Not sure of the history but I am sure they would provide good feeds into the BA/CX markets and to a lessor extent AA via BA.
Geographically it would open up OW to a huge market of the Middle East, South West Asia and Northern Africa.
Politically it would have its ups and downs. Isn't Emirate ownde by the government of Dubai - maybe that is a sticking point. Who wants to work with a govenrment in the airline industry?