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April 2007 Archives
April 30, 2007
Pakistan: booze, boobs and bullets
I was just sitting at this restaurant with this Pakistani American acquaintance when he asked:
“Don’t you feel lonely here sometimes?”
“No, why should I?” I answered.
“I don’t know, I miss partying, you know?”
“You can party pretty well here” I replied.
“No, it’s not the same”
Like me, Moe had moved around a lot and he hadn’t been here for long. Before coming to this city which boasts about the quality of its night life and the beauty of its women, he had spent a few years in Pakistan.
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Posted by Shaheen at 02:38 AM
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Filed Under: Society & Culture
April 28, 2007
Maybe All is Not Lost in Translation
Apparently the U.S. Congress has taken notice that a grand total of fifty green cards per fiscal year was not going to meet the demand created by Iraqi and Afghan translators who have placed their lives in danger by serving as translators and interpreters for U.S. forces.
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Posted by evaluna at 12:10 PM
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Filed Under: Iraq War
, Op-Ed
, US Foreign Policy
France reflections: elections, Beurs, MENA, economy
As per The Lounsbury's suggestion, and following Ibn Kafka's extensive coverage of French elections, here are my two cents about them, Beurs, France and the MENA region and related economic bits.
Sunday's [May 6th] second round will most probably bring Sarkozy to French presidency. I have to say I'm very mixed up about this election. This round's vote is a matter of either gambling on Sarkozy, and risking what happened with Arab Americans, who happen to have voted George Bush in 2000, or choosing an economically destructive but marginally more risk averse community-wise choice with Segolene.
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Posted by Shaheen at 04:21 AM
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Filed Under: EU Foreign Policy
, Economic Development
, Ethnic Minorities
, Foreign Policy & MENA
, Levant
, MENA Region General
, North Africa
, Op-Ed
, Political Development
, Religious Minorities
April 26, 2007
Finance 101 for Muslims
It is sad to say this, but finance is to today’s Muslims what medicine or astronomy was to medieval Europeans. I’m so sick of coming across people condemning themselves to poverty because they decided to follow the widespread confusion promoted by ulemas who are criminally ignorant about finance and even about traditional Islamic jurisprudence itself. So here, I decided to write this intro to finance in the hope that it will enlighten at least some of the Muslims who are hesitant when it comes to dealing with interests.
I’ll try to make it as simple as possible and will avoid circus monkeys jargon, sometimes even overly simplifying for clarity’s sake. It’s for lay people, so finance geeks look away, or your eyes are going to hurt. This is very long, so here are the sections:
I The law of gravity: supply and demand
II Money’s just an asset
III The time value of money
IV Risk
V Putting it together: interest rates
VI You do want that loan: why borrowing is necessary
VII The fallacies behind Islamic finance
VIII Islamic jurisprudence and the case of the last Caliphate
IX Pass it on
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Posted by Shaheen at 03:12 AM
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Filed Under: Business, Private
, Economic Development
, Economic Policy
, Islam General
, MENA Region General
April 24, 2007
What's the proper going rate, bribery and work in Morocco
Via our aggregator (which perhaps is only slightly less well-known than our book reviews section, I stumbled across this review of reaction to the Casa bombings and vaguely related commentary. An item that I particularly noted was the reaction to a US story on film production of some nonsense I haven't seen, in particular with respect to the ... ahem facilitation payments paid. (Although I am now vaguely curious to see the film in question - I am sure somewhere in es-Seef there must be a pirated DVD source.) What I found in particular irritating was the tut-tutting about various issues like pay scales and delayed work.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:31 PM
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Filed Under: Business, Private
, North Africa
April 14, 2007
Maghreb Madness: Reflexions on the Return of Al Qaeda
Shamefully late, as I began working on this (as some of the articles will indicate) in February. Pity I got busy, as it would have been useful to be ahead of the curve. But better late than never. (NDLR: this was written before the bombings in Casablanca 14 April, and has been updated and modified) Today and earlier in the week were grim days.
First, some general reflexions.
The developments in the Maghreb, Morocco and Algeria, are of course personally disturbing as my brief is North Africa, but beyond this personal business obsession this is a sign of reconstituted risk, and that the simmering frustration of the slums has not gone away. As our friend Ibn Kafka wrote on his blog several days ago with respect to Casablanca earlier this week, this is not merely electoral propaganda to check the Islamist parties. As he says, "The spectre of 16 May 2003 has returned among us." His post is well worth reading, and I will return to a key point later.
[nb: fixed link issue on WP article below]
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:41 PM
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Filed Under: Foreign Policy & MENA
, Islam & Politics
, Islamism
, North Africa
Casablanca Breakfasts & Bombs
At the request of eerie, and following on my AM observation, a quick reflexion on the fact my fine hotel breakfast this AM was disturbed by a bomb. Well, two bombs really.
9:00 am GMT, two deluded fools blew themselves to bits thankfully only killing themselves and injuring some poor lady near the American cultural center.
[updated story: Guardian story
Saturday's two bombers detonated their explosives in the middle of a boulevard that runs behind the American Language Center, killing themselves and wounding a woman, the official said, adding that the three suspects were arrested in the neighborhood, which is dotted with high-rises, hotels and diplomatic missions, including the U.S. consulate.[end update]After the arrests, another explosives belt was found beside an upscale hotel in the same neighborhood struck by the bombings, the Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:54 AM
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Filed Under: North Africa
, Terrorism
April 12, 2007
Algeria / al Qaeda in the Maghreb: Bombing & Open Discussion
Per Antiquated Tory's request on the New Month entry, an open thread for discussing Algeria and the implications of recent events in North Africa.
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Posted by eerie at 12:31 PM
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Filed Under: Islamism
, North Africa
, Terrorism
April 11, 2007
Why didn't the Ottomans conquer the Americas?
There is little research as to why the Ottoman Empire, one of the major world powers of the Age of Discovery, didn’t try to pick its share of the New World. Digging a bit, I came up with the only three related articles I could find. They barely scratch the surface. To fully access those articles, you’ll probably need to buy them or get them from your nearest university library.
One of the articles deals with the Piri Reis map, the earliest record of America by the Ottomans. It doesn’t really deal with the issue, but it's a good academic overview of the map itself. America is marked as Vilayet Antilia, which might imply some intention, at least from Piri Reis, to annex it to the Ottoman realm. Vilayet – or Wilayah in Arabic – means governorate, or province.
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Posted by Shaheen at 10:11 PM
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Filed Under: Society & Culture
April 06, 2007
My Inner Neocon & Iran's Shatt Across the Bow
No, I don't want us or Britain to go to war with Iran. Heck, I'm a "cut and runner" on Iraq from before it happened. But am I the only one not of neoconnish-hawkish outlook who is a little perturbed that uniformed professional British sailors and Marines, engaged in lawful patrolling and probable legitimate intelligencing, roll over and "confess"? (Side note to antiwar folks: the coalition presence is now lawful, regardless of other moral or prudential non-rectitude.) Civilians, I understand. Me, I'll give away your social security number when faced with a nail clipper. But what happened to stiff upper lip; name, rank and serial number? If they were tortured or threatened I won't judge, but at least I'd want to know. UPDATE: Rolling over does make a little more sense after these revelations of mock executions, etc..
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:49 PM
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Filed Under: EU Foreign Policy
, Foreign Policy & MENA
, Iraq War
, MENA Region General
, Society & Culture
April 05, 2007
Well, Golly: Egyptian Finance Comes to Town
Youssef Boutros Ghali, Egypt's Minister of Finance, will be giving his take -- perhaps a bad choice of words -- on the economy of Nile-dom right here in Potomac River City, aka Washington D.C., on Thursday, April 12 (reserve at the CATO Institute by 11 April). Full details are below the break, and here, the most important of which is "Cato Forums and luncheons are free of charge." D.C area Aqoulites are required to go, if they are below 32 and in any kind of University. Meanwhile, informed comments from all on the subject, including from our own regional finance hyperinformed but Masrophobic resident Id, are welcome.
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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:16 PM
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Filed Under: Business, Private
, EU Foreign Policy
, Economic Development
, Economic Policy
, Foreign Policy & MENA
, MENA Region General
, North Africa
, Political Development
, Society & Culture
, US Foreign Policy
April 04, 2007
On Citizenship and Marriage
As the number of foreigners living in the Gulf has increased, so have the number of marriages between Gulf citizens and expatriates. Foreign women who marry Gulf citizens have relatively little legal trouble in these patriarchal societies. But women from the Gulf who marry foreigners find that their husbands cannot acquire their nationality, and that their children are not citizens in the countries where they have been born and raised.
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Posted by dubaiwalla at 08:37 PM
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Filed Under: Gender Issues
, Gulf
April 02, 2007
The New Month Open Thread: April 2007 edition
That hoary old tradition. Afraid Aqoul has been quite of late as the various authors are either lazy good for nothing scum, or busy people unable to post.
However, tradition is very important to us in the MENA region, although often in a lip-service sort of way. So here is the lip service.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:50 AM
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Filed Under: Site News
