An in depth piece from the Guardian on the sheen that is wearing off in Dubai as economic problems arrive there too.

But banks have stopped lending and the stock market has plunged 70%. Scrape beneath the surface of the fashion parades and VIP parties, and the evidence of economic slowdown are obvious. Luxury hotels are three-quarters empty. Shopkeepers in newly-built malls are reporting a drop in sales. In Dubai you expect to see a Ferrari parked beside a Rolls-Royce. But not, as is the case now, with scruffy For Sale signs taped to the windows.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/13/dubai-boom-halt