Picto Diary - 04 to 09 December 2023 - Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Above: Salt Lake City, UT International Airport. 04 December 2023.

Embarking via Alaska Airlines to Seattle and connecting to Emirates for onward flight to Dubai, UAE.

Note: Fifty Facebook clicks on this image. TIMDT is always my best clickbait!

Above: Image of Dubai from Vault Bar, 71st floor, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai. UAE. 10:00 PM, 05 December 2023.

TIMDT, who didn’t sleep well on the plane, went to bed circa 8:30 PM after arrival at J.W. Marriott. I slept better than ever on the plane, and I was looking for something to eat before going to bed. Prime filet. Fries. Creamed spinach. Malbec, at the stratospheric Vault Bar. Burj Khalifa is center left in image.

A bit of drama in Seattle. TIMDT had thought she complied with all of the Emirate's requirements for taking her portable oxygen concentrator aboard the aircraft. There were two problems teed up by the airline: 1. TIMDT brought only four hours equivalent use of battery power for a fourteen-hour flight. 2. TIMDT did not have a required doctor's permission on an Emirates form to fly.

Authority was finally received, from Dubai supervision, to waive the oxygen battery requirement. We convinced the airline that bringing the concentrator was as an abundance of caution... that TIMDT rarely used the device and would likely not need it in flight.

With the able assistance of an Emirates employee, Margaret was able to connect by telephone with her pulmonologist doctor's office at the University of Utah. Staff at the office located the required form on Emirate's website, and electronically transferred the form to the doctor, who was not in the office. The doctor electronically signed the form and then transmitted it electronically to TIMDT's "My Chart" on the University of Utah website. The Emirates supervisor took a screenshot of the required doctor's permission form off of TIMDT's I-Pad and we were good to go.

TIMDT attested to being confident throughout the process that rectifying the problems would be successful. I was a nervous wreck and thought that there was a good possibility that we would not get on the aircraft. That TIMDT was able to remain calm throughout my nervous remonstrations is a testament to her inherent calm, her ability to discern the reliability of the people helping her, and her significant experience in handling aberrations in the travel experience. TIMDT 1, Bishop 0.

Above: Poolside. Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai. UAE. 06 December 2023.

Burj Khalifa, center right in image. We went to the "top" of this building ten years ago. Today, we'll enjoy seeing it from a distance as we relax by the pool.

The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP28, is the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference, is being held from 30 November until 12 December 2023 at Expo City, Dubai. A petrostate hosting a climate conference is pretty much of a joke. The COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber has strongly denied accusations that his team sought to use the international climate talks in Dubai to strike fossil fuel deals for the UAE’s state-owned oil and gas company. Clearly, the naïve West is being played here in petro-world.

Hypocrisy reigns supreme at COP28. Doofus King Charles, he of the seven miles per gallon Rolls Royce and the private jet, opened the conference by reminding everyone that we're going to boil in hell unless we cut down our fossil fuel consumption. These international climate conferences are all for show. It's always the same. Imminent doom is predicted. New agreements are signed. Deals are made. And then nothing happens. Twenty-seven previous conferences have resulted in global emissions increasing every year except the ones when Covid shut everything down.

In the end, the rich (petrostates, US, Russia) want to remain rich and the poor (rest of the world) need cheap energy i.e. fossil fuel. Carbon reductions come about with very high costs and low additional benefits. To reach the putative goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, 20% of the world's GDP, or $43 trillion, is necessary. The COP28 goers have not pledged even a tiny fraction of that amount. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Above: Vladimir Putin, President Russia and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Dubai, UAE. 06 December 2023. (File Image made available by The Hill).

Putin and Sheikh al Zayad were expected to discuss the Israeli-Hamas war, the war in Ukraine and their shared economic interests as major oil-producing nations.
Putin looks to be riding high. Russia has benefitted from high oil prices thanks to Joe Biden's haircutting US fossil energy production and OPEC's holding its own production down. High oil revenues have enabled Russia to finance its advance into Ukraine as, simultaneously, the West goes wobbly in its support for Ukraine. Also, Putin is capitalizing on the world's perception of weak and inept US leadership by pushing for a multipolar world. Hence his visit to cozy up to the Saudis after he leaves Dubai later today. Biden has never recovered from his gaff of criticizing Saudi leader Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) in 2019 about Saudi's human rights record. When Biden visited Saudi Arabia in 2020 - his fist bump with MBS visit - he failed to move MBS to open up OPEC oil spigots to get oil prices down. Having been shunned by the US, the Saudi's are very happy to strengthen ties to Russia.
While I didn't see Putin in Dubai today, I was reminded of the time when I was standing outside of the gate of American University of Cairo, on Tahrir Square, in 1964. Then, I watched Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Union Premier and Egypt President Gamal Abdul Nasser drive by, easily visible, standing together, in an open car. I guess it's worth a footnote in my life history that twice I have "intersected" with Russian leaders in the Middle East. And, both times, the Russians seemed to be doing a good job strengthening Russia's ties to middle eastern leaders.

Above: Rang Mahal Restaurant. Marriott Marquis Hotel. Dubai, UAE. 06 December 2023.

Dinner with friends, Kristen (daughter, working as flight attendant for Emirates) and Kirsten (mom, visiting her daughter in Dubai).

It was in the Middle East when we first became fond of Indian Food. While living in Beirut's Manara section for six months in 1972, we dined frequently on Indian food at the nearby Manara Palace Cafe.

Above: La Farine Restaurant and Bakery. Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, 07 December 2023.

TIMDT. Breakfast.

Above: La Farine Restaurant and Bakery. Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, UAE. 07 December 2023.

We enjoy traveling in Middle East or India over Christmas. Unlike in the US, locals revel in celebrating the holidays of other faiths. Christians love Divali, Hindus respect Ramadan, and Muslims have Christmas trees. Fabulous gingerbread effort. Stein Eriksen Lodge, eat your heart out.

Above: Fuel tender aside Seabourn Encore. Dubai Seaport. Dubai, UAE. 07 December 2023.

Sucking carbon while docked in the harbor of the city hosting COP28.

Above: Observation Bar. Seabourn Encore. 07 December 2023.

Musical duo provides easy listening music at cocktail hour. Thankfully escaping Taylor Swift.

Above: Dubai, UAE harbor. Upper image: Starboard. Lower Image: Port. 07 December 2023.

On our way.

Above: 700 AD Christian church excavation. Sir Bani Yas Island. Abu Dhabi, UAE. 08 December 2023.

TIMDT contemplates some unanswered questions as she observes the excavation. Today, water comes to Sir Bani Yas Island via undersea pipeline from Arabian mainland. But back then? 700 BCE? Also, where did the early Christians go? A story board at the site suggests that they converted to Islam during the religion's early rise. An Indian branch of Christianity claims provenance from Thomas the apostle who allegedly came to Kerala post Christ's crucifixion. We are visiting Christian Kerala on this voyage.

Above: Straits of Hormuz, Persian Gulf. 09 December 2023.

Sunrise. One of many oil tankers on the horizon. As US deterrence continues to weaken, this vital choke point is more vulnerable than ever to being closed by bad actors... Iran... Houthis..., pirates... China... thereby upending the world petroleum market. Hunker down.