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A politically neutral city
The visit of President Bush to Abu Dhabi, was palpably a political visit. But his half-day excursion to Dubai, was purely personal.
- By Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:20 February 13, 2008
- Image Credit: Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
The visit of the US President George W. Bush to Abu Dhabi, the political capital of the UAE was palpably a political visit. But his half day excursion to Dubai, the acclaimed economical capital of the Arab World was purely personal.
Despite the daunting security and logistics costs, Bush insisted that Dubai should be included in his UAE itinerary. Apparently he has been inundated with stories about this futuristic city from his close business friends that he wanted to see things from close encounter.
Sources close to the planning of the presidential trip reveal that Bush instantly fell in love with Dubai. He even alluded to the possibility of perhaps moving to the city as part of his White House plans.
Dubai has already attracted many American multinationals; the most prominent is Halliburton which decided last year to transfer its corporate headquarters close to where the giant oil and gas fields are located in the Gulf. It turns out that wherever the Texas-born Halliburton goes so goes American ex-presidents and vice presidents of the Republican kind.
Halliburton has found Dubai primarily convenient not for its superior location and the state of the art infrastructure, but as the most politically neutral city in the Gulf region.
The city's strict political neutrality is emerging as a new strategic asset that attracts business minded people and multinationals corporations such as Halliburton and give the city an added edge over other cities in the region who are trying to emulate its success.
Break the deadlock
It was also this newly found political neutrality that brought a team of Iraqi politicians to Dubai to negotiate the highly contentious oil law. The Iraqi participants could not meet in volatile Iraq and would not agree on any other city in the region as a venue for their closed door meeting.
The politically neutral Dubai was the place of choice for the utterly divided Iraq elites. One week stay in Dubai was enough to break the deadlock and deliver the job.
The political neutrality of the city was also a major attraction to J. Claude, the controversial deputy director of a prominent strategic studies centre in Washington D.C. Claude is an Iranian specialist with an anti-Iranian bias that he does not hide.
He desperately wanted to learn Persian language, get a close encounter with Iranians and understand the inner logic of the political process in Tehran. But he is not welcomed in Iran and Tehran would not grant him a visa.
Dubai was the second best place to get his poor Persian language skills in shape. He opted to live in a modest apartment packed with six Iranians on the edge of the creek for six month. He practised the language as he would if had gone to Iran. He also learned quite a bit about the inner thinking of Iranian community living in Dubai.
Claude is back in Washington doing a lot of writings and media appearances and talking directly to his new audience inside Iran through the American sponsored Radio beaming anti regime propaganda. He is for ever grateful to Dubai that gave him this once upon a time chance to do what he probably would not be able to do if it was not for this city's strict political neutrality.
It is only in Dubai where Americans and Iranians can meet amicably, talk to each other decently and spy on each others intentions with relative ease.
Similarly it was the political neutrality asset that brought the Sudanese businessman Mamoun to Dubai. He wanted to start an independent and largely commercial TV channel to connect with his Sudanese compatriots.
The Dubai Media City which is packed with young Arab talents and media specialists coming from all over the Arab World was the ideal place of choice for his project. Cairo was clearly in his mind.
Comparatively, it is certainly cheaper than Dubai and even geographically more convenient specially that there are some 2 million Sudanese refugees living in Egypt. But Dubai had the political neutrality feature that he did not see in Cairo or any other Arab cities.
There are at least 1.2 million expatriates living in Dubai. Everyone has his own peculiar reason to come to the city. But the common denominator is that they are all attracted to the uniquely apolitical feature of the city.
Dubai is a success story because it is business friendly and politically neutral place. Political neutrality is undoubtedly a strategic asset of profound value. Every one benefits mightily from having such an apolitical city.
It is a fantastic marketing asset. No other city around can claim such a positive neutrality. No matter how far the other cities around go the Dubai way its political neutrality is not transferable and not exportable.
Even if Bush decides to make a move to Dubai, he better leave his political legacy behind in Washington. That legacy is not wanted.
Everyone else is welcomed to Dubai as long as they too stay away from politics and do not contribute to the politicisation of this calm and tranquil city. A politically neutral city is in the best interest of all who have stake in the Dubai project. No one living in Dubai should mix politics with business.
It is perfectly legitimate to make Dubai the first ever non political city in history and the only political neutral place on earth. This is certainly a goal worthwhile pursuing. It is also consistent with the very essence of the Dubai model that everyone wants to replicate but in vain.
Abdulkhaleq Abdullah is Professor of Political Science, Emirates University.
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