations have been done on money laundering or making any contributions to terrorist networks. Two of the hijackers in the 9/11 were from UAE and some funding of al-Qaeda had passed from Emirates. The U.S. administration had targeted countries that had no connections with the financing of the attack as part of the fight against war on terror (Wheeler, 2004). Bush administration has refused to spend around $700 to upgrade port security while it spends billions of dollars to fight wars against Iraq and Afghanistan people. Selling of the P&O to DP World resulted to the issues of port security. This was seen as a vulnerable area for possible U.S. assault for a long period of time. Of all the overseas containers that arrive at the U.S. ports daily a small fraction of them are inspected by the customs. There is little funding that has been given to the Coast Guard in the U.S. to adequately take care of the responsibilities extended in the protection of the 3,700 seaports and cargo terminals in the country.

Despite the above concerns, the control of port operations by the UAE is not a big threat to national security. The question now being asked is why President Bush took the risk of ignoring the security concerns in regard to DPWs terminal operations and defended the UAEs right in the beginning even though he was faced with strong bipartisan opposition. Much of why this took place has to do with the UAE as an American ally in an important strategic region. The UAE is the only federal government in the Arab world. It is made up of 7 sheikdoms that are autocratic and Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the most important emirates. Abu Dhabi is the source of most oil reserves in the UAE; it is the fifth largest in the world. They have used their oil revenue to diversify its economy. It is impressive as the bustling port is in the city-state of Dubai where a number of vital transnational corporations are situated and the DPW is based.

In the entire world, Dubai is the known for being the sea/air hub that is second largest; this makes it strategic and vital to the U.S. The UAE purchases most U.S. goods second after Israel and it has been the major purchaser in U.S. arms. UAE has been a secure port for the U.S. navy. Dubai is a transit point for mercenaries, contract workers, military contractors and others bound to back up U.S. operations in the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bush family and administration had connections with the UAE for example, the emir responded to financial assistance for Hurricane Katrina victims and the presidential library donations (Fattah, 2006). Bush's brother Neil received funding from investors of the UAE for an educational software company, John Snow who chaired the rail, CSX and transport company sold U.S. foreign port operations to DPW for a larger sum that a billion dollars, he later became secretary of the Treasury in the Bush administration.

Despite the examples of racism and jingoism that have come about because of DPW, possible ownership operations of the port of some terminals in the U.S. have come to the forefront. The controversy gives room for the U.S. foreign policy to be criticized and raise questions concerning priorities that were misplaced by the Bush administration in the fight against international terrorism threat, and American economy globalization.

The relationship between Dubai ahs developed tremendously given that there has been minimal trade and investment disputes that have occurred between the countries. In future, these two economies are likely to work even better as the price of oil is likely to remain high in the future hence brings about the fast economic growth in Dubai and UAE  as a whole. Through this, the government should allow the Foreign Economic as Dubai stands a chance of benefiting in many ways.

Laborers Right in Dubai

The UAE has good labor laws but does not have a good number of inspectors to have control over companies and some of them take advantage of this. Migrant workers arethe majority of the population of UAE who are residents; this is a 90% workforce. These workers face various rights restrictions as workers and lack rights that have association with citizenship. Employers in Dubai retain their expatriate employee passports for the period that they are working for them under contracts (Watson, 2006). This is a common practice even though it is illegal. Sometimes some employees have their work permits banned for a period of six months when their employment contract has been terminated.

Various controversies have come about because of the violation of labor rights in Dubai. In March 2006, workers went on strike while they were working at the Dubai International airport as they putting up a new terminal over wages that were low and poor working conditions. When this incident occurred, a lot of damage was caused to cars, offices, construction, and computers that were approximated to be 1 million U.S. $. In October 2007, there was another strike, the strikers were arrested, some were released later on and expelled then deported from Dubai. Negative media and the strikes gave exposure to the in the region, in 2008 the labors were given midday break to take some hours to take a break from the heat. The employees who overstayed with visas illegally were given amnesty and sent how on the expense of the government.

While there have been a great number of labor rights violations that have been covered in Dubai, sexual and reproductive rights have proved more controversial and clandestine. These rights were pointed out that they did not fit their cultural context and were western. In Dubai, a large number of workers have been sexually exploited through human trafficking. This comes as a complement of a major part of the economy of Dubai through the hospitality and tourism industry. 

In 2007, a task force of the UAE was established with the intention of drafting a new legislation that would provide guarantee for new protections of works labor rights in the area. If the legislation would not be completed, the outcome would be intense criticism by human rights and labor activists. This would complicate the relationship between the U.S. and the UAE. There would be a possibility of increased skepticism from the congress about a possible agreement of free trade (Katodrytis, 2005).

The Huge Evolution of Dubai

Dubai has evolved into a sophisticated city in a very short period. Dubai is surrounded by its society, nature, and technology this future city. Dubai has been using its technology to be able to diversify its economy through investments in services involving finance, tourism and real estates, etc. astonishing hotels are being built, largest shopping malls in the world, highest skyscrapers which includes the tallest building ever built in the world.

The future of Dubai is in the present city. Some individuals do not prefer the architecture in place but I think it is a way that technology can be pushed to the limits because the breakthroughs in technology bring about innovation to the man (Chernus, 2005). Dubai has the tallest and the largest mall ever built. The nature in Dubai is mostly a desert. Most individuals might think that a desert cannot support life but Dubai supports a lot of beautiful wildlife, microorganisms, and plants.

The population in the emirate was 1,422,000 in the year 2006. Three quarters of this population was made up of the expatriates from other countries living in Dubai. In 1095, Dubai was mentioned in the book of geography. In 1580, a pearl merchant Venetian recognized the pearling industry of Dubai. There was use of natural labor and a fishing village existed in the 17^th century. The oldest building that still stands in Dubai is the Al Fahidi Fort that was built in 1787. A treaty was signed in 1820 between the government of Britain and the UAE sheikhdoms (Pacione, 2005). In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Japanese invented the cultured pearl and depression of the economy broke down the natural pearl market. When this happened, the entire population suffered the lack of infrastructure at that time and education. Dubai exported oil first in 1960 however; it was not in abundance like in Abu Dhabi, which was the neighboring state. Abu Dhabi produces a lot of oil and is one of the largest producers known.

When the UAE was formed in 1971, a new airport was put up in the same year. Dubai is facing some problems like crisis in finances, exploitation of labor even though it has come out as a vital international hub. Life evolves every now and again and there are mutations in cities too. For Dubai to adapt and survive they have to make wise decisions for the mutation so that it can face a challenging future.

Conclusion

The U.S. and Dubai enjoy a fast growing economic relationship. The exporting firms in the U.S. have grown rapidly in the UAE economy. This represents a range of services and products from a number of states in the U.S. lately, the United States' investors have looked up to the UAE as a country they can target for foreign direct investment in large numbers. U.S. has had a much greater presence in the UAE than the whole world combined. The effort of Dubai to promote reforms in the economy, a climate of open investment and as it has an expanded role in business hub of the Gulf encourages multinationals of the U.S. to invest funds in Dubai and the UAE as a whole. Amid all the controversies, U.S. and Dubai enjoy a highly remarkable relationship of trade and incredible investment that will work even more significantly in the years to come.