The Address in Dubai

Although it is being billed as a hotel, it is more of a high end residential compound (650 serviced apartments, along with 200 hotel rooms) in a 300 meter tall building.

The building is nearly 8 years old, and suddenly a massive fire breaks out only 2.5 hours before New Year's Eve. These aren't the kind of people who sneak a gas grill on the balcony and start a fire. It stretches credulity to think that this is an accident. It was probably a premature detonation, as the damage would have been much worse had the building filled with onlookers for the fireworks.

The part of ISIS that is totally terrifying is they will use such horrific means against fellow Muslims that they consider apostate. Given a theoretical biological weapon that could destroy all life in the Americas, I think they would use it.

Could it have been a for profit insurance scam?

Quote: Ayecarumba

Could it have been a for profit insurance scam?

Normally people make money on torching old buildings that you've wrestled all the profit out of them, and now you go for insurance money rather than do upgrades. This was a prestigious building which was owned by hundreds of condo owners. It was only 7 years old.

My father had an abandoned building that was torched by an arsonist. Evidence clearly pointed to a professional and not a gang of thugs who just started a fire. The police gave him a lie detector test, but his biggest argument was he had no motivation. The arson ended up costing my father money. You can't make money on either an abandoned building or an ongoing profitable concern. In that case the arsonist was almost certainly using the abandoned building for practice.