diablo

why Ali? you could have posted G.W. Bush in U.N. General Assembly:

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."

- George W. Bush, speech to UN General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002

shiva

because bush was scary and comical ali is just as insane as you mate

Eva

Diablo, I know you are from there ergo the Q.....
In my family closet, I have some Dalmatians.
Landgrabs are happening everywhere ...Spain, soon to be Cyprus(watch accession to EU) and will of course happen in the deunified Yugoslavia.
I understand why you may wish to divorce yourself from your roots but that doesn't mean you should have to cut your nose off to spite your face.
I will wager with you now.....tourism and property market will accelerate at a far greater rate in Croatia than it will in DXB.We need a complete renaissance in DXB, Croatia has had its blips but. doesn't need to re invent.
My money goes with my mouth and I'll stick it there.

diablo

i love these phrases you guys use ..."sane people", "like everyone else" and so on ... would you bet on any money that in 10 years from now all buildings in Marina will still stand (unless of course Oasis hotel)

i am an engineer with experience in risk assessments (anyhting from fires, explosions, structural failures, you name it) ... in my field we call it a 'reality check' ... for example someone says a probability of an event is 1 in 100 plant years ... we look 100 plants for a period of 1 year and investigate whether such an event hapened ... sometimes we find out that it did not happen in 1000 plant years and we conclude that the estimate is over conservative ...

back to 'falling buildings' ... if what 'everyone else' is saying is correct than having a probability of 50% of buildings falling in Dubai would show us at least 15 (out of 48) buildings falling down within the first 3 years in JBR and many many more in Dubai; how many have fallen so far; forget the opinion - show me the money ... it's mathematics and probabilities ... can any of you show any evidence of what you are saying rather than just making statements to put someone else's opinion down?

diablo

all you say is right and i tend to exaggerate a bit and yes they are part of european union and yes the outlook for croatia should be good if they price their properties right ... you shouldn't lose there ... at the end of the day it's a nice place with very good climate ... my bet on dubai is not in tourism but in energy sector ... i am hoping that energy center is moving to middle east and dubai (at least for me) is by far the best place for business in me. i could never make in australia what i make here. i won't talk about safety which is my primary concern having 4 children .. and you can't beat Dubai for it ... no drunk people on the street ... no hooligans ... beautiful people anywhere you go ... i just love it.

as for my roots ... i feel australian ... with home in dubai

diablo

bush was scary

you'd love to be insane like me you should meet me before you judge me

i am a very nice guy, back home everyone loved me ... ... i love taz mirza

Eva

Well the very best of luck in UAE with Energy.
I am sorry to hear Masdar has become a bit unstuck.......
Never been to Antipodaes so ain't got the Ozzie feeling
Best regards, sincerely

diablo

thanks, really appreacite that. same here.

shiva

was masdar ever stuck to become unstuck?
...great ideam would be better being managed by an infinite number of monkeys

Eva

Well I understand that -according to Mudaballah/ Al Jabar there are many proposals on the table for work in carbon management which has to be a step in the right direction.Also there seems to be some progress in discovering a more robust solar energy panel than the current one which cannot sustain allegedly in nigh on 50 degrees C.
A separate issue is the global financial crises which has arrested so many
projects in UAE.

I do take your point however about Masdar being fantasy. While the UAE may no longer be the No 1 carbon footprint in the WWF Tables(thought Qatar had deposed them) and while there are now Academic course avail at Uae Universities in Energy etc; one just has to drive the length of SZR or Khaleej Al Arabi to see the real take on how Nationals feel about a greener future and I don't just mean the gas guzzlers, I'm talking about the litter and debris cast out of the gas guzzlers without a second thought.

shiva

dont get me wrong its a great idea unfortunately its run by idiots who are merely paying lip service to said great idea.....that and the fact that in a couple of places they are heading down the wrong route completely and are wasting a golden opportunity. I do agree however that its a tad ironic that on one hand you have masdar and on the other you have a population hell bent on using and disposing of the entire worlds production of stuff just because they can afford to

Eva

'Tis the one singular element that p's me off bigtime about AD & DXB....the Peacock Syndrome...'we've got it so we'll flaunt it'. Unless they get over the hedonism,they will be devoid of the expertise, the education and the expat professionals projects such as Masdar require to succeed.Besides,we all know simply chucking money at something doesn't work...- well most of us know that.