If You Hate Dubai

On Friday morning, an explosion shook the Dubai International Financial Centre, the United Arab Emirates’ equivalent of Wall Street. According to Dubai authorities, air defenses shot an Iranian drone, which struck a building on the way down. The blast was about 1,200 yards from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and close to the Israeli consulate. It was close enough to my apartment that it sounded like someone was out on the balcony practicing the cymbal crash from the climax of Mahler’s Second Symphony. The government of Dubai says no one was hurt. But Dubai’s status as the hub of Middle Eastern commerce has sustained a palpable hit, and some finance types will probably prefer to do business in a city outside the range of Iranian drones.