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CBS's 60 Minutes did a 15 minute piece on Dubai

and Shayk Mohammed last night called "Dubai, Inc."

It was pretty good, although I'd call it kind of surface-

impressions-only softball, no real "in depth" reporting.

 

They covered:

 

  - all of the real estate development (houses, artifical

     islands, giant shopping malls),

   - the Shayk's ambitions to make a paradise for his

     people (health, education, women),

   - the Shayks' horses and how much he loves them (one quick

     clip of endurance, lots of footage of his thoroughbred

     race horses),

   - his two chief lieutenants (Sultan bin Sulayen--the

     recent WC almost winner--and another guy),

   - his wife Haya (while mentioning that there's

      another who is rarely seen in public--also no mention

      that she is the current President of the FEI),

   - lots of clips of how much his people love him (driving

     around without a bodyguard in a Mercedes SUV, talking

     with his subjects),

   - the US ports fiasco,

   - camel racing with mechanical jockeys and a

     quick mention of the child camel jockeys issue,

 

but also:

 

   - Dubai's close relations with Iran 

   - indentured servant construction labor with ineffectual

     and unenforced legal oversight

   - accusations of forced prostitution

   - prosperity without freedom of political _expression_

   - the suspicion that what is going on is a speculation bubble

      that could burst.

   - worry that, like Kuwait, a tiny population of

     citizens who get all the goodies and a huge population

     of low paid foreign labor without citizenship could

     create a fertile recruiting ground for groups like

     Al-Qayda

 

I found it odd that they never mentioned his brother, who

died only last year.

 

There is a downloadable video of it at:

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

 

Linda Marins