Dubai. Power. Mobile

Christina/ September 18, 2009/ Culture

This article was meant to be a “brief notation”, just a hint that Dubai has a metro by now. The news, of course, is only intresting in that respect that the world’s expectancy comes to a halt for a second. Actually not the ultra-modern tube is the superlative in effect that, however breaks any record so far – of course. No, it is the overwhelming media feedback regarding the start of the rail-track-project on September 9th, 2009. It’s not that the induction of a tram would be something special. Finally Cairo disposes of a tube since 1987. And Cairo’s tube pique itself as being the only fully developped underground system in Africa. But, who cares? At least Dubai’s tube is the first in the Gulf region.

But, Dubai would not remain true to itself if the small emirate’s construction project did not become a show event: Next to a realtime Wikipedia entry, there is a You-tube video, more than one website informs about the project and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum himself airs his message on Facebook. Whether there’s Twitter news as well I do not know. But I simply act on the assumption that it is like that.

Chapeau – a small desert state knows exactly how to use social media for its own benefit and the ancient guard of print magazines goees along with it. To begin with “Spiegel” and “Spiegel online” via “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “die Welt”, the “FAZ”, the “Wirtschaftswoche” to the “Stern” to complete the squad of high-ranking German newspapers. Only the weekly newspaper “die Zeit” seems to have ignored the spectacle. And I don’t want to insinuate that they simply slumbered the breaking news.

Unfortunately, only the article by the FAZ critically analyses the latest accomplishment at the Gulf. “Get by the crisis with the tube’s help” they claim. But in the course of the article even the FAZ celebrates the metro construction in the end.

Just have some fun and try this: Google the keyword “metro dubai” and than “metro cairo”. You’ll be surprised I bet.

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