Dubai:
It was the most subtle of gestures, but looking back, many in Dubai now see it as a sign of their salvation.
At the grand opening of the Dubai Air Show this month, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Muhammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan, placed his hand over the hand of Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. That was widely viewed among people here as a sign that Abu Dhabi, by far the largest and richest member-state of the United Arab Emirates federation, would take care of Dubai.
The question is whether that means Abu Dhabi will use its wealth to bail out Dubai, the deeply indebted city-state that shook world markets when it announced that its chief investment arm would not be able to pay its debts on time.
Dubai is famous as the brash, secular upstart of the Emirates, and Abu Dhabi is known as the religious and conservative big brother. Tensions between the two are legion, but when reporters questioned Mohammed about tensions last week, the sheik told them to "shut up."
Nevertheless, the debt crisis of the last few days has fed speculation that Abu Dhabi would impose conditions for any bailout, including a stake in prominent Dubai enterprises like Emirates Airlines. Emirati officials have denied those rumors.
The Emirates' central bank issued a statement on Sunday saying that it would stand behind foreign and domestic banks operating in the Emirates. It did not mention Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, which is $59 billion in debt.
Analysts say the statement will not be enough to allay fears that the Dubai government could default on part of its sovereign debt, even if many citizens in Dubai on Sunday seemed inclined to dismiss all talk of tension among the Emirates, insisting that they are not worried about their country's future.
"Only a few decades ago, this country was nothing, just a desert," said Thani al-Falaasi, a 31-year-old Emirati businessman who was shopping with a friend in the Dubai Mall on Sunday night. Referring to Dubai's leader, Sheik Mohammed, he said: "He built it up. Even if there is a crisis, he can solve it. We have great confidence in him."
Still, as fear from Dubai's debt crisis circled the globe, an unaccustomed quiet settled here at the center of the storm - and it was more than just the hush of a major holiday, Id al-Adha. Expatriate bankers and other professionals here are simmering in anxiety, while the world talks about Dubai like a bad seed of the global economy.
"A lot of people are pretty freaked out," said one American businessman with long experience in the region, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions. "They're all watching CNN and going: 'Is Dubai going to default?"'
Many in Dubai have a shockingly different perspective.
"Dubai is a victim of media distortion," wrote one reader to a Web forum of one of the Emirates' most popular newspapers. "All the Western countries have ganged up on Dubai. Why? Because it has succeeded."
Another reader wrote, "This is all because of jealousy from the Western world," adding that "Dubai has been at the forefront of development in the Arab world."
That is not the view from elsewhere in the Emirates.
Like Dubai's bankers and bondholders, the government of the United Arab Emirates was surprised by Dubai's announcement on Wednesday that it would need to freeze repayments on the debt of its chief investment arm, Dubai World.
Abu Dhabi, which has more oil than Dubai and no cash problems, could wipe out Dubai World's $59 billion in debt easily, analysts say.
But that seems unlikely. Despite an announcement by the Emirates' central bank on Sunday that it would make more money available to local and foreign banks in Dubai, analysts say such imprecise promises - the bank did not say how much, or that it would back all the debt of Dubai or Dubai World - may not be enough to placate investors.
Many have been left wondering, again, if the Emirate's debts are worse than most of the world suspects. Analysts estimate Dubai's total debt at around $80 billion, but some here say it could well be closer to $120 billion, or more.
Authorities appear to have hoped that the timing of the announcement - just before the Emirate (and the broader Middle East) was about to shut down for Id al-Adha, a major religious holiday - would minimize its negative effects. Instead, it did the opposite. Some Emiratis were also upset by the handling of the announcement.
Dubai's rags to riches, and possibly back to rags, tale "has all the elements of a Greek tragedy," said Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk at Global Insight, a London research company, with "hubris and pathos" in equal measure.
The operative question is whether Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates federation - which includes both Dubai and Abu Dhabi - will rescue Dubai from the consequences of its profligacy.
If it does not, the secondary effects could spread to Greece, Britain and the Baltics, all heavily indebted nations, or to India and the Philippines, where foreign workers in Dubai send back millions to support family each year, or to any corner of the market for credit that individuals, companies and countries all rely on.
Inside Dubai, the crisis has brought to the fore fears and resentments that the legion of foreign workers who make up 90 percent of Dubai's population have long held toward the small minority of Emiratis who own the place.
Expatriates here have complained for years that Dubai is too secretive about its debt and finances and that its rapid growth came at the expense of accountability.
"It breeds further distrust," said John McGaw, a senior adviser to Golden Oryx, a Dubai business development company. "A lot of people have been disappointed with the way they have been treated over the past 12 to 18 months."