| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (26 min. 1 sec.) ; 157270411 bytes |
| Summary |
They imagined a breathtaking future-world, burned billions of dollars to summon it out of the sand and hundreds of thousands of expats and investors stampeded into Dubai for a piece of the action. But when the sands suddenly shifted it wasn't going to be quite so easy getting out.No sooner had the spire been fixed to the world's tallest building than an almighty shiver went through the sprawling super-city below. What? Could it be possible that this glittering celebration of wealth, this ultimate gathering place of the world's well-heeled had , er, money problems?Sure it could.In fact it's surprising it hadn't happened earlier when the rest of the world was reeling from the Global Financial Crisis. Because if there's one thing Dubai relies on for its audacious growth and dizzying plans - it's the rest of the world. Oh, and as we'll see in our story, the largesse of neighbours.Cashed-up Europeans bought luxurious villas, global celebrities bought sandy islands shaped like countries and international businesses and an army of expatriate executives set up shop. This was a place where 5 stars were frankly slumming it, so they bolted another and another to marble edifices everywhere.Then just as everyone was getting comfy in their Gucci loafers, Hermes scarves and crispy-cool air-conditioning - the unthinkable! One of the Emirate city's biggest operations Dubai World was billions of dollars down the hole. Confidence was rocked and fears grew that Dubai would sink into its setting as if the desert were quicksand. At the last minute a wealthy neighbour rode over the sand-dunes with a bag of money. Dubai would be propped like the scaffold-covered buildings now looking pretty vacant all over town. But can it recover? Will it be able to win back the hopes, dreams and investments from the rest of the world?Foreign Correspondent's Eric Campbell travels to Dubai to survey the fall-out, check the financial pulse and to see if there is much chance of a bright future for the City Of Dreams.He discovers expat-business people trapped by growing debt or snared by the Emirate's draconian laws. Some like French submarine builder Herve Jaubert beat a hasty escape before the authorities could catch up with him. Others, like Australian executives Matt Joyce and Marcus Lee, are stuck in Dubai accused of impropriety while the wheels of justice barely move.Shame the city's legal system wasn't quite as brand-spanking as the glass towers or the Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the shopping-centre car parks and that it didn't seem to favour powerful locals quite as much as it appears.He disguised himself in an abaya, the all-covering robe Dubai women wear, to sneak onto and disable a navy patrol boat so he could sail out to international waters."I never thought in my life that one day I would be walking the lobby of a hotel in full combat gear covered with a woman's disguise,' says Jaubert who now lives in the US.Meanwhile prominent Emiratis can seemingly get away with attempted murder.We reveal the scandalous case of a Sheik who was videoed torturing a debtor nearly to death but got off scot free |
| Notes |
Closed captioning in English |
| Event |
Broadcast 2010-03-09 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
City planning.
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Economic development -- Planning.
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Investments, Foreign -- Finance.
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United Arab Emirates -- Dubai.
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Streaming video
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Bayulen, Cem, contributor
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Buzbee, Anthony, contributor
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Campbell, Eric, reporter
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Corcoran, Mark, host
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Habtoor, Rashid al, contributor
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Jaubert, Herve, contributor
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Khan, Derek, contributor
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Al Mulla, Habib, contributor
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Nabulsi, Bassam, contributor
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