It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to write, but what prompted this was the recent events in Dubai. Looking back, my relationship with the city has been a strange, evolving journey. Growing up in Karachi, my childhood image of Dubai was simple and utilitarian: it was just a port where they pumped oil and planes took off. I remember the “Dubai Chalo” (Let’s go to Dubai) campaigns on TV (1980s)—those images of everyone heading off on ships. Back then, I had zero fascination with the place. To be honest, it seemed like the kind of world I never wanted to be close to.
Life, however, has a funny way of bringing you exactly where you said you’d never go.
After I got married, my perspective shifted. Visiting my wife’s family there showed me a side of the city I hadn’t expected—a “beautiful Karachi” in a way. But as the city scaled up, transitioning from a regional hub to a global spectacle of 1,000-foot towers and influencer-chasing “big ideas,” I felt that distance again. Friends moved there, but my wife’s family’s experience was complicated. My in-laws eventually wrapped up their lives in Dubai a few years ago. It didn’t end on the best of terms, and while it was a difficult chapter, I’m glad they’ve moved on to Canada. Even my wife doesn’t really connect with the “New Dubai”—she misses the classical, old-school city she grew up in.

The Shift: A New Reality
Recently, the narrative around the city has changed in a way that feels permanent. We’ve seen reports of regional tensions—missile and drone strikes affecting the Gulf, including incidents near airports and infrastructure. For a city that built its entire brand on being a “safe haven” for investment and tourism, these events change the atmosphere for the foreseeable future. 

The Information War
What I find most fascinating—and unsettling—is how the narrative is being managed. We’re living in an era of “fizzy laws” and strict control over information. People are being fined or even arrested for posting “real” news or raw footage under the guise of maintaining public order. 
This leads to a brilliant, if terrifying, technical play: The Corruption of AI.
Controlling the Source: If you control every piece of data coming out of a city, you control what AI learns.
The Feedback Loop: When AI “blurts out” information about Dubai, it’s only reflecting the sanitized, approved version of reality.
The Result: You get a loop of misinformation where the truth is buried under layers of algorithmic repetition.
It’s a brilliant strategy for protecting investments, but it makes you wonder: can you ever really trust the “safety” of a place if you aren’t allowed to see the cracks?
For now, the future of Dubai looks uncertain to me. It’s hard to justify investing a single dollar or Dirham when the gap between the official narrative and the ground reality is widening.