'Why dont you all aware that Dubai is not an oil exporter as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq or Russia, and dont blame someone unless you aware what you did.
Most of oil sold to US came from Saudi, not from UAE, and UAE has nothing to do
with your spending on oil. And it is all your own guilt to use the gassucker 4WD's instead of any low milleages car.
Dubai is trying to be a tourist destination as well as business centre of M.East.
Don"t be jealous,

el mundo esta gobernado por irresponsables que llevan la miseria lejos de sus lujosas vidas.

la verdad q estos tipos son unos genios.!! se les admira.
si pudiera me iria a vivir alla.!!
la cosa seria distinta a lo mejor pagarian bien??' sera???
tendrias mas posibilidades de vivir mas trankilo.????
jajajaaj

Interesting, but more interesting is that more and more signs are there that Dubai is bankrupt.
Toll, more expensive visas, paid parking everywhere, registration cards etc.

The covernment is now doing everything to make money out of anything

it"s fantastic.....................

All of these huge buildings will be ready to house the world's financial and business headquarters -- when someone nukes NYC. They are planning, waiting, and will be ready to take over as the world's business and financial hub when Manhattan is rendered uninhabitable by Islamic extremists.

I believe this a bad move for Dubai. Their whole goal is tourism, and how can you have tourism, when everybody is broke? (economy). It would have been logical, if these guys put all there money into developing "New Technologies", Improved centers for Scientific development, or created the best University's in the world etc.

Doing this, would have allowed Dubai the ability to usher in a new "Bill Gates", or Warren Buffets" of the middle east!

We all know that billionaires never think "outside of the box", meaning they will eventually fail.

Don't be fooled by these photos. Been there in that despicable place long enough. If you think one a** hole is too many, I'd assume you haven't been to Dubai.

There's nothing in the world like breathing fresh, natural air and color / fragrance of seasons.

A lot of comments on this not being financed by petro-dollars. But
these super polluters have imported some very cheap labor
from the Indian Sub Comtinent who's living quarters are not shown.
So they're getting off rather inexpensively.

petrodolares

I'm shocked by some of the comments here. I live in Dubai and sure ,it does have it's problems. But I challenge anyone to show me a country that hasn't whilst it was growing. Most countries in the world are suffering the violence associated with nationalism and xenophobia in Dubai I see alot of cultures blending and working together. People making comments about the "starving children in the world" most of the poverty in the world has been brought about by America , britain and the UN . India wouldn't be the way it is if it wasn't for britain and colonialism. I could find a lot of fault with Dubai but I prefer to look at the positives. How many homeless people just in 1 city in America. How many CHILDREN live on the streets of London. while the powers that be wage unjust wars that cost billions.

To 139 . The most oil and petroleum sold to the U.S.A. by a single country is from Canada.Go ahead google it.The U.S.A. reliance for oil from Dubai is misleading.

Slaves? we THANK them for making Dubai what it is now! Without a speck of denial, people helping to built Dubai are one of the most important aspects in the future of Dubai.
People have this ignorant stereotypical image about the Middle East, especially the gulf region and just go by it. Please get out of your bubble.
We, both locals and expatriates(who are settled in Dubai), are famous for our generosity,and hospitality. Even to the people who don't want to be here.

Kålkkå hög är e no...men no är he fränsvik tornet å hög , men he ha rambla omkull sku ja tro..

They have taken the most repulsive aspect of US consumer gluttony and somehow managed to make it worse and even more pretentious.

I think I'd rather camp in a tent in Hawaii, than stay in a 5 star hotel there.
I don't know...whatever...leave me alone.

Workers coming into Dubai, maybe earning more, but it is expensive to live in Dubai & support back home, pay scale is not great. Foreign workers living standards are no better than their home. But, surely Dubai opened up for the survival of working communities with hardly any education or little.
Thanks, no offense to anyone.

can i get uae trdetional phototo my e mail

welcome in the paradise for assh*les!!
bienvenue dans le paradis des trous du cul
bienvenido al paradiso de los cabrones

Son unas fotografias fantasticas, es impresionante como va creciendo la infraestructura....felicidades

90% of the Emirates are fforeign workers from South and South East Asia.

And yet, you have no one picture showing them and the awful tent cities they have to live in as second class citizens?

this big piece of cancer , is just the begining of something big that will happen soon ... you where adviced...

I do not know what beauty means to each and every one of us.
For me beauty consists of ancient world's monuments and nature.
Modern technology is for making our lives better - not necessarily improving our aesthetics (quite the contrary if you may allow me..).
To be quite honest by seeing sky scrappers I usually get impressed by their monstreous altitude(!!!), admire the ugliness they contribute to the environment and then get sad by realising that people that all of us are - or must be - creatures of nature, freedom, contact with the environment we end up inside them (our little or bigger cells) either working or living. It is sad, considering how much people wish to have a stand alone home to shelter their life and improve their quality of living.
Tourism in a sky scrapper, not for me thank you.... I prefer an island, low hotel buildings, respect of the environment, respect of my human nature....

D'un point de vue écologique c'est une énorme stupidité, de très mauvais gout en plus. Et je ne parle pas de l'attitude de ces messieurs envers l'autre moitié de la planète à savoir les femmes...

Awesome pictures. I can't wait to see what a GBU does do the base of that tower!

Looks interesting, but I couldn't afford to fly there much less stay there.

And they hate the rich Americans? What a farce!

i just kept scrolling down and down and down with the last photo

And most of it leveraged... oh my!

I don't like this; it's impressive and all, but I don't think it's a very good idea to change the landscape that much, it's not only about Dubai, it suits the whole world. The cost for these "agressions" to the planet will be high.

Bonjour,
à tous les jours je passe voir où ils en sont avec le Burj Dubai et autres,plusieurs autres bâtisses. Méchantes bâtisses dans lesquelles je ne peut me voir étant (pogné) du vertige. J'ai des (frémilles) dans les jambes qu'à penser au type de la grue, plus haute que les plus hauts échafaudages, brrrrrrrr!!!!!!
Tout comme au pays d'Aladin l' architecture est fascinante, féérique, quelque peu sautée mais combien attrayante.
Eux, savent faire avec leurs dollars, ici au Québec, on les perd nos dollars tel qu'annoncé dans le journal, y paraît que 11 milliards se sont volatilisés, où ça?? Faut faire 7 ou 8 années d'université pour ne savoir gérer ni compter cependant,ils savent faire des chèques et gérer leurs comptes de dépenses.
Je trouve cela fou au bouttt mais bravo. Ils voient peut-être venir la fin de la
manne Oil et orientent leur tir pour l'avenir.
Avec les vents, peu d'arbres et les hauteurs, les gens du 155 ne pourront jamais faire du jell-o, ça bouge toujours.
Woao, 125 étages en 55 secondes, on traîne pas, enwaille en haut!!!
L'Atlantis, The World, palm Jumeira, le Deira, et d'autres à venir,ils n'ont pas fini de nous surprendre. ENCORE BRAVO
pendant que nous ici, on piétine.

I wonder what the financial crisis will do to all this building craze. No one will buy or use all that stuff. Just a dump for petrodollars.

The biggest tallest buildings, the biggest planes, all built imported labor and supplied by Western companies.

All is vanity and vexation.

When the oil runs out...This wont hurt them at all. By that time Dubai and the UAE will be the most popular tourist destination in the world. I mean biggest theme parks...Under water hotels, Biggest football stadiums, private islands, .. why wont you go there?
I think these people are very smart, Building a secure future in tourism.

"With great money comes great architecture" that's the modern days saying

valla burrada!!!!!!!!! me parece brutal y asesino lo k estan haciendo!!! y yo ganando 1000e!!!!!!!!!!!! valla tela!!!!

These pics fail to show the countless migrant labourers from the inmpoverished south asia who toil hard under the sweltering sun to build these behemoths and maintain them.. A visitor to dubai will see all glamourous malls and well paved roads with nice green gardens and boulevards. But all in the comforts of air conditioned car or hotel rooms. Who waters those plants, who cleans up those yards, who patches up those roads, who washes those gleaming steel and glass facades, who fixes up the huge a/c plants. The poor underpaid exploited migrant labourer...

It is becoming man made heaven on the earth. who dont want to go dubai now?

To hoosierina: The Americans and the Europeans have been making far bigger displays of wealth throughout history. Many of the Europeans used money practically stolen from the colonies to build some of Europe's most well known landmarks. The people in these former colonies are now starving because of the money taken to build the Eiffel Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral... Now when you see Arabs making their country really remarkable, you become all noble and start criticizing it as an arrogant display of wealth. The UAE has as much right as Europe of USA to show off a bit. At least they aren't spending trillions of dollars on useless wars and weapons systems like the US...

To M. M. Cooper: Why do you Westerners find it so difficult to just accept that Dubai is becoming better than about half your cities ALL BY ITSELF? Wherever they import their equipment from, they are able to use it, market it and project it more intelligently than most Western companies ever could. The labor force is not from Western countries, it is exclusively from South Asia and the Middle East. Dubai is building up a whole city in a very short timespan. Very few world leaders have a vision like that of the ruler of Dubai.. All this development is to shift the economy away from oil, and attract investment and tourism, as Dubai's oil supplies are drying up.

To Horace: I completely agree with you though... the state of migrant labourers in Dubai is pathetic.

Burj Dubai really empressed/
Now I have yet one dream - visit the top of this tower/

:O (solo para ricos y burocratas)

I leave in Dubai but I'm from South America. My only true concern is that reading these posts I realized that americans are ignorant enough to eventually invade Dubai thinking there is some oil somewhere around here. Just a hint.... if you are looking for oil please visit Abu Dhabi... sk Zayed Road heading south... If you see a big tower on your right... you are lost...but just in case...it is just a tower...not a huge misile aiming US... believe me... I've been there and no trace of weapons of mass distruction inside... of course I'm not an expert on that field.
On the other hand, if you think 4,5 us/gl is too expensive... take your bike... maybe 4WD made in the US was not designed to be environmental friendly...

I have been in Dubai at the start of this year and I think all those buildings are waste of money and just plain normal an idiot could design something and the next day they build it! I would rather have a vacation in Tasmania or Queensland or anywhere in Australia rather than in U.A.E. Nothing compare to living in a natural place where you are surrounded by nature's buildings (mountains, rivers and etc). Dubai is growing too fast and it will fall too fast. I would rather use all the money they wasted and used them to help needed people around the world.

What a terrible place, so incredibly fake....it has to be one of the most unsustainable places on earth. What happens when there is not enough money to dredge all the man made "islands" etc?? These people are certainly not wise.......just greedy and vain.

Dubai has seen its peak .....it's all downhill from here.

pe your comment here...ME SORPRENDE EL TRABAJO ARQUITECTÓNICO Y LO QUE SE PUEDE CREAR CON EL DINERO, SE IMAGINAN LO ATRACTIVO QUE PUDIESE SER UN CONCIERTO , EXPOSICIONES , EVENTOS INTERNACIONALES, EVENTOS CON FINES BENÉFICOS PARA EL MUNDO ETC.
SIMPLEMENTE GRANDIOSO ! , QUE SEA PARA BIÉN.
MARUK VERACRUZ, MÉXICO

#183 says "I would rather use all the money they wasted and used them to help needed people around the world."
Great idea but NOBODY do that. So why them ? Utopia is so far away from here. Of course this place in the middle of desert is nothing more than powder in the eyes, of course their money could be used to do something for humanity or for the preservation of our planet, blablabla.... They just follow the path of midwest. Their "American Dream", to prove to the rest of the world that they also can do whatever they want of mother nature. They are not worstest than we are. The entire world is going insane.
Great images of that nauseous scramble that represent humankind. Where is my own desertic island so i can run away from this madness.

Thanks for the photos.

I'm not sure what to make of Dubai. The scale of what they are doing it very impressive but I just don't see any uniqueness. It just looks kind of bland.
Who cares about indoor skiing in the desert of islands shaped like palm trees?
It's like a kid designed the place. It will never match the gravitas of the worlds oldest cities.

I lived 20 Years there never felt being at home once, any One say something different is either a pretender or a liar you come as stranger you live as stranger and leave as stranger in the city of concrete and cement and polluted space.

I lived 20 Years there never felt being at home once, any One say something different is either a pretender or a liar you come as stranger you live as stranger and leave as stranger in the city of concrete and cement and polluted space.

Most of the negative comments about Dubai come from Westerners who are just jealous of the achievements of other countries.
If this new story was a picture of New York City and its luxurious skyscrapers and hotels, they definitely wouldn't complain like this. These anti-Dubaists are just hypocrites who are small minded and jealous of other countries' achievements.
And as for Dubai earning money from oil, first of all Dubai's main source of income is tourism, not oil.
Second of all, oil prices had gone up so much really because USA invaded Iraq, controlled the oil sources, and pushed up the prices so that Bush and his friends benefit.
I can't believe how many small minded hypocrites there are in this world...

We all must know that money is made out of debt, and more money means more debt for International economy, and we all humans will suffer when a lot of money is wasted to build with the same old materials and technology in such a major scale, only the design, scale, and location of this buildings are futuristic. If all this money will be used in new technology development for sustainable cities?

20 reasons not to move to dubai?

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/94/art_20_Reasons_Not_Move_to_Dubai.html

Hahaha, reading comments below and I cant believe how JEALOUS some americans are. Funny ....

Impressive! I may not agreed with the "bloody" oil money. But with the economic crisis and all the tragic events all over the would, it's nice to think that there is a place where workers from different places work together to transform a desert place in to a futouristic city..

I feel like this is not true.....hehe, unbelievable pretty

Interesting. Pettiness equals jealously plus scapegoating. I should like to visit at least once and probably never shall. Yes. It is impressive what the human brain can concieve, and perhaps, someday, more can enjoy more.

que descaro pisha y mientras en el mundo hay gente que se muere de hambre, que falta de respeto

WOW ! ! ! ! ! ! !
ITS REAL DUBAI CITY
WISH U ALL THE BEST DUBAI

Wow,
Really Dubai is a Nice City.
I Like too much.
I wish you all the best Dubai City.

I cannot imagine such lovely feat achieved by humans. I dont see this kind of development anywhere in the world. Clearly dubai is emerging as Center of attraction for the world.
Love you dubai!

Americans are just jealous of countries and cities that do things better than they can...criticising other countries under the guise of human rights, democracy, and economic inequality. Face it - you will decline one day

I can't see the bright future,But hey who we are to coment. They knows the best and we wish them best luck. One thing for a sure that weather it will flowrish or not but labourer are getingt paid when needed little or less.

Dubai is something unique I was for some time there and I was impressed by the enormous buildings .And everything there was unique the Mall of Emirates,the unique Burj Al Arab ,the desert,the safari everything....I love Dubai( Abu Dhabi,too) but I hope very soon to be again in Dubai even on an excursion .:):P:):P

@126, Patriot.... first of all, ur an embarresment to the human race that's all i can tell u..
second of all, to all you complaining about ur 4$ a gallon and YOU'R oil money, we've got the oil , we own it, and will sell it at any price we wish to, does that make sense? if you have a problem with that find your own alternative to gas/ cars (check out Europe!). of course there are other issues about oil money which is mainly our concern here in i wouldn't worry my head with it if i were you. plus i've been to dubai and i agree they're overdoing it from an environmental and cultural point of view. Saudi Arabia

There is a lot of insults and nonsense comments here. It just shows that there are a lot of people who are ignorant and most of them in developed countries. I agree with the one who said they should read more. There is a lot to know about the world so put your lase minds working. The first think is that Dubai is no longer making money from oil, they reserves have gone some time ago. Oil is only 8-10% of they GDP.

They invested the money they made with oil, not only in Dubai as well as in oversea as example you have the DP-Dubai Ports International one of the word biggest port managing companies. There are other many examples. They made a commitment to develop their Emirate like no other place in the world and they are succeeding of course that there are other problems which are a result of this huge development they want, waste handling, increasing traffic, high immigrant workers (with poor working conditions), culture customs and others.

I'm not muslin, not living in a developed country and have visited Dubai so many times and I got very amazed with what they are doing there. IT is also important that people making those faulty comments do not forget that they are the one who are fueling mostly that development in Dubai. How many Europeans and Americans have bought houses in Dubai? Houses so expensive that they could buy even a cheaper one at a even more amazing place like a tropical beach side anywhere in the world. Dubai native population is so small that they could not get that demand from they own. Dubai is being built by foreigners for foreigners but owned by Dubai native population who get the revenue.

What they are doing in Dubai is really amazing they are using their minds, they are being clever but on my opinion going too far but credit should be given to those wonderful constructions and many other good things going on in Dubai.
Without it we would have to wait so many years to see some firsts as we see in Dubai. They gave some new view to the world tourism industry and today we can see many others cities or countries following the Dubai effect, not only in the Middle East but all over the world.

So for last, don't make any foolish comment without knowing what you are taking about.

Personally i think that Dubai has had a fantastic development and people should be proud of it. We will always find some frustrated hippies still nostaglic when they look back at the sixties...get over it guys...What s wrong in spending money to attract tourists and raise the standards?
Is dubai responsible for poverty around the world? Don t think so...Is dubai investment money could end poverty around the world forever...don t think so!!!!

We are not talking politics we are talking architecture anyway!!!! some of the designs that you can find in Dubai are simply amazing .Bare in mind that to materialize such a new and defiant way to design buildings money needs to be spent...

This city attracts people from around the world....have you ever asked yourself the questions why?

beutyful dubai

as of now what has paid for this place are no-bid corporate war contracts and the countless innocent human lives shed to perpetuate those contracts. google it

Very Professional Pictures

Thanks a lot !

ME ENCANTADUBAI YA E ESTADO DOS VECES LA ULTIMATA VEZ FUE EN 96 PERO VEO Q TENGO Q VOLVER A VER TODO ESO. ES INCREIBLE MUCHA FELICIDADES..... TK MAMA JEJEJE

Modernism has rapidly died since the 1970s and these people, incredibly, still revel in a modernist fantasy. Dubai is soon to be the greatest ghost town ever known to humanity, most likely within our lifetimes. Sad and utterly wasteful considering they could have used all the oil profits to research and build a self-sustained eco-city. Now that would be real human ingenuity.

It amazes me how much hate there is in those comments. It really is embarrassing and shameful. I have never been to Dubai. I don't care how it was financed. Have to clue how sustainable it is. But give me a break!
A long time ago, there was an island where the Dutch settled. They welcomed everyone and anyone. Everyone started dreaming and trying to outdo one another. When the skyscraper was born, the entire island was in competition with itself, and that "big" Midwestern city. Big business took hold. Arts and culture soon followed. We call this island today Manhattan and we celebrate its boldness, fast pace, philanthropy, art, brashness and attitude. And as to the "fake" tourist attractions... did anyone say Las Vegas? Las Vegas creates New York, Paris and other interesting resorts and we call it crazy, fun or whatever else we call it. But when an Arab city dares to do anything, we start talking about how it's really "our" money, how it will come down when oil is out, how it's arrogant, and I could go on forever. Give me a break! It's hypocritical at best. Un-American at worst.

In one sense it does look like a big waste of money; but I have heard that UAE has a limited supply of oil; and when that runs out they have nothing left for their economy and everything will collapse, people starve, etc. So instead of waiting for that day; they are creating what one might call Las Vegas on an extreme level. Tourism is the future of UAE from what I understand

I am Egyptian and I have visited and lived in Dubai, Dubai is a great place, it's true that Oil money is for sure a big part of their success, but i wont tell you to look at other countries in Gulf but look at other states in UAE which have the same money but far away from Dubai right ??
So Dubai have great leaders and that's what makes Dubai this great place, Oil is same as USA's land full of God's Resources which by help of great American people USA become that's good.
All what i need to see in UAE that the become a productive economy even they are great investors, wish to all countries to work from the man kind.

BTW: For the poor, i guess you should know more how much UAE pay for poor, UAE gives for poor Egyptian youth people about 50, 000 free homes, i think this is enough to say.

I live in Dubai.
The pictures are great, but this place is not so nice.
The pictures are better than the real thing!

*Richard*
Look at the 7 trillion dollar bail-out the US has paid to help out the big corporations who started this whole economic mess!!! With a fraction of that money not one person in this world would starve! and youre talking about waste of money?! The US and the major corporations that are controlling the government are the most greedy and selfish people on this planet! So look at your own country before you start blaming the UAE for developing their own country, with THEIR own natural resources!

Or look at the amount of money spent/wasted by Bush to start war's over OIL. While Bush was acting up as a warlord, Sheik Mohammed was doing charity work, but still its the Sheik being picked on... Did he ever start a war? Think not.
And lets be honnest, all the harm caused in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran but also Venezuela, ... (I could go on all day) just to make sure (North-)Americans can keep up their, based upon consumption, way of living: driving huge pickups that consume loads of fuel, etc etc, but complaining bout the fuel prices... Djeez. It seems the USA is that deep down that all they can do is point fingers. Its a shame for the somewhat smarter Americans, but when I read comments like the ones posted over here (dumb, not even remotely correct, and arrogant with a touch of jalousy), I am not surprised you guys are hated through the entire world... You should visit the UAE and let them explain to you bout respect, kindness and hospitality. Those words seem to become meaningless to lots of Americans, as the reactions might suspect allready.

PS: Very nice pictures, and good comments! Good to see there not all Americans are the same ;-)

Ultimate photos.

i look others butifull picture again thanks

I do applaud Dubai's diversification of its economy from mere petrodollars to tourism and trade (honestly. Much more of this sort of thing needs to happen in the Middle East).

However, I am troubled by the still-constricted nature of the economy and society. Beyond tourism and such, I would very much like to see even further diversification of the society, via the founding of great universities and research facilities, the investment in the basic 'infrastructure' for the development of HUMAN capital. I'm sure some of this does happen, mind you. But I am also getting the impression that much of the labor and expertise is imported, and relatively little spent on developing commensurate levels of indigenous expertise, so that the need for imported talent and labor drops off and it all becomes self-sustaining. Until that happens, all of these marvels will be as authentic and sustainable as great man-made island.

I say all this not as a hater, nor from a jealous perspective (jealousy has no place in a free-market world-view; if you want it, learn how to build it for yourself and find a demand!). Rather, I speak from the stance of someone who genuinely wants the Middle East to prosper and grow, and make its own contributions to the world, and thus to experience the well-earned pride which comes from such self-generated achievements.

I live and work in Dubai. I think Dubai is the fastest developing emirate amongst the 7 emirates. Other emirates and other gulf countries are following the success story of Dubai.

What makes me wonder is the way this port city and surrounding desertland got converted into a tourist hub. This was possible due to liberal policies, ample luxurious hotels offering world class hospitality, easy availability of visas, air connectivity etc. Importing & re-exporting, ever growing tourism, real estate, investments in foreign countries etc. adds more riches to Dubai. Oil trade is taken care by neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi.

I remember having read :

In democracy everybody talks but nobody listens
In monocracy one person talks and everybody listens

This is probably more relevant for Dubai. Shaikh Mohammed, the genious ruler of Dubai deserves the credit for transforming this land into its present state.

Availability of cheap labour from Asian countries does play an important roll here. While these luxury malls and hotels are meant for the rich and affluent, there is tremendous shortage of accomodation meant for economy class people.

Dubai's growth into a commercial hub is applaudable.

I guess capitalism is fine, as long as it's for the Kingdom? This is impressive, beautiful, wonderous... You'll have to excuse some of us "Americans" who have listened to how our evil capitalism has destroyed the world. But there is no "gold standard", there is a "black standard" which is oil... The gold standard went away with the Federal Reserve here in the USA. Yeah, that was created to keep another disaster like the great depression from happening again, but instead helped to create another.

Perhaps we'd all applaud your capitalism, if it weren't in part based on fixing the worlds oil prices using a monopoly called OPEC to control production and control4oil prics. That's not free trade. And perhaps we'd be more excited for you if some of the hijackers that destroyed our towers and killed thousands weren't from the UAE and Egypt. (Yeah, none were from Iraq) For me, I'll never be able to afford to visit, bu that doesn't break my heart. I've heard outsiders get arrested there anyway, it may look like a modern city, but it's still controlled by local Muslim and tiribal laws. Of course they look the other way at times for the sake of money, for instance the bikini clad woman shown in the pictures. Correct me if any of my facts are wrong...

hi see the beautiful

I LIKE THE COLOR FUL SKY SCRAPER AND THE SARK TANKS THEY WERE KOLLIO AND TIGHT AND CRACK A LACKIN

Cool architecture. All of Europe is still better than these monster buildings.

it's easy to understand how americans ignorant and idiot. don't be jealous.

sign Kyoto first, then talk here.

I think people have a tendency to be misled by what they see: it a common feature due to our "image" world (TV, internet...).

As far as I know, UAE people massively invested in western funds: company, media, sport... and real estate. You can blame their arrogance but certainly not for their intelligence. As much as I don't like brutal capitalism, I can't see how their investments are any different than the ones of our western economic leaders. Blame the collapsing financial system that we all work for in a way or another. It's reealy easier to say you were stolen than admit that one person in your group gave it up for money...

As for Dubai, it looks to me more like a concept or a dream for someone who didn't think that... one day... people would be living in.
During the middle age in Europe, the cathedrals were built to allow people to get closer to their god. Today, whitout any religious reference (like in China or in Dubai), what does a sky crapper means ? "I have enough money and ego to challenge anyone". This is pure foolishness and arrogance.

Finally, I read a lot of remarks concerning the so-called tourism in Dubai. Everybody has a definition of tourism: mine would differ from yours. But tourism is not entertainment. Going to a waterpark with your kids is nothing but entertainment. Don't get me wrong: it can be pleasant, but it doesn't make you a tourist. There's certainly a place at the end of your street where your kids would have as much fun... No need to go to Dubai for that, unless you want to be able to say: "I've been to Dubai"... and for me, you come back to my previous remark; arrogance.

My final reamark goes to the environment: living in France makes me think I'm lucky. My environment is pleasant to live in, wonderful to re-discover everyday, and trying to be respectfull for the others. I think it's just a question of choice. I personnaly choose to have forests, mountains, deserts, castles and museums rather than a giant mall in the middle of nowhere.

Great pictures.

IS THE BESTS HUMAN CONSTRUTIONS OF WORLD!!