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May 07, 2008
Bread & Riots
If you follow MENA news (and indeed news generally) rising food prices, coupled with rising petrol prices, have provoked for the first time in years serious concerns about food availability to the poorer segments of the population. And demos and riots. And when mass demos occur in the Middle East and North Africa, fear of regime stability gets in the air. Serious challenges for a region where the emerging free(er) markets are yet fragile. Nevertheless, the FT's arty today Mideast reels as hunger outgrows oil earnings is bothersome.
Perhaps the lead is what is the most irritating
For years, food policy in the Middle East and North Africa was very simple: hydrocarbon exports paid for carbohydrate imports.A quote that then segues into issues of the non-oil exporters. My irritation is always raised when all MENA is written about as if it were the Gulf. This is not merely sloppy, it leads people, even Sr. persons, to dangerously misconstrue developments.
Continue reading "Bread & Riots"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 25, 2008
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 | Comments (8) | TrackBack
February 17, 2008
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Of course the Arab states "higher interests" (never mind the polite outdated fiction of the 'Arab Nation') really means the interests of the dictators to provide turgid non-news.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 | Comments (6) | TrackBack
December 11, 2007
Releasing Built-Up Labor Tension
The floodgates have opened. It is the beginning of the end for serious labor repression in the UAE, and the rest of the Gulf is likely to follow. Dubai's employers have been forced to negotiate with (illegally) organized labor and come out second-best.
Organized labor has never had it good in the Gulf. The armies of foreign construction workers - there are 700,000 in the UAE alone - live in overcrowded and unhygienic quarters, work in unsafe conditions, have no political rights, and are banned from collective bargaining. They can't even switch jobs when their employers fail to pay them, as happens all too often. Over the past couple of years, a depreciation in the value of local currencies pegged to the dollar has meant they have been able to send less money home than ever before, rendering many unable to support families they were forced to leave behind, even as high inflation has eaten into their purchasing power in the Gulf. Meanwhile, demand for workers has surged with a building boom brought about by high oil prices.
Continue reading "Releasing Built-Up Labor Tension"
Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 11:17 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
December 08, 2007
Citigroup: "Arab" Capital, Need and Fear
With the good apparent news that , as FT commentator Ferguson put it, World War IV is off as the warmongering Right Bolshies in America have had their arguments castrated, and a moment on the weekend, I think it useful to take an economy moment to reflex slightly on on Citigroup's rescue by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the effective non-reaction of the usual suspects such as congenital cretin Mr Schumer. Now, the non-reaction somewhat wrong-foots my own commentary two months ago anticipating great hysteria, but perhaps the promise to be "silent" as an FT arty put it placated the professional cretin. Or perhaps rather his handlers in NY understood Citi's shaky state and shaped the reaction, so very different than either his reaction to the investment proposed in Nasdaq or last year (2006) with Dubai Ports World (also at the opening for more explicit Schumerism).
The contrast between in particular the round up of reaction in the Schumerism link and the non-reaction to Citigroup is interesting. Fear of banking collapse and grinding halt to the queer American use of houses as credit cards perhaps partial driving explanations on the political side, but my speciality is not American politics, which I care little about except where it has MENA blow back. Unfortunately given a near decade of utter cretinism on the Americans part in this respect, this is too frequent.
Continue reading "Citigroup: "Arab" Capital, Need and Fear"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:59 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
October 09, 2007
Melting Gold and Other Financial Transactions
Having had enough of my ridiculously over-regulated stiflingly bureaucratic and extortionately expensive UK bank account, I decided to take the advice of a relative and use a highly suspect and loosely regulated local ‘hawaala’ system in order to send my monies abroad. Somewhat embarrassingly, I had never visited a hawaala branch despite at some point completing a post graduate thesis on informal money transfer systems. And here, when I say ‘branch’, I actually mean some incarnation of tertiary industry on a street corner where you can procure slightly suspect fruit and veg, go online for a pound and grab some milk at an ungodly hour when all the decent market chains had shut down.
Continue reading "Melting Gold and Other Financial Transactions"
Posted by Meph at 11:24 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
September 04, 2007
Incentives and Accountability in Gulf Labor Markets
If the penalty for shooting someone was a $12 fine, and a warning that repeat offenders might lose access to firearms, what would happen? The murder rate would shoot up. We rely on incentives and disincentives to promote or dissuade against all sorts of things, from charitable giving to compliance with the law.
Continue reading "Incentives and Accountability in Gulf Labor Markets"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 12:15 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
September 02, 2007
Remittances & MENA, a brief reflexion on money flows
My favourite newspaper, as a running dog of an anglo saxon ultra liberale as the francophones like to style me (well except the running dog part, it not being in the idioma) The Financial Times has a fine series on Remittances, or in more ordinary language, money sent home by 3rd Worlders working outside of home country.
Funny these terms. Leaving this aside, remittances is quite a hot topic in the financial world, both in policy and in the money making parts, because the volumes are huge and our grubby little minds always think there must be ways to do interesting things with cash flows. More prosaically, the development people are all atwitter that:
In many developing countries today, more money comes from remittances than from foreign aid, foreign investment or even traditional exports. In Central America, remittances have long eclipsed traditional agricultural mainstays such as coffee and bananas. Migrants send more money to Morocco than tourists spend there. In some small countries – Lebanon, Serbia, Haiti, Tonga, Albania and Jamaica are all examples – remittances generate more revenues than all merchandise exports put together. The latest World Bank figures list 14 countries where migrants’ earnings account for 15 per cent or more of economic output, ranging from Moldova with 38 per cent to Jamaica with 16.4 per cent.
So there must be ways to make this money work better than merely supporting consumption, they say!
On the other side, and this is particularly true for marginally financially literate American government officials, there is this huge obsession with hawala (their mot phare, having just learned it, and thinking it applicable everywhere in - what do they call it, the silly little American provincials, BMENA or GMENA (Broader / Greater MENA), (1) and transfers (informal or otherwise) as terror financing. Apparently insensible to the data indicating nothing much in the way of money laundering as such has been involved in al Qaeda acts despite much fevered talk.
Continue reading "Remittances & MENA, a brief reflexion on money flows"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:25 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
August 27, 2007
Economic Development, Risk Taking & Culture (or excessive attention to culture)
Taking cue from from my own Lounsbury comment, a slightly modified and updated set of thoughts on this IHT article: Egypt searches for a balance that rewards risk-takers while valuing the past, although as I said on The Lounsbury, to be fair it is an AP article.
While it has aspects of breathless gullibility, it's not without a discussion of evolving business culture...or aspirations of evolving business culture. But in advance of my comments, a few thoughts.
Continue reading "Economic Development, Risk Taking & Culture (or excessive attention to culture)"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:11 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
July 23, 2007
MENA Business, Liquidity, Speculation, Fatwas and Egyptian Belly Dancing
Being bored on the TGV, some time to catch up on comments. In this instance on various MENA economy items that caught my eye in the past month.
So, some quick reactions to the massive amount of liquidity flowing about the region now, and globally, and fatwas on IPOs. Sorry no actual Egyptian dancing as such, but the investment equivalent with Ministry of Finance blithering on.
(edited formatting 23/7/07 18h00 GMT+2)
Continue reading "MENA Business, Liquidity, Speculation, Fatwas and Egyptian Belly Dancing"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:25 AM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
May 23, 2007
The never ending list of new bans in Islamic finance
Before I mention this amusing theoretical case of a usurious zero interest rate, a few comments about today’s FT Alphaville’s entry on Islamic finance:
Islamic finance - based on a strict interpretation of the Koran that bans the use of interest in transactions
Usury. The Quran bans usury. What the Quran explicitly bans isn’t the topic of the Islamic finance debate. It’s whether any amount of interest constitutes usury.
Concepts such as derivatives and hedge funds, for example, are considered particularly controversial, given the Koran’s ban on gharar (speculation).
Ben Smith, the author of this entry really needs to get his info outside Tora Bora, because there’s no such ban whatsoever in the Quran. The discussion about gharar comes from some hardly known jurisprudence, and it's not even a prohibition. Even the obscure ramblings of those yawn provoking troglodytes have a more nuanced (well, confused) view on it than the one presented above.
Continue reading "The never ending list of new bans in Islamic finance"
Posted by Shaheen at 12:31 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
May 05, 2007
The Forex Wall
I’ve hit it again. The Lounsbury and I have had a brief exchange about this some time ago, and I just discussed it with a Moroccan acquaintance. The guy’s an accountant. Morocco or Tunisia, to quote only those examples among many other Arab countries, impose trade restrictions when it comes to foreign currencies.
The argument I’m given in support for those restrictions is invariably the same: everyone will rush to buy foreign currencies, and the country will have a shortage of it. That such an argument comes from an accountant is puzzling. It totally ignores the fact that markets would automatically balance that demand. If some little buddy is ready to sell his house for a couple of euros, then he must be a moron of epic proportions. And if one’s worried about the resulting exchange rate, then there definitely are ways to control them through market mechanisms.
Continue reading "The Forex Wall"
Posted by Shaheen at 01:11 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
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
Continue reading "Finance 101 for Muslims"
Posted by Shaheen at 03:12 AM | Comments (29) | TrackBack
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.
Continue reading "What's the proper going rate, bribery and work in Morocco"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:31 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
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.
Continue reading "Well, Golly: Egyptian Finance Comes to Town"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:16 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
March 13, 2007
Go East Old Man, Go East: Halliburton to Dubai
An interesting article, or rather an article on an interesting development that is difficult to assess. From the FT, entitled Risky Locations, on Halliburton's queer decision to move its CEO to Dubai.
I am, to be frank, puzzled. Comment below (crossposted from The Lounsbury).
Continue reading "Go East Old Man, Go East: Halliburton to Dubai"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 27, 2007
Meet the New Bourse, Same As the Old Bourse?
Ignore the Oracular Yield Curve at your peril, children. You were warned right here almost exactly one year ago. US markets took a big dive today, even steadfast defensive Altria/ Phillip ("If it fun and goes in your mouth, and it kills you, we make it!") Morris took a dip. Does this mean that MENA markets are leading indicators/market predictors, having dipped a while back themselves? Probably not, though China seems to have been a 24 hour leading catalyst. And MENA markets look like they settled to saner places. US markets in terms of historical yield, and to some extent P/E, are still way overvalued, hence a "secular" (as opposed to theocratic?) bear market of sorts that slaps down the speculative impulses. Of course there will probably be a nice rebound in the short run but if this is simply rounding out a top on the far right of this curve, there are rough days ahead globally.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 12, 2006
Dirty Little Secrets: Labour Exploitation in the UAE
To get away from US centered whanking on, and away from the depressing subjects of Iraq or Palestine, a quick reference to a very timely article in FT on labour exploitation in the UAE .
An open secret of course, if one can say a secret at all.
Continue reading "Dirty Little Secrets: Labour Exploitation in the UAE"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:38 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
October 06, 2006
Dubai, the Attraction
A quick note to draw attention to a recent arty by Roula Khalaf of FT on Dubai and the why behind its success to date: Dubai cultivates oasis of calm where Arab business life can flourish.
The main thrust of the article is to highlight some of the why behind Dubai's success to date, beyond just stupid amounts of capital. Although that is a clear major condition, it is not a sufficient one as the other petro-giants of the region never managed to achieve Dubai's success (even if we mitigate our appreciation of the success by noting a definately unsustainable aspect doped by too much liquidity chasing too few quality assets).
Despite my own critical attitude towards Dubai - much is clearly illusion and can not survive, there are also clear lessons with respect to the ability of the Arab/MENA region entreprenurial classes actually being able to flourish when a moderately liberal (quite liberal for the off-shore aspects) business environment is established. I do note that some of - indeed in some ways much of Dubai's liberalism is rather Potemkin liberalism insofar as it is all of a very temporary, Enlightened Despot Suffrage quality. That being said, if one takes Dubai with a grain of salt, it does illustrate via its off-shore business services sector the degree to which Arabo-Muslim entrepreneurship is seeking a place to flourish away from the dead hand of the state, and the degree to which even in the temporary, Prince-dependent liberalism of Dubai seems vastly attractive in a world where the West is growing stupidly more hostile to Arabo-Islamic money.
Continue reading "Dubai, the Attraction"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 01, 2006
TV in the Middle East: some notes
As some of you know, I've just started writing for Middle East Broadcasters' Journal, and consequently have spent the last couple weeks learning some of what there is to know about the broadcasting biz. I may come back to some of the stuff I've been working on once my actual paying employer has had a chance to publish it, but in the meantime, here's a sketch of the overall situation in the exciting world of TV. (Anyone wanting pretty charts and mostly-reliable statistics should check out this Booz-Allen-Hamilton report on the Middle Eastern TV market.)
Continue reading "TV in the Middle East: some notes"
Posted by tomscud at 07:22 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
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
September 15, 2006
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
August 27, 2006
Losing and Winning: Constituency Service
Roula Khalaf, who I may add is simply one of the must-read journos on Middle East has a fine profile in FT on Hezbullah's reconstruction efforts
I know from work I am engaged in right now that this will send France, US and others into a tizzy.
But there is no beating them. Quick roll out of Western institutional aid is simply not going to be competitive, because the networks are not there.
Where the damage is, the institutions are Hezbullah.
Continue reading "Losing and Winning: Constituency Service"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:59 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
August 24, 2006
Giddiness: MENA Private Sector & New America Foundation
In reading the first paragraphs of a Washington Post Op Ed by a fellow at the New America Foundation, entitled The Real 'New Middle East' I thought I was going to be pleased, sadly though the author took real observations and mixed them in with simple-minded swallowing of corporate and governmental PR spin to produce absurd tripe typical of the wide-eyed neophyte or the paid propagandist.
A pity as the author's main thesis in a less over-done and gullible form has merit.
Cross posted from The Lounsbury
Continue reading "Giddiness: MENA Private Sector & New America Foundation"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 22, 2006
Bloody Hell, We Bollixed it All Up, Throw Money at It
I got a phone call today from an American financial consultacy I have from time to time worked with. It appears that US Gov is in a state of lathered panic about how fucked up their Lebanon policy is - and seeing Hezbullah providing first-on-scene reconstruction services - wish to launch some kind of micro-credit and entrepreneurial credit scheme branded under US Gov to help with reconstruction. Look to an announcement to this effect soon.
Continue reading "Bloody Hell, We Bollixed it All Up, Throw Money at It"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:44 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Rigidities & Employment: Small Details, Large Effects
In my small note last week, on MENA Trade, Business Culture & Americans our colleague Shaheen rightly raised the issue of negative effects of apparently small issues as well as the negative impact of what I might call "sand in the wheels" - such as heavy visa regulations that can kill time sensitive deals - an increasingly common issue in a world of accelerating decision cycles.
Aside from the conversation in comments on the challenges of visas for the entrepreneur looking to build exports (as I note, supposedly a key policy concern for the US), my own suggestion with respect to visa services was rightly critiqued for the remaining bureaucratic braking effect.
Continue reading "Rigidities & Employment: Small Details, Large Effects"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 17, 2006
MENA Trade, Business Culture & Americans
While I confess this note is in part motivated by my desire to have an excuse to share this cartoon from the Moroccan business daily, l'Economiste from yesterday's - 16 Aug edition. This was emailed to me yesterday, and is worthy of a good laugh, I thought it also worthwhile to undertake some reflexions on both the subject matter and some generalisations about practical issues.
[Crossposted from The Lounsbury]
Continue reading "MENA Trade, Business Culture & Americans"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:25 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
August 09, 2006
Frothy: Fund Developments, Private Equity & MENA
A queer indicator of the amount of froth that characterises the MENA capital markets at present, my very own self got a call from an American firm looking to enter the MENA market for the first time and raise a private equity fund. Looking for a "face."
Quite frankly, they need someone grey-haired and I told them that right out, for the kind of investment they're thinking of; but on the other hand, I would be a decent face to give an image of.... "best practices" given me rep as Mr Clean.
This being said, this is not really about me, but the froth. With oil at nearly USD 80 and likely to remain well above USD 70, the amount of money flowing into the Gulf - and to a lesser extent places like Algeria and Libya - is astounding and looking like a replay of the 1970s. [Crossposted from The Lounsbury]
Continue reading "Frothy: Fund Developments, Private Equity & MENA"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 04, 2006
Google Expansion & MENA - Market Interest in MENA
A rather quick note to draw attention to what may be a somewhat under noticed story, from FT: Google looks to expand in Middle East.
I noticed this when my usual robot searches brought up this on both the career angle and the news site searches. An interesting development.
Continue reading "Google Expansion & MENA - Market Interest in MENA"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 09:38 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 01, 2006
Rambling Thoughts on Public Space, Community, and Culture in Dubai
Dubai has long been the commercial capital of the Gulf. But much as it would like to pretend otherwise, most of what little culture it contains has been imported, and anything that looks historical only does so by virtue of a good façade. The rulers have always focused first and foremost on attracting business, and have been rather successful at this; most of the city's population has moved there from somewhere else for money. It thus differs in many ways from its next door neighbor Sharjah, whose ruler has put far more of an emphasis on retaining traditional and Islamic values, and where there is a 'decency code' and a prohibition on all alcohol.
Continue reading "Rambling Thoughts on Public Space, Community, and Culture in Dubai"
Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 06:34 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 23, 2006
Dubai Glitter - Union troubles
While not having much substantive to add, I thought that before this aged too much, that some attention should be brought to a recent FT article on on unions, entitled "Union troubles start to emerge from Dubai's glittering facades' published 19 May.
The article covers material that we here at Aqoul have touched upon, effectively the signs that the impoverished sub Con workers who make up the spine of the vast construction site that is Dubai are finally starting to crack under the pressure of low wages, rising costs, and just plain near slavery conditions.
The article bears a quick reading, as well as pondering whether UAE aspirations (to US FTA, to other goodies) will force change. I would bet that the government takes a bail out angle. After all, among the drivers of the last few weeks of unrest has been that labourers have been crushed between escalating housing and general living costs, and low wages.
An obvious Dubai type solution is to have the Emirate provide mass worker housing somewhere, allowing companies to externalise housing costs (or continue to do so to be more accurate).
Part of the usual indirect and obscure subsidy approach the Emirates have grown to love. Might even be an efficient solution.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:56 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 16, 2006
Maghrebine Media II
Now that we have had our little side trip on Somali-Dutch immigration politics (fulfilling all desire on my part to touch on the same, although at Reason.com one can pursue one’s desire to comment on the irrational reactions) , I thought I might return to something rather more profound, that being media in the Maghreb and the recent Moroccan steps to liberalisation.
Continue reading "Maghrebine Media II"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 15, 2006
Maghrebine Media Makeovers: Morocco Issues Radio & TV Licenses - Liberalising or Potemkin Media
Following up on some prior exchanges with Issandr Bey of The Arabist, I thought I might take a moment to give a summary of the results of an item we touched on, liberalisation of the Moroccan broadcast market. Let me also try to do some value added original commentary as well, if only for the novelty value – I have terribly neglected such in my long-whinging on about tumours and the like.
The Conseil supérieur de la communication audiovisuelle (CSCA) issued the first approvals for private broadcast licenses (excepting some limited prior efforts), one television via satellite by the Médi 1 group, Médi1 Sat, and 11 radio projects.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:43 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 04, 2006
Morocco, Journos and Media bis, a reply
Encore comment
This is a bit tardy, but Issandr Bey of the Arabist had a comment on my somewhat ill-tempered take on the Moroccan journal, Le Journal Hebdo libel case judgment as well as more generally on the media there and some related developments.
As a distraction from working on a market proposal which I haven’t got the proper information on regardless, I thought I might expand on my comment on The Arabist reply.
Continue reading "Morocco, Journos and Media bis, a reply"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
Morocco: Pimping Pleasure or Stalling Out? (Economist)
The present Economist contains an intriguing article covering part of my brief, and a somewhat neglected corner of the MENA world, Morocco. Morocco attracts rather little attention in the "Anglo Saxon" world, despite having racked up some interesting political and economic wins in the past year, so perhaps a quick commentary then on the article, and the state of things in this rather strategically located country.
Continue reading "Morocco: Pimping Pleasure or Stalling Out? (Economist)"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:13 AM | Comments (26) | TrackBack
Baghdad Market: Canaries, Whores and Pimps
There remains something intriguing about the Baghdad exchange. At least for me, having worked through multiple incompleted deals whose ultimate consumation would take place on the Baghdad. An overview of the Exchange 3 years on, when (were it not for the festering and criminal incompetence of the US Administration in all its empty, idiotic posturing) we should have been reading of some contented Iraqis.
Continue reading "Baghdad Market: Canaries, Whores and Pimps"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:46 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 06, 2006
Labour Rights in the Gulf
For decades now, the Gulf countries have built themselves up using a combination of abundant capital and cheap labour. Owing to their relatively small population bases and large oil revenues, importing workers from poor neighboring countries has been easy. Since the 1960s, each decade has seen a large rise in the numbers of expatriates in the Gulf. Proportions vary between the various countries, but the numbers are highest in the UAE, where non-citizens account for some 85% of the population and over 90% of the workforce (including 98% of the private sector).
Continue reading "Labour Rights in the Gulf"
Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 12:42 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
March 10, 2006
DPW, Some Round Up Thoughts on the Blow Back
I shall make this briefish note as the DPW fiasco continues to steam ahead. In many ways this is good for me personally as I expect increased in-region / non-US flows for MENA money. But it is bad for investment in the US, bad for US MENA policy and reveals as clearly as clear can be the deep vein of anti-Arab bigotry hiding beneath the surface in the United States. A loss for moderation, a loss for state security interests and a loss for economic efficiency and investment in key assets. Yes, bravo to ignorant know-nothing racist jingoism. This blows back not only to commerce, but also to our pious middle conversation, make no mistake about it.
Continue reading "DPW, Some Round Up Thoughts on the Blow Back"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:35 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 09, 2006
Score One Own Goal for US Know-Nothing Nativist Bigotry & General Islamophobia
Well, the irrational forces of bigotted know-nothing nativism and bigotted Islamophobia won out, DPW has finally said fuck it, keep poorly run ports, we'll take the profitable parts of P&O , or as the statement went,
“Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the US, and to preserve that relationship...DP World will transfer fully the US operation of P&O Ports North America Inc to a United States entity,” Edward Bilkey, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Only yesterday the head, Mr Sharaf,
acknowledged ... that the US facilities were a small part of the deal and less profitable than other P&O container terminals. His remarks came as the White House appeared to soften its support for the deal and the House of Representatives pressed ahead with plans to block the transaction.
It is also of note that private equity groups, smelling blood in the water,
have approached DP World about buying the US operations, people familiar with the matter said. Industry observers said logical candidates included Blackstone and Macquarie, the Australian bank.
Well, mark one of up for the forces of blind bigotry and irrational anti-Arab xenophobia with all the dark hand waving about "connexions" and "associations" and the utter inability to distinguish between Saudiyah and the rest of the Arab world.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:08 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 05, 2006
Bedfellows & Commerce: Israel's Zim Lines Supports DPW (Updated)
Sadly my work is distracting me from the fun of the ongoing Bigotted Know Nothing Nativist Ignoramus Mob Madness surrounding DPW's takeover of UK's P&O and the incidental acquisition of the operating leases for port operations at six major US ports (although in the UK and globally sanity has prevailed*), I wanted to augment my dear friend and colleague, Secret Dubai's post on Israeli support for Dubai and DPW with specific reference to the Israeli shipping line Zim's statement of support; I should say it comes as no surprise to anyone with experience in the region that some Israelis would step forward on this, even in a politically delicate situation - not so oddly it is the moderates on all sides trying to do business that know each other.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:57 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
February 19, 2006
Ports, Prejudice & Cartoons: On Hypocrisy, Xenophobia and Danger
The emerging US controversy over Dubai Port World (an atrocious name I may add, even DP World is bad - hereafter at 'Aqoul, DPW) buying out historic UK port operator P&O - which incidentally includes a portfolio of US assets.
That unfortunate fact - a portfolio of US assets, which is to say management interests in six US ports on the United States Eastern Sea Board - has occasioned the exposure of a vein of ugly sentiment and public commentary, as well as typical for the "blogosphere" blind and ill-informed reaction. Another confirmation that Right and Left blog authors’ sneering with respect to the real media is badly misplaced.
This post – which will be updated and moved forward as I develop it – is intended to correct the poorly-informed xenophobic knee-jerking on Left and Right.
(I note in the interim that the fine American habit of turning everything into a lawsuit has emerged already as Maimi "Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover" per the WP, which pimps the security fallacy.)
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:00 PM | Comments (34) | TrackBack
On Morocco, Investment & Islamist Promotion
Without further comment In Morocco, a Gray Area for Growth, by Hoagland, a not bad op-ed (if superficial factually) that at least poses challenges to some of the more simple minded phobia with respect to Islamism.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 16, 2006
Propaganda, Iraq and Gaming - and Future Funds
Sadly I can not comment on this, other than to share the story and note that it confirms my observation months back that the Lincoln Group story was not a dark 'Neo Con' tale but one of dilletantes.
Quick Rise for Purveyors of Propaganda in Iraq
It is of course illustrative of the general problem with the Bush Administration's efforts in Iraq and MENA. Clumsy cronyism with amateurish dilletantes. A bit of cronyism here and there will happen. Human beings are human. The sins of the Bush Administration lie in their lack of competence in executing even cronyism, not as the simple minded Left would have it, in dark Right wing plots. A pity, I would enjoy a competent if unpleasant US government in world affaires. An incompetent, bumbling, often cretinously self-deluded US Government makes me life harder, and I don't enjoy that.
At least I can add that the Fund for the Future, that much vaunted initiative announced at the G8 meeting in Dubai is in fact a quietly dead letter for the moment. Ms Cheney got her panties all wet too soon. Perhaps the idea may get reworked to something vaguely rational.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 29, 2006
France, Islam & Discrimination: Further to the idiocy of the "European Intifada"
Further to my ongoing comments of the situation in France, the riots that some ill-informed, bigotted or just plain stupid commentators blew up into a "Muslim intifada" in Europe, an interesting article on current French efforts on addressing rampant discrimination in France.
(A side set of reading by the way from 2003, note the prescient commentary, intifada my ass, I note there is a clear connexion with MENA directly, besides the issue of Muslim minorities in Europe and the potential echoes within the Islamic word, the parallels in terms of illiberal economies with severe labour rigidities leading to high unemployment and difficulties in findings jobs)
A few comments, then.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:38 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
January 11, 2006
On Media, Influence and Means: Agitprop, Iraq,
Via our dear friend, Father of Aardvarks 'a comment on Gerecht on Iraqi payola', found 'Hearts and Minds' in Iraq: As History Shows, Ideas Matter More Than Who Pays to Promote Them leads me to make a comment on influence and media from a business standpoint.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:30 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 23, 2005
Sharia Products: Market grows for Muslim investors
Laying in bed mildly delusional from anti-haemorrhagatic drugs and other items, I thought I might indulge myself in a reflexion on an interesting arty from The Financial Times on Islamic Finance and products.
The arty in question Market grows for Muslim investors covers some interesting territory even if it is a bit general.
As I can not think of a better time to indulge in commentary on sharia products than when slightly delusional from from anti-haemorrhagatic drugs, what follows are some comments on the text itself:
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 13, 2005
Radio Sawa - Morocco: The Legal Status Scandal (small addition)
Some news earlier this week reminded me of a small tiff that arose in the past few months between the Moroccan "Higher Broadcasting Authority" (known by its French acronym, HACA) and Radio Sawa and the US government by extension. Something for Aardvarks in general I should suppose.
The issue revolves (or revolved if the reports are right) around the status of HACA as the independent media regulator (this is relatively recent but nevertheless the case for a while now), and the requirement that broadcasters obtain regular licenses from HACA by August 2005.
As the sharp reader might have divined, Sawa did not.
In effect, the United States took the position that Sawa needed no license as it is in fact a governmental agency covered by a bilateral accord authorising the Voice of America.
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:28 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 12, 2005
Migration, Economics & MENA-African pileups
While I may be banging away at an issue of little general interest, I was encouraged to find something of relevance to the rising issue of Euro-African migration and the Maghreb in the last issue of the Economist.
Economics focus
Be my guest
The economic case for temporary migration is compelling; the historical record less so
Oct 6th 2005
(Yes subscription, don't like it? Fuck off then and read some free twaddle.)
For those puzzled, my reference is to the recent problem emerging in the Maghreb and especially Morocco with its land border with the Spanish enclaves Ceuta and Mellila, which I mentioned in my typically light weight Illegal Immigration - Borders & Madness and The Maghreb-African Immigration Problem
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:49 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 29, 2005
IPO madness
Earlier comments here have drawn attention to the surplus of liquidity in the region, and the resulting stock market bubble. So what happens when there's an IPO for a UAE company and no way to apply for shares in Abu Dhabi?
[T]he Dana Gas IPO brought chaos to UAE banks with would-be subscribers falling over themselves to pick up application forms. All flights from Saudi Arabia to the UAE have been booked solid for days and 33,000 people crossed the border in the past four days, according to local officials.
Several banks had to close their doors to control the crowds and some banks reported scuffles as the crowds struggled to get to the counters. At least one incident was reported in which a security guard was roughed up.
New laws regulating IPOs will soon be ready in the UAE. But I believe a stock market crash is inevitable regardless.
Posted by dubaiwalla at 02:01 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 27, 2005
For Future Pondering
I was recently in on some discussions regarding the creation of a pan-Arab private equity council.
My primary thought was: "Who wants to take a bet this is a dead letter"?
Takers?
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) |