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February 2008 Archives
February 25, 2008
Economic Development, Foreign Investment and the War on Terror
Oddly via one of my investment robots, I ran across this Op Ed from Zenpundit favourite Thomas P.M. Barnett - a Strat Studies type - on the necessity to focus on promoting growth in MENA, and imp. of FDI. More important than making things go boom.
I shall leave this open to comment. I have some own reactions, which may really resolve to quibbles, to details in the Op Ed, but it is interesting to see this argument.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:15 AM
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Filed Under: Economic Development
, MENA Region General
, US Foreign Policy
Selling Islam
How can your business make money off the religious? The Lounsbury has already covered Islamic finance, so I'm not going to comment further about that. You could create an Islamic car. Turns out it is as simple as adding a compass (to point to Mecca) and ensuring the glove compartment is roomy (so that you can put in a Quran and headscarf). Other people are talking about setting up a Muslim airline. Features included halal food and gender-segregated seating.
Continue reading "Selling Islam"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 12:00 AM
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Filed Under: Business, Private
, Islam General
February 24, 2008
Bahrain: Reform and Liberalism
Worthy of reflexion on larger tensions between economic and political reform in MENA, Bahrain seems to be going through an awkward spot in terms of political and economic reform although it is Bush ibn Bush's Khaliji wunderkind for democratisation. Nothing surprising in this, other than perhaps the qualified support of the opposition (and even that is not terribly astounding as such, given the way publicly expressed opposition generally occurs in Monarchies).
Continue reading "Bahrain: Reform and Liberalism"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:35 AM
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Filed Under: Economic Development
, Foreign Policy & MENA
, Gulf
, MENA Region General
, Political Development
February 17, 2008
Kosovo flags & Arab Sats
A brief note, the coverage today of the Kosovo declaration / celebrations on Al Jazeerah and on Al Jazeerah was quite interesting: the actual Sat broadcasts focused quite a lot on the Kosovo-American flag pairing and US ... conditional support I suppose. Interesting imagery to be dominating the screen. The US could stand for this sort of positive imagery more often. One does not often get imagery on the Sats of hidjab wearing ladies leaning out of cars waving American flags wildly.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:37 AM
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Filed Under: MENA Region General
, Media
Whither Arab Sats? The 'Arab' (authoritarian dinos) broadcasting code
The Financial Times worthy article on Al Jazeerah's response to the Mubarek led censorship drive is worthy of some reflexion.
The key portion of the so-called media code is:
“The commitment to freedom of expression is a main cornerstone of Arab media activity, provided that the practice of this freedom should be informed by a sense of awareness and responsibility in order to protect the higher interests of Arab states and of the Arab nation,”
Of course the Arab states "higher interests" (never mind the polite outdated fiction of the 'Arab Nation') really means the interests of the dictators to provide turgid non-news. Now, taking Morocco as an example, with a relatively free-ish media under a media code that is perhaps nearly as potentially cretinous, it is true that application is as important as a law (above all in circumstances as obtain in MENA were law is more an expression of potential intent than binding law). But effects?
Continue reading "Whither Arab Sats? The 'Arab' (authoritarian dinos) broadcasting code"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:16 AM
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Filed Under: Business, Private
, Media
, Political Development
, Press Freedom
, Society & Culture
February 16, 2008
Dull, Duller, Dulles: Accents and Airports
A bit of a lighter subject than recent events call for, since our Lebanon Expert Panel colleagues are nowhere to be found even as Imad Mughniyah pulls a Matthew 26:52, with spectacular success. Anyway, some details of the following story are changed but the upshot actually happened some weeks back: person of MENA background says to me in D.C. area: "Am feeling sick. Can you pick up my favorite cousin flying in from Amman, Jordan today?" "Sure." Few minutes later, a follow up: "Um, it appears he's landed already, but he's in Dallas, Texas. Apparently, the travel agents over in Jordan heard him ask for Dulles Airport, and sent him on a plane to Dallas. " True story, anyone experience same or similar? And what's Arabic for "D'oh!"?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:41 AM
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Filed Under: Society & Culture
February 03, 2008
Dollars, Gulf Politics & MENA Economies, tip, tiptoeing...
Without extended commentary, I draw attention to The Financial Times report that Qatar is considering breaking the dollar peg, following Kuwait and certainly if it does so putting a nail in the coffin of the original vision of the unified Gulf currency zone.
The report, which if realized, would make Qatar the 2nd after Kuwait to break the strict dollar peg, highlights a feedback between the current American Administration's profligate fiscal policy -itself tied to a frankly delusional foreign policy that has by evident incompetence as well as imperial overreaching damaged credibility generally [never mind the exact politics]- and regional politics and policy. Make no mistake, the dollar peg has long been as much a politic as an economic statement.
Of course taking such a step in an environment like the present is economically rational - above all if one believes that one is entering a period of long term dollar weakness or instability, although a more flexible exchange regime is generically usually a better thing regardless of the specific dollar issues.
Continue reading "Dollars, Gulf Politics & MENA Economies, tip, tiptoeing..."
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:51 AM
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Filed Under: Economic Policy
, Foreign Policy & MENA
, Gulf
February 01, 2008
New Month Open Commentary
We passed a rather quiet December and January, but hopefully end and beginning year moments will pass.
On the Middle East and North Africa, well, what can we say? It strikes me that on economic and political fronts we are in a transitional moment. The economic balance, relatively favourable, is changing, and political - international - is somewhat frozen waiting for a new American administration. Perhaps, though, there is more movement than I feel.
Certainly the beginning of 2008 for the Mashreq feels, in terms of Iraq and Israel-Palestine like yet more of the stumbling on without any real movement.. Lebanon teeters still, giving lie to the naive and idiotic comparisons to the idealized analogies to the idealized vision of the Ukranian events.... The Gulf, ah, well that is another situ, but oil liquidity versus dollar depreciation remains a serious tension, and otherwise, petrol dollars dope otherwise uninteresting economies. Egypt, that requires another comment, the Maghreb, fragile movement, and Algeria behaving like the museum piece it is - it is sad when the Algerian regime makes Mubarek's look relatively competent and forward looking. But then hydrocarbon liquidity allowed them to get away with an utter fiasco of a privatization process whose main message was Caveat Emptor.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:40 PM
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Filed Under: MENA Region General
, Site News
