86
‘The shine has been taken off’: Dubai faces existential threat as foreigners flee conflict
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
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Dubai was always an economy built on a bubble. As much as I hate how they treat foreign laborers and as much as I hate their current leaders, I have some respect for how far they were able to get with this model.
But ultimately, they are a country with little land, little water, terrible weather, and surviving on a vast expat population that has no path to citizenship and will always just see it as a destination to milk for as much money as possible.
I don't see how such a model could ever be seen as sustainable in the long run.
One could say the same about Singapore, yet it seems to be here to stay.
I've lived in both and while the similarities are there, it's a bit different. Singapore still has a majority non expat population while Dubai has only about a 10% local population. Singapore also invests heavily in local education with one of the highest densities of PhDs in the world.