Dubai and Halliburton hardly an ideal match, business is business

When US oil services behemoth Halliburton said this springit was moving its corporate headquarters to Dubai, exudationof praises ensued at full throttle. Maestro developerMohammed Alabbar of Emaar grandeur for example recentlycited the move as proof that a global city is underconstruction in Dubai with no real estate bubble about toburst. Local and regional commentators from academia and media usedthe occasion to hail Dubai’s new international appeal andits welcoming attitude to foreign businesses, especiallywhen compared with the, at best, lukewarm US reception ofUAE-based companies to American shores. Even the soberFinancial Times called it the emirate’s biggest marketingcoup yet, even if it did allude to Halliburton’s reputationfor untoward corporate behavior. As a romantic fling, the affair between the US corporateanimal and the overachieving emirate would be worth chasingby gossip columnists and paparazzi—were it not for onemissing element: emotion. It is more a marriage ofconvenience and a dubious one at that. It is