There are tall buildings, there are very tall buildings, and then there is the Burj Khalifa. Standing at 829.8 meters, just over half a mile, it has been the tallest structure on the planet since its topping out in 2009, surpassing Taipei 101, which had held the record for half a decade. But the raw number only tells part of the story. Dubai built it for a reason. The emirate had been watching its oil reserves dwindle for years and made a calculated bet on tourism and global prestige instead......