Interesting....

Point A:

The "Desert Louvre," as the French press has dubbed the deal, is part of a revolutionary initiative by France to expand its global influence through its vast cultural heritage and holdings -- the one realm where it remains a dominant world power -- in the face of its shrinking diplomatic and economic clout.

The French government is offering up some of its greatest cultural names and assets to Middle Eastern governments awash in cash, as well as to newly wealthy developing nations eager to globalize their cultural offerings. In January, the Pompidou Center in Paris, one of the world's largest museums of contemporary and modern art, announced plans to open a branch in Shanghai. The Rodin Museum is considering adding a site in Brazil. Chirac says he wants museum partnerships in Russia, India, Africa and South America.

The global outreach effort includes other cultural icons. The Sorbonne university in Paris opened a satellite campus in Abu Dhabi in October, the first expansion in its 750-year history. And the elite military academy established by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, is considering a training academy for military officers in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.

I, for one, am all in favor of the French Army opening a training academy in the Middle East, particularly given the ready supply of white sheets in the area.

Point Deux:

Oil services giant Halliburton Co. will soon shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Mideast financial powerhouse of Dubai, chief executive Dave Lesar announced Sunday.

"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE."

Lesar, speaking at an energy conference in nearby Bahrain, said he will relocate to Dubai from Texas to oversee Halliburton's intensified focus on business in the Mideast and energy-hungry Asia, home to some of the world's most important oil and gas markets.

"As the CEO, I'm responsible for the global business of Halliburton in both hemispheres and I will continue to spend quite a bit of time in an airplane as I remain attentive to our customers, shareholders and employees around the world," Lesar said. "Yes, I will spend the majority of my time in Dubai."

Lesar's announcement appears to signal one of the highest-profile moves by a U.S. corporate leader to Dubai, an Arab boomtown where free-market capitalism has been paired with some of the world's most liberal tax, investment and residency laws.

Well, I guess it creates the one-stop shopping potential for lefty jet-setters: the unique tourism potential of protesting in front of Halliburton's corporate headquarters and then visiting the Louvre the same afternoon.