Reputation is a delicate thing and built into it at some sub-conscious level is a sense of fairness. Most good reputations are built around people or organisations being fair to others.
There is a certain irony in Dubai effectively bouncing a cheque on its creditors when ironically it is illegal to do the same in the emirate itself. Will the directors of the Dubai World get taken to court… I doubt it somehow.
What is coming out in the wash from the backwash of Dubai’s credit problems is the real state of Dubai’s economy and legal framework. If you are foreign you are low down the pecking order: lowest are the Indians and Asians doing the building work and domestic work who often enjoy very little legal protection against harsh employers.
The world credit markets may be spooked, but this embarrassment may well lead to the rulers of the emirate rethinking how they treat the people living in there.
