I looked to book a trip to DXB in business. There was no saver business or first tickets available except with connections on partners (and this was rare). On an entire page, there might be one flight that was at saver levels. It seems that whenever I've looked to book award travel that's been the case.
So, it seems (without actually looking at a chart) that this just means no saver availability on business or first on either partners or UA. So, it's pushing folks away from saver availability which means that it is essentially doubling or more the miles needed for international.