David Zabinsky

American in the Emirates

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

This is Minik.

It’s 1897, and in this photo, he’s around 7 years old.

But little does he know -

His life will soon tragically take a turn for the worse, all because of a North Pole explorer and a New York City museum.

A story:

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Skip to 0:34 and watch if nothing for Tom Conti’s reaction. Every bit of this is truly unbelievable, in every sense of the word.

[Piers Morgan Uncensored @PiersUncensored]

EXCLUSIVE: AI actress Tilly Norwood glitches and starts speaking CHINESE during her interview with Piers Morgan and real-life actor Tom Conti...

Watch the full interview at 7pm (BST)👇

📺 https://t.co/1nTb79BH8D

@piersmorgan | @TillyNorwoodX

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Surprised this strategy didn’t work out for Uber.

Per @semafor

[Luke Kawa @LJKawa]

JPMorgan’s commodities team:

“For the first time since the start of the Iran conflict, we don’t have a baseline view. We simply don’t know how to model the endgame.”

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Next Polymarket market: “Will the Houthis join the Abraham Accords by 2027?”

[Hiba Nasr @HibaNasr]

‼️ This paragraph from Reuters story on the meeting between US and Houthis stands out:

The Houthis told US officials that they had no intention of attacking American vessels or Israeli ships.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Rolling your eyes at $2.99 for an Olipop in the U.S.?

Try 25.75 AED ($7.01) in Dubai.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

It takes a very strange person to buy pre-workout called “Green Gelatin” and that very strange person is me.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

@VCBrags This showed up on my feed yesterday and I was sure it was satire??

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Never has sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Al Khail FELT SO GOOD

[Ziad Daoud @ZiadMDaoud]

Dubai: Traffic "near DIFC recovered to about 90% of pre-war levels before slipping in August during the school break"

"The rebound was slightly more muted around Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina, likely because those areas are more dependent on tourism"

https://t.co/RRqIWGDnMJ

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

@zangana_aram Aram - I appreciate that more than you know, man! Indeed alive and kicking and there’ll be all sorts of fun stories soon enough :)

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Producers are running out of good hope…quite literally.

[Travis Akers 🇺🇸 @travisakers]

Before I retired in 2024, the “worst case scenario” in the Pentagon for the Middle East was both Straits being closed. It was not even imaginable except in PowerPoint briefs and War College gaming scenarios.

Under Pete Hegseth, it has become a reality in less than six months.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Get a quote for an in-ground pool from these guys and you might get a whole lot more.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

(Mildly) interesting equipment at a hotel gym in Altea, Spain:

1) a treadmill seemingly from the communist era

2) a bench for which a protractor was surely used

3) a plate made before 2.5kg plates were standard?

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

@Notsoaveragetho Nooooo 🥺

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Thankful for this community note.

[Redd @ReddCinema]

BREAKING NEWS🚨: Iran shoots down an F-15 with a man on a flying carpet 😱😱

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Thankful for this community note.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

@anasalhajji @Kpler It’ll be hella sour by time it arrives!

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

For many of us, it’s been “I’ll just be here for two years” to this 👇

[The National @TheNationalNews]

'Putting down roots': Nearly half of UAE residents now plan to retire in country, new research shows https://t.co/SDhVH9Ppzk

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

Easily a 12,000+ nautical mile trip. And certainly not the last of its kind…

[Anas Alhajji @anasalhajji]

🟥WOOOOOW!

A VLCC carrying more than 2 million barrels of Saudi crude is heading to South Korea the long way — around Africa.

That voyage is roughly twice as far as the usual Red Sea/Bab Al Mandab route, adding about 30 days.

The tanker was only partly loaded, apparently by ship-to-ship transfer off Saudi Arabia’s western ports. It then sailed north and transited the Suez Canal. A fully loaded VLCC cannot cross Suez. It finished loading Saudi crude at Sidi Kerir (Egypt, see red arrow) then set course for South Korea.

Map from @kpler. I added the white line, the two red arrows and the red circle.

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

The Gulf is within an eight-hour flight of ~75% of the world's population.

Not doubling down on this geographic tailwind (pun intended) and being best-in-class for those in transit would be silly.

[Peter Teal @RealPeterTeal]

Does anyone have an HBS case that explains why Gulf airlines are so much better than anything else in the West

Is it just subsidies maybe

[David Zabinsky @DavidZabinsky]

@RobLipsett Try Kurasu at Dar Wasl for coffee that’s *actually* roasted in Japan.