Comment #1:

Do you ever watch 20/20? On 12/17/2006, they had a segment about Dubai.

In addition to the underwater hotel described by your post, has its sites on building the tallest building in the world, they have a "tube" where you can go snow-skiing (in the middle of the desert), and they already have a yearly horserace that is supposed to be bigger than the Kentucky Derby.

Meanwhile, their leader, this billionaire sheik, is doing so on the backs of slaves. One might say to call them slaves is an exaggeration, because they do get paid, but such a contention is patently ridiculous. It is slavery. The interviewer made a point of saying that the stables for the horses that are in that annual derby are nicer quarters for living than the places where the workers are forced to live. The employees are from other countries, they were promised a certain wage before they left their homes, and they are getting half of that, at best. To make matters worse, their pay is withheld from them for months at a time, to keep them on the job. As you might imagine, labor unions are illegal in Dubai. Furthermore, Dubai is not a country with a free media. 20/20 is the first foreign news station to have been granted permission to broadcast this information, let alone interview the workers.

The spokesperson for the Dubai government, after grand-standing all the lavish spending and beautiful buildings under construction, in defense of this atrocious hypocrisy, concedes by saying something like, "I guess we'll have to work on it."

20/20 concluded the broadcast by stating that after their interview, the Dubai government had made some changes to enhance the working conditions for the slaves. I wish that 20/20 had been a little more cynical in presenting this fact, instead of expressing it as a hopeful symbol of improvements for these slaves.