The recent crisis in Dubai was somewhat over-blown; Dubai has every potential to weather the financial storm and bounce back to its former glory in business. This was revealed during the cast of the Heavens when the Blue Moon was shining as the New Year dawned. This blog post charts the day of the blue moon in December 2009 and pens the cosmic forecast for Dubai.
Introduction
Dubai, the second largest out of the seven emirates in UAE, has gone through baptism of fire recently when a debt crisis began to roast it, against the background of the baking hot air of the desert. In late November 2009 the Dubai World the Government owned Realty Company sought to postpone scheduled instalment payment on its U S Dollars 60 Billions or so debt and to re-negotiate the maturity profile. Newswires picked up this message and made it an over-blown financial crisis that saw in its wake downgrading of not only the debt instruments issued by Dubai World but others connected with banking, reality and transportation sectors in Dubai. Emaar Properties, Dubai Ports World, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority are few of the companies whose credit ratings were hunkered down to below investment grades. All these could have been expected, because the moratorium requested for the debt of the company Dubai World amounts to about three forth of the Government debt. Hence, the notion that Dubai is in trouble could easily feed into the minds of investors in particular and others in general.
In order to study the future prospects of Dubai, I looked at the Heavens on December 31, 2009 as the New Year is set to dawn and the full moon arose. Over the eastern sky of Dubai at 11.13. p.m. Dubai Standard Time, the full Moon was majestic in its light and brightness. As a blue moon (the second full moon in December 2009) its glow is fascinatingly beautiful. The Moon was almost very closest to earth, which we call Perigee and its illumination topped at 99.99%. Furthermore, the location of the Moon in the sky in Gemini constellation and the fact that afterwards the Moon was to go through a partial lunar eclipse made me to look at this phenomenon intently.
Location of the Full Moon
At this time the Moon was located at Right Ascension (celestial longitude) of 6 hours 42 minutes and 28 seconds and at Declination (celestial latitude) of 24 degree 6 minutes 18 seconds. The moon was also above ecliptic plane a line in which the Sun travels in the celestial sphere. When a planet moves beyond the ecliptical line it is called out of bound. Moreover, the Moon partially covered (called occulted) the shining Star Mebsuta at this time. To be precise Mebsuta is located at Right Ascension 6 hours 44 minutes and 33 seconds and Declination 25 degree 7 minutes and 14 seconds. Though in terms of distance Mebsuta is about 2 arc minutes away, for people on the earth it is different as we miss the light of Mebsuta during this time. Fascinatingly, The Moon was placed on a safety net in the sky chart. There are four stars forming the Arabic Letter “Lam” (English Alphabet “L”) symbolizing a baby cot. These stars are Capella on the north , Al-Betelgeuse on the south, Al-Debaran towards west and Procyon to the east.
Star Mebsuta
The name of the star Mebsuta is derived from Arabic “Al-Mabsuta” meaning “outstretched”. Astronomically known as Epsilon Gemini, Mebsuta is a double star in the Gemini constellation. The primary star has 3.2 magnitude of brightness and glows in white and yellowish colour. Its companion, however is a small 9.5 magnitude blue star. As a rare type of super giant Mebsuta is much cooler than our sun at 4,360 Kelvin. Located 900 light years away and shining some 7,600 times luminous than the Sun it must be about 150 times the size of the Sun. Indeed it is a great super giant. Mebsuta is burning helium at the core like our Sun and losing its mass steadily. Though located close to the ecliptical plane, this star is rarely occulted by planets other than the Moon. The last incident of such occultation occurred on August 4, 1976 when Mars passed by Mebsuta.
Lunar Mansion
When Full Moon arose in Dubai, it was in the Sixth Lunar Mansion (Arabic Al- Manzil Al-Qamar) of “Al- Hannah (The Mark). This Lunar Mansion is relevant for those who are born to royal lineage or to noble genes. It has a mixed bag; on one hand it makes the king to go through financial woes ; on the other hand it will preserve the dignity of the kingdom. Programmes, business ventures and any others initiated during this time would give more than satisfactory results.
Dubai Cosmic Forecast
The location of the Moon and the Star Mebsuta together give positive and negative cosmics. I elaborate the cosmic forecast of this phenomenon in relation to Dubai as follows:
1. Dubai changes gear: From top gear Dubai goes on low gear to wade through the muddy water of debt crisis. Once it is out of this crisis it would be on cruise gear
2. Changing Direction: Dubai undergoes change in focus and approach from a city state mentality to a country state mentality
3. Dubai must develop in the lines of a six pointed star, known as Star of David. In addition to Realty and Trade sectors, other lines of economic activities could develop. Being outstretched in one or two areas is too risky and this fact is now clearly understood
4. The year 2010 marks fire-fighting and at the same time setting in motion future oriented programmes. The knee jerk response by the international financial community and the aftermath portray the fire fighting scene, while the recent opening of the “Burj Khalifa” the World’s Tallest Tower with 160 floors and 2,716 feet in height is an harbinger to the futuristic programmes
5. Dubai continues to be the standard bearer as a financial centre and as a trade centre. The role model it seeks incorporates features of Singapore and Tokyo
6. Dubai has not reached its potential yet. It has notched about 25 %. So far. Hence the remaining 75 % of growth potential need to be scaled by the emirate
7. Dubai needs to go for high profile marketing with strategic depth
8. Safety net in and around Dubai would be almost intact
9. In summary, Dubai Bounces Back in Business in matter of time.
You can contact me via E-mail cosmicgems@gmail.com or Webpage http://www.cosmicgemslanka.com
Muthu Ashraff
Cosmic Adviser