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September 2006 Archives

September 27, 2006

Solidarity, Reg: Maghreb, Outsourcing and Reaction

One of the issues that the United States has gotten right in MENA is its sometime concentration (when the gross fabulists that are political leadership of the Bush Administration are not dreaming up imaginary and magical transformations of a New Middle East, in time to render themselves ridculous and fools, e.g. Lebanon) on economic liberalisation as means to grow the region and provide new opportunity. It would do better to focus more on seeing real liberalisation see the day, and let its completely magical thinking about democratisation fall by the wayside.

The political support for such liberalisation contrasts favourably with the absurd double talk Europe engages in with respect to economic policy, above all France (which of course is no worse and in many ways better informed than the self-decieving fabulism the Americans are engaging in on the political 'democratisation' front). The Financial Times has an important article, although one not likely to be noticed by many, on the clash between Axa unions in France and the company over its plans to outsource to the Maghreb.

Continue reading "Solidarity, Reg: Maghreb, Outsourcing and Reaction"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:47 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Business, Private , EU Foreign Policy , Economic Development , Economic Policy , North Africa

September 26, 2006

Indigènes: Underlining fallacious framing

I thought I might return to a film that I have mentioned in the past since it is now out in the cinemas, at least in Europe, Indigènes, which tells a story that, as a French historian puts it in his discussion of the film, has been "obscured" in French and generally in Western recounting of WWII (and Maghrebine of their own history, at least following the anti-colonial reaction). I confess my personal interest arises from a family connexion with the tale, insofar as one of my grandfathers was a naval officer transported these fellows across the Med...

That is, the participation - indeed the dominant role of Muslim African (be they Maghrebine or sub-Saharan) soldiers in the "French" army liberating France - an item that I have mentioned in the past in connexion with the idiocy of ignoramuses such as Irshad Manji tying the Islamic world to the Nazis. It is also an item of interest in reflecting on the fallaciousness of simple minded Clash of Civilisation whanking on.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:10 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General , North Africa , Reviews

September 25, 2006

Mubarek is Dead, Long Live Mubarek: the Age of the Neo Mamalike

[Ahem Mubarek is not actually dead, it was a turn of phrase]

I believe it is more or less well known that I am an Egypt sceptic. Indeed, I am an Egypt pessimist.

A pity, as the country could and should be a great nation. However, Egypt is the perfect example in the region of the foreign funded vampire state and the bankruptcy of a short-termist "realist" (or rather fabulism dressed up as realism) policy running to the end of its tether.

I found the more and more open proposition that the Pharoah of the Mamlouks will be succeeded by the Son of the Pharoah of the Mamlouks at once amusing and disturbing. I am sure it will be, when it happens, be accompanied by much prattle on the part of the Americans about the "reformers" in the House of the Pharoah and other empty speeches only convincing to themselves.

Continue reading "Mubarek is Dead, Long Live Mubarek: the Age of the Neo Mamalike"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:08 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Filed Under: MENA Region General , Political Development

Leb Land & Recon, Back to Networks

Returning to a hint I made a month ago, I find on the newswires confirmation of the scheming re buying some street cred in Lebanon after the disastrous backing of 'transformation via Israeli shells' did such a lovely job of fucking American reputation into a cocked hat.

The USD 250 million of course is better than zero, but I am having a hard time seeing effectiveness given zero on the ground networks.

Hezbullah won, and even the backstopping effort isn't very good.

[Updated with links to actual entries supra, just to prove The Lounsbury is ahead of the curve]

Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:17 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Economic Development , Economic Policy , Levant , US Foreign Policy

September 20, 2006

Racism? What racism?

Allow me to bring your attention to a particularly poorly written piece of UAE agitprop. The UAE is quite heavily segregated socially - people of different national and ethnic origins tend not to mix together except for business. This has been exacerbated greatly by some rather flagrant racism.

I am not sure what legal sanctions exist regarding discrimination, but it is clear that if these exist, they aren't ever enforced. Housing ads can thus ask for Keralite Muslim bachelors, and job ads for Tagalog-speaking candidates only to apply for positions where these language skills are unnecessary, while nightclubs often turn away non-white people at the door on flimsy grounds. Pay scales differ wildly depending on one's skin color, as does how one is treated by all sorts of people one encounters, ranging from shopkeepers to immigration staff.

There has lately been some very slight movement towards recognizing this and doing something about it. Until now, that is.

Continue reading "Racism? What racism?"

Posted by dubaiwalla at 11:11 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Ethnic Minorities , Gulf , Media , Op-Ed , Society & Culture

September 19, 2006

Arar Commission Report Released

A quick note to draw attention to the release of the Maher Arar Commission report (helpful timeline available here). I had a chance to skim the report and the fact-finding document; neither one casts Canada's security services in a favorable light. The report is the result of immense public pressure to investigate Canada's role in Arar's "extraordinary rendition" by US authorities and subsequent torture at the hands of Syrian military intelligence. Now that Arar has been cleared of any wrongdoing, the media is having a field day over the commission report's scathing indictment of the Mounties.

It is of course important to note that the commission's ability to gather information was limited by the US State Department's refusal to cooperate. In light of this decision, I found it rather telling that portions of the report were censored to protect "international relations" as well as national security. In any case, it was found that Canadian authorities did not participate in Arar's actual deportation to Syria, though the intel supplied to US authorities likely played a part in their decisionmaking.

Continue reading "Arar Commission Report Released"

Posted by eerie at 10:47 PM | Comments (26) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Terrorism , US Foreign Policy

September 16, 2006

Potpourri: Benedict, Islam, and Less Obvious Targets

I tend to think the Pope's recent Islam-related comments, which were first addressed here by Lounsbury below, constituted an intentional opening salvo, or a water-testing, in Benedict's un-John Paul II-like approach to non-Catholics, including Muslims. Though Benedict and his predecessor were bascially of one mind theologically, and also in terms of internal Church governance, when it came to relations to outsiders they had quite different outlooks. John Paul II was a city boy from a time and part of Poland that wasn't quite as narrow and bigoted about, say, Jews and others, as the rest of Poland. It was a relatively secular and cosmopolitan Poland JP II knew and favored. He had friends of all stripes, including Jews, some of whom or their families died in the death camps. Benedict's origins and approach are quite different, and the swipes he took in the yawn-inducing address were taken at more than just Islam as a target.

Continue reading "Potpourri: Benedict, Islam, and Less Obvious Targets"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:34 AM | Comments (58) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General

September 15, 2006

Popery

A very quick comment on the emerging Popish scandal regarding comments and the like.

First, I rather consider the whole thing absurd. Second, the choice of quotation was, well a bit on the queer side, but there it is. Third, the manner in which this is being reported in the Arabic speaking media is...well piss poor. Fourth, as a general matter, one finds in MENA that there is a strong popular sensation that "religion" should not be "insulted" - you find this even among fairly liberal people. Of course, it is all too human that people are particularly sensitive to slights against their own religion - or percieved slights - but it would be unfair to say it is only "own religion" as the general sacralness of the "religions of the book" remains a fairly strong sentiment.

There is also certainly no small aspect of "seeking to be offended" as the Islamist radical types pimp offendedness to feed off gut reaction.

This would all be less of an issue had not the Americans made the region such a bloody basket case of a mess with Iraq.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:35 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General

Futile Bollocks and Banking

Although I remain rather too busy to contribute as I would like and should, the Generator is too embarassing to have as the lead item, so a comment on an important piece of idiocy by the Americans: their attempt to shut the Iranians out of the financial markets unilaterally: US threatens further action against Iranian banks.

I frankly find such interventions borderline retarded, as well as self-defeating, leaving aside the willy nilly confusion of Hezbullah with al Qaeda in such rhetoric. Incoherence.

Continue reading "Futile Bollocks and Banking"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Business, Private , Economic Policy , MENA Region General , US Foreign Policy

September 11, 2006

The Lounsbury Insult Generator

Yes, I am aware that everyone else is writing about 9/11. I have a post in mind as well, but Klaus' comment about the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator inspired me to build one for Lounsbury.

Well, "build" is a rather strong word for the hack and slash job I did on a script written by some other guy...

Anyway, while L is tearing his hair out over some failed multi-billion-dollar deal, we can continue enjoying his unique brand of vitriol with this (slightly predictable) substitute: The Lounsbury Insult Generator.

Posted by eerie at 11:50 PM | Comments (37) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Site News

Yemeni Cricket? Upcoming Elections

Oh I wish I was in the land of khat and old times there were not forgotten, but I've never been there so I can't say there were old times. But for those to whom it matters, it appears that there are elections looming in the southland. September 20, 2006, to be precise. Will they be meaningful? And will they be cricket? This list suggests that the spirit of Lyndon Johnson may have had a hand in the voter registration process. UPDATE: 50 reported dead at election rally.

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:46 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , MENA Region General , Political Development , Society & Culture

September 10, 2006

They'll Estonia When You Try to Trade Some Goods: Transition Model?

Estonia, the Model? (Title apologies to Bob Dylan.) It seems everybody must get Estonia'd. In this excerpt of a behind-the-firewall op-ed by John Tierney in the New York Times, we learn of the transtion from an economically totalitarian society to a free market one in the ex-Soviet state of Estonia. Assuming -- and tragically some you don't, I know -- that a free market-based state and economy is a generally good thing, does Estonia provide an example for MENA (Mideast North Africa) states, and if so which ones? Alas, our main economics contributor in the region is currently bailing out sinking enterprises so the expert answer may be harder to come by. Meanwhile, I suspect Estonia fails as a model.

Continue reading "They'll Estonia When You Try to Trade Some Goods: Transition Model?"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:14 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Economic Development , Foreign Policy & MENA , Islamism , MENA Region General , Op-Ed , Political Development

September 07, 2006

Funny, they don't look Jewish: the bin Laden 9/11 video

One can hope that the diseased conspiracy theory in many Arab and Muslim places that Israel and/or "the Jews" (and/or the US Administration) pulled off 9/11 will suffer its own 9/11 with the release of an al-Qaeda video showing bin Laden and the perpetrators together. It has apparently run on al-Jazeera. I haven't seen it yet, but our illustrious regional and vernacular-speaking readers can provide more details on it, and how far it might go in putting Middle East 9/11 Conspiracy Theory numbers 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 6.0, 8.0, 112.0-117.0, and 234.0-256.0 to rest. Hmmm, wait a minute, only a small number of Muslims were killed at the World Trade Center, perhaps they were all warned in advance?

Continue reading "Funny, they don't look Jewish: the bin Laden 9/11 video"

Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 09:50 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Terrorism

September 05, 2006

American Media: It's not all fluff and stupidity

We here at 'Aqoul have spent no small amount of time bitching about the sad state of US media (news channels in particular). So it's heartening to note that even the most vapid, empty-headed celebrity rags have taken it upon themselves to educate issues-ignorant Americans on the nuances of Mideast politics.

As we can plainly see, it's not all stereotypical self-absorbed human interest slop for morons.

[Photo: Star Magazine - August 21, 2006]

Continue reading "American Media: It's not all fluff and stupidity"

Posted by eerie at 07:07 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Media , Society & Culture

September 01, 2006

Naguib Mahfouz, 1911-2006

Back when I was planning my first trip to Egypt, I asked a Lebanese friend of mine what one should read to get a feel for the country. Her immediate, breathless response was "Naguib Mahfouz! Omigod you have to read him!!" (yes, a bit of an airhead, but also adorable). Her first recommendation was the Palace Walk series, but recognizing the impracticalities of lugging three books around in my suitcase, she told me to read Midaq Alley instead.

My first night in Cairo was a blur of people, cars and smoggy air. I recall standing near the open window of my hotel room at 1am and wondering why it still sounded like the city was in the middle of rushhour traffic. Despite having come from a large (albeit orderly) city myself, I had trouble adjusting to all the noise and chaos, not to mention the small problem of air so thick you could almost grab it. An hour later, I found my way to a tiny 24-hour internet cafe. The only other person there was a chainsmoking American expat who laughed when I complained about the pollution and suggested I breathe through a filter, like he did.

Continue reading "Naguib Mahfouz, 1911-2006"

Posted by eerie at 12:42 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
Filed Under: MENA Region General , Reviews , Society & Culture

Traditional New Month Open Wanking Thread

New readers, introduce yourselves. Old readers, comment and complain as usual.

Redesign is still in progress, which means some areas of the site are still using the old template. Would ask that you refrain from sending me emails about this, as I do not care.

Anyway, have at it.

Posted by eerie at 12:38 PM | Comments (28) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Site News