A remarkable transformation is occurring in the desert sheikdom of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In the ruling elite’s quest to turn the territory into the Singapore of the Middle East, the population is booming, billions in oil wealth is pouring into the country’s relatively free market, and unbelievably opulent projects are springing from the desert sands, such as the world’s tallest building and an exclusive community built on artificial islands in the shape of palm leaves.

More startling, this is just the beginning. A recent study by the government projects that the population of Dubai will reach five million by 2020 from 1.2 million today. Less than twenty percent of the population of Dubai is native born and this percentage will shrivel as the population of the emirate booms. Most of them live in government-built enclaves apart from all the foreigners who surround them.

The question is, why? What on earth do the citizens of Dubai benefit by this influx of millions of non- citizens? And what is the long-term plan for the management of these guests? Will they stay for a stretch and then return to the Philippines, or Pakistan, or Britain? Well, some undoubtedly will, but there will come a time some decades in the future when entire generations of people will have lived their entire lives as guests in Dubai and will undoubtedly begin agitating for official status. Within a blink of an eye, the natives of the emirate will become tiny minorities within their own countries.

Read the rest: http://theopinionator.com/Politics/duba ... rica1.html