Talk Islam

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  thabet 1:28 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Capitalism ( 30 ), economics, empire ( 114 ), imperialism ( 14 ), Islam ( 451 ), neoliberalism ( 8 ), politics ( 979 ), relgion, state ( 201 )   

  ‘Culture war is not liberation”:

  I recently intended an informal gathering that featured a long lecture on Islamic politics. One of the points made during this talk really struck me as typical of the problems of Muslim political thought in the current era. The speaker said that Islam was currently the only force capable of resisting the onslaught of Western imperialism and that this was because, to paraphrase, Muslims don’t drink liquor and their women don’t follow western modes of dress. This, of course, was in a room with many women, at least half of whom were dressed in western clothes.

  I talked to the him later and asked him to clarify his remarks. He then gave me a more nuanced, if flawed, explanation of his words: Western Capitalism is constantly seeking out new markets for its products and the social restrictions peculiar to Islam hamper this expansion significantly. The glaring flaw of this statement is that the one country that, more than any other, imposes all of these social restrictions “with extreme prejudice” is also the most integrated into the global capitalist system. I am writing, of course, of Saudi Arabia. While subjecting women to the most restrictive controls of any country on the planet and imposing strict forms of censorship various cultural practices, they not only function as a leading petroleum exporter but as a major investor as well. They’ve been more than willing to invest massive amounts of money in the American economy to keep it going, fueling the very culture it is intent on resisting.

   
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  thabet 11:39 am on January 17, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: economics, labour ( 18 ), oman ( 3 ), politics ( 979 )   

  Protests against rising prices, exploitation of labour, and crony capitalism across the Middle East, reach Oman:

  Some 200 Omanis protested on Monday against high prices and corruption, a rare phenomenon in the Arab Gulf monarchy that seems to have been touched off by the revolt in Tunisia.

  “Rising prices have destroyed the dreams of ordinary citizens,” read one banner carried by the crowd gathered outside the housing ministry, where police manned a security cordon but did not intervene.

  The protesters, who appeared after they received emails and messages on their mobile telephones calling for the demonstration, chanted slogans against corruption and the high cost of living.

  “No to corruption. No to corruption,” shouted the protesters who called for “higher wages” and “fixed prices” for basic food items, the cost of which have swelled since the global financial downturn.

   
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  thabet 1:37 am on January 5, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Capitalism ( 30 ), economics, finance ( 24 ), India ( 234 ), islamic finance ( 16 ), sharia ( 65 ), sharia finance ( 6 ), stocks ( 2 )   

  India launches its own ‘sharia stock index’:

  The Bombay Stock Exchange has launched India’s first index of companies compliant with Islamic law, or shariah, in an effort to bring more of the country’s 175m Muslims into mainstream finance, and to attract investment from foreign shariah-abiding funds.

  Shariah finance has become a trillion-dollar global business, most notably in the Gulf. But in spite of India’s sizeable Muslim population, it has not yet taken off in south Asia. The creators of the new index – called the BSE Tasis Shariah Index and launched on Monday – hope to change that.

  The index is made up of the 50 biggest Indian companies whose operations are deemed to be consistent with shariah – meaning that they don’t derive significant profit from interest payments, or sell products or services such as tobacco, alcohol or weapons, which are considered in the Islamic faith as sinful.

  aziz is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    aziz 10:36 am on January 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    this is actually pretty great. I dont think theres any concensus on what sharia-compliance is, but at least there’s some diversity.

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  thabet 7:56 am on January 3, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: economics, finance ( 24 ), istanbul ( 3 ), Turkey ( 106 )   

  A profile of Istanbul:

  A recent study by the Washington-based Brookings Institution, in a joint investigation with the LSE Cities project, judged that Istanbul had beaten Beijing and Shanghai to claim the title of 2010′s most dynamic city.

  “Istanbul takes the top ranking for economic growth in the past year,” wrote Alan Berube, director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Programme. “Its economy expanded by 5.5% on a per capita basis, and employment rose an astonishing 7.3% between 2009 and 2010. Turkey’s banking sector, which was less invested in risky financial instruments, became a safe haven for global capital fleeing established (and exposed) markets during the downturn.”

  I couldn’t help but remember Turkey’s vociferous criticism of the destruction of Ottoman heritage in Saudi Arabia when I saw this passage:

  Not everyone approves of the consequences of such vertiginous growth. To some, gentrification appears out of control as “real” neighbourhoods, whether those of the Roma community by the old city walls, or the working-class districts around Beyoglu, are bulldozed for redevelopment. Only high-level lobbying last year stopped the city from being defrocked by Unesco as a world heritage site, as a row blew up over plans for an overland rail link for the city’s metro system that would slice the view of the Suleymaniye Mosque [...] The city has so far failed to meet an undertaking to produce an inventory of historic buildings and a master plan to manage the peninsula – all measures that would get in the way of the developers’ axe.

   
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  aziz 6:33 am on January 3, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Airbus, Boeing, economics, wikileaks ( 38 )   

  What annoys me about the Wikileaks “revelation” that the US government promotes Boeing to foreign governments is that this is exactly what you WANT your government to do – to push your national economic industry preferentially. It would be a shock if, given the massive direct subsidies that Airbus enjoys from every major country in the Eurozone, that the US didn’t do this.

  Still, it’s Wikileaks, so it must be spun as a Gotcha! no matter what.

  shams is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    shams 5:59 am on January 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Only about 2k cables have been released out of 250k. drip drip drip goes the paranoia induction, while the powerless hyperpower crawls closer to non-linear systems collapse.
    some are more interesting than others like the Mossad assassins credit cards being supplied by the US.
    but all spell the eventual doom of an empire gone mad.
    US subpeonas wikileaks twitter.

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  aziz 8:25 am on November 25, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: economics, finance ( 24 ), islamic finance ( 16 ), OIC ( 16 ), stocks ( 2 )   

  The OIC appears to be actually doing something useful: an Islamic Stock Index. The MASDAQ?

   
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  Lawrence of Arabia 12:12 pm on October 15, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: economics, saudi arabia ( 187 )   

  Chinese construction workers riot over wages and heat, in Makkah.

   
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  Lawrence of Arabia 9:02 pm on October 14, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: economics, militarism ( 8 ), military spending ( 3 ), NATO ( 84 ), united kingdom ( 929 ), united states ( 803 )   

  America “worried” by planned cuts in UK military spending.

  When even your friends are getting sick of your continuous militarism and its associated costs, it isn’t them you should be worried about. NATO accounts for 70% of the world’s military spending, with the US accounting for well over half of that.

   
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  Lawrence of Arabia 2:04 pm on October 14, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: economics, iran ( 431 ), opec ( 3 )   

  Iran chosen as president of OPEC for the first time.

   
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  Lawrence of Arabia 10:32 pm on October 13, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: economics, Syria ( 41 )   

  Years of drought in the Fertile Crescent have left Syria with worries about instability, a displaced population of former farmers, importing wheat after years of independence and searching for help from Turkey with regards to its water supply.