The UAE boom

Although it was earlier in the book, I wanted to comment on how strange the UAE’s situation when Tony H. visited, seemed to me. I am not ignorant enough to think of the average Middle Easterner as poor, but I certainly do not see the majority of a country being very wealthy. They were not just wealthy in their terms, but ‘western’ terms as well. It was comparable, I believe, since they mentioned the different cars they had. Cars are oftentimes symbols of social status here in the U.S. so the fact they all had new and nice “rides” was impressive. When I think of people in the Middle East who have been successful with oil, I picture a small percentage of an average to below average economic nation. I picture them being the top 9, for example, wealthiest people in that particular nation. UAE undoubtedly had its top winners, but it was fascinating to learn how many people gained so much in such a short time. The thing that will help explain my intrigue with this was how they were still traditional Arabs in many senses. They did not seem like sell-out bread winners to me. They had mixed wealth and comfort into their everyday lives. I found only a few good quotes to display what I’m talking about: “…They came here only on Fridays to race their camels and picnic in the desert. Even the food had been prepared beforehand in Mobarak’s kitchen. ‘It is nice sometimes to live in the old way,’ he said, sipping Pepsi.” “…seemed as much at ease in air-conditioned splendor as he had that afternoon squatting in the sand.” (pgs. 54, 56 respectively) There is no central theme or message to this blog, so I guess I was just intrigued how the U.S. as a nation is not the only one (recently) that is/has benefiting/ed from oil. –C.S.