Dubai - the richest little city in debt

I was surprised to read the news story about Dubai being in financial trouble. They want to postpone interest payments on $60 billion in debt. The first thing is that I thought Dubai was a country with lots of oil. Shows you how much I look at a map! It's about the size and population of the Tampa Bay area, only hotter and drier. I thought, that with all of the palm islands and indoor ski slopes, they were rolling in cash. Apparently, only 6% of their revenue comes from oil. The wars in the gulf have given them a business opportunity in real estate and shipping. They must have bought into the same bullshit that the US real estate market did! Larger and more elaborate projects are running them into bankruptcy. Obviously, some things are just plain stupid. Who builds a ski slope in a city/country with an average temperature of 104 degrees? At some point, I would expect the sea to eventually take back the palm islands. Here's something to think about. Remember the controversy when it looked like Dubai World was going to control 6 of the US's major seaports? The concern over national security was legitimate. What if the port takeover had happened? Certainly, one of Dubai's creditors might be able to influence them in a way that was not beneficial to us. Of course, Bush was all for it. Another one of his stupid ideas! Thank God someone in Congress said "Whoa!!"