Dubai, and the rest of the Gulf State, are becoming more and more important on the world stage - but most of us know very little about these places. So I thought I would share some interesting facts with you about Dubai I ran across in Businessweek and Wikipedia that might help you from one of the more common misconceptions about Dubai - the source of its great wealth:

• Oil and gas revenues are only 6% of the total revenues in Dubai's economy
• Dubai is within a few decades of exhausting its oil and gas supplies
• Tourism accounts for about a third of Dubai's revenues
• Trading, Dubai's port and financial services account for the majority of Dubai's wealth

So before you write off the people of Dubai as a bunch of guys who are living fat off of oil money, think again. Dubai is an amazing example of capitalism building something out of nothing, and there is a lot we can learn from what's going on there.

Oh yeah, special bonus - here's a map that shows where Dubai is...just in case you were wondering (most people do).