This was a good recap, but I think you forgot something important. When the Sheik and his brother decided to transform Dubai into a recreational area, the MAIN reason is that the latest geological surveys were conducted and found that at the current rate of production, Dubai would be out of oil within a couple of decades. By that time, oil fields across the globe were starting to dry up. No oil field has an infinite amount of extractable oil. Dubai had the foresight to realize this and to try and steer its economy in a new direction.
how about Fort Drum, also known as "the concrete battleship", is a heavily fortified island situated at the mouth of Manila Bay in the Philippines, due south of Corregidor Island.
Given that their economy is based on something OTHER than oil, I think they won't go down that easy. They're ahead of the curve, when it comes to economics in that part of the world.
No its "My grandfather rode camels. I drive a Mercedes. My grandchildren will be driving the same dilapidated Mercedes across the desert screaming WITNESS ME!"
World - Hey Dubai all this stuff looks great but don't you think you should save some money, you know like for a rainy day. Dubai - It doesn't rain in Dubai.
I stopped the video just to see if somebody had commented on this. Clearly it was the Americans that had to bring order to the area....shores of tripoliiiiiiiii.
Humans at any time in our history: “We want to make this thing, but it’s gonna be super expensive and nearly impossible.” Also humans at any time in our history: “What if we just make this large group of undesirables do all of the heavy lifting for us and if they act up, we’ll just murder and replace them?” Again, humans at any time in our history: “Ends up, this project is gonna be easier than we thought.”
@@glasstuna for 1400 years? are u sure u actuully read the history of the region, in those 1400 years that region(midlle east )was the center of science and knowledge , im sure al khawarizmi wasnt blowing up himself .... and many others, its funny how far your ideolgy can take you from the truth....(english is my third language so sorry for any mistakes)
@@glasstuna: Longer than 1400 years. The Middle East has been a powderkeg (sometimes literally) ever since Ancient Judea. Every religion that's come from that part of the world has had an apocalyptic component to it. And there have always been groups of people there who've wanted to hurry up the apocalypse so God could judge all the people they personally dislike and send them somewhere even more unpleasant than the desert.
Megaproject Suggestion. Longest deep bore ice core in Antarctica. Took years, loads of drama with it and they found some cool stuff like a fresh water lake under the ice containing previously unknown lifeforms. Would go Well with the other hole projects that are popular.
My favorite way to explain just how big Dubai's port of Jebel Ali is, is this: You could simultaneously tie up every single US aircraft carrier pierside, and still have room for those of the UK and France with and still moor a couple oil tankers just for funsies. Oh, and they've expanded it since then. Also of note, the whole thing was dug out of a formerly empty stretch of beach. There was no help from nature in the form of a river, bay or anything of the sort.
I accepted a job in Dubai back in January 2019 and I have to say it's one of the most amazing places i've had the good fortune of seeing. Very interesting to watch it's history in the video though, you've clearly spent a lot of time researching the topic! Coincidently, we went on our annual team building to ski-dubai in February and it was the most surreal experience i've had in a long time haha. Really good fun though :D Ironically, I travelled half way round the world to a desert, to try skiing for the first time! As a side note, while the pandemic has undoubtedly hurt lots of businesses over here, there are still so many construction projects on-going and new ones starting up. The majority of us returned to work in May actually and most of the folks I know "only" suffered a temporary 20% salary deduction, not 75%. (The company I work for was lucky enough to move back to full pay last month!)
@@nadeemahmad-xn4ov I don't think it's exaggerated at all. It's a city that thrives off tourism and foreign investment to grow it's economy. Without one the other suffers and we are seeing that happen here. Most hotels will be hemorrhaging money like crazy without the tourism and lets not even speak about the recent cuts in the aviation industry. I agree the slowdown is everywhere, but the economy and structure of Dubai is a lot more fragile than what it seems.
I remember sitting in a waiting room and the nurse called out " Mohammed , something , something, something, Mohammed el Mohammed ...next!" Three people stood up.
They also shoot themselves in the foot wanting tourism, and then arresting people at the airport for the heinous crimes of calling someone a name online
@@mygetawayart Oppression isn't a "tradition" or "way" that is acceptable in modern society. Start arresting people for exercising their free speech while not even in your country and start watching the visitors dry up and property values plummet.
My Getaway this instance has nothing to do with respecting the country the tourist was visiting. The “crime” was insulting someone on Facebook several years ago in a completely different country.
I was working in Dubai in 1976-1977 when the tallest building was the Sheika Latifa (at 7 stories), we still shopped in the suq, and Sheik Al Makhtoum held a yearly personal event for all the residents of the emirate.
My now woman comes from Dubai so I spend an immense amount of time in Dubai visiting her. All I can say is that dubai is very beautiful if you are a tourist, as a resident it's closer to a third world country than a Industrial country. Coming from Germany I had high standards about this rich country, that got immediately swooped away once I visited dubai for the first time. Probably the biggest problem is the population being 90% immigrants while the top 3 nationalities are Indians, Pakistanis and Pinoys - 3 nationalities that are still third world countries themselves. Only in recent year those countries are starting to become more and more advanced in infrastructure and quality of life. That means that the overall quality of residency is getting more and more reduced to a level that resembles more like a overpopulated Indian city instead of a lucrative western city Dubai wants to be. The city is filled with ghettos, families sharing Appartments with strangers, the rent is incredibly high, internet and telefonicas are still underdeveloped and overall does it feel more like the city outside of the glory building and artificial constructions is far away from being a big contender in the world.
It was built on the back of near imprisonment of slave labour to work the construction sites whilst their masters confiscated their passports thus unable even to flee such wretched conditions...
The Gentle Guy - they have minimum living conditions and guaranteed 1 month off per year with a return ticket home (and every Friday of course). People chose to come to the Gulf countries to work because they earn far more money that back home.
@@EdOeuna That is nonsense. I have spoken to a lot of them in both construction and oil&gas jobs. Conditions have improved somewhat since the Qatar world championships issue, but not much. They are no longer slaves, but indentured servants.
Baytep - we must move in different circles. The people I speak to don’t have a perfect life, but they get paid, have free shelter and tickets home every year. Whatever their experience, it is far better than what they would expect back in Asia / Africa.
@@EdOeuna yes, some are better off than when they were staying home (although a lot also got pressganged and wish they never got into it). The problem is that they are treated as indentured servants (even if that is better than at home). This is something Western people don't like to see as a moral value (the Arabs seem to be fine with it). And that explains why Western people who live there or go there for holiday are frowned upon.
i remember driving through this area in the late 90's and there was nothing there but a sand blown 2 lane road and out of nowhere a Hard Rock Cafe. Flash forward to 2005 and the road was a 10 lane highway and the indoor ski slope was being built, the worlds largest 1 story mall was there and about 30 skyscrapers were be built all at once. All the service people were foreigners; Indian, Pakistani, Russian, Filipino and so forth. All the building workers were housed in camps that were pretty much slums. They are not treated well. But they earn about 10 times what they would earn back home. This is why they do what they do, they work there for 3 to 5 years and then go home and have a sizable amount of money to live on or finance a business. Downside is they have to survive. Many die due to accidents and poor medical care.
@@Quaaludio not sure about that. They may have done that with the poor Asian workers who get treated like dogs, but western contractors myself included never had my passport taken off me. Plus we got treated far better than the Indians and Pakistanis, Filipino workers etc.
@EmperorJuliusCaesar if u call them slaves then give them a higher wage job and they will work for u instead, don't point your finger without understanding the full context since that can literately kill people, for example the boycott of nike forced them to close factories, what do you think happened to the workers? most went to work in shittier and more dangerous jobs and some died of starvation. new factories with better pay don't magically appear. at least they are giving jobs that pay enough to let them survive and send their kids to school. its a good compromise that benefit both parties.
@6:00 Why are you showing an American ship when talking about the British? And I'm sure the American flag did not have 48 stars on it at the beginning of the 19th century.
My wife and I have both spent a good deal of time in Dubai. My wife absolutely loves the place but I have always found it over done, over the top, and frankly not worth the money for what it offers. I often move through the area on work related activities as such it was a nice stop over but generally speaking if I did not need to go to or through the area I would not. Many other cities off great attractions as well as unique cultural experiences. Dubai always felt like an over done, high end Disney world lacking all the depth that typically make visiting an area enjoyable. All the things you can do in Dubai can be done in many other cities around the world and more over most other places will fell more real and heartfelt.
Good story. I worked there for a month almost 30 years ago. I remember seeing aerial pictures of Dubai taken in the early 50s when there wasn’t much there. Alaska’s economy is like Dubai’s but on a much smaller scale. Oil prices are down along with tourism but we keep speeding like everything is great.Hell you could do a story on all of the states failed projects they wasted money on.
you should have mentioned how at the hotels vending machines you can buy gold. all different kinds and amounts of gold... in vending machines.... also you didnt show the camps of the people who built the city, which are slaves from surrounding countries... kind of disappointed in the recent history part of this episode...
I remember seeing a documentary on the workers who built those buildings. It was really sad. Dubai was pretty much using worker contracts and false advertising to lure foreign workers into slavery. They would fly in poor people looking for work, promising this amount of pay and a living space. Once they show up and get paid their circus peanuts, the company would dock their pay for their room and board, transportation and whatever fees there was for working in the country. The people then realize the scheme but it would be to late. They didn’t have money to go back home or rights to demand anything. Knowing that just makes the city ugly.
Name a land without a rich history of human slaughter. Humans are just another animal on this planet. If other animals could have the capacity to kill one another like humans do, they would do it in a heartbeat. To think we are separate from the animal kingdom is pure folly.
I can't for the life of me understand how they didn't see this coming. A high school student could have seen how bad this was going to crash. Seriously stupid.
I predicted it and commented on Dubai videos 10 years ago. I got a lot of flack. Being called a h8ter lol. And see whats going to happen now. Slavery and one of the money laundering capitals of the world. It smelled fishy to me from the start.
Correct. I came to the middle east to work 7 years ago and said then that Dubai was unsustainable. I was laughed at.
4 ปีที่แล้ว
Pee Tee I left a lawless , unsafe country and moved to the Middle East 20 years ago . I still don’t lock my car or my front door . I’ve felt safer here than I ever did in my home country . And so do tourists . Crime is very very low here
With cost of “black gold” at 15-23 dollars per barrel, the USSR economy collapsed, and the sovok itself collapsed, and the "golden" horde ("russia") budget can only be fulfilled only with oil price at $ 42.4 and higher
@@shahrukhkhan8307 Also it is totally fucked up that western countries wage war in arab countries but apart from that its still religious wars that need to be ended by the people living there and not taking everything too serious might help here a bit (At least more than batteling about BS like shiites vrs sunnites or territorial disputes from hundreds of years ago)
@@Redditaurus It's not the people but rather the place. The whole city is just a massive casino with no real history, no great leaders or ancient tales of love and beauty. A nation like Syria, Japan or Canada may suffer hardships but their identity as a nation will ensure that they endure. Dubai is not like that. It's just a place you work in and when the money goes, so do you.
@@The_Daily_Tomato it just doesn't have any street life. Go to even a 100k large European city, their streets will look like a living creature. But in Dubai, it's just a 100 meter wide expressway and then ghostly glass skyscrapers which are also not made in any order. Even planned cities have their hustle and bustle, see Noida or Chandigarh in India.
@@prasunkumar117 how could you even write this despite being an Indian? And it's Dubai not British Empire where Sun would never set. It's built on desert which cools down hastily in night.
Ive been to Dubai, great country and very westernized, it is basically the financial hub for everything for the middle east. Not alot of restrictions, i will say that alot of the skyscrapers are an Aw to look at.
As a native of rust belt America, former coal city of Pennsylvania, I have a wise perspective. Desert oil cities will disappear when the oil is gone or not profitable. At least Pennsylvania is fertile, nice land to live on. Deserts are inhospitable. If Pennsylvania and Michigan and Illinois and Ohio can't stop decades of systemic deindustrialized collapse and emigration from happening after their sure bet natural resource exploitation stopped, then Dubai has a snowballs chance in hell of being a major city in 100 years.
indeed. I cant see it being that huge in tourism terms as theres not exactly alot of history or nice scenery or even a vaguely pleasant climate to experience. Will it really stay greatly popular so people can go to the shopping mall?
They have the money to invest in other ventures that will keep them going for a while after the while. They have invested billions of real estate for rental incomes for capital cities around the world for one.
I love listening to you talk about these geographic topics. Your Kowloon walled city video is absolutely awe inspiring. Thank you for sharing your smooth easy to listen to voice in such an amazing way.
I watched an interview with a Bangladeshi guy who had been working on a building site when he broke his leg. As he couldn’t work they dragged him off and dumped him just outside the gate and left him. No medical care, homeless, no money to get home, and not paid the wages he was due.
I like this video a lot since you also showed how the UAE was formed as well. Must be something to see that those 7 emirates looked at each other agreed to form under one flag for their sake to survive
With cost of “black gold” at 15-23 dollars per barrel, the USSR economy collapsed, and the sovok itself collapsed, and the "golden" horde ("russia") budget can only be fulfilled only with oil price at $ 42.4 and higher
@mxt mxt Like natural gas but that price is coupled to the price of oil. I don't think Russia has too much to worry about because EU countries don't have significant natural gas resources and have to import Russian gas if they don't want to freeze in the winter. Only the Netherlands has a big gas reserve and want to shut it down in 2022 because earthquakes (or have it as a tactical reserve in case Russia closes the valves)
I saw a program showing how the neighbourhoods of Dubai are isolated from eachother by major roads. They should have planned for lots of pedestrian access that pass under or over roads connecting areas using electric bicycles and scooters. I think a cities designed for the motorcar are not pleasant places to live.
Look what oil did for them. Does..then consider Scotland has produced much more than Dubai AND Abu Dhabi, combined. Yet we have fuel poverty and, no oil fund. Shafted.
@@camocas and continues to. Whenever independence or the fear mongering kicks in again it will of course be once again "not that important and, imminently running out" 😉
All other factors aside, they handled the British departure admirably well. In a lot of areas that would have led to a significant amount of violence and conflict. Have to respect that.
Um... is there a reason that "Royal Navy" ship we see blasting a pirate ship into "just so much driftwood" is flying the Stars and Stripes (several of them, in fact)...?
Correction: Halliburton did not up and move to Dubai. The company has dual headquarters located in Houston, and in Dubai, but it remains incorporated in the United States.
Dubai has a ton of quirks, they also have a strange kind of racism - especially when it comes to hiring people, some companies will LITERALLY ask for a specific race to hire. Don't believe me? Try to look through job ads on some of their jobsites, odds are that you will invariably come across an ad blatantly doing that. You could NEVER get away with that in the US. . And that's not all, it's also a common practice in "most" middle-eastern countries for employers to HOLD on to your passports while you are contracted to them. If you somehow need it for some reason like for opening a bank account, for going on vacation, for sponsoring a relative etc where you need to show the original passport, you have to put in a formal application to GET BACK WHAT YOU ACTUALLY LEGALLY OWN before it is given back to you. While it's technically ILLEGAL, they do it anyway.
You would be amazed actually by the need for sand. Sand is the second most used resource in the world following fresh water. Anything glass uses it, anything needing silica (so basically all electronics) and construction needs millions of tons of it per year for concrete.
I spent a month there working at the port in 1991 preparing communications equipment to take in to Kuwait. I went to a museum and saw some pictures of the changes. I remember a picture of the early 50s and was impressed at the changes just till 1991, but now it is crazy. I don’t thing there is anywhere in the world that is all this new.
Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/geographics for 10% off on your first purchase.
This was a good recap, but I think you forgot something important. When the Sheik and his brother decided to transform Dubai into a recreational area, the MAIN reason is that the latest geological surveys were conducted and found that at the current rate of production, Dubai would be out of oil within a couple of decades. By that time, oil fields across the globe were starting to dry up. No oil field has an infinite amount of extractable oil. Dubai had the foresight to realize this and to try and steer its economy in a new direction.
Skip the ad in the middle: 14:09
Fore warned is fore armed!:-)💜
how about Fort Drum, also known as "the concrete battleship", is a heavily fortified island situated at the mouth of Manila Bay in the Philippines, due south of Corregidor Island.
I like how the thumbnail preview is the Squarespace ad.
I’ll admit: “And back again?” got me to click
Same here. Was about to keep scrolling when I read that
Lets hope.
Agreed
Same here
Yeah it did😂
What's the expression? "My grandfather rode camels. I drive a Mercedes. My grandkids will ride camels."
That's a good expression very deep
I've always heard from horse to cart to horse but I like it
Given that their economy is based on something OTHER than oil, I think they won't go down that easy. They're ahead of the curve, when it comes to economics in that part of the world.
No its "My grandfather rode camels. I drive a Mercedes. My grandchildren will be driving the same dilapidated Mercedes across the desert screaming WITNESS ME!"
@@SolemnHeretic "SHINY AND CHROME!!"
World - Hey Dubai all this stuff looks great but don't you think you should save some money, you know like for a rainy day.
Dubai - It doesn't rain in Dubai.
and here I was thinking it never rained in Southern California.
It’s also at sea level so the desert will flood.
Dubai, proceeds to get trillion dollar bail out from Abu Dhabi.
It's rains in Dubai - saw it with my own eyes.
@@skyden24195 I once saw a band play at the Farm sober, I hadn't had a drink.
“And the Royal Navy moved in” shows American ship
Well...hereditarily speaking...… ;-}
Obviously a "false flag" tactic to try & trick the Dubians
@@rhynosouris710 dubians 🙂👍
I stopped the video just to see if somebody had commented on this. Clearly it was the Americans that had to bring order to the area....shores of tripoliiiiiiiii.
Loved the humour in this one "Sheikh Long Name - Double Name" and Hitler doing the decent thing and shooting Hitler particularly tickled me 😂
Simon is hilarious
"Sheikh long name double name" made me drop my joint 😂
😂😂
Business Blaze Simon is slowly seeping into his other channels
Bwahahahahahaha dropped my M phone laughing
One name for the man, one for his beard.
"So nice, they named him twice."
Dubai is the Kim Kardashian of the Middle East...
Built on "tourism and construction" yeah, with a big pinch of slavery.
its amazing what you can do when you dont have to pay for labor
@@coreytaylor447 right?
@@parvharia484 the "big pinch" was sarcasm
Humans at any time in our history: “We want to make this thing, but it’s gonna be super expensive and nearly impossible.”
Also humans at any time in our history: “What if we just make this large group of undesirables do all of the heavy lifting for us and if they act up, we’ll just murder and replace them?”
Again, humans at any time in our history: “Ends up, this project is gonna be easier than we thought.”
Just like europe and north America
"Then, suddenly, everything exploded." Yep, things tend to do that in the Middle East.
...too soon?
It's been going on for 1400 years so no... Not too soon
@@glasstuna for 1400 years? are u sure u actuully read the history of the region, in those 1400 years that region(midlle east )was the center of science and knowledge , im sure al khawarizmi wasnt blowing up himself .... and many others, its funny how far your ideolgy can take you from the truth....(english is my third language so sorry for any mistakes)
😂😂😂
Yeah like buildings with alleged stored fireworks. *BOOM!*
@@glasstuna: Longer than 1400 years. The Middle East has been a powderkeg (sometimes literally) ever since Ancient Judea. Every religion that's come from that part of the world has had an apocalyptic component to it. And there have always been groups of people there who've wanted to hurry up the apocalypse so God could judge all the people they personally dislike and send them somewhere even more unpleasant than the desert.
Megaproject Suggestion. Longest deep bore ice core in Antarctica. Took years, loads of drama with it and they found some cool stuff like a fresh water lake under the ice containing previously unknown lifeforms. Would go Well with the other hole projects that are popular.
Mega projects suggestion: someone builds a building, people move in. Now there are more people living in the city
I was hoping for mom joke
I’d watch them shits
They really do like holes.
Simon gets a like just for being Simon.
@@cplcabs You don't even know the guy? I'm sure he's very different in real life but then again I don't know him lol
cplcabs Simon is awesome, allegedly. Maybe you should do some self-reflection... 🤔
@cplcabs & what exactly do you know about The Boy With The Blaze that makes him [allegedly] a condescending prick?
Simon liked that.
I know right?😊
My favorite way to explain just how big Dubai's port of Jebel Ali is, is this: You could simultaneously tie up every single US aircraft carrier pierside, and still have room for those of the UK and France with and still moor a couple oil tankers just for funsies.
Oh, and they've expanded it since then.
Also of note, the whole thing was dug out of a formerly empty stretch of beach. There was no help from nature in the form of a river, bay or anything of the sort.
That in your second paragraph probably indicates that it needs a lot of ongoing maintenance to keep it operational.
And the sandbox would run out of gyros
No mention of the huge slave trade that was used to build dubai lol? Just "immigrant communities" lol, bit wierd to skip all of that :/
He's clearly biased, he just read wikipedia...
SERIOUSLY. So much of the Gulf has been built on the backs of slavery and indentured servitude.
Mostly extremely low paid Indians same for Saudi Arabia
@zonescat well that's not true because he has already said many pro leftist stuff and more anti right stuff. He is somewhat neutral
@david edbrooke-coffin they do. Check the definition for modern slavery.
i'd love to go but i can't speak money
"Money" is a strange language. it's harder to understand than "Madness."
Mystery Crumble I live here, might be worth it
@@sovietchadster907 i'm on my way!
bro i am not rich at all but i go there once a year atleast
@EmperorJuliusCaesar ok you've changed my mind, cheers.
Land: exists
British Empire: this is mine now
This is a great comment haha
Crazy how original that joke is
@@coder159 mainly because the British Empire is the original *"you snooze; you lose"*
@@coder159 you're a turkey
Do you have a flaag?
I accepted a job in Dubai back in January 2019 and I have to say it's one of the most amazing places i've had the good fortune of seeing. Very interesting to watch it's history in the video though, you've clearly spent a lot of time researching the topic! Coincidently, we went on our annual team building to ski-dubai in February and it was the most surreal experience i've had in a long time haha. Really good fun though :D Ironically, I travelled half way round the world to a desert, to try skiing for the first time!
As a side note, while the pandemic has undoubtedly hurt lots of businesses over here, there are still so many construction projects on-going and new ones starting up. The majority of us returned to work in May actually and most of the folks I know "only" suffered a temporary 20% salary deduction, not 75%. (The company I work for was lucky enough to move back to full pay last month!)
I live in UAE and seeing the worsening conditions here due to pandemic makes me feel too sadden coz I never seen such moment since my childhood
People are exaggerating the slowdown of dubai.. slowdown is everywhere...
@@nadeemahmad-xn4ov I don't think it's exaggerated at all. It's a city that thrives off tourism and foreign investment to grow it's economy. Without one the other suffers and we are seeing that happen here. Most hotels will be hemorrhaging money like crazy without the tourism and lets not even speak about the recent cuts in the aviation industry. I agree the slowdown is everywhere, but the economy and structure of Dubai is a lot more fragile than what it seems.
I'm happy all is going well for you, much love to ALL.
Price of shipping 40ft container triplet since April - for me its enough to conclude where from wind blows
As a woman I would NEVER travel there! Having to give up all of my rights as soon as I step on that sand ? No way!
1:40 - Chapter 1 - Before the flood
5:05 - Chapter 2 - Trucial states
9:15 - Chapter 3 - Boom town
12:15 - Mid roll ads
14:10 - Chapter 4 - A brave new world
17:55 - Chapter 5 - Mad dreams
21:05 - Chapter 6 - A dark future
"it was Sheikh long name double name". That just got me laughing
Double *
Abu Dhabi and the 40 theifs.
@@Redditaurus sorry got my first and second languages mixed up
I remember sitting in a waiting room and the nurse called out " Mohammed , something , something, something, Mohammed el Mohammed ...next!"
Three people stood up.
They also shoot themselves in the foot wanting tourism, and then arresting people at the airport for the heinous crimes of calling someone a name online
Yeah but do you know the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"? If a country has traditions and ways, tourists should respect them.
@@mygetawayart plenty of arabs keep getting fined for wearing a burka here even if its illegal, maybe we should start arresting them 🤔
@@mygetawayart Oppression isn't a "tradition" or "way" that is acceptable in modern society. Start arresting people for exercising their free speech while not even in your country and start watching the visitors dry up and property values plummet.
My Getaway this instance has nothing to do with respecting the country the tourist was visiting. The “crime” was insulting someone on Facebook several years ago in a completely different country.
@@mygetawayart traditions isn't rules and many are stupid
I was working in Dubai in 1976-1977 when the tallest building was the Sheika Latifa (at 7 stories), we still shopped in the suq, and Sheik Al Makhtoum held a yearly personal event for all the residents of the emirate.
Damn, looks like Simon is having quite a field day presenting this video haha
'Blaze' Simon coming out more and more on his other channels
No one can accuse Simon of not enjoying himself.
Has he had a glass of something?
Alastair Ward cocaine...allegedly
It’s a business blaze thing
@@jimcappa6815 well, if it keeps the content flowing...
Anybody who has spent more then 3 days there wouldn't describe it as great .
Recently found this and a few of your other channels earlier this month; just wanted to say, you are a fantastic presenter!
Have you found business blaze yet
Simon is awesome.... and his channels inspire some of the most brilliant comments ever to be read. ;-)
Jonah Ashwell he may not be ready for the blaze
@@tim1894 DecadeOfAggression seems like the name of a person in need of Blaze.
Same this channel, the geography channel, the business channel, and the politic channel. I forget their exact names.
My now woman comes from Dubai so I spend an immense amount of time in Dubai visiting her. All I can say is that dubai is very beautiful if you are a tourist, as a resident it's closer to a third world country than a Industrial country. Coming from Germany I had high standards about this rich country, that got immediately swooped away once I visited dubai for the first time.
Probably the biggest problem is the population being 90% immigrants while the top 3 nationalities are Indians, Pakistanis and Pinoys - 3 nationalities that are still third world countries themselves. Only in recent year those countries are starting to become more and more advanced in infrastructure and quality of life. That means that the overall quality of residency is getting more and more reduced to a level that resembles more like a overpopulated Indian city instead of a lucrative western city Dubai wants to be.
The city is filled with ghettos, families sharing Appartments with strangers, the rent is incredibly high, internet and telefonicas are still underdeveloped and overall does it feel more like the city outside of the glory building and artificial constructions is far away from being a big contender in the world.
Can we move away ftom the "Third World" moniker. Any country not " Western" is " Third World."
@@louise-yo7kz there are first world countries that aren't located on the west lol
@@eliesbutz8610 Lol, lol 🙄. 1st World, Western are coded terms for non-White or White affiliated countries like Japan. It has strong racist undertones
It was built on the back of near imprisonment of slave labour to work the construction sites whilst their masters confiscated their passports thus unable even to flee such wretched conditions...
yup, and that is worth mentioning in the video
The Gentle Guy - they have minimum living conditions and guaranteed 1 month off per year with a return ticket home (and every Friday of course).
People chose to come to the Gulf countries to work because they earn far more money that back home.
@@EdOeuna That is nonsense. I have spoken to a lot of them in both construction and oil&gas jobs.
Conditions have improved somewhat since the Qatar world championships issue, but not much.
They are no longer slaves, but indentured servants.
Baytep - we must move in different circles. The people I speak to don’t have a perfect life, but they get paid, have free shelter and tickets home every year. Whatever their experience, it is far better than what they would expect back in Asia / Africa.
@@EdOeuna yes, some are better off than when they were staying home (although a lot also got pressganged and wish they never got into it). The problem is that they are treated as indentured servants (even if that is better than at home).
This is something Western people don't like to see as a moral value (the Arabs seem to be fine with it). And that explains why Western people who live there or go there for holiday are frowned upon.
i remember driving through this area in the late 90's and there was nothing there but a sand blown 2 lane road and out of nowhere a Hard Rock Cafe. Flash forward to 2005 and the road was a 10 lane highway and the indoor ski slope was being built, the worlds largest 1 story mall was there and about 30 skyscrapers were be built all at once.
All the service people were foreigners; Indian, Pakistani, Russian, Filipino and so forth.
All the building workers were housed in camps that were pretty much slums. They are not treated well. But they earn about 10 times what they would earn back home. This is why they do what they do, they work there for 3 to 5 years and then go home and have a sizable amount of money to live on or finance a business. Downside is they have to survive. Many die due to accidents and poor medical care.
That Hard Rock Cafe is the whole reason Dubai got rich.
Don't they also take away their passports so they can't leave before their contract is up?
@@Quaaludio not sure about that. They may have done that with the poor Asian workers who get treated like dogs, but western contractors myself included never had my passport taken off me. Plus we got treated far better than the Indians and Pakistanis, Filipino workers etc.
Felt like I was watching a “business blaze” “geographics” cross over 😂
Both Dubai and Business Blaze are built on the same concept. #freedanny
FIFY: "Here is a city that is a monument to modern slavery."
The fifa stadium in Qatar is being built using slavery but the western world doesn't seem to care
@@bigbootybartholomew6680 that sounds fucked I'd care to learn more if you can point me in the right r5
@@miguelpb3683 There's also quite a lot on TH-cam about this.
@EmperorJuliusCaesar if u call them slaves then give them a higher wage job and they will work for u instead, don't point your finger without understanding the full context since that can literately kill people, for example the boycott of nike forced them to close factories, what do you think happened to the workers? most went to work in shittier and more dangerous jobs and some died of starvation. new factories with better pay don't magically appear.
at least they are giving jobs that pay enough to let them survive and send their kids to school. its a good compromise that benefit both parties.
@@bigbootybartholomew6680 White guys talking about slavery, so funny.
@6:00 Why are you showing an American ship when talking about the British? And I'm sure the American flag did not have 48 stars on it at the beginning of the 19th century.
Just a stock image ... Get the information and not visuals..
The ship was captained by Marty McFly.
It could have depending on when that picture was taken....47 and 48 entered in 1912.
Simon sure had his coffee this morning, boy howdy
Cocaiiiiiiineeeeee
Allegedly.
I love how as time goes by little bits of "Business Blaze Simon" come out in his other channels like this.
My wife and I have both spent a good deal of time in Dubai. My wife absolutely loves the place but I have always found it over done, over the top, and frankly not worth the money for what it offers. I often move through the area on work related activities as such it was a nice stop over but generally speaking if I did not need to go to or through the area I would not. Many other cities off great attractions as well as unique cultural experiences. Dubai always felt like an over done, high end Disney world lacking all the depth that typically make visiting an area enjoyable. All the things you can do in Dubai can be done in many other cities around the world and more over most other places will fell more real and heartfelt.
Good story. I worked there for a month almost 30 years ago. I remember seeing aerial pictures of Dubai taken in the early 50s when there wasn’t much there. Alaska’s economy is like Dubai’s but on a much smaller scale. Oil prices are down along with tourism but we keep speeding like everything is great.Hell you could do a story on all of the states failed projects they wasted money on.
you should have mentioned how at the hotels vending machines you can buy gold. all different kinds and amounts of gold... in vending machines.... also you didnt show the camps of the people who built the city, which are slaves from surrounding countries... kind of disappointed in the recent history part of this episode...
I remember seeing a documentary on the workers who built those buildings. It was really sad. Dubai was pretty much using worker contracts and false advertising to lure foreign workers into slavery. They would fly in poor people looking for work, promising this amount of pay and a living space. Once they show up and get paid their circus peanuts, the company would dock their pay for their room and board, transportation and whatever fees there was for working in the country. The people then realize the scheme but it would be to late. They didn’t have money to go back home or rights to demand anything. Knowing that just makes the city ugly.
"...and Back Again?" starts at 21:00. You're Welcome
Dubai where you see plenty of pictures of skyscrapers but no pictures of people actually walking around living in the city.
Best time of the day is when a new video on this channel shows up on my feed.
Exactly how are they’re the greatest city again? There’s a lot way to get arrested easily so where is the “greatest” again?
One of the most unwalkable city of the world where going to the next block sometimes call for a long drive...
Last time I was this early, no one in the middle east was trying to kill each other. So... right before the rise of human civilization.
Ikr? It's kinda like the land is cursed or something
Koel_Hellion it’s also the land where the 3 biggest religions came from
@@h.w.m.306 sounds about right then
@@Koel_Hellion haha lol
Name a land without a rich history of human slaughter. Humans are just another animal on this planet. If other animals could have the capacity to kill one another like humans do, they would do it in a heartbeat.
To think we are separate from the animal kingdom is pure folly.
I can't for the life of me understand how they didn't see this coming. A high school student could have seen how bad this was going to crash. Seriously stupid.
Greed causes people to become reckless and stupid.
I predicted it and commented on Dubai videos 10 years ago.
I got a lot of flack. Being called a h8ter lol. And see whats going to happen now.
Slavery and one of the money laundering capitals of the world.
It smelled fishy to me from the start.
Correct. I came to the middle east to work 7 years ago and said then that Dubai was unsustainable. I was laughed at.
Pee Tee I left a lawless , unsafe country and moved to the Middle East 20 years ago . I still don’t lock my car or my front door . I’ve felt safer here than I ever did in my home country . And so do tourists . Crime is very very low here
@Pee Tee You don't have to be that wealthy, just don't live in democrat controlled cities/states.
"There and Back Again: A Desert City's Tale" by Dubai Baggins
That little smile and chuckle as he said, "so good they named him twice," had me rolling. 😂😂
Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai.
Was hoping for someone to make that reference
Do you feel like a hero, yet?
5:54 those "British" ships are flying the American flag. 🤣
With cost of “black gold” at 15-23 dollars per barrel, the USSR economy collapsed, and the sovok
itself collapsed, and the "golden" horde ("russia") budget can only be fulfilled only with oil price at $ 42.4 and higher
"...a long name haver and excellent facial hair possessor..." hahahahahahahahahahaha 😂🤣😅😆
Simon: "Then everything exploded" - Welcome to the Middle East (Jk)
what can I say. we Muslims die everyday and you ppl just make fun of us by saying "no offense but...". media have desensitized ppl
This is what news corporation propoganda does to people.
@@abdifatahabdi2411 This is apparently declared to be a bad joke (JK)
@@shahrukhkhan8307 Also it is totally fucked up that western countries wage war in arab countries but apart from that its still religious wars that need to be ended by the people living there and not taking everything too serious might help here a bit (At least more than batteling about BS like shiites vrs sunnites or territorial disputes from hundreds of years ago)
Simon's glee when he says "it's time for the British Empire to enter the picture" 🇬🇧😄
It’s crazy how fast this city has grown in such short time.
5:51 I didn't know the royal navy flew american flags.
Special relationship.
@@geographicstravel Special relationship? How so? Also, thank you for taking the time to answer.
"Putin, I hope your chopper is ready and fueled." ―Ceausescu's ghost
soulless city
This is false. With millions of people living there, they all have souls. Chernobyl is closer to your definition.
@@Redditaurus It's not the people but rather the place.
The whole city is just a massive casino with no real history, no great leaders or ancient tales of love and beauty.
A nation like Syria, Japan or Canada may suffer hardships but their identity as a nation will ensure that they endure.
Dubai is not like that. It's just a place you work in and when the money goes, so do you.
@@The_Daily_Tomato it just doesn't have any street life. Go to even a 100k large European city, their streets will look like a living creature. But in Dubai, it's just a 100 meter wide expressway and then ghostly glass skyscrapers which are also not made in any order. Even planned cities have their hustle and bustle, see Noida or Chandigarh in India.
@@monsieur1936 dunno about street life in 40+ degree celcius. Much better to be inside 20 degree sir conditioning.
@@prasunkumar117 how could you even write this despite being an Indian? And it's Dubai not British Empire where Sun would never set. It's built on desert which cools down hastily in night.
Interesting that the entrance of the British Empire at 6 minutes is represented by a painting of a U.S. Sloop of War as opposed to the Brits.
Ive been to Dubai, great country and very westernized, it is basically the financial hub for everything for the middle east. Not alot of restrictions, i will say that alot of the skyscrapers are an Aw to look at.
You can't prop up an enocomy on tourism alone. When the demand for oil drops in the next 10 years Dubai will end up like Detroit
As a native of rust belt America, former coal city of Pennsylvania, I have a wise perspective. Desert oil cities will disappear when the oil is gone or not profitable. At least Pennsylvania is fertile, nice land to live on. Deserts are inhospitable. If Pennsylvania and Michigan and Illinois and Ohio can't stop decades of systemic deindustrialized collapse and emigration from happening after their sure bet natural resource exploitation stopped, then Dubai has a snowballs chance in hell of being a major city in 100 years.
indeed. I cant see it being that huge in tourism terms as theres not exactly alot of history or nice scenery or even a vaguely pleasant climate to experience. Will it really stay greatly popular so people can go to the shopping mall?
They have the money to invest in other ventures that will keep them going for a while after the while. They have invested billions of real estate for rental incomes for capital cities around the world for one.
Sheik Recycle bin windows.. had a voracious appetite
I saw his cousin down the dole office, Hassan bin Workin
And let's not forget the insane amounts of slave labor used to build literally everything there.
I love listening to you talk about these geographic topics. Your Kowloon walled city video is absolutely awe inspiring. Thank you for sharing your smooth easy to listen to voice in such an amazing way.
*"Then, suddenly... Everything exploded!"*
*No the story just started, that happens at the end!* 🤣
I watched an interview with a Bangladeshi guy who had been working on a building site when he broke his leg. As he couldn’t work they dragged him off and dumped him just outside the gate and left him. No medical care, homeless, no money to get home, and not paid the wages he was due.
Seems about right. At least they didn't murder him...I guess.
"We can't see how everything is going to sheikh out"
For sale: World's tallest building. Slightly used. Nice view. Free heating.
Was there a number of times in the 1970s and it was indeed a small dusty village with an international airport.
You can blame capitalism but I prefer Uncle Ben's advice:
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Everytime the western man leaves these people descent into their natural ways
Western men have their own BS to work through. Don't be blinded by technology and the veneer of civility.
......And back again?...
Random Spec Ops the Line flashbacks...
I like how much more expressive your delivery has become in these videos, very engaging
I doubt he's ever failed history exams
I like this video a lot since you also showed how the UAE was formed as well. Must be something to see that those 7 emirates looked at each other agreed to form under one flag for their sake to survive
"Sheikh Long Name Double Name"
Guess you can't use the Ozzy Osborne meme everywhere
Bro you’re “Royal Navy” ship is flying a US flag...
With cost of “black gold” at 15-23 dollars per barrel, the USSR economy collapsed, and the sovok
itself collapsed, and the "golden" horde ("russia") budget can only be fulfilled only with oil price at $ 42.4 and higher
@mxt mxt A maskal ?
@mxt mxt that's the amount it needs to make per barrel in order to profit
@mxt mxt Like natural gas but that price is coupled to the price of oil.
I don't think Russia has too much to worry about because EU countries don't have significant natural gas resources and have to import Russian gas if they don't want to freeze in the winter.
Only the Netherlands has a big gas reserve and want to shut it down in 2022 because earthquakes (or have it as a tactical reserve in case Russia closes the valves)
One hundred years ago they were throwing rocks at each other and in one hundred years they will be throwing rocks at each other.
I saw a program showing how the neighbourhoods of Dubai are isolated from eachother by major roads.
They should have planned for lots of pedestrian access that pass under or over roads connecting areas using electric bicycles and scooters.
I think a cities designed for the motorcar are not pleasant places to live.
Look what oil did for them. Does..then consider Scotland has produced much more than Dubai AND Abu Dhabi, combined. Yet we have fuel poverty and, no oil fund. Shafted.
England sucked Scotland dry
@@camocas and continues to. Whenever independence or the fear mongering kicks in again it will of course be once again "not that important and, imminently running out" 😉
I did indeed smash the like button. You owe me a new phone. Luckily you're the best tuber out there!
7:45 Simon, Sheikh Longname-doublename is what I imagine Danny looks like, by now, in that basement of yours! Can confirm?
All other factors aside, they handled the British departure admirably well. In a lot of areas that would have led to a significant amount of violence and conflict. Have to respect that.
Love the Empire. Brought prosperity around the world.
Sheikh Mohamed looks like low budget Mel Gibson.
Dubai is still a desert. Just happens to have buildings on it.
"sent the Royal Navy in guns blazing..." shows an image of a US ship.
No town of 10k should have ever had such influence. So glad the age of oil is ending. Maybe civilization and human rights will now reach more places.
it would be nice if you could follow this video up with a look at Abu Dhabi.
I travel through dubai to get to work in Asia, it's beautiful.
"reads the title" And soon after a earthquake it will be the arabic atlantida
Um... is there a reason that "Royal Navy" ship we see blasting a pirate ship into "just so much driftwood" is flying the Stars and Stripes (several of them, in fact)...?
Correction: Halliburton did not up and move to Dubai. The company has dual headquarters located in Houston, and in Dubai, but it remains incorporated in the United States.
Do they actually pay any taxes here?
@@AZOffRoadster Yes. One of the largest taxpayers in the state of Texas.
Dubai has a ton of quirks, they also have a strange kind of racism - especially when it comes to hiring people, some companies will LITERALLY ask for a specific race to hire. Don't believe me? Try to look through job ads on some of their jobsites, odds are that you will invariably come across an ad blatantly doing that. You could NEVER get away with that in the US.
.
And that's not all, it's also a common practice in "most" middle-eastern countries for employers to HOLD on to your passports while you are contracted to them. If you somehow need it for some reason like for opening a bank account, for going on vacation, for sponsoring a relative etc where you need to show the original passport, you have to put in a formal application to GET BACK WHAT YOU ACTUALLY LEGALLY OWN before it is given back to you. While it's technically ILLEGAL, they do it anyway.
Why is Simon so easy to listen to? Keep up the good work!
Oil is over. Don’t think there is high demand for sand exports.
You would be amazed actually by the need for sand. Sand is the second most used resource in the world following fresh water. Anything glass uses it, anything needing silica (so basically all electronics) and construction needs millions of tons of it per year for concrete.
TheCrypto34 : and it’s available, like everywhere.
Tj Calkins - luckily for a Dubai it hasn’t got much oil and gas then.
I literally laughed so loud when you said 'Long mane double name'. Nice one Simon!
Built by modern day slaves and never completely finished. Dubai is greed and priveledge. It's gross. Yes I was there.
Title suggestion
Simon: From a land of tea to TH-cam's favorite beard
British vsauce
I spent a month there working at the port in 1991 preparing communications equipment to take in to Kuwait. I went to a museum and saw some pictures of the changes. I remember a picture of the early 50s and was impressed at the changes just till 1991, but now it is crazy. I don’t thing there is anywhere in the world that is all this new.