An anchor of the Dubai-based television program Emirates News started her daily run through of the headlines one recent evening by reporting that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, was on his way to Paris. That the state-affirming Dubai One TV cites Sheikh Mohammed’s activity at the top of its program is nothing out of the ordinary. But this particular newscast piqued my interest because the trip was linked to Dubai’s bid to host the World Expo 2020 fair. Dubai is one of four cities competing to host the event, and the contenders last month made their penultimate presentations at the annual convention of the Paris-headquartered Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), an intergovernmental organization of 167 member countries. The final vote of BIE members, including Lebanon, is due in November after another round of symposiums in candidate cities Yekaterinburg, Russia in July; Sao Paulo, Brazil in September;
