Category Archives: Finance

Finance, Iran, nuclear Iran, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism

Cole on the Wackiest Master Terrorist, about that Money Transfer……………

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      BFF

Juan Cole’s excellent summary analysis of the Iranian-Texan-Mexican Arbabsiar Bond:

“Here are the top 10 reasons that he cannot be Iran’s answer to 007:
10. Arbabsiar was known in Corpus Christi, Texas, “for being almost comically absent-minded”
9. Possibly as a result of a knife attack in 1982, he suffered from bad short-term memory
8. He was always losing his cell phone
7. He was always misplacing his keys
6. He was always forgetting his briefcase and documents in stores
5. He “was just not organized,” a former business partner remarked
4. As part owner of a used car dealership, he was always losing title deeds to the vehicles
3. Arbabsiar, far from a fundamentalist Shiite Muslim, may have been an alcoholic; his nickname is “Jack” because of his fondness for Jack Daniels whiskey
2. Arbabsiar used to not only drink to excess, but also used pot and went with prostitutes. He once talked loudly in a restaurant about going back to Iran, where he could have an Iranian girl for only $50. He was rude and was thrown out of some establishments.
1. All of his businesses failed one after another
I hypothesized yesterday that Arbabsiar and his cousin Gholam Shakuri might have been part of an Iranian drug gang. But after these details have emerged about the former, I don’t think he could even have done that. Indeed, I have now come to view the entire story as a fantasy…………..”

Then there is the money. Where did the money come from? Where was it wired from and from what account? How can the US authorities not know the source of a US$ 1.5 million into a US bank? In this day and age of the ‘war on terror’.
Cheers
mhg


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Culture, Finance, Media

CNBC: Cramer vs. Burnett, Goldman………

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      BFF

Watched CNBC early this morning. This is the post Erin Burnett CNBC (she left for CNN). Before that they lost Dylan Ratigan (for MSNBC), as the network moved even more to the right. Now they have the ‘questionable’ Jim Cramer all over the place. The network of Erin Burnett has become the network of Jim Cramer, chief cheerleader of the Goldman Sachs fan club. It is a true downgrade, and not just for esthetic reasons.
Cheers
mhg


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Britain, Corruption, cyber war, Finance, Saudi Arabia

Another Huge Saudi-British Bribery Scandal, Missing Tony Blair……….

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“The British government is facing a potentially explosive decision over whether or not to block a criminal investigation into a new bribery scandal involving a two billion pounds contract to provide communications and cyber warfare capabilities to Saudi Arabia. Dominic Grieve, the attorney-general, will have to decide whether to intervene in an inquiry concerning the payment of millions of pounds in alleged bribes from a British defence firm to the Saudi royal family, according to The Sunday Times. He is to consider whether the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into a two billion pounds contract to provide communications and cyberwarfare capability to Saudi Arabia is in the public interest. According to the report, Grieve has been briefed on the case after officials at the SFO traced secret payments from the defence firm into a bank account in Switzerland controlled by a member of the Saudi royal family……… The case echoes the political scandal that hit Tony Blair’s government when he pulled the plug on a criminal inquiry into alleged bribes by BAE Systems, the British arms firm, to the Saudis. Then the SFO was investigating allegations that millions of pounds had been paid to a Saudi prince to help BAE clinch a 40 billion pounds contract to sell jets to the kingdom. Downing Street killed off the investigation after the Saudis threatened to ditch the contract…………..”

If there is one thing I have learned about European governments, including the British, it is that they will fold in the face ‘financial’ threats by rich Arab despots, be they a Colonel in Libya or a tribal absolute dynasty in Riyadh. It is the money, stupid.
Tony (the poodle) Blair killed the earlier SFO investigation into BAE Systems’ bribes of US$ 2 billion to Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan al-Saud. At that time, The Economist headlined with a mocking “Bribe, Brittania, Bribe…..”. Of course the Saudi people paid that money which was added to the cost of the contract. Blair was also instrumental in the release of al-Megrahi of the Lockerbie bombing. Regardless of the merits of the case against him, he was released for financial reasons, something Tony Blair seems to be good at these days. Tony Blair worked for JP Morgan at the time, which had Libyan deals.
 
Now a similar Saudi case is in the hands of the SFO (British Serious Frauds Office). That was predictable: the thousands of Saudi leeches princes have boundless greed, and they actually believe that they own the Arabian Peninsula, its petroleum, its people, it camels, and everything else on it. Even its Holy places like Mecca which they are turning into a Las Vegas style money machine. I am betting the British government will also kill this investigation, one way or another.

(You will never read or hear about this scandal in Saudi media. You will never read or hear about it in Gulf GCC media either).

Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, Finance, GCC, Gulf states, Kuwait

A Very Curious Case of Corruption on the Gulf, Oh Watermelon…………

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“An investigation into the bank accounts of several members of parliament has been expanded, it was reported yesterday. The politicians are under suspicion of possibly taking bribes. Dharar Al Asousi, the acting attorney general, said he would freeze the bank accounts of 14 of parliament’s 50 members yesterday, the daily Al Jarida reported, quoting unnamed sources…… The scandal began two weeks ago and could mean the Gulf’s most powerful parliament is heading into a crisis when it reconvenes after the summer recess next month. The report in Al Jarida estimated that the number of MPs embroiled in the scandal could rise to 20 as banks refer MPs’ accounts with suspicious transactions to the public prosecution… Ahmed Sadoun, a member of parliament’s Popular Action Bloc, has said the amount of money involved in the scandal is about 96 million Kuwaiti dinars (Dh1.28 billion)………Some Kuwaitis suspect the payments have been made by members of the royal family in a bid to secure support. Others have suggested that the source of the money is elsewhere…………”

There is something that is not kosher about this whole thing, and I mean it may not be what it looks like, (or it may). Suddenly depositing 96 million dinars (more than US $ 325 million) in a few accounts is a very stupid act. Anybody who knows anything about the country would know that such huge transfers cannot be kept secret, not in Kuwait, no way, no how. Unless it was intended to draw public attention.

Either someone in authority was stupid enough to do it, or someone else was clever enough to do it knowing that it will soon be news. That amount of money, if the reports are true, could only come from a government or some potentates with deep pockets. It can be domestic potentates or foreign potentates. Possibly very rich domestic potentates as part of a campaign for political power, part of an ongoing local political infighting within the elites. Or possibly a foreign government bent on interfering in the political life of the country. It can be a big ‘sisterly’ country or a big brotherly country, or it can be some other country. I can name one such government, but I won’t in order to protect the innocent. Now, what government (and its potentates) of what country in our region has such deep pockets and is able of spending money without supervision? I know of one, or maybe two.
Or maybe these guys won the Lottery and don’t know it yet.
Already this ‘report’ is being used for political purposes. Which makes me very suspicious indeed. But anything is possible in the watermelon politics on my Gulf.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Counterrevoltion, Corruption, Finance, GCC, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

Tony Blair as Scarlett O’Hara: Blair-Gate and the never Ending Saga of International Corruption………..

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“Tony Blair is facing calls for greater transparency in his role as Middle East peace envoy after it emerged that he visited Muammar Gaddafi in 2009 while JP Morgan, the investment bank that employs Blair as a £2m-a-year adviser, sought to negotiate a multibillion-pound loan from Libya. Blair also championed two large business deals in the West Bank and Gaza involving telecoms and gas extraction which stood to benefit corporate clients of JP Morgan, according to a Dispatches investigation to be broadcast on Monday night…………In Palestine while working as the quartet envoy, Blair persuaded the Israeli government to open radio frequencies so mobile phone company Wataniya could operate in the West Bank. The company’s owner, Qtel, a Qatari telecoms company, is a client of JP Morgan and its deal to buy Wataniya was funded with a $2bn loan that JP Morgan helped arrange..……..”

And the beat goes on: in terms of corruption, the life of Tony Blair is a gift that keeps on giving. A veritable Blair-Gate. It started with his killing of the investigation of the British Serious Frauds Office (SFO) of BAE Systems bribes to Saudi prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Tony has never looked back. From oil potentates to international bankers to the most despotic dictators and absolute tribal kings, Blair seems to be their man. Along the way he also went to war. He is also at the forefront of the right-wingers who are calling for yet another bloody war in my Gulf, no doubt he is getting some benefit from the potentates as well for that effort.
Tony Blair, the ‘former’ Laborite, now reminds me of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. When Scarlett rises from the dirt and promises “I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again”.
Scarlett kept her promise, but she was much more discriminating and more gracious than Mr. Blair about how she did it.
Cheers
mhg


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Corruption, Culture, Finance, France, Libya, U.S. Politics

Corruption in the French Political Class, or ‘what bears do in the forest’……

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“President Nicolas Sarkozy has distanced himself from a suspected corruption scandal that has roiled the French political class after an investigating magistrate began legal action against two of his close allies. Investigators are probing whether a French defense deal in the 1990s with Pakistan involving suspected kickbacks set the stage for a Karachi car bombing in 2003 that killed 15 people – mostly French defense contractors . In a statement Thursday, Sarkozy’s office said his name is not mentioned in any documents ……….”

What else is new? Several French presidents have been implicated and investigated for corruption, the last one being Chirac and now Sarkozy. None has been punished. There have been cases of cash paid, other financial benefits, and there have been cases of diamonds and precious stones gifted by African dictators. There are occasionally French politicians who truly feel angry at being accused, perhaps because they are innocent. There was one former French Prime Minister (I met him a couple of times when he was Finance Minister) who felt upset enough about accusations against him to commit suicide about ten years ago. He was unusual in that case and I suspect he may have been innocent.
Now in American politics they have more clever ways of getting the money to the politicians. There are millions of campaign fund donations, and there are more direct benefits through highly-paid speeches to special interest groups, as well as junkets and there are probably other ways as well. Then, for those who behave themselves and mind the interests of the lobbies, there are lucrative jobs waiting after they lose elections.
Now about Sarkozy, the Hero of Libya and aspiring hero of My Gulf. Oh well, you know the common American saying about ‘what bears do in the fores’……..
Cheers
mhg


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Arabian Peninsula, Corruption, Finance, Gulf states, Human Right, Persian-American Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Wikileaks

Saudi Arabia: Where God is Great but Greed is at least Good………………

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“Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.….” Ivan Boesky at UC Berkeley Commencement Ceremony in 1986, months before he went to prison.

“Oil revenue is said primarily to enrich the Al Saud. The embassy explains that Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance distributes a portion of the country’s oil proceeds to each Saudi royal family member in the form of monthly stipends. At the time the secret cable was issued, every royal reportedly received a monthly allowance from birth, on a sliding pay scale of US$ 800 (for distant royals) to US$ 270,000 (for sons and daughters of King Abd Al-Aziz). The embassy calculated these stipends to total more than US$ 2 billion of the Saudi government’s US$ 40 billion annual budget. For this and other reasons, the embassy concludes that “getting a grip on royal family excesses is at the top” of priorities for Saudi Arabia. In addition to the state-budgeted stipend, the cable reports, a royal may obtain a bonus of as much as US$ 3 million, as reward for getting married or building a palace. The existing stipend-and-bonus system provides Saudi royals with a significant incentive to procreate, particularly since stipend distributions begin at birth. It was stated that the central life aspiration of one Saudi prince was to have more children, so as to increase his monthly allowance. According to the cable, some members of the Al Saud resort to “royal rakeoffs” in order to supplement their already-substantial income. Such schemes may include confiscating land from commoners and reselling it to the government for a substantial profit; borrowing from the banks and defaulting on these loans; and acting as “sponsors” to “sometimes hundreds” of expatriate workers who are permitted to work locally as long as they pay monthly fees to the royals (this latter arrangement reportedly earns a single royal sponsor an average of US$ 10,000 per month from 100 ex-pats). Al Saud land and asset grabs are said to have caused resentment among the populace. In one instance, Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abd Al-Aziz allegedly ordered Mecca officials to transfer to him a plot of land that had belonged to one family for centuries………” Wi…Wiki…..Wikileaks

I don’t know what all this fuss is about. We, on my Gulf, do not need Wikileaks cables to tell us all about these royal robberies, and more. People know everything that is happening: who stole which land and when and how. Legends, true legends, are handed down now, about shady deals, “midnight” deals, and expropriation of lands by potentates and their retainers. It is the same story all over my Gulf region, but perhaps to different degrees. God is Great, but to some another great deity looms, an all-consuming deity that is at least considered good if not openly greater.
Cheers
mhg


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Afghanistan, Britain, Finance, Iran, Iraq, nuclear Iran, Persian-American Gulf, US Foreign Policy

Breaking News! Tony Blair as Windsor, Solves the Iraq Fiasco and Afghanistan……….

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“Tony Blair calls for regime change in Iran and Syria as he blames Tehran for prolonging the conflict in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. In an interview to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the former prime minister warns that the Middle East would be “very, very badly” destabilised if Iran acquired nuclear weapons. Blair, who is the Middle East peace envoy, tells the Times: “Regime change in Tehran would immediately make me significantly more optimistic about the whole of the region. If Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons capability it would destabilise the region very, very badly. “They continue to support groups that are engaged with terrorism and the forces of reaction. In Iraq one of the main problems has been the continued intervention of Iran and likewise in Afghanistan.“…….”

Did I write earlier that Tony Blair may be angling for the Nobel Prize in “WMD”?
I’ve got nothing against regime change in Iran or in ‘most’ of the rest of the Middle East (almost all of it). In fact I could recommend a couple of candidates that would make Mr. Blair faint, and I mean biggies. But these changes should be done by the people, not by bumbling Western leaders playing macho outside their bedrooms.
So, Blair now blames the Iranian regime for the wars he started (with his allies). He blames the mullahs for the fact that the “Mission Was NOT Accomplished”. True, the Iranians have their own interests and machinations and they certainly did not try to make life easier for the Mr. Blair and his partners. But to blame his fiasco on someone else? Now that is leadership, “New Labor” style (pardon my missing “u”).

Mr. Blair can now rest assured that he will be retained as “somebody’s” envoy for the Middle East. He need not worry on becoming another Duke of Windsor, whiling his time in luxury on the Riviera. He can also, coincidentally, be assured of more fat deals and contracts from various potentates and oligarchs in my region.

(Nothing personal against Tony, I could overlook anyone’s shortcomings, especially my own. But I detest anyone who calls for another fucking war in my region, and Tony has been calling for another fucking war in my Gulf for some time now. He is treating the region as if it is still his own fucking backyard).
Cheers
mhg


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Economics, Finance, IMF, Iran

Iranian Economy: Maserati Mullahs, Porsche Bazaris, IMF Salafis………….

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“Three decades later, under a leadership that promised the masses greater social and economic equality, such ostentatious displays of disparity have become far more commonplace. …… And how the situation in Iran’s capital compares statistically to any other major city may not be as important as the perception it creates, especially in a society whose rulers still govern in the name of the oppressed. “I know people have the right to enjoy their money,” said Hamid, a 32-year-old accountant. “But when there are many who can’t afford bread and basic necessities in this city, seeing a multimillion-dollar car on the street tells you something is very wrong with our economy.” The source of wealth in Iran, and Tehran in particular, raises a lot of eyebrows. “No one knows where it comes from,” says a graduate student of economics……. Last year, Porsche opened a dealership in Tehran’s western suburbs to great fanfare……Porsche’s successful entry into the Iranian market has encouraged other manufacturers to make similar plans. Roughly a year after Porsche began its operations in the Islamic Republic, an Italian business daily revealed that Maserati, Fiat’s high-end brand, aims to open a dealership through a representative in Tehran next year. ………The Shargh report was quoted widely by media outlets representing every side of the Iranian political spectrum, all echoing concerns about the ungodly gap between rich and poor………..”

Unemployment in Iran is officially in double digits, and the true figures are almost certainly higher than official figures. Poverty and inequality are still as important issues as they were in 1979. The mullahs, having defeated their leftist partners of the Revolution, have failed to solve the main economic issues that created the revolution. The Western sanctions are partly responsible (sanctions always hurt ordinary folks and not the elites they are supposed to hurt, and the Western powers know that). It is wise for the regime to remember that the Arab uprisings this past year were mostly not inspired by God, they were inspired by repression, economic hardships, and flagrant economic disparities among people. Iran nowadays is close to having all three pre-requisites for another uprising, the recent IMF accolades notwithstanding.
(The IMF and the other international financial organizations have a kind of tunnel vision: they see only their models, if they are being followed or not. In that sense they are as zealous as any Salafi. They are probably secret Tea Baggers).
Cheers
mhg


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Economics, Finance, Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, OPEC, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela

Petroleum Rivalries Turning OPEC Upside Down……….

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“Saudi Arabia’s government spending, flat since the last oil boom in the 1970s, is now rising at 10 percent or more annually. And it will rise faster still: The House of Saud’s survival instinct in the wake of the initial Arab revolutions led King Abdullah to announce $130 billion of largesse in February and March. The resulting increases in government employment and salaries can be cut only at the cost of more discontent. And that’s only what the kingdom is spending on its “counterrevolution” at home. Saudi Arabia will pay the lion’s share of the pledged $25 billion of Gulf Cooperation Council aid to Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Oman. With Iraq, Syria, and Yemen likely flashpoints yet to come, the bill will only increase. Already, nearly a third of the Saudi budget goes toward defense, a proportion that could rise in the face of a perceived Iranian threat. Meanwhile, fast-growing domestic demand poses a serious threat to oil-export revenues. The kingdom is one of the world’s least energy-efficient economies: With prices fixed at $3 per barrel for power generation and $0.60 per gallon of gasoline, Saudi Arabia needs 10 times more energy than the global average to generate a dollar of output. Subsidized natural gas, too, is in short supply, undermining an economic diversification drive focused on petrochemicals. As much as 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil are burned for electricity to meet summer air-conditioning demand, yet Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, still suffers frequent power cuts………This combination of higher spending and lower exports shortens Saudi Arabia’s time horizon. Usually considered, on shaky evidence, to be a “price moderate” within OPEC, the kingdom now requires $85 per barrel to balance its budget. That figure will rise to $320 by 2030………”

The problem for the Saudis is that long before the year 2030, both Iran and Iraq would have resumed full control of their oil fields. Iraqi and Iranian outputs have been disrupted by thirty years of war and revolution and Western sanctions, but that era of instability will end soon. Both countries threaten to overtake Saudi Arabia as OPEC’s main producer and possibly as ‘swing’ producers. Both have huge untapped resources and unconfirmed reserves (thirty years of instability takes its toll). Then there is Venezuela, which OPEC recently declared now has the largest oil reserves, surpassing Saudi Arabia. It is almost certain that within a decade from now the heavy weights in OPEC will be three ‘ornery’ republics in addition to the Kingdom without Magic.
Cheers
mhg


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