to start the ball rolling... :-)

Abu Dhabi ist laut meinem Atlas in der Wüste. Ein Wortspiel auf "Die Wüste lebt" oder auf irgendwas mit Wüste und Blühen wäre doch nett.

just an idea... :)

My confidence level is low, as I am not a native German speaker. This is just a suggestion and just an idea. The first thing that actually came to mind was "Aus Scheisse Gold machen" - but that is too vulgar.

My idea in order to get the boll rolling is:

Der Aufstieg von Abu Dhabi - wie ein geölter Blitz

or something like that : )

...

This is a literal translation. I think it is a good one.

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Note added at 33 mins (2005-11-28 11:37:31 GMT)
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I only tried to make a translation. The title as such is not my concern.

Der neue Reichtum der Wüstensöhne/Beduinen
Das schwarze Gold aus dem Wüstensand
Von den Lumpen zum Designer-Luxus

Ich habe hier an das Rumpelstilzchen gedacht und dessen Forderung von Stroh zu Gold zu spinnen.

noch eine Idee

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Note added at 1 hr 29 mins (2005-11-28 12:33:36 GMT)
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aus der Wüste emporgestiegen

of course, an analogy to Phoenix rising from the ashes, and would connotate a prior phase of high culture
The link indicates some of this, but your text would have to as well to use this title:
"Life on the Trucial Coast - as it was known until the 1970s - and in its hinterland, was one of considerable hardship. In the towns, fresh water was scarcely available and often had to be drawn by oxen from deep wells, or even brought in barrels from neighboring islands by dhow.

Tribesmen would harvest the unreliable winter rains by stretching a sail with a hole in its center between two poles, and in the merciless heat of the Arabian summer would trap the cooling winds by the ingenious use of wind-towers made of sackcloth or cotton. On the sun-blasted terraces of the Hajar Mountains, subsistence farmers eked out a bitter existence, and in the interior the hardy Bedouin scoured the dunes of the great Empty Quarter for pasture. In the hot months, members of these various groups would come together to work as divers in the pearl-yielding oyster beds which flourished in the warm, shallow waters of the Gulf For almost three millennia the economy of this region was bound up with the pearling fleet, culminating in a boom that was only ended by the invention, in the 1920s of the cultured pearl.

Despite its harsh climate, civilization has flourished in this region since the earliest times. At Jebel Hafit, near al-Ain, lie the remains of a settlement dating back more than five thousand years; at Hili, not far away, have been found pillbox-shaped tombs of dressed masonry so finely wrought that archaeologists believe they may be connected with the ancient land of Magan, mentioned in ancient Sumerian texts as a land of fabulous wealth, the source of copper, minerals and semi-precious stones."

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Note added at 7 hrs 23 mins (2005-11-28 18:26:56 GMT)
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One more little note:
"Last century, pearling gave Abu Dhabi a wealth and regional clout which lasted until the Japanese killed off the natural pearl industry in the 1930s by marketing a cheaper cultured pearl."
http://www.welcome-to.com/Abu_Dhabi/Features/The_Quest_for_O...

Aufbauend auf der Idee von Klaus hier noch ein paar Varianten (Die ersten beiden Ideen sind sehr frei übersetzt):

(1) Abu Dhabi - Wohlstand im Wüstensand

(2) Abu Dhabi - Wohlstandoase im Wüstensand

(3) Abu Dhabi - vom (armen) Wüstenstaat zur Wohlstandsoase


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Note added at 9 hrs 3 mins (2005-11-28 20:07:00 GMT)
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Sorry, mir ist ein Tippfehler unterlaufen: es soll natürlich "Wohlstand*s*oase" heißen!

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Note added at 9 hrs 32 mins (2005-11-28 20:36:49 GMT)
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Und nocht ein Fehler: es soll "Wüstenstadt" (und nicht "Wüstenstaat" heißen! Also nochmal alles - bei der Gelegenheit auch gleich noch ein weiterer Vorschlag (4):

(1) Abu Dhabi - Wohlstand im Wüstensand

(2) Abu Dhabi - Wohlstandsoase im Wüstensand

(3) Abu Dhabi - von der armen Wüstenstadt zur Wohlstandsoase

(4) Abu Dhabi - eine Wüstenstadt wird zur Wohlstandsoase