Iraq's Gruesome Insurance, Gulf Markets

Iraq, Syria and Israel:
Iraq's parliament has approved a law on 'Mechansims and Procedures for Forming Federal Regions'. Regionalism within a federal Iraq is supported by most Shi'as and Kurds who control the legislature. Sunnis, who had dominated the country since its creation by the British after WWI, oppose federalism and regionalism. This is a watershed step for Iraq, and perhaps for other unstable and too-centralized states in the Middle East and Africa.
Perhaps three people were instrumental in the creation of Iraq and its current borders and centralized form of government, as well as that of Jordan: Sir Winston Chrchill, Sir Percy Cox, and Miss Gertrude Bell (Ms did not exist at the time. Gloria Steinem was nowhere to be seen, and people were just getting used to saying 'tovarisch' in Russia in those days).

A gruesome sign of the terrible times in Iraq. London-based daily Alhayat reports (10/11) that some Iraqi men now resort to new measures that ensure that their corpses, or cadavers, can be identified in case they are kidnapped and murdered in this atmosphere of sectarian violence. Some men now tatoo their names on different parts of their bodies. Others add the names of family members and telephone numbers on their bodies. Iraqi families nowadays do not wait long after a member is overdue from an outing- they head to the Central Morgue as a first step, before trying detention centers operated by the Iraqi security forces or the U.S military. Tatoos have helped some families identify the mutilated and decomposed bodies of loved ones.

Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Perez has invited President Assad of Syria to visit Jerusalem and talk peace with Israeli leaders. It is highly unlikely that Assad will accept. Sort of like, 'I knew Anwar Sadat, Anwar Sadat was a friend of mine. You are no Anwar Sadat....etc'

Gulf Financial Markets:
Newsweek reports Qatar might try to host the 2016 Olympics. Qatar has the money to build the facilities and after the UAE is probably the only GCC country that could conceivably organize the event. But it does not have the population, not enough of them to pay for Olympic size tickets. Like other GCC states, the majority of the population are expatriate workers and housemaids, who can hardly afford the money or the time to watch international sports.

Kuwait officials are again talking about a future for the country as a world Financial and Trade Center. Both the Kuwaiti Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor have resumed public statements in this regard. So did the old Commerce Minister, among others. Come to think of it, even the Minister of Awqaf and Religious (Islamic) Affairs has talked about this issue at some point. Some Kuwaitis would jest that perhaps even the Nabat Poets Society (a local Bedouin Dead Poets' Society) have opined about this issue. But this is sort of like a deluded middle-aged spinster who still talks of getting married and having children. Except that a much more attractive and younger bride, the UAE in this case, especially Dubai, has taken the only eligible bachelor in town, and in an irrevocable Catholic (gasp) marriage, which allows for no polygamy. Besides, the powerful local Fun-dementa-lists of the Salafi variety do not have much use for monogamy.

Alhayat quotes a report by Abu Dhabi National Bank that the Saudi Stocks Index lost about 45% of its value during the period between February's high and September of 2006. Qatar lost 31.5%, UAE 30.8%, Kuwait 11.5%, Oman 11.7%, and Bahrain 1.7%. During the first 9 months of 2005, these markets achieved huge gains of between 19% (Bahrain) and 116% (Saudi Arabia). These periodic' moderate' corrections, following exuberant rises, are a good thing for the markets in the long term- except few individuals in the Gulf invest in the local market long-term.

Interesting Item(s):
African media report that a man and a woman were discovered having intercourse in a mosque in Nairobi (Kenya) one night last week during Ramadan. When arrested, the man claimed he did it because he was drunk.

Almost Deja Vue All Over Again:
For a few horrible minutes yesterday morning, hearing the news from Manhattan...it sounded and looked like deja vue all over again...

Cheers
Mohammed