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{ Category Archives } Economic Issues

An Uncertain Future for Egypt

This week’s issue of The Economist profiles Egypt. 
While working on the NMH Virtual Desktop, click here for the article. 
More on Egypt

Excellent Review of Islamic Banking and Finance

See: The Economist, “Savings and Souls: Islamic Finance,” Sept. 6, 2008, pp. 81-83
See also

Italy Seals Libya Colonial Deal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7589557.stm
Berlusconi (Italy’s PM) agreed to pay $5B to resolve colonial era disputes.
Money is set to be distributed over a period of 25 years.
Money ends “40 years of misunderstanding” - Berlusconi.
Focus of payment will be on a coastal motorway running from Egypt to the Tunisian Border.
 
Is it superficial to pay of these type of disputes with [...]

Iran Asserting Itself in the Strait of Hormuz

The six Arab Gulf Cooperation States (GCC) have condemned Iran for setting up offices on three disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil is shipped.  The islands - Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb -  are claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The GCC [...]

Iraq’s Oil Industry is Looking for Foreign Investors

Story from the BBC
 

General Strike in Lebanon

Lebanon, which has been without a president for the last five months and has been in deep political crisis for several years now, saw a one day national strike for higher wages.
Story at BBC

Economies of the Middle East Have Been De-globalizing

“Over the last 20 years, globalization has been gaining breadth and depth.  More countries are making goods, communications technology has been leveling the playing field, capital has been free to move across the world – and the United States has benefited massively from these trends.  Its economy has received hundreds of billions of dollars in [...]

Does Oil Wealth Fuel Conflict?

Michael L. Ross, Associate Professor of Political Science at UCLA, notes the following correlation between oil and human conflict:
“The world is far more peaceful than it was 15 years ago. There were 17 major civil wars - with ‘major’ meaning the kind that kill more than a thousand people a year - going on at [...]

World Bank Warns of Impending Water Crisis in Middle East

The World Bank predicts that water supplies in the Middle East will be cut in half by 2050.  It has often been said that water is already the tacit motive behind many of the region’s conflicts.
Story from the BBC
More on water in the Middle East
 

Turkey Using Economic Development to Improve Relations with Kurds

The government of Turkey is planning to invest up to $12 billion in economic development projects for the Kurdish southeast of the country.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that Turkey’s interests include developing good relations with those Kurds who live in northern Iraq, too, and with Iraq and its people generally since Iraq is a neighboring [...]