As global supply shifts, Americans look for new footing in the Middle East

DUBAI, U.A.E. — Gone is the Middle East of the glorious late-'80s when, according to an American exhibitor at Index Dubai, the affluent buyer's modus operandi went something like this: "Let's buy 50 jetfighters at $1 million a piece and containerloads of carpet." Today, the Middle East (including Gulf Cooperation Council countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the...