RSSJune 2006 Archives
June 28, 2006
NYT & US SWIFT 'spying' prog bis
I noted that Kevin Drum has linked to an intriguing but I think rather wrong-headed discussion at Crooked Timber with respect to the SWIFT program. How the author at Crooked concludes that the Central Banks were not the proper authorities for SWIFT to communicate with truly escapes me, as in most jurisdictions they are precisely the authorities that most jurisdictions have regulating payment systems, and for most GAFI compliant countries, have dedicated staff for these kinds of issues...
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:40 PM
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Business
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MENA Region General
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Politics - EU FP
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Politics - Other FP
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Politics - US FP
June 27, 2006
France. Zidane.
Rot. That was good. But now I'm really in a pickle as I liked the Spanish better on some level, and now I am faced with Brasil-France......
Bollocks. I'm faced with pain no matter what.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:02 PM
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Society & Culture
NY Times & SWIFT
I understand from a perusal of The Washington Post and some reporting on outgoing US Secretary of Treasury Snow's comments that much is being made on the more irrational or emotional side of the American Right of the NYT revealing that American authorities have been tapping SWIFT's database fishing for information.
While the sentiments are in some way understandable, I have to say, chill mates, everyone who had the slightest clue about international wires etc. assumed this was happening anyway. This is only "news" in the political sense. Bloody hell, you can't fucking go to an American government function without some US rep or another whanking on about wires.....
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Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:41 PM
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Politics - US FP
Regarding Italy
May they be buried. Catching last night that gross little bit of play acting that got them their entirely undeserved goal (well maybe not entirely) only confirmed my intense hatred of the Italian team.
Now, this evening, I have Spain vs France. A toughie really. Machinations and a vague desire to see the aging Zidane make me incline to France. On the other hand, Spain is more interesting and more of a sporting bet. Dilemas.....
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:40 PM
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Politics - EU FP
Queer Invitations: Perhaps They Mistook Me Role?
I got an invite from some odd globalisation "Alternatives" organisation to a round-table which appears to be aimed at denouncing "savage neo-liberalism."
Someone has either had extreme case of mistaken identify, or in the alternative, want to ambush me.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:40 PM
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Perso Biz Notes
June 22, 2006
KSA Spain
I am predicting utter destruction.
I think I will start singing "Ya Saudi....."
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:35 AM
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Society & Culture
Inchallah
Some Fund manager in London who I have been working with asked me to send a cv by. Thinking about MENA strategies. I like the fellow and we got really drunk over the England match (he did note a bit too much that with me bald head, unnatural corpse like pallor and the like that I do look a bit like a football hooligan. Kept offering to paint a red cross on my head.)
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:33 AM
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Perso
June 18, 2006
Amusing Usages re Islamic Finance
I caught a brief CNBC discussion on Islamic finance with some chucklehead in London, I liked the usage "Traditional Finance" versus "Islamic Finance" - useful, although I find the "We in the Islamic world have a more social approach" to be exactely the kind of dishonest posturing that Timur Kuran in his various articles and works (as in Islam and Mammon : The Economic Predicaments of Islamism) takes whacks at.
More social my ass.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:18 PM
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Biz - Private in MENA
June 17, 2006
Some Closing Thoughts on Cancer
Barring terrible news from my next scan, I am cured. This is it.
As I try to get used to the concept, after six months of grueling hell that is chemotherapy (and let me emphasize that all those nasty stories about chemo are quite accurate. I'd rather have my collarbone shattered again than do chemo another time), a couple of thoughts.
Continue reading "Some Closing Thoughts on Cancer"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:01 PM
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Perso
June 14, 2006
Kas al Alam - World Cup and Arab Adverts
One item my newfound activity (besides that my after chemo strength is far, far lower than I though, six months of toxic living hell having an apparently significant effect on physical capacity. I suspect me JV partner will be disappointed with "the Extraterrestrial") has gotten back into is catching some Arab Sat - specifically MBC - broadcasting for the world cup.
A word: Saudi Ownership has never, ever been more pitifully displayed than those sad faux-Pan Arab football advert songs. The KSA team - despite the mega flag with all the little Arab flags sewn round - ain't the hope of any rational Arab football fan. Tunis, althoug injuries and group strench make this a long one, and France (Zinadine) are the rational choices.
Your whacky face painting bus trip musical numbers, they are just going to be painful when Tunis shuts you out, and the rest of the group crushes you.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:41 AM
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Biz - Private in MENA
Stamina
Trying to actively run some business, coming into office and all that, for the first time in six or seven months. I am suddenly faced with the reality that an 9 year old girl could knock me down. Becuase one did.
In my protective bubble I had not realised to the full extent that chemo has really sapped my physical strength to such a point. It is, to be blunt, hard to take.
I literally get home and collapse on the couch, unable to function for several hours.
By the way, the last round marked six months of living hell. Only a bit more.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:36 AM
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Perso
June 05, 2006
Maghrebine Movies: Sex on the Beach & War in Europe
As I am on a Maghrebine roll at the moment, I thought I would draw attention to two Maghrebine films, Moroccan to be precise that deserve whatever puny attention I can bring.
Continue reading "Maghrebine Movies: Sex on the Beach & War in Europe"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:02 AM
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Society & Culture
World Cup
Via Clive Davis, an amusing arty for Americans on the upcoming World Cup and impact on visiting the UK. Or anywhere else in the world with a team in the game..... Well except the US of A of course.
And lest you think the author exagerates, I have already had convos with a consultant and a client about scheduling meetings with due sensitivity to key game times, and the availability of, ahem, "media" in meeting.... (i.e. can we have a TV snuck in.....).
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:01 AM
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Politics - Foreign Policy
June 04, 2006
On Cairo & Egypt: Billmon's Little Adventure [Updated]
I may be moved to comment further on some items of substance (e.g. the dopey comment that galabiya and scraggly beard means fundie), but Billmon's entry on Cairo is amusing and shows what a real observer can do with Cairo (rather than an immature twat of a drooling talentless incompetent idiot like Totten) in conveying the hell that is Cairo as well as the extreme inefficaciousness of the vast Egyptian apparatus except at making one's life miserable. Why it brings back the burning bile I used to feel towards that city when I lived there. As well as the courage I had to work up to work my way across Midaan Tahreer the first time oh so long ago.
The bank story reminds me of when I had to bribe a postal official to just weigh a fucking letter I was sending. Lazy slobs. Nowhere but Egypt. (Although I do recall causing disorder once in Jordan having gotten some books on private equity and having made the mistake of translating the titles into good Arabic for the postal police. Private equity if "properly" translated just... well just translate litterally, let me put it that way as the so-called proper translation leads to all kinds of unique reactions from postal officials. Or better yet, just keep yer yap shut and let your driver do the talking.)
Continue reading "On Cairo & Egypt: Billmon's Little Adventure [Updated]"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:21 PM
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Egypt
Maghreb Encore, Queer Legal Twists: The engaging potential of non-Muslim Imams (or at least Mourchides)
Reading over Ibn Kafka's blog (perhaps I have to meet this guy, although the idea of people knowing the 'real' Lounsbury gives me hives) I came across this absolutely delicious piece: which by the author's analysis raises the concept of Imams and the like appointed by the State not actually having to be Muslim. Now, a slim chance that, but entertaining in and of itself. It also provides the occasion to reflect on some of the more silly claims that float around in the English language about the MENA states and Sharia law(s), which I will perhaps too snidely note would generally take a dim view of Jewish or Xian Imams per se).
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:20 PM
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Religion
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The Maghreb
Deserving Further Comment: Muslim Women as Victims - Lalami's "Missionary Position"
In a rather longish piece in the American Leftist dinosaur paper, The Nation, expatriate Moroccan author Laila Lalami takes a whack at one of eerie's favourite topics, Muslim Victim Women Reformers in an arty entitled "The Missionary Position".
While I am not normally inclined to read such things as The Nation, the highlighting by The Arabist were enough to induce a read.
I cannot say that I am a fan of such hackneyed phrases as "supporters of empire", above when used seriously, but what can I expect out of literary types?
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:20 PM
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MENA Region General
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Politics - Islam(ic)
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Religion
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Society & Culture
With Friends like This: Euro Left Environmentalist Warns Mass Tourism to Morocco May Spoil His Noble Savages
Via our very own Aqoul Aggregator, a fine little tool I should learn to make more use of, I found this delicious piece of utter idiocy Mass tourism threat to Morocco? (not the blog, the underlying report).
Justin Francis, co-founder of Responsible Travel, a leading promoter of eco-tourism, said the Moroccan government was expanding its tourist industry without regard for traditional attractions."There is something unique about Morocco - it may be only a three-hour flight from Britain but in social and cultural terms it is radically different. The introduction of hordes of tourists and new hotels, without considering local sensibilities, will lead to over-crowding, over-development and a clash of cultures," he said.
Stupid drooling idiot of dumb-fuck whanker. While crappy development is a risk, letting rural Morocco stew in grinding poverty as those quaint "traditional" lifestyles people like this love to idealise produce ever-diminishing returns and send youth packing off to the slums of Casablanca looking for jobs. Where they certainly get a "clash of cultures."
Dumb fucking idiot should be taken out on a camel to Jbel Sahro and left there with nothing but a candy bar. He can then ponder the ruiining of the quiant lives of the quaint impoverished people in proper context. Loathsome fuck.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:03 PM
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Biz - Private in MENA
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The Maghreb
June 01, 2006
The New Month Thread
Purely for traditional purposes, the usual forum for any reflexions on the blog and the like.
You may as the Ed in chief noted, also blither on about eerie as well. Why the fuck not. In fact why not blither on here about which Aqoul authors should be seen more of or less of as well.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:32 PM
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Blog Notes - Admin
Chemo Does Not, Repeat Not Get Easier
I need a fucking break. The feeling of toxic chemicals burning veins and the like, it just doesn't get better and certainly my body isn't getting used to it. Fuck.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:57 AM
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Perso
