“Dubai construction workers strike”

Jazeera reports on labor strikes in Dubai on Sunday: [O]n Sunday, labourers ignored threats of deportation and refused to go to work, demanding pay increases, improved housing and better transportation services to construction sites. [..] Ali bin Abdullah al-Kaabi, Dubai’s minister of labour, described workers’ behaviour as “uncivilised”, saying they were tampering with national security [...]

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Oil: shocking lack of shock

Piece on BBC about oil prices and politics. Excerpts: On Monday, oil rose to $93 a barrel, only seven bucks short of its cataclysmic, futuristic high, and the world is still standing, we are not at war with Iran (yet) and there are no riots at my local petrol station. [..] Oil is the poison [...]

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4.5: the sum is greater than the parts

This article was published in September in the LA Times. It’s about Arba3a wi Noss (literally, 4.5), which is one of Cairo’s many squatter slums. It also happens to be one of the areas where a lot of (especially Sudanese) refugees have wound up. I know a lot of work has been directed there over [...]

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Biofuels crime agaisnt humanity

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, biofuels are a crime against humanity. In a recently submitted report to the UN, he cites the use of food crops for conversion into biofuels as directly responsible for the world price increases. This comes in a year of unusually notable rises [...]

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Foule for thought

The United States is to Europe as Rome is to Greece: a less-sophisticated, militaristic corruption.

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Nigeria reviews oil contracts

With oil prices up, there’s no doubt that (as before), there wave of resource nationalization (or contract review) will continue. It’s no longer just the pesky socialist and soviet revivalists. Nigeria is considering jumping on  board.

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Enigmatic Egypt

I think my title has a better ring than the one for this Rami Khouri article about the odd mix of progress on the economic level despite re-entrenched political authoritarianism. Efforts to paint this country in a single shade of color are common, but not very useful. Egypt is neither structurally diabolic, nor genetically enlightened. [...]

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Agrarian Reform and Rectification

I’ve been meaning to get around to this article for a few days. The authors look at the evolution of land ownership policy and (often extralegal) practice over several decades, taking Kamshish as a case study. It’s definitely worth looking at. An excerpt on recent legislation: In 1992, a new law on agrarian reform provided [...]

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CFR: “A Hazy Outlook for Private Oil Firms”

After my little tirade on oil yesterday, it was refreshing to see that some people know what they’re talking about. I’m not so sure about the conclusion regarding private oil companies. I highly doubt the demise of ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total is in sight. They’re some of the largest companies in the world. [...]

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The Ignorance of Oil Analysts

Forbes’ article on oil prices as they flirt, and even cross, the $90 line. I’ve gotta get this off my chest. The political dimensions to the soaring price of oil make its future direction difficult to predict, said Global Insight’s Poole. However he added that the price was unlikely to reach $100 a barrel, unless [...]

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MidEast outsourcing hotspot

Bumped into this article in WSJ online. It’s about the innate advantages, increased courting, and international interest in several regional countries (Egypt, UAE, Jordan for anglophone  and north africa for francophone customers). Yay smart village!

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Labor Strikes spread to public sector

It seems there are reports of 3,000 tax officers demonstrating in Nasr City at the Ministry of Finance headquarters and of up to 55,000 possibly joining in a nation-wide strike. I’m too short on time to look into it further. Here‘s Hossam’s post on 3arabawy. Also check out his article in the October edition of [...]

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“The War we Fought”

I’d previously missed Faisal‘s 6 October post.

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“The New Face of Egypt”

this is ridiculous… an Indian face for Egypt?!?!?!

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“Human Rights and Non-State Actors”

The October ARB offers another article, i feel deserves some attention. Eric Goldstein writes about non-state actors’ violations of human rights and how HR organizations in the Arab world need to be dealt with. The main issue seems to be with Hizbullah and Hamas. Specifically, the firing of rockets onto civilians in Israel. While i [...]

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