Word: gulf
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...Bridging the Gulf I was disappointed with your special report on the Middle East, "A Gulf Apart" [May 26]. What grated most was the incapacity of your contributors to conduct a vivisection of what ails the troubled region and suggest solutions that would be restorative and reconciliatory as well as rehabilitative. To have Arabs and Jews in a permanent state of unrest benefits only the war merchants. Saber Ahmed Jazbhay, Durban...
What I find most disappointing about your special report on the Middle East, "A Gulf Apart," [May 26] is the incapacity of contributors like Michael Elliott to conduct a vivisection of what ails the troubled region and suggest solutions that would be restorative and reconciliatory as well as rehabilitative. To have two of the most gifted peoples, namely Arabs and Jews, in a permanent state of unrest benefits only the war merchants. Saber Ahmed Jazbhay, DURBAN...
...meantime, there are more immediate economic minefields to navigate. Inflation, for example, is surging in cities like Doha and Dubai, driving up the price of everything from food to office space. Nobody is hurt more than the Gulf's millions of ill-paid migrant workers, and this exacerbates the danger of growing labor unrest. One measure that Gulf countries are considering to dampen inflation: a dismantling of the peg that ties their currencies to the beleaguered U.S. dollar...
Another key to sustaining the boom is to diversify the Gulf's economy so it's not so narrowly dependent on high energy prices. In the U.A.E., for example, as much as 40% of the country's GDP comes from the production of oil and natural gas. Of course, it's hard to find people these days who think the price of oil is set to plunge, but a deep recession in the developed world - led by the gas-guzzling U.S. - could lessen demand and drive the price down more sharply than many expect...
Still, the wealth already amassed in these bounteous days for energy exporters should provide a cushion for years to come. Amid this euphoria, few seem to fret about the other seemingly glaring risk to the Gulf - the possibility that property speculation in cities like Dubai might lead to a bust. Mohamed Bin Ali Alabbar, chairman of Emaar, the region's leading property developer, says Dubai still has plenty of room to grow as a services center for the Gulf and its 200 million people: "The region is expanding, Dubai is too small, and so more needs to be done...