Three thousand foot tall skyscrapers (The Burj Dubai, 200 stories and 2-1/2 times taller than the Empire State Building), three artificial island chains- one of which is longer than Manhattan (12 miles), and the world's biggest shopping mall (10 million s.f. or four times the size of the Mall of America) makes Dubai a developer's paradise and an exciting thing to see.

I follow very closely the developments there and am excited that at least part of the world still believes in dreaming big (since we in the USA have given up on honest accountable Democracy, our rights as citizens, the wisdom of science, and big thinking ourselves, preferring to just intimidate the rest of the world into submission).

The future belongs to Dubai and the other UAE states, Asia, India and other nations who are learning all too well the lessons of freedom, Democracy and capitalism America taught them but which it has forgotten itself. Given some of these nations still have a ways to go in terms of Democracy and environmentalism, but at least the seed has been sown.

Of course in the mind of your avergae Salon writer 'all' opposion to the Dubai ports deal had to be "xenophobic". What an arrogant, presumptive and indeed insulting view. I'm sorry were not all as enlightened as you Mr. Leonard. Thank you for another 'racism, one-size-fit-all' explanation of public reaction. Move to the UK you would fit in very well with the current public ethos.

No one in your shallow view could oppose foreign ownership of major infrastructure based on principles of security and managmenet alone. Even if foreigners have previously owned this or that (a common rebutal) it does not make it justified or sensible. Xenophobia clearly played a role in bringing this to light, but I'm glad it elucidated a long neglected problem.

Why not analyze how 'green' Duabi's development is rather than your tar-and-feather job on many of your fellow liberals?

In last January's issue, National Geographic's print version had an article on Dubai and it's sudden growth. (excerpted here: http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/feature3/ )

Unfortunately, the excerpt only teases about the wonder of present-day Dubai--the latter half of the article describes the conditions and lives of some of the masses of poor people that are Dubai's construction workers.

Not to compare hastily, but Dubai and several cities in China are all examples of how such globalization occurs--on the broken backs of huge labor workforces, overworked and subjected to living in squallor. Many of these laborers in Dubai are extremely poor foreigners, whose prospects at home are often only marginally worse.

As an architectural designer in Seattle, I can honestly say that such explosive growth also comes at a much higher cost--safety of the workforce, competitive wages that can support an individual or even a family, and the plundering of natural resources at extreme speed are all consequences.

National Geographic's article has some startling images, but does not overtly make the comparison--look from one page of photographs and renderings of impressive, ultra-luxury ocean front property to the next pages of the open-sewer hovels that house the laborers.

Nowhere on earth can you so readily see the massive divide between the haves and have-nots than you can in these overnight cities like Dubai.

80% of all constructin cranes world-wide are in Asia.

64% of all construction cranes are in China. The construction crane should be the new symbol for the New China. Like the machines taking over in the Terminator, that is the feeling you get traveling from Chinese airports into their cities.

With the end of the Chinese New Year Holiday, right around now, it is estimated that about 300 million plus people will be returning from rural areas of China to their urban homes post their annual visit to their families back home. It is estimated that in the near future, another 300 million plus people will move from rural China to find new lives in urban settings (in China, the average urban town is about 5 to 7 million people.) The big challenge for the Chinese gov't, will be to make those cities the most sustainable cities on the planet - otherwise there might be dire consequences for those in power. Their survival is at stake. Perhaps this huge migration and the creation of truly sustainable cities will be a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Only other corollary to your article on Dubai is to remember that China now has a world trade surplus, except in regard to the Middle East. It is still just the tip of the iceberg, but China's thirst for more oil is insatiable.

And the scale of insatiablility is unique to China. In 2002, I heard Al Gore give a talk in Shanghai about bringing the internet to rural areas. At that time, China had about 5%-10% of its population using the internet but was already number two in the world in pc users.

I wonder how much play An Inconvenient Truth is getting in China? Especially as the Mongolian desert brings dust storms to Beijing on a regular basis, half of its cities rarely see the sun, but its economy hasn't even reached full throttle...there is a desparate shortage of construction cranes in this China.

... in which xenophobic fears that a company controlled by Arabs would be operating some U.S. ports led to a political firestorm.

Where you said "Arabs" I believe you meant "the feudal, aristocratic government of a tinpot dictatorship with a reputation for money laundering, terrorist financing, and human rights abuses".

Also, favoring human rights and equality over the divine right of kings is called 'western liberal democracy' not 'xenophobia'.

I'm with Chris.

To put it in more general (and less incendiary) terms:

My problem with the Dubai Ports World deal was not that the company is owned by Arabs. It's that the company is owned by a foreign government.

Companies owned or run by foreign individuals or private companies are a different matter: they are still businesses whose primary goals will be to keep their operations functioning and their customers happy. With governments - and government-owned entities, such as Dubai Ports World - other goals might take precedence at any time.

No part of a country's national infrastructure as crucial as airports or seaports should be operated by or under the control of a foreign government.

This seems to me such a no-brainer that I'm amazed the Dubai Ports World deal ever got the serious consideration it did, let alone that smart and serious people (like Andrew Leonard) still defend it.