Explain Like I'm Five

???

Out of the ones you mention, Dubai is in fact not a real country and I have not seen anyone claim that it is; it is a city and region of the country called the United Arab Emirates.

Israel isn't universally recognized by all countries because some countries claim it is illegitimate (for religious reasons, because they say it is a colonialist project, etc. etc.).

Belgium is a country with different parts speaking different languages also spoken in neighboring countries, that is why some people have claimed it's not (culturally) its own country, but I don't think anyone seriously refuses to recognize it as a country.

As for Latvia, no idea whatsoever what you're talking about.

So the question as asked is unanswerable because you're giving confusing and inconsistent examples.

Legally: if any other countries recognize it.

Morally: no country is real. Nationalism is a mind virus.

Mainly if other countries believe it is a country and treat it as a country. You can look at Taiwan as an example. For all intents and purposes, it acts as a country. Yet, almost all countries do not classify Taiwan as a country, so it isn't really a country.

In modern days, recognition of being a country is generally handled by the UN as it is an organization of countries which recognize each other.

The Map Men explain it better than I could:

How do you start a new country? https://youtu.be/hX4s1ZLW_PI

There are NOT 195 countries https://youtu.be/3nB688xBYdY

And just for fun...

The mystery of the squarest country https://youtu.be/8mrNEVUuZdk

(Yes, I'm a big fan!)

~~Dubai is a city and the capital of the UAE.~~

Edit: Dubai is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, an emirate of the UAE. The capital of the UAE is Abu Dhabi.

The amount of countries that recognize it as a country. Yes, it's circular logic. That said, if they act independent of other countries, they are likely a country whether recognized or not.

There's a set of "official" countries that legally recognise each other, but in practice any group that has a local monopoly on the use of violence (so, trapping people in jails without going to jail for it, basically) can be equivalent. In fact, some of these have partial recognition, like Taiwan, Kosovo, or the non-official half of Libya.

Israel, Latvia, Belgium and Dubai

That's such a mixed bag.

Dubai is part of some kind of confederation (the UAE), and doesn't even claim to be a full country. Israel exists, but there's a lot of controversy about how it's managed that. Belgium exists, but doesn't have a unified cultural identity the same way as most European countries. Finally, Latvia exists but Russia doesn't want it to, although I might be missing something about how distinct it is from Lithuania.

For a fun side topic, take a look at Micronations

How is any country more real than any other?

https://vimeo.com/128427174

I don't know if the rest of that series is available, but there you go.