Word: gulf
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Breeze can even drop her anchor, Alexis de Suremain is in the water, swimming straight for 90 yards of white sand: his 90 yards of white sand. A wall of tangled jungle rises to the east; to the west, the sun sinks into its own reflection over the Gulf of Thailand. "See that?" de Suremain asks, waving at the sun as it bisects the beach view. "Right down the middle...
Today's accumulation of riches in the Gulf is the stuff of dreams. Soaring profits from oil and natural gas are driving the region's wealth into the stratosphere. Henry Azzam, who heads Deutsche Bank's Middle East operations from a sleek suite of offices in the Dubai International Financial Center, is relishing this historic windfall. "We're becoming the epicenter of the global economy," he marvels. But Azzam has his worries. He sees the recent fighting in Lebanon, for instance, as a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran that could lead to an American military strike on Iran...
...threats that could spoil this party. For a start, there are the wildcard geopolitical risks that can never be ruled out in a region plagued by instability. In one nightmare scenario, Tehran would respond to a U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear program by lobbing missiles at cities in Gulf states like Qatar that are closely allied with Washington; in another, a terrorist group such as al-Qaeda would target Dubai, scaring off the tourists and white-collar expats helping to drive its heady growth...
These and other potential risks were among the topics of discussion in a May 20 debate in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on the subject of what could derail the Gulf boom. The session was co-hosted by TIME and the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. For all of the panelists, political stability was a fundamental concern. Citing the war in Iraq, the turmoil in Lebanon and the failure to achieve peace in Israel, Mohammed Shafik Gabr, chairman of Egypt's Artoc Group for Investment & Development, warned that "things are not getting any better" in the broader region...
Another panelist, Saad al-Barrak, deputy chairman and group CEO of Kuwait-based mobile-phone operator Zain, argued that the greater political challenge may be internal, with Gulf countries making poor progress toward democratic reform. While the region has built key "hardware" such as roads, schools and skyscrapers, al-Barrak said it has yet to develop the "software" required to fulfil its potential - an efficient legal system, regulatory transparency and free elections. "That is what creates sustainability," said al-Barrak. "That anchors the future." He also criticized the Gulf's bloated public sector, joking that Kuwait has so many government...