The whole idea behind Dubai is they know the oil will be gone eventually. They are using the oil money now, trying to turn Dubai in to the playground of the middle east and make their money from high end tourism in the future and pulling in the corporate mongrels like Halliburton who has moved their headquarters there.
Yes that great American company, that has made it's fortune from no bid contracts given to them by our govt and paid for with our tax dollars has moved their HQ to Dubai so they don't have to pay taxes.. (quite ironically they made the announcement 1 year ago today.. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/12/business/main2558620.shtml )
Yea, I know all about Dubai and their re-gearing for the post oil economy. However, the rest of the region, as was mentioned, is not quite so far-sighted. Dubai has not been completely dependant on oil in a while, and with their reserves supposedly due to run dry around 2016, theirs will be one of the first economies in the region to leave it behind altogether.
The question was what would happen when the region collapsed. Dubai may remain, but the wealth around it will gradually wither. As a metaphor, imagine Las Vegas after the US economy goes completely down the drain.
Thanks for tossing in the Halliburton reference though. I see you're quite skilled at incorporating references to the Bush adminstration into just about any topic tossed out.
Here's one for practice: Sesame Street.