Today there were three articles that called my attention. The third os for another day. It was loaded with sarcasm and if not that it would be the irony of the matter and that is for another day (probably tomorrow) but the first two drew my attention. The second towards the first, but that starts with an article by Sophos giving us ‘Sophos announces UAE data center’ (at https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2025/07/18/sophos-announces-uae-data-center/) where we learn that Sophos is about to open a new data centre. We get to see “This expansion is about democratizing access to cutting-edge cybersecurity, powered by AI, automation, and the strength of our partner ecosystem.” The rest is a combination of marketing and sales ‘initiative’ taking this setting is not wrong, I tend to see it as less effective and as it is on the Sophos site, but I get why this was done. There is nothing negative on the ‘announcement’ that they made.
Yet the second article optionally grips into this should the centre be set in Abu Dhabi. There is the option that Sophos could entertain consultancy solutions for the embassies in Abu Dhabi.
The second article (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/aviation/wizz-air-uae-employees-struggle-with-sudden-exit) is the Khaleej Times informing us of ‘‘Don’t want to leave UAE’: Wizz Air employees struggle with sudden exit, look for jobs’ the setting of Wizz Air where “pilots, cabin crew, managers, and other staff connected to Abu Dhabi operations, face uncertain future and seek clarity” consider that not all will be able to score a new job quick. There is the likelihood that most will be offered a new position by Emirates and/or Etihad Airways. It will give these people a way to continue their career. And the other? Well that is where article one comes into play. Sophos will need technicians, customer care, technical support and others and as such these people will have the option for all kinds of positions that they might easily be able to shift into and for Sophos it is a way to get localised people with motivation to do well. A setting that serves both sides in the process. But then I could be wrong and the idea goes nowhere. But there these two articles were and they might complement each other and that is a setting that should never be ignored. And if my suggestion solves two problems then it is 3-0 for me (I get an extra point for balancing the issues against one another) and that is how we create a positive balance. Unlike the profit seesaws that investors are trying balance towards personal profits.
I think I get to feel pretty good about now. Tomorrow I get to throw in my own glasses as I exploit sarcasm and irony against one another. It is a too appealing way of life for me at this point.
Yup there you have it, after all these wretched newscast on a matter of settings, not in the least that the US dollar is dwindling down in value (not the weirdest case), my mind said “Stop it, now” and it started to fuel a creativity spur, and so it begins
I was getting ready to get to water world (Abu Dhabi), I had checked into the Warner brothers hotel and I was getting ready. My shorts were like boxing shorts (with in inner bathing trunk) liking like the Hufflepuff graduate I always imagined myself to be. The shorts dropped down to slightly below my knees. They were black with golden yellow embroidery and on each leg was the image of Benny the Badger. The top was the same, spaciously hiding me not so muscular chest with a large badger on the chest and it had an embroider Hufflepuff (golden thread) and a white bucket hat showing the simple Badger on the front, as such I was pretty protected from the harsh summer sun that Abu Dhabi creates for us and I would be well equipped to soak and splash in the Al Raha River, not bad for little old me. Pouch on the waist with waterproofing section for my watch, keys are there too. Sunnies at the ready, and here I go. I walked to Water world which was a mere 10 minutes and felt the early morning sun on my skin. It was 09:45, 15 minutes before it opens and I was early duo that I could get my preferred cabana, which had water and a little safe. I walked slowly as to take in the sights. It was a clear blue sky the water was already beckoning at the far end and I looked forward to seeing it. It took me 12 minutes to get to the place and as I had a spare minute I looked into the shop at the entrance. There Wass nothing spectacular, but it never hurts to check. As the park opened, there were three families in front of me and the it was my turn I asked for the cabana and presented my card. I had a diamond card, as to maximize my joy anywhere on Yas Island, she asked me if I had preference and I did and within a minute, I was on route to my happy place.
As I walked into the park I was amazed with the absence of people, just the way I liked it. I walked to the cabana, put away my stuff and walked to the lazy river. I had no problems getting to it. I soon was on a float being whisked away in dreams bobbing on the waters creating that hazy feeling whilst dreaming away the day. It must have been almost two hours when I woke up from the sleepy setting I was in, I saw that people were putting bags of crystals in the water. On a day? This seems odd, and a moment later I got off and walked onto one of the wooden parts next to the river. I looked around. I saw men with what looked like a closed oxygen system on their chests. This seemed highly unusual. I moved off the paths and looked from a distance. I had not been noticed, or at least that was what it seemed to me. At some point these men looked at their mobiles. They all nodded and put in their oxygen systems. That did not bode well for me, so I got to some distance from the water. Then I noticed the smoke on the water. People panicking and the setting of fear came to the crowds. Some to the men pulled out silenced weapons. I reckon that they wanted the noise down to maximize casualties. I suddenly noticed someone close to me doing the same thing. And I looked around me, seeing a sunscreen umbrella. I detached the lower part and I now had a small spear. Thank god for Emirati efficiency. He was not looking my way. I slowly crept on hum and when he looked around and spotted me it was too late. I drove the ‘spear’ into his throat right between the Adams apple and the lower jaw. I pressed hard. His voice was instantly gone, he had no change to warn anyone. I held the back of his neck as I pushed the rod into his brain. I dragged his body off the beaten track and dropped his body into a non-seen nook. I took his gear and put on the oxygen system, my face became unseen. I had no recourse for clothes, but if they could see that, they would clearly see I wasn’t one of them. He had three clips and the Russian PB, the Pistolet besshumnyy felt comfortable in my hands. It had 8 bullets and with 3 clips I could take care of 24 people. I had no idea what I was going in for. At the mean time I saw the dead people float on the lazy river. I cautiously walked towards the entrance. I saw three at the intersection in the Dhabi zone and I waited for a second, then I fired in quick succession three bullets. One hit the first ad the person behind him, the second hit the separate person and the third missed, but I got closer to the fallen person who was clearly wounded, but not dead. I forest again on his head. I saw a tourist bleak with fear. I cautioned he to come to me. She obeyed. I asked where she was from, she said the Netherlands and she said something like ‘What gebeurt hier? Wat moet ik doen?’ I spoke in slow English verbs. She understood me. I warned her that bad people are around. I gave her an oxygen system. She put it on. I told her that everything is dangerous here. I then showed her the walls where an exit should be. I pointed at the shrubberies and told her to hide until she could hide no longer. I gave he a general direction to move and she asked it these were terrorists. I nodded and said. I think so.
She nodded and I gave her a second oxygen system. She accepted the other system. I kept a reserve for me and took the nine clips and did not give her a gun. She might not use it and ended up rearming the fiends.
I pushed he on her way and she walked of as quick as she could. I looked at a map and saw the entry point at the other side of the Dhabi zone. I saw several men in masks, too many to consider going, but they were shooting people, so I got two guns ready and I went in as low and unseen as possible which in the Dhabi zone was a test. There were some hedges, but they didn’t offer any cover, mere absence of vision. I got in as close as I could and when I saw the 4 dead tourists, I direct on the terrorists. Nothing as fancy as headshots. This was not a PS5 game, this was real. I shot the 4 in the chest, which tends to be intensely painful. At least that was what their faces revealed. I got in lose and shot them all in the head. Problem solved.
At that point I waved at other tourists and pointed at the exit, they never hesitated. All wanting to get out and the parents eager to get their children out. And they went for it.
At this point I can confer that this is as far as I got in a little over an hour. There is more, there is the setting of little vans, all carrying Arabic looking license plates. All VW Caddy’s all carrying ‘EG’ identification and all loaded with explosives. I got two to safety (I gotta caress my ego) but there were 4 more. And all were shouting Free Palestine. A setting systems that has a few more conkers in the story. In the end there would be a lasting anger that would engulf both the UAE and Saudi Arabia and they had enough of Hamas and Palestines. In unison they bombed Palestine out of existence. Palestine went from 5.1 million to less than 50,000. And whilst there was some noice from Tehran, no one was listening to the boy who cried wolf a little too often. The attack on the UAE was the one thing that settled their deal of non-existence. There was a nice event where an islamic girl was saved who then later on in the story sees a similar van and she follows it and uploads the images to a person with Emirati security who we both meet at the end of the Water World setting. The attacks would also be in the Yas Mall (a prevented attack) and Emirati security finds the plans for the 5 pronged attack all over Abu Dhabi, the second assault would be over the next 4 days, giving a much larger terror feeling. Anyway. If the Yas Creative Hub in Abu Dhabi or Mark Whitehead, CEO of twofour54 finds this part useful, feel free to use it.
I did my creative part for the week. Time to see what entertainment America’s dwindling set of slapstick economies hold.
That is the setting as I see it. It is not a nice setting, but it is a setting that is about to overwhelm the American people. You see MSNBC gives us (at https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/social-security-funding-shortfall-trump-rcna214505) less then 4 hours ago ‘Social Security’s crisis is a year closer — and Trump’s approach will make it worse’. Now before I go any further, this is an opinion piece. Not something that MSNBS journalists have ‘figured’ out. It does come from By James Downie, MSNBC Opinion Editor. As such it does seemingly been considered safe and true (whatever that means nowadays). I always saw this coming well over 5 years ago. But now we get “The Social Security Board of Trustees said last week that the program’s combined trust funds will run out of money in 2034 — one year earlier than was projected in 2024” I’ll be in my 70’s at that point and likely in a similar state. But the setting that this is coming is clear. I reckon that in 2-3 years it will be set to an end of funds mark of 2032. This is not presumption. It is mere speculation as tourism in America is taking a nosedive to losses in excess of 21 billion. Consider how many small businesses will be hurting around 2027 and these people will draining the social security finds even further. So, as we are given “Though Social Security counts over 73 million people as beneficiaries, the news went largely unremarked in Washington. And to be fair, there’s been a lot going on. But soon enough, Social Security will face a funding crisis — and President Donald Trump’s approach will only make matters worse.” You see, no matter what the turnaround will be. People in the Commonwealth and EU have had enough of American ego tripping as it comes without value for their travel tickets and they are now (read: next year and 2027) opting for Paris (Disney), Abu Dhabi (WB and Disney), Tokyo (Disney, WB) and a few other places. All theme parks in America will feel that impact, so staying in denial will not help. And it isn’t merely theme parks in this China is also making waves, as we are given “Yabuli’s ski tourism resort received over 1 million tourists by February 11, an 18% increase compared to 2024” 18% is a lot and it is getting stronger for China as many of the tourists shunning America will try Yabuli, China. In this even Canada will feel that pinch as the most common complain for Whistler has been long lines. People love British Columbia and they love the Canadians. It is just those massive waiting lines and that will need fixing (merely my view on the matter). I cannot say how good Yabuli is as I never been to China, but the food at the Chinese restaurants are delicious, as such I reckon they might be in China too.
And as we are given “When Trump and his allies do talk about Social Security, they say they’re going after “waste, fraud and abuse.” In his address to Congress this year, Trump repeated claims about Social Security going to “millions and millions of dead people” — claims debunked by his own Social Security Administration. The SSA’s acting inspector general reported in February that overpayment of benefits averaged $3.4 billion per year for the last four years. For context, the cost of the entire program in 2024 was nearly $1.5 trillion.” As such there is a lot wrong in this caper. As such we might see overspending in the wrong items, but the larger setting could be seen as “First, a bit of a background: Social Security is (primarily) a pay-as-you-go system — payroll taxes on today’s workers fund benefits for today’s retirees. From 1983 — the last time the program’s finances were overhauled — until 2021, Social Security took in more than it paid out.” This is as I see it in part due to the lack of overhauling the tax laws. Taxing the rich will not help here (it never did) but the tax systems needed an overhaul and that wasn’t done and as we see that this system is paying out more than it is bringing in shows that essential need. I predicted this (on other facts) close to twi decades ago and this was an element I never drilled into. So how were the lawmakers and the administrations that were active between 2001 and 2020 looking at? How did they miss this and gave the tax cuts to all the FAANG members and more? Because that is the essential coins that are missing at present. These lawmakers drove the American systems to bankruptcy (as I personally see it) and that is merely the start of a massive wave of mismanagement. It is nice to blame President Trump, but he is merely a factor, I agree a non-helping factor, but the people behind these laws have a rather nasty large responsibility here and as I wrote before. They were not doing the job they seemingly signed up for.
As such a lot needs to be done and we might think it will be the border patrol barring people from entry as they have a Vance meme picture (a case of a Norwegian tourist) but that one tourist is making all of the Norwegian tourists resetting their vacation and that amounts to a lot. We might not have exact numbers, but the last setting was that 58% travel abroad, at least once a year and a massive amount of them will not be going to America. This might just be 3 million of them, but these millions affect millions of other Europeans and as the Swedes and Danes look at their Norwegian brethren it suddenly amounts to an additional 10 million seeking other destinations. And as such I reckon that before November we will be given a number that will look disastrous against the $21,000,000,000 predicted now. And these people will all tweet, X or tickets tock it all on social media and that amounts to a lot more than America will be comfortable with and as the ‘rigorous’ seeking social media of the arriving tourists continues, more nations will drop America for a better deal. As such as we see that still happen in Q4 2025 America will lose whatever tourists they thought they had and this is undeniable. As the media loses more and more credibility, the fake news spreaders will keep the American arrival halls even more empty. A setting that hasn’t ever happened. The dream location that used to be America will become another place. These two are connected. It isn’t merely what funds the SSA will be missing out on, the setting becomes that “More than four million people will turn 65 in 2025. It’s a phenomenon known as Peak 65. It also means a lot more people are getting ready to retire. Financial advisors said that makes saving for retirement an even bigger conversation.” And at present there is every indication that a lot of them will not be bringing in funds to the SSA, as such the shortfall for the SSA increases and that is only looking at tourism. All connected businesses will suffer. Theme parks, B&B, small businesses who rely on tourists and that list goes on. So, consider that 11% less tourists are taking taxi’s or public transport. How much will these two suffer? This isn’t merely a ripple effect, it is ripple upon ripple upon ripple. And that is showing to be waves of damage. It is a vicious circle that impacts all businesses in America.
So as some might realise that the impact is a lot worse than expected, consider al the downfall it will bring to the SSA (Social Security Administration) and that might give you the show that the telling that the Sea runs out of money in 2034 might seem optimistic and that gets us to the loss of additional years. As such 2032 might still seem optimistic, and I could agree, but there are other factors. You see, whomever replaces him in 2028, might have other numbers but there is every chance that at that point it will be too late. For the simple reason that you cannot fuels the SSA in three years and that gets us to the prediction I made around 2015. I am not an economist, but I saw this happen at that point and that was before I knew what a dangerous situation the SSA was in. So, do you still think I saw it wrong? It’s OK if you do and if you do not agree with my assessment, that is fine too. You shouldn’t just trust me (or anyone else for that matter) as such you need to ‘rely’ on whomever you trust. I am merely telling you what I saw and when I reported it and that is a timeline you can use to rely on me, or to debunk me. Both are equally valid as I see it and I don’t make any claim of having the better truth. I can be show the wrong facts and I tend to use the media with links, so you can make up your own mind. I merely see (in this case) that MSNBC is giving me a similar setting that I predicted using very different facts. As such I feel validated, but the term validation is a stretch, I know that. So make up your own mind and as these facts are shown to be true and America could go from bad to worse, consider where you and your family are and where you might end up.
Have a great day and consider having a lovely time today. As I personally see it, good days are seemingly becoming harder and harder to come by.
It seems correct to use this expression when this is a follow up to ‘All Dressed up’ which you can find (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/05/31/all-dressed-up/) in my blog and written a little over 3 weeks ago. I saw the impending fallout and now there is too much to ignore. You see, we now see (less than an hour ago) a story from Travel and Tour world giving us (at https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/trumps-impact-on-u-s-tourism-a-crisis-thats-becoming-hard-to-ignore/) ‘Trump’s Impact on U.S. Tourism: A Crisis That’s Becoming Hard to Ignore’ and it has off springs in this matter. You see as we are given “For years, the United States has been a top destination for international travelers, drawing millions from across the globe, particularly from countries like Germany, the U.K., and Canada. However, since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, a noticeable decline in international tourists has emerged, signaling the onset of what could be a long-term tourism crisis. As the U.S. struggles to regain its footing as a global tourism hub, several regions across the country are starting to feel the economic impact.” This statement is putting it mildly. One source even gives us “The United States, once the undisputed leader in global tourism, is witnessing a seismic shift in traveler preferences. Over the past eight years, a cocktail of restrictive visa policies, trade wars, and polarizing rhetoric has driven a 9% annual decline in international arrivals since 2017. This exodus of tourists—projected to cost the U.S. economy $22 billion in 2025—has created a rare opportunity for investors to capitalize on emerging tourism hotspots in competitor nations.” With the limelight caught with “a rare opportunity for investors to capitalize on emerging tourism hotspots in competitor nations” and the UAE and Saudi Arabia will be profiting from this setting. As will Japan, China and Europe. In an age where America is bleeding interest over a debt of 36 trillion, a loss of 22 billion will be felt through and through. Oh, and that 500 billion investment that is called Stargate (an odd thing to do, name an IT project off an Sci-fi tV series that is founded on fantasy) is currently in the running to hit a few snags and that will have a longer lasting effect than anyone can gather. As such 2026/2027 will likely be the last year that the world speak of the United States of America. As soon as it is possible California will try to be the bear republic (something to do with the flag) and the Washington State will likely move mountains to become part of Canada. In that setting as America’s social settings will collapse the American people will feel and see themselves and all their neighbors decline in a way America hasn’t seen since the great depression and this time it will be worse.
And we get more “Stricter visa screenings, prolonged wait times, and high-profile detentions (e.g., a British tourist held for 12 days in 2024) have fueled fear among travelers. Canadian land crossings, once bustling, now see 44% fewer vehicles due to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. Meanwhile, 36% of Canadians who planned U.S. trips in 2025 canceled them, citing safety concerns.” This is not a simple setting. It is fueling fear that America is no longer the space to be and last week Australians were given ‘Australian tourist’s warning after being deported from US in ‘traumatic’ ordeal’ and it isn’t a nice setting (source: news.com.au) “Mr Kitchen said he had done a “superficial clean” to remove any potential red flags a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer may “uncover with three minutes of glancing”. But he did not prepare for CBP to have already looked at his online presence before he even made it to the long customs queue at LAX.” I would personally view this as a setting would only see in books, or FSB documentation. American policy is pushing tourism away. Which is fine by me, but I reckon that Universal will gain that back from tourists (what tourists?) They just invested 8 billion in their new Epic Theme park and it looks amazing. There is just one catch it needs people and YouTube showed you all yesterday a theme park absent of visitors. The most beautiful theme part America has ever seen, pretty much perfect in every way is seeing no people and queues for many rides that are seemingly less than 15 minutes. You think the economy of that setting can recover? The people will be much happier visiting Yas island in Abu Dhabi with 5 parks right there (and a mall that is amazing to behold) with a train connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 35 minutes, I reckon that 2026 and 2027 the UAE will become the place to be which amounts to not only Europeans and Asians seeking a new holiday spot, but many Americans will join that queue in a heartbeat.
So as we are given “As the U.S. tourism industry suffers from a reduction in international visitors, the impact on local economies is becoming increasingly evident. For cities and regions that rely heavily on tourism dollars, the decline in foreign visitors means fewer hotel bookings, reduced spending in restaurants and shops, and a general downturn in the hospitality and entertainment sectors.” As such America created a place for themselves where no one wants to be. Not even Americans. And when that shift is completed, how will America pay for the annual interest of $1,620,000,000,000 because that is what 4.05% interest looks like and when the essential services collapse, the fallout will be EPIC (not like the empty theme park) and that is something the media was eager to hide as they have advertisement quota to fill. The problem is that this is short sighted as American businesses are about to no longer afford those. So where to next? China? Isn’t that what this American Administration was eager to prevent?
And I only mentioned Universal. So how about Disney? Their largest success is about to become Disney Abu Dhabi (earliest in 2027). A side I didn’t consider in my initial calculations was given to me by Invest. They give us “Anti-immigrant policies and LGBTQ+ restrictions (e.g., biological sex mandates on visas) have alienated key markets. Western Europe’s unfavorable view of the U.S. hit record highs in 2025, with 50% of Britons and Germans now avoiding U.S. vacations.” I get that this would have an impact, but 50% britons and Germans was a little more then expected. I heard a saying in 1999. “First you get along then you go along” I personally see saw it as a BS expression. Something the greed driven say to get what they want. I never expected to see it in this light, I never did. But the signs are unmistakable. California is supposed to be the richest state, its economic offset is in the top 10 globally, now we get “A major factor is the projected 9.2% drop in international visitors” that is massive. Hotels and restaurants will see the hurt. Established places will likely survive, the rest becomes a debate for speculation. And if revenue goes down a mere 5% for the 10% loss of visitors, as I personally (speculatively) see it, we will see a 4%-5% of people losing their jobs. In a state the size of California that is big. A source stated “Los Angeles is experiencing a significant drop in tourism, particularly from Canada and Mexico, with some areas reporting a 25-30% decline in international visitors” and California is just starting to repair the fire damage it has had. As such the movie industry is likely to find places in Canada (like Vancouver) to see their productions get through and that is not all. A massive rewiring of streaming services might be required all these elements come with costs and in America that might be tax deductible, yet that puts the America administration is a massive bind. When revenue falls and taxable revenue falls too, the setting becomes a bit of a problem, especially when 1.6 trillion is due at end of every fiscal year. I wonder if the orchestrators of this revenue venue had seen this through.
So whilst the theme part lovers are pushing for Tokyo and Abu Dhabi as their next destination, where does that leave America? They could ask Canada to help out, but that bridge was already burned. The penguins on McDonald Island don’t care and they will heartily repeat the message dolphins gave us, as such “So long and thanks for all the fish”
A lovely Douglas Adams setting, so as America is dragging its feet against Iran and the people of this world. They might be losing tourists now, but in a short time they are also losing allies and even people ready to listen to them. One leads to the other and as America has less and less money to spare, the people who were ready to listen to them will turn their ears to China and the Arabic nations. In less then three decades they lost what took more than a century to build. And Wall Street? Well, they will just move to London, Dubai, Tokyo and Paris. Although, when the dollar goes, the sight of Tokyo might become mighty grim soon enough.
That is what we all seek (if we can afford it), that golden ticket that is out in the open and we are in time to grab it. I get it, it is not easy and you need to have feelers out, but that is at time the setting we face. For example, Disney Golden Oaks has had his new park settings with residences and houses out there for almost a year. This is nothing bad. The places look amazing and when you are approaching retirement, or a life setting where you get to enjoy life at least three months a year (basically before the Trump era) nearly everyone who has the money would grab something like that. They are still taking orders, so there is space. I am not criticizing the setting. Disney has made enormous strides with their Golden Oaks and these places are top notch. The setting that the Four Seasons is there as well, merely adds charisma and flavor to that place. So what gives?
You see, the Emirati News Agency WAM, gives us (at https://www.wam.ae/en/article/15l6shd-aldar-announces-launch-day-sell-out-all-133-homes) a simple setting. They give us ‘Aldar announces launch day sell-out of all 133 homes at Waldorf Astoria Residences’ a setting where we see a launch day sell out? Don’t get me wrong, I cannot afford living there, so I don’t feel sad. I had my eyes set on Sama Yas (which I cannot afford either) but at least it is more affordable than either two. And lets be clear onboard this, as America slides down to a near third world stage, would you want to live in Orlando? Yas Island will be the new Saint Tropez. With its 4 theme parks (soon to be 5) and Warner Brothers being busy to add the world of Harry Potter to their Arsenal, that place will be da bomb (as the expression goes). Ferrari World, The Yas Mall (not as big as the Dubai Mall), but a cracker of a mall. WaterWorld with slides, lazy river and all, SeaWorld which might be the most impressive water zoo you have ever soon and the Warner Brothers Theme park, soon to include these rascals from Hogwarts. And in (an expected) 2027 Disney will grace that place too. So what is there to hesitate over? Well the 133 new owners of their Waldorf Astoria Residences had that same idea and on launch day it all sold out. The first ever branded residential development on Yas Island generating AED 850 million in sales. That almost a billion amounts to $232 million, which amounts to a little under $2 million per unit, there are different sizes, so the small ones are cheaper, the big ones larger and Golden Oaks gave us the setting that they started at 5 million. So it is a win in several ways. And it gets better if you get the Yas Annual Diamond pass, which gives you unlimited Quick Pass Access at all Yas Theme Parks and offers unmatched benefits, such as 25% off dining, shopping, and more. Plus, you’ll receive early park entry, special events, and exclusive member-only experiences. And the price (at present) is $900 a year, with all these benefits you would be crazy not to get it, especially as it gives 25% on loads of stuff, even in the Yass Mall. For an entire year? That pass will earn itself back in less than a month. As such, I reckon that the price goes up when Disney is added to the flavour. And as there are free busses all over Yas Island, the need for a car becomes debatable.
So in that world where does Orlando stand? Nowhere as I see it and Abu Dhabi has a lot more to offer. As I personally see it theme parks in America are soon done and when the economy collapses (which is likely to be this year) there will not be any reason to go to America. So when you consider these news clippings that America is crawling up from the mud, consider that the Economic times gave us 4 hours ago ‘Adrian Mowat on why non-US assets are becoming more appealing than US equities & bonds’ you’re seeing merely a first and as the pressures on Yas Island to expand is clearly seen in many ways, we will need to consider that America is close to done for. 17 hours ago we were given ‘Half of the bond market is US Treasuries. Why it’s ‘not healthy.’’ Remember that I talked about the dangers of Japan or China dumping the bonds they have and the other one following suit as not too be left with (what I personally speculative see) as toilet paper. Well this is a first sign. The entire Waldorf Astoria setting was out in the open and it is gone on launch day. Orlando never pulled that off, not even when they were the luxury height of the residence markets. As such the oligarchs, the billionaires and others will soon get their own place there and perhaps several already have their place. In addition, the UAE is a zero tax nation, well not exactly, but you do not pay income tax, so the money you get is the money you get to spend and with a Diamond card it gets to be even cheaper. Don’t think you are stuck there. The high speed train ride takes you to either place in 30 minutes, so breakfast in Dubai and Dinner in Abu Dhabi (or the other way round) becomes a reality, although I was unable to find prices, but a normal train going at half the speed is also an option, as such you would be in a train for an hour.
As I see it the UAE is not merely making waves, they are an economic tsunami about to unleash their good times and as I see it America (Europe too) will face the economic onslaught it makes on both of them and as I see it, with the F1 also on Yas island, the setting gets to me almost embarrassing for America. And feel free to look at the Abu Dhabi videos on YouTube done by hundreds of visitors. A city that is clean, safe and spacious. What more do you need? The article ends with “Commenting on the sales performance, Jonathan Emery, Chief Executive Officer at Aldar Development said: “The sell-out of Waldorf Astoria Residences Yas marks a significant milestone for Aldar and highlights the attractiveness of Yas Island both as an investment destination and prime residential address. As the island’s first branded residential offering, its overwhelming success is a strong indicator of the rising demand for luxury, hospitality-led living in Abu Dhabi and the universal appeal of the Waldorf Astoria brand.”” As such I wonder what will come next, because the intake of wealthy residents is merely at a start this implies that Abu Dhabi is looking at 3-5 new settings and as the Satellite photos show, between Zayed International Airport and Yas Island are several large ‘plots’ that might be the setting of more. The influx of wealth and economic good times are setting a new era for the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi. Did anyone consider that when billionaires see new grounds, they tend to go from other places? Where does that leave America? You see, you can spin all you like, but when the wealth walks away they might be left with merely a dozen wealthy people and President Trump is not that rich, so when Elon Musk leaves, the expression about rats leaving the sinking ship comes to mind. Oh, by the way, I am not calling Elon Much a rat, or implying that he is leaving. But I think the setting comes across to all my readers (and its not my mum, cause she is dead).
A larger setting is coming to the shores of America and I have stated that as warnings for over the last 2 years at least, so whilst we now get “‘‘Death spiral’ nears as US debt service costs reach ‘unsustainable’ levels’” (source: Sky News) consider that I stated this danger es early as October 4th 2021 in ‘Utter insanity’ referring back to an article I wrote in 2013, it has been this long that the media could have informed you. Did they? Oh and the fact that October 4th is also World Animal Day is merely icing on the cake. I like my irony with a sweet tooth. I am a victim of circumstance. Still, the setting was clear years ago, you merely needed to learn to use an abacus, something that has been around for over 3000 years, no super computer needed.
So have a great day and enjoy your morning coffee in Toronto this morning (it is 06:00 there).
Yup, I am going there. It is all me, or as the story goes MPI (Me Personification Individual) giving myself a fictive consideration is the next best thing. You see, as the setting of America goes on and on towards a drain that ens up in the sewer, I decided to let my conspiracy self roam free. In this setting I am due a nice retirement sum and as a bonus I get to see the people who merely promised me bad to become the corporate bitches which I always thought they would end up being. As such there is no reality in this story, it is merely the work of a B-level movie (unlike the awesome script I finished and the three that follow it, more delusion on your plate).
Anyway the story starts with me having a coffee at the Soul Origin in Burwood. I was just about to take another sip when I a man introduces to me as Dr. Mulla, Consul General for the United Arab Emirates. I was not aware that the UAE had a consulate in Sydney, but there you have it and he starts of with giving me a business card stating he is indeed the Consul General, but the address gives me Melbourne. I gave the man a courteous nod and say to him a “Allahu Akbar” and point at the chair on the other side of the small round table. He states something softly (I am in a mall, so I didn’t hear that latter part) and he makes his case. He asks if I am the person that worked in a statistics company during the 90’s and two thousands and I nod in agreement, I was indeed. As such he offered me a short term job which will give me 250 bitcoin, post taxation and my curiosity was piqued. It is a lot of money for any person to be given of nearly any kind in the west, perhaps an exception could be made for all who have over 50 million dollars and I am not one of these people, so I agree to do that. I did mention that my passport had expired. He mentioned that it would not be a problem. The need for ADNOC is high and I am one of the first they approached and if I am willing we would leave today. The job will be to inspect syntax and statistical files, aiding the people there in cleaning them up and making sense of them. Well, I have been paid a mere 1% in the past for doing a lot more, so I am massively agreeable in this. A chauffeur will collect me in 90 minutes if that was agreeable, it was. So I head home to get my stuff ready, including my extremely expired passport.
It was brought 87.254 minutes later when a black Mercedes is in front of my apartment and the chauffeur identifies himself with what I reckon is some embassy card and drives me to the jet airport. He drops me off where a female executive introduces herself as Aisha, personal secretary to the Emirati Consul. She also hands me a card. She stated that it held $2,000 for anything I might need at this time. The consul will be at the place in 45 minutes. She would escort me wherever I needed to go. I decided that the only thing worthy of my needs at this time was a DJI Osmo pocket 3 and a memory stick. If I am going to a place I never seen before, I might as well record it for prosperity. I was given a great deal for the DJI with ‘creator accessories’ and a 128GB card for $749. I am happy as nothing I have been for the better part of a decade. I ask if there is a lounge where I can have a coffee and a sandwich (my blood when there is too little caffeine in it tends to get jumpy). She takes me to the Qantas First class lounge. She waves her consular credentials and we are in. Two minutes later with a large coffee in a takeaway cup and two chicken wraps I am seated in a small glass room with Aisha and we both sit in amazing comfortable lounge seats while I sip a coffee. I take a moment to eat the first wrap and it was amazing. I look at Aisha and she tells me that the consul is around 30 minutes out. We will depart in about 15 minutes so that we are there at the same time. I nod in acceptance. I playfully look at my mobile B250 comes down to almost 41 million dollars. So where do I sign for my soul? This is more money that all my ancestors combined earned in a lifetime. As such I wonder what the snag is, but if there is one, this setting alone is making me beyond happy. I never imagined that I would even own a DJI and now I am almost playing with one. So, whatever bad news comes next. I am less concerned with the badf news that I am with this feeling of amazement.
It is about 17 minutes later when Aisha nods that we had to go. I end up leaving half a wrap, but the coffee was good, as was the wrap. I just didn’t feel like having to rush to the toilet until we are well underway. It takes 5 minutes to get to the plane. We were met with a Qantas golf cart to take us where we had to go and as the cart sped up and down ramps we get to the plane in record time. I never knew that these carts could go that fast. We stop right next to the boarding steps of a Learjet 85. It was an amazing looking jet, the inside was beyond what I had ever seen (I don’t fly too much) and as I was beckoned to my seat(s) I chose to hav e the seat facing the cockpit. I was never one for traveling backwards, not in a train and not taking my chances now.
A minute later Dr. Mulla joined us and its across from his secretary and speaks to me. We have an 11 hour flight ahead of us. Is it OK if I complete a few tasks? I nod in agreement. A little eager to see this plane in action and taking a selfie on my Google Pixel 9. There is not one picture in existence showing me in a Learjet, so that fable has now been put to rest. As the plane takes off, the pressure of me being pushed in my seat is close to heavenly.
As I look outside of the window, seeing Sydney fade into a small nothing and the plane turning left. I am offered Champagne, but I preferred a coffee with cream a sugar. We all have our little needs. I sip the coffee in a porcelain cup, not the plastic cups we are normally given on flights and I feel a little special. The coffee comes after I am given a hot towel which felt good, I feel a little cleaner. And before I know it almost an hour has passed. The consul addresses me. ADNOC has a challenge. It actually has two challenges. The job would take a maximum of a week. Do you have a preference of Hotel? I immediately consider the Warner Bothers hotel on Yas Island. I saw a YouTube video and it looked like a heavenly place (with food, coffee and all). And he nods at Aisha who starts typing on her laptop in a composed manner (and a lot faster than I can type). “So let me explain to some extent, they have two challenges. The first is a Dutch translator, they just lost their translator in an accident and the new one will not come until later next month. They will need to be able to look at some Dutch documents in the meantime. The second setting is a program called IBM Statistics. They have been trying to replace the team they had. The person in charge invited less than qualified people in the past and as he has now left, the entire department is a little up in the air. Can you cell data files?” I nodded in agreement. “Yes I can, I am not a statistician, but I can clean files, read and write syntax files and help creating and validating omni-books. I can also teach your teams to be more privy to IBM statistics files and help them into increasing their knowledge of IBM Statistics.” The consul had an immediate more brightened look and he stated “Splendid” with a big smile.
I considered asking a few questions regarding this, but I thought that he might not have the answers. Whatever answers there were, I would get them in Abu Dhabi. And after a nice meal which included a large cheese pizza (with added oregano) I partially dozed off. I felt a nod on my right shoulder. I looked confused. Did I sleep through part of the flight? I looked around and I was told that we would arrive in about 50 minutes. I was offered coffee which felt good to accept and I waled to the bag where the bathrooms were. And would you believe it, these bathrooms had showers and all. I didn’t take the shower as I thought that a long hot shower would make my day complete in the Warner Brothers hotel. We arrived at Zayed International Airport a little over 55 minutes later and as I got off the place, the hot air caressed my face. It was 33 degrees, a blissful heat with a minor breeze. Outside the plane was a car waiting, it was a black Bentley New Flying Spur. It was more than comfortable, it was amazing and I apart from a London taxi, I had never sat in a Bentley. I took a quick selfie as I walked towards the car. They would never believe me, not my friends, not anyone I reckon. And I would not even believe myself, the selfie was to remind myself I wasn’t making this up (as this is a story, I am, but that is for another time).
We got to the hotel in what I believe to be in under 30 minutes. It was merely me and Aisha, the consul had taken his leave at the plane. Aisha would take care of the rest. And as it was already 19:00, I was given the key to my room with complete all expenses paid access to the minibar and kitchens. I wasn’t hungry, a pizza and 1,5 wraps does that to me, the hotel room had a Nespresso machine and the mini bar had fruit juices. So I was happy. I was told that a car would come for me at 9:00 next morning. I rejoiced at the overlook bar at the top floor, where there was an amazing collection of drinks and I enjoyed my iced Canadian (I refuse to call it an Americano), 51st state? Screw that.
I had a lovely breakfast with two waffles, hot cherry sauce and whipped cream. Another delusional thought I had on Ghent and an abbey in 1102 (a much larger story for another time). I had this as a breakfast and whilst I was contemplating to eat more, I thought it might not be the best introduction to my temporary new employer. I was sitting in the ground floor lobby where I was sipping a nice large coffee (we all have weaknesses) and a man approached me and help up a sign with my name, I nodded and he indicated that I move to the side entree with a “this way please”, his voice could not be seen as anything but warm polite and courteous. I moved to the side where a nice black Mercedes was waiting for me. He opened the rear passenger door and pointed to the water in the back. I nodded and thanked him. It was half an hour later when we arrived by a skyscraper on Corniche road. A man was waiting for me and as we shook hands be gestured the direction is was requested to walk. Th skyscraper stood alone, so that wasn’t a leap of faith to make. I was shown the way to the 76th floor. I had only been this high once. It was in the Sears Tower in Chicago which was (I think) the 98th floor. As we went into a room there were three man all standing up and bowing to me, I bowed back and stated “Alahu Akbar”, I was greeted back and now I got what I was offered in return in Sydney.
I sat down and I was given the highlights of the deal, the translator setting was merely a side setting that might be required. They had the Dikke van Dale Dutch books, which is pretty much the Rolls Royce of Dutch dictionaries, or as I preferred to call them, the Fat Valley dictionaries, which was a loosely translated name. It was the IBM statistics they needed. And I would be shown a desk and the files would be shown to me. They were happy that I would be able to train the staff there was. As was given, the head honcho (El Jefe) in Arabic terms had kept all the work to himself, only letting the others do some of the ground work and as those people were elevated to much better positions, they went along with the setting. At my desk I saw that there were inconsistencies, not bad ones, no errors, but the syntaxes was written by someone not used to daily data process points. There was an EXECUTE after nearly every command, there was a setting that there were several aggregates when one could do and there was a setting where were at least 8 ADD FILES commands when 2 could have sufficed. This was a data noob, a person thinking he knew something, all whilst he was setting the stage to be ‘the specialist that is the coming of the whatever person he thought he was’ I went a little wild on the syntax. And at first I tested every part separate which took almost 3600 seconds. Then I ran it all and a mere 2500 seconds remained. This was as expected. I took the file renamed it with _EDIT at the end and re-ran the whole file, it came down to 1216 seconds. I reran the file and reduced the time by over 60% less time was required.
It was time to set the larger setting of damaged files and what was done was that the output file was given the EXACT same name as the data file. So he had the results, but the data would have to be reread from scratch. The messiest way to set the premise for people to not get ahead without him. And that was the setting I discovered in half a day.
Well, I want to go on and introduce a conspiracy setting where Brent Oil was slicing the dice of ADNOC (and in my delusion ARAMCO as well), but it is time to take a breather and enjoy the delusion of being $41,000,000 richer, or perhaps AU$20,000,000 and AED48,500,000 richer. You can’t enjoy money when you have no dreams for them and having a property on Sama Yas enjoying 4 (soon 5) theme parks in an age of retirement is a pretty good way to delusional dream.
And consider a theme park, absent of stupid people (people living between Canada and Mexico), isn’t that a dream worth pursuing? Consider that soon (2027) Disney will be here too and all on the island where you retire. Oh, and they have a Carrefour Hypermarket (UAE Supermarket, based on a French supermarket) and I reckon a few other places. I call that a win in every scenario imaginable. So have a great day. My Sunday today is delusional day and I have earned the sweet scent of delusion. And think of it, the setting might be delusional. But would you think that this stage is outside of American ‘tactics’? The entire American Administration is running itself into the ground (slowly but surely). So have a great day and enjoy the spiciness of whatever you face today.
Yup, that is an old expression, I heard it somewhere in the 80’s and if you know, you know. If not, you might figure it out during this article. The setting has been revised before, but now (at https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/north-carolina-and-oregon-unite-with-florida-new-york-nevada-arizona-california-alaska-as-canadian-travel-to-the-us-plunges-this-april-amid-political-backlash-and-tourism-boycott/) we get a more direct setting. We are told ‘North Carolina and Oregon Unite with Florida, New York, Nevada, Arizona, California, Alaska as Canadian Travel to the US Plunges This April Amid Political Backlash and Tourism Boycott’ it seems trivial and that site is, but it is merely one side of this. We are given “Canadian travel to the United States has plunged this April as North Carolina and Oregon unite with Florida, New York, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Alaska in reporting steep declines in visitor numbers from their northern neighbor—an alarming shift fueled by mounting political backlash, a growing tourism boycott movement, and rising disillusionment among Canadian travelers over the current state of U.S. affairs”, as well as “Canadians are now increasingly choosing alternative destinations, citing concerns over the political climate, cultural discomfort, safety perceptions, and dissatisfaction with immigration experiences.” And this is merely the start. Travel Tour World gives assisting data. We are given “According to official data, land travel from Canada to the U.S. dropped by 35.2% in April 2025 compared to the same time last year, while air travel declined 19.9%, marking one of the most significant cross-border travel retreats in recent memory” And it gets to be worse, for that we look towards the story (at https://www.cubaenmiami.com/en/expertos-temen-por-las-perdidas-economicas-que-pueden-traer-la-reciente-disminucion-del-numero-de-turistas-internacionales-en-estados-unidos/) there we get “According to a report by Oxford Economics, unfavorable perceptions regarding trade and immigration policies are causing international tourists to choose other destinations, which could result in an $8.5 billion drop in foreign visitor spending in the United States this year. The decline in travel, which represents a roughly 5% drop compared to the previous year, is due to a decrease in foot traffic. According to Aran Ryan, head of industry research at Tourism Economics, an affiliate of Oxford Economics, international visits to the United States are expected to decline by nearly 9% this year, according to a report released last week.” This is not all, in addition we see “The United States could experience a loss of $21 billion in tourism-related revenue this year if current trends continue, according to estimates by the U.S. Travel Association. According to the trade group, every 1% reduction in international tourist spending represents an annual loss of $1.8 billion for the U.S. economy. Furthermore, experts indicated that a strong U.S. dollar could be driving away international visitors.” Even though only Canada is ‘sifted’ out, the European losses could be close to equally large. I saw this yesterday in a YouTube video on the Epic Universe. The literal quote was “There is no-one here” and this is in the opening month of one of the most desirable theme parks I have ever seen. The damage could be a little bigger than the news we are getting. I saw two restaurants where little to no people are seen and in one case they were the only customer. This is a sight I have never have seen before in any theme parks and this one looks a lot better then most I ever saw with my own eyes. I don’t wish this on anyone and where are the people going? Well, my bet is that Abu Dhabi in the UAE on Yas Island will be raking in the cash. The people decided on another place and as Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand decide to seek greener grounds the sands of the United Arab Emirates might be the greenest grass of all. Even as we get one source giving us that “Walt Disney secures future of Euro Disney with €1bn refinancing”, I am drawn to the setting that this is not the destination of many who abandoned the idea of getting theme park rushes in America. I guessed that these people might be going towards Tokyo and its Universal, but the drop of 4% gives me pause to dig deeper there and I am considering that most went to the UAE and the numbers from Gulf Business (kinda) prove me correctly with “International visits to the theme parks also saw significant growth, with a 40 per cent, rise, led by a substantial increase from key markets, including India, China, the UK and Russia” and there I wonder if they investigated the stream of Canadian and European visitors. Yet 40% increase is not nothing, it is huge, especially as America is looking to a drop of well over $21,000,000,000 in business and that is not including all the bed and breakfast and fast food locations that usually see a much larger interest during these days. The tariff and 51st state mentions will be taking its toll on America a lot sooner than they think. I reckon that European (Australians too) will decide that Canada is a much better place to be than America, as such this coming winter Aspen will dealing with a zero minutes queue time at the slopes. This means that America is looking towards a two dreadful seasons, summer and winter. We can speculate how large this becomes, but there is no real data on this and the bulk of the people will not see these results until springtime 2026. Anything earlier is loaded with inaccuracies as the data they have been training on was never captured to the degree it needed and some form of forecasting analysis (the process of using historical data, trends, and statistical methods to predict future outcomes) as it is based on achieved data and this has never happened before in America going back to the before the 80’s, as such there is no forecasting settings and it needs to be done on actual data captured now, and these results are not looking good. Even if it is a ‘mere’ 21 billion, over 8-9 states the impact is nothing short of disastrous and America was never in that great a shape anyway. This is propagated by the real time risk of two nations dumping their bonds before they have the value of toilet paper (yes, China and Japan) and even whilst Japan has the largest amount and they are hanging on, they do know that if China is pushed to dumping their bonds, Japan will be racing to get there as son as possible, merely to safe some of their value. Considering the escalations that the BBC reported on a mere 10 hours ago, there is a chance (a small one) that China will respond by dumping the US Treasury bonds they have and that is pretty much a sequential set in ending the American economy. This America Administration will not be able to recover from that and whilst the Chinese portfolio is set to US$765.4 billion, which is 20 billion than a month ago. They might be gambling that Japan tries to drop their $1.13 trillion ($1,300,000,000,000) bond, especially as their own debt is now a debt-to-GDP at 260% and the Bank of Japan already owning more than half of outstanding Japanese government bonds, as it seems (according to people with the economic knowledge and foresight) that Japan is boxed in. Should China dump their bonds they could gain America and Japan at the same time. A sight never seen before in our history. So what does this have to do with tourism? Everything. You see if America cannot pay its debts, America becomes the third world country no one wants to visit and that makes it a nasty place within months. America has around 22 million millionaires. I recon that at least 15 million will get out in time, the rest is not ‘rich’ enough and those with a jet (around 15,000 of them) will go to any country that will take them and they will move fast. The rest? That is anyones guess. It reminds me of that B-movie where the wealthy and refuge in a theme park as it is the only one with enough food and security to make it last. But that is an overly dark (and unrealistic) setting. What is a given that these people will seek a safer haven, because America won’t be one for decades to come.
Still, the first setting is tourism and that setting is under increasing pressures. And as I personally see it, it wasn’t President Trump who set this of, it was the short sighted views (my personal take on this) of Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis who chased away $1,000,000,000 in investment settings in Florida, that was the start. We saw a whole lot of anti woke and anti LGTBQ settings making Europeans (and likely Canadians) weary of safety issues in Florida, which would have impacted both Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers. That was as I saw it the start and the tariffs merely escalated that setting. The damage would have been horrific if Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi had started their Harry Potter park expansion a year earlier, yet as it stands it is now kinda set for a late 2026 opening. And as Disney is coming there too the bad news for Florida keeps on adding to the larger picture. That and as the UAE is one of the safest places in the world, the appeal of the UAE is easily spotted. That is besides the fact that Abu Dhabi has 4 theme parts and one of the largest luxurious malls in the world (right behind the Dubai Mall). The additional setting that you can travel from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in a mere 30 minutes by train, the appeal is close to complete. The zero tax setting that the UAE offers is a mere cherry on their yummy pie.
That is what American tourism was facing all along and now with the tariff wars the escalations are debilitating whatever was left of American tourism future, because if you are willing to fly to Florida, the idea that flying to the UAE for close to the same amount would be a desiring call for any tourist that wants something new. So if you want to dress up, you might as well try an Emirati Kandura, looking good and looking different, having that real vacation feeling that you might never have had before.
Have a great day and consider where you might want to go and where you could go, especially for those who are sick of Americans referring to Canada as the 51st state and the Europeans who are not too happy on America annexing 2.166 million km².
Yup, we are talking about Oracle, not Borland. And whenever I hear Oracle I tend to add the ‘of Delphi’ automatically. It is a Pavlovian thing. This is nothing negative about Oracle, I wanted to join their ranks in the 90’s, and beyond the millennium a few times too. My origin settings was a database programmer (I earned my stripes with Clipper, the Nantucket version). I think it is the very first program where I shelled out $650 (Dfl. 1,200) for a program and I learned a lot through Clipper. I also got the Clipper notes (Norton Notes) and these two kept my in my apartment (on a desk chair) for weeks and weeks at a time. I relish these happy days. Then of course I got into technical support and customer care through a precursor of IBM and my life at that point was pretty complete. I miss those days and I still think fondly of them. Not so much the upper ranks of that company with their political games, but them I was never a political player.
You see, we are given “Oracle has committed to investing $14 billion in Saudi Arabia over the next 10 years to expand its cloud and AI offerings in the region. The plans were announced by the company on May 13, and in the wake of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Kingdom” this implies Technical Support, Customer Care and Trainings. Things I can do (all three) and I have had well over a decade of experience in these sections. As such I keep my eyes open for positions needed in either Riyadh, Mississauga or Abu Dhabi. I reckon that the investments are not just for Saudi Arabia, they are all spend in Saudi Arabia, but there will be essentially needed persons in Abu Dhabi because no one walks away from ADNOC and with ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, a secondary call center would be needed in Abu Dhabi. And they too will have all three settings in that centre, beyond that I reckon that it will a location will be cheaper in the heart of ADNOC than in Dubai, so there.
When we see “Our expanded partnership with the Kingdom will create new opportunities for its economy, deliver better health outcomes for its people, and fortify its alliance with the United States, which will create a ripple effect of peace and prosperity across the Middle East and around the world.” The words “a ripple effect of peace and prosperity across the Middle East” merely implies (not confirms) the setting I see. You see, it makes sense to do this, but it requires knowledge of Oracle policies (and I don’t know those).
So when we see “Oracle has two existing cloud regions in Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia West, located in Jeddah, and Saudi Arabia Central in Riyadh. The former was launched in 2020, the latter launched in 2024, and is hosted in a Center3 data center. The company has been planning a third in the upcoming Neom City since October 2021, which remains listed on Oracle’s website as “coming soon.”” Someone would think that another cloud the UAE cloud should be there as well. Merely not mentioned in this stage, but ADNOC is too big to walk away from and Microsoft has dropped the ball too many times. There is a setting that implies that IBM and or AWS are already there, but that gives the larger setting that ADNOC becomes dependent on one supplier and they are as smart as they come. So I am betting that Oracle has that region (as well as Dubai) in mind when we consider DAMAC (valued at US$ 595 million) with the total revenue recorded by DAMAC Properties was AED 7.5 billion (2017), and they are not all. There is also Emaar Properties, which is said to be the biggest of them all and that are the kind of clients Oracle really likes to keep happy, as such I saw the stage evolve, even though they are already there and in January 2025 we were given ‘Oracle to increase Abu Dhabi investment five-fold’, as such I think that there might be a new need to seek employment with Oracle. Now add to that the quote “Earlier this month, the Abu Dhabi government put out a call for the development of a single multi-cloud system that will serve more than 40 government entities” and you’ll see that there might be space for me too, either in Abu Dhabi or in Mississauga and the two cover a little over 20 hours a day coverage in a 24:7 setting. The nice part is that it takes time to get people up to speed, so I might have an advantage (merely a slight one).
So as I am about to dream the day away on this rainy Sunday. I see the cogs of industry revolve around the settings of the world and I keep having happy thoughts.
So have a great day everyone, preferably less rainy than it is here.
That is at the foundation of the severe conditioned setting of what can now laughingly called American stupidity. CBC reported yesterday ‘Conferences relocating to Canada over harsh new U.S. border measures’ (at https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6758054) with the underlying text “As Canadian travel to the U.S. continues to drop, CBC News has found several professional conferences relocated to Canada to avoid harsh new U.S. border security measures. One sociologist describes being grilled by U.S. customs officers who searched his phone and wallet.” As such not only is there grilling (and no grilled sandwich), but searching the phone and wallet? I wonder what deeds custom officers have to copy this all to third and fourth party intelligence gathering settings. I get that a passport needs to be checked (read: validated), but a phone? I might agree that a wallet could be seen as reasonable. But consider this. Tourism already is down and now conferences are the new goal? Consider that the CES has over 100,000 attendees and the SEMA show over 150,000 attendees. Then there are the defence shows and IT shows. How many events will it take for these show runners to go to Vancouver, Toronto, or Ottawa? Is this the price of stupidity? How many millions will America lose in 2026? How long until the larger players will offer their shows in Abu Dhabi where the tourism spike is going on. How long until only gamblers will visit Las Vegas? Nevada have poured serious cash into Las Vegas and now that it is regarded as hostile terrain, what will they lose? There is little interest to move to London or Paris (too touristy saturated), but Dubai and Abu Dhabi have options. Soon so will Monte Carlo and now there is already space in Toronto among the 14 locations are Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. Ottawa has the Ottawa Convention Centre and a few others. Basically should you consider the Mississauga location (Oracle) for a place to show the CES, America will have close to two dozen locations for people no longer interested in America violating their privacy and as the Canadian places (optionally the UAE too) show bang for their bucks. Plenty of organizers will relocate their shows.
And there is data. CBC reported in late April that ‘Nearly 900,000 fewer people went to the U.S. in March as cross-border travel plummets’ so what damage will Florida with their Universal and Disney parks endure? Especially as their is a great alternative in Abu Dhabi. As such there is a larger case we see when we consider the Oracle CloudWorld. It was in Las Vegas, September 9–12, 2024. As such Oracle now has a larger case to present their 2025 show in Mississauga or even in Dubai (if the clientele is enticing enough). Dubai has a whole highway of entertainment structures. There is the option of renting a boat for their guests and make a presentation on the Alexandra Dhow Cruise in Dubai Marina. A setting that reeks of elegance and fine foods. America is no longer the place to be, their U.S. customs protocols made sure of that. And I only mention two locations. And after the Guardian reported last week that ‘Stockholm rejects ‘bizarre’ US letter urging city to scrap diversity initiatives’, I reckon that Stockholm would be willing to cater to American shows that now seek entertainment elsewhere. Don’t let the location fool you. Stockholm is magical and it has an amazing cuisine all over town. I reckon that soon enough the high chefs in America will seek their fortune elsewhere. So how much longer will America cater to the stupid minded? I reckon this might be the last year and anyone thinking they will be safe is likely to unknowingly handing their IP to U.S. customs (they might be in denial, as these costume officers will claim that it is protocol). So how long until that damage becomes completely non-reversible?
I will let you decide. And as I see it, Iceland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France might have similar issues down the line. So how many tourists and conference dwellers will miss America out of from now on until December 2026? Oh and before I forget Saudi Arabia is about to set new settings in at least 3 locations, so there are these locations to consider too.
So, good luck with the excuse of protocol and watch what the price of stupidity is about to cost America, as one source gives me “The index now sits just above the historical low of 50 in June 2022. Current Economic Conditions registered at 56.5, compared to 63.8 in March. The Index of Consumer Expectations was at 47.2, compared to 52.6 in March.” So economic expectations is at least 5 points down in about 2 months. So what more losses can we see? Canada looks forward to having a great year in catering to conferences and tourists. As is the UAE. But America is doing great (apparently), as Reuters gives us “Approval of Trump’s economic stewardship rose to 39% from 36%. Trump began his term with a 47% approval rating, and saw his popularity tick” as such how many more shocks to the system can America survive? As I personally see it: retail, tourism, and business have been hit and will be hit a few times more this year, so by the time high summer hits places like Venice beach and other tourist location will suffer the lack of tourist. But not to fret, you can find them in Canada and a few other places.
And as the larger places expand Mississauga and add a European location or one in the UAE, we will see a larger exodus to these safer places and that is a trend that is set to continue until deep into 2027, because conference are usually planned up to two years in advance. Oracle might be the most visible one but I reckon they are not alone. All these players (like Snowflake and Palantir) have customers very worried about their IP and they will press for change a lot louder than I am.
So have a great day and if you want to have fun, pass US customs with a box of 5.25” floppies and see the question marks on their eyes as they are uncertain how to proceed.
This morning Arab News (at https://arab.news/9hjca) gave us ‘First Saudi-made THAAD system parts completed in Jeddah’ Saudi Arabia has been aiming for the need of internal national interests to have this done. We are given “Saudi Arabia has completed the first domestically manufactured components for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launcher in Jeddah, marking a significant step forward in the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to localize its defense industry.” And as we are given “Tim Cahill, president of missiles and fire control at Lockheed Martin; Nawaf Al-Bawardi, assistant deputy of the General Authority for Military Industries; and Wasim Attieh, president of AIC.” We seemingly are all OK with this, this is not really news. Saudi Arabia was aiming for this all along. In this case the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launcher (THAAD) was on show. But the story goes beyond that. I reckon that the FEINDEF 2025 (Spain) as from today was the second initial kick off, but there were other symptoms. There was the (DSA 2024) in Kuala Lumpur and the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX/NAVDEX) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I personally believe that Saudi Arabia kept close eyes on the ready date of this system as it allows them to gain interest from Bangladesh, Egypt and Indonesia, they might not be ‘big league’ material, but Bangladesh and Egypt represent almost $5 billion each and Indonesia represents $11 billion. Now, they don’t spend it all in one go, but Saudi Arabia is said to get a speculated part of that and even with a mere 200 million (over all three) that becomes a massive boost for the Saudi Defence industry, even more so, it would be revenue that America and Russia loses. Gives the expression “when two dogs fight for a bone, the third runs away with it” a new side to that equation. So as Lockheed Martin is locking in their services and consultancy for close to another decade, Saudi Arabia’s first delivery system is gaining strength in the defence industry. Bangladesh being 35th, Egypt 19th and Indonesia 16th. They are giving strength to the Saudi Defence industry. So as I saw that market evolve in February 10th 2022 in my story ‘Oh darn, I am missing out’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/10/oh-darn-i-am-missing-out/) with those decrepit tea grannies, it took Saudi Arabia a mere 3 years to evolve their own market. They now have their own industry. So cry “stop arming Saudi Arabia” all you like, the only thing they’d hurt was the British defence industry. And as I see it, they are about to do a lot more than hurt ‘the British business’, they are gaining political power by giving the Arabian nations and Asian nations their own voice, not hindered by America, Russian or British political powers. Now they (meaning Saudi Arabia) become the global political power player.
As I see that, I am reminded of the old setting that my granny complained about the essential need of the young to rely their technology, so I switched off her life support. How’s that for fun?
The world is getting smaller and the reach of every nation is increasing and now we see clear settings (not through alleged sport washing) that Saudi Arabia is becoming the larger power in the global arena. In the 2025 edition of “The Military Balance” from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is currently on the 7th place, yet if this takes off Saudi Arabia will be in a position to become 5th, optionally 4th and their defence industry will be making a profit as the Arabian nation will see that Saudi Arabia is the ‘friend’ to hold in esteem, as that starts happening Pakistan might also change vendor it is at present a mere $10 billion, but as it is only 12% of India, it might see reason to switch if Saudi Arabia is willing to talk shop and that is another slice of pie that will not end in America’s or England’s budget. As I personally see it a start has been made for Saudi Arabia to become less dependent on their oil industry. Starting ‘small’ is a beginning, so as Saudi Arabia creates more options. I reckon that they would likely evolve their drone industry next, Saudi Arabia is becoming a much larger industry. Only 5 years ago we would have seen an industry with America, Russia, China and the United Kingdom as players. Now even at 5th place, Saudi Arabia becomes the new player in town and that sets a new premise for global economies. Russia and America never had to share that revenue pie and I guess they will have to content with less as per 2026 onwards.
A nice setting for Saudi Arabia who is likely to seek more revenue from Pakistan as it is outmatched to India at 2:1 in the best settings they can hope for and that allows for larger business benefits for Saudi Arabia. We tend to forget that war is business and their business is war. A little outdated setting, but we forget that it isn’t ugly to some, it is a payday. An essential need for any nation is to defend itself from enemies hostilities and that setting is over 2000 years old. It was given to us by Julius Caesar (that Italian dude). He did so in Commentarii de Bello Gallico at 50BC.
I reckon that the Saudi defence industry will be more than a simple blip by the time we get to 2027, still three years ahead of the schedule we saw 5 years ago.
And as I personally see it, these tea grannies (CAAT) are still drinking tea, but the option for a biccie with that tea will soon be done for, because the revenue you hurt also impacts what you can have and they vied for less, so they will have less. I take my learning from someplace else. America decided to hurt Huawei as they were a threat, now we have HarmonyOS entering version 5.0, and Reuters gave us last November that ‘Huawei wants 100,000 apps on Harmony OS within a year’, and set that against Alphabet (Google) had announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its global workforce In January 2023, Amazon laying off 14,000 people in name of efficiency? (Source: MSN) and in 2023 Microsoft laid off approximately 10 000 employees followed by an additional 4 000 roles being cut in 2024. So with these big three ‘decimated’, who will counter Huawei? As I see it no one and now Huawei will have another industry to set foot in. Because all these Saudi systems require automation (as well as other options) as such HarmonyOS will be seen almost everywhere and that is only the beginning. Those who push to limit others, merely limit themselves and we have plenty of evidence there.
As I see it the shifting space of America is seeing that they never wanted other to be in certain places. This sounded like an idea in the 80’s when America was a global power, but they no longer are. They are mere steps away from becoming a third world country. You cannot remain a 3.4% military spending of GDP whilst being seen as a 37% of global spending. A 997 Billion invoice where in the fiscal year 2024, the U.S. federal government collected $4.92 trillion, not whilst you have $36.21 trillion in federal debt (and they cannot pass a budget either), it just cannot be done. As such the America setting will implode all whist their tech is set to impossible markers.
As we consider this and we consider that the Russian stage merely sounds better (whilst it isn’t) there is every possibility that be 2027/2028 Saudi Arabia could become 4th or 3rd as a defence industry by that time. The idea that Saudi Arabia surpasses or equals America in three years is making me giggle. How the mighty fall, so how’s that for looking great, President Trump? It started on your watch in 2020 and almost a decade later you become allegedly surpassed by Saudi Arabia by 2027, a nice footnote in your memories and I reckon you will blame everyone but yourself in that writing. I am curious what the World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center will give us. I reckon that Saudi Arabia will have a few nice surprises in that show. I am willing to bet that Huawei will have a stand there to in showing us what the Internet of things driven by HarmonyOS will give the world. I reckon you need to reserve tickets for the event on February 8-12, 2026 now. As I see it the first day will be for the larger customers, so February 8th has been sold out to preferred customers. So, when will you optionally go?
I won’t be invited, so let me know how the snacks were, they tend to be magnificent at these events. Now I’m hungry, time for some peppered crackers. Have a great day.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 