The Great Recession of 2008-09 convinced me, like many other observers, that the city-state of Dubai’s razzmatazz – Go skiing in the boiling heat! Gawk at the world’s tallest building! – was but a desert mirage. I lambasted Dubai in a 2009 article for “hucksterism and fast talk,” running a “trompe l’oeil economy,” and suckering outsiders…