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November 2006 Archives
November 28, 2006
MENA Govs - Still don't get Free Market
I just came away from an interesting yet profoundly frustrating meeting with some Sr. officials from the Maghreb on investment projects in the "Technology Space" - one can interpret that broadly to mean any technology new to the Maghreb, not just North American style Hi Tech.
Motivated folks, smart and well-educated.
And without the slightest fucking clue as to how the bloody fuck the private sector invests. Painfully clueless.
Continue reading "MENA Govs - Still don't get Free Market"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:51 PM
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Biz - Policy & Development
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Biz - Private in MENA
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Business
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Perso Biz Notes
November 22, 2006
Coercion & Land: Israel
There has been much commentary online on this article in the NY Times on Israeli land seizures in the Occupied Territories.
I find the debates rather tedious and...well idiotic. I suppose for those without operational knowledge of how things work in emerging markets or in coercive environments (and that includes prissy Americo-Israelis who rarely experience the business end of the occupation) that theoretical niceties such as "tittle transfers legally registered" mean something.
Continue reading "Coercion & Land: Israel"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:05 PM
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Politics - US FP
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Sham-Levant
November 19, 2006
The Problem with Criticism
No one really likes it very much.
Invited to talk to some disturbingly sr officials etc. shortly on investment issues, but not in private. In private one can say what one means. In not in private, well, that's an issue. I should decline. I've now rewritten my notes 7 times, each time getting less and less interesting. Bloody moujamelat - why bother?
However, as I have been thinking about this, I do see I need to get back to my old hobby of whacking away at the idiot development people and the Sachs of the world who piss and moan about "Multinationals" and "global exploitation" w/o the slightest clue as to the sinister effects of national regulation. After so long being concerned by the incredible incompetence of the Right Bolshevik retards, it would be nice to get back to beating on the Left idiots.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:14 PM
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Biz - Private in MENA
November 12, 2006
Stupid American IPR anti-piracy Hollywood fellating idiocy
Goddamit, all me DVD sources now have those flimsy plastic envelops and the fixed stalls have a crappy selection right now.
Of course the lower quality wandering vendors are still all around.
Why all this? Because some newly arrived ignorant fool in the US G services here has gone on a jihad about movie pirating - no doubt due to idiotic whinging on by some Holywood scum looking to wring some few more cents out of this market - and the local authorities now feel they have to make a show of suppressing pirated DVDs.
Won't last, and all it is doing is pressing the supply into the moving rather than fixed vendors, and annoying the fuck out of me. Morons. Focus on rich markets, the marginal gain here is far below the cost.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:51 PM
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Biz - Private in MENA
And why paranoia
Just learned a friend of mine who got herself in a spot of hot water by speaking rather too openly about sensitive subjects, in the intersection of her business and politics, was declared persona non grata and has had to leave on short notice.
Paranoia is healthy.
Continue reading "And why paranoia"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:42 PM
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Perso-Expatedness
November 11, 2006
Imaging
I am not sure what to think of this particular arty, on Shiekha Lubna of the UAE, but however much it has the air of pimping for one of the elite's egos, on the other hand it useful for Americans to see even in the Gulf it is not all Saudiyah.
I am tempted to comment on one of her corporate ventures mentioned since I had some contact as an investor in a competitor, but I think when it comes down to it I don't trust my information enough. Regardless, I shall suggest that the survival of a certain company was not market based. But this aside, an interesting profile and leaving aside the self-serving spin that one has to expect from such articles or profiles regardless of their subject (MENA or Euro or whatever) it's a side of the region Americans need to see more of (in fits of optimism I hope that one day when I read American internet whanking about MENA I might see something that looks less like a distorted fun house mirror based off of some queer mix of Palestine and Saudiyah - although of course Arab media can oft leave one with the impression that only Cairo, Jerusalem and Riyadh and Mecca exist in the Arab world).
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:29 PM
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Jazeera-Arabia
Qaeda
A minor and trivial item. Wandering around internet fora today to avoid working on some left over reporting, I kept running across people writing - in reaction to the al Qaeda in Iraq tape - al-Quaeda, Queda, Quida.. etc.
How bloody long does it take to get the spelling right. Qaeda or Qaida, no u.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:25 PM
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Perso
November 10, 2006
First Islamic Bourse - Dubai & Marketing
An amusing bit of marketing from the out of favour Dubai Financial Market, as it declared it would be restructuring to comply with Islamic finance principals (which largely seem to revolve around the utter devotion to disguising interest as fees and other time linked cash flows).
As the article states:
Many investors in Dubai believe the conversion is primarily a marketing exercise. Islamic principals only exclude companies whose main business is pork, alcohol, arms, tobacco or interest, and state-owned DFM has never fallen into these categories. Furthermore, DFM will continue to list conventional banks after its conversion, with fees from banking stocks paid into a separate pool.The chief motive, analysts say, is that the main Dubai share index has fallen from a peak of 1,267 points a year ago to 379 points yesterday. They argue that bourse officials hope to offset the impact of this vicious bear market by tapping into the current Gulf Arab fad for investments with the "Islamic" tag.
Could not agree more.
Continue reading "First Islamic Bourse - Dubai & Marketing"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 05:38 PM
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Biz - Private in MENA
Wasta
I've come to understand that I enjoy generating Wasta. Schmoozing.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:51 PM
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Perso Biz Notes
Tardily, A Return
I'm back, although remaining bloody busy. I shall probably take a moment to type up some observations on in region reactions to the Great American Elections this past week, that despite my aversion to US politics, intruded into the region as Arabs are terribly concerned with the blundering idiocy of the Bush Administration.
Otherwise, you may consider this my "new month" thread of hoary old tradition, a mere week late.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:34 PM
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Filed Under:
Blog Notes - Admin
