.

Fact: Every woman loves a pair of black strappy shoes. Sure, they're a bit boring... Why not mix it up with a bit of color or a new shape? After all, a fantastic shoe is a fantastic shoe. But! There is something a bit wonderful about throwing on black heels, grabbing your keys and running out the door.

This evening, I was sitting in the reception of the Marriot waiting for some friends who are visiting from Geneva. Naturally, there is loads of eye candy for the keen observer in Zamalek's Marriot- between the Saudis, the Gulfis, the disoriented American tourists and the uber chic Europeans, one could stay there sipping espresso for hours.

But let's be honest, there are no people more amusing to people watch than the Gulfis. As the man came through the metal detector donning shorts and a t-shirt (and still managing to make it look expensive), his little woman came just a few feet behind him. Black niqab. Covered completely. Lots of eyeliner with just a peak of designer jeans and ... what else? Black strappy evening shoes. Sexy, sexy strappy shoes. 

Now while many in the West might think that these women are oppressed because they are wearing three layers of clothes in 100+ degree weather, at least some of them have the right to choose... their shoes. And well, considering how many Euros they cost, they have one leg up on me.

The abaya is a symbol of so many things; of the rejection of Western values, of liberation from unwanted male advances, and of submission to God’s will. And it’s here to stay. For the time being, at least.

When the Prophet Mohammed said: “And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze. And guard their modesty; that they must draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty...,” Islam’s modesty rule for woman’s dress was born. (Qur’an 24:30-31)

One thousand four hundred and twenty seven years later, “drawing their veils over their bosoms”, regarded as a metaphor for modest dressing, is a command still obeyed by millions of Muslim women across the globe. But what exactly “modesty” means, is like asking for a definition of beauty. Some say a hijab (headscarf) suffices, while others, like the Saudi religious establishment and their followers across the world, insist every bit of the woman’s body should be swathed in plain black, including a thin veil over the eyes and gloves on the hands. Incidentally, the term “hijab” comes from the Arabic word “hajaba,” means “to conceal” or “to shield” and is used generally to refer to modesty, and more specifically, to mean headscarves and formless gowns. In Saudi, hijab is used to describe the head covering; the abaya the black overdress; niqab the veil pulled over the face, revealing only the eyes, and khimar the full face covering.

Read more and view bigger size pictures here.

The move is a remarkable about turn in the flow of investment from major Western institutions this year, which has been mainly in the reverse direction with emerging market funds pulling out of the region. Not for nothing is Goldman Sachs the reigning king of Wall Street, and its new fund demonstrates typical market prescience and a grasp on fundamental economic realities as well as classical diversification into non-correlated assets.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, "the focus for the fund is wide-ranging, but it is thought likely to major in financial institutions as well as energy assets." Nobody has seen the business plan for the new investment fund. But it is an interesting exercise to consider its rationale, if only to analyse what is behind the thinking of the world's most important investment bank in deciding to invest in the Middle East at this time.

Surely its logic has to come down to three things. First, the oil price is down from its $147 high of earlier this year but not exactly a disaster at around $113 a barrel. In the early 2000s the Opec price band stood at $22-28 a barrel, and even if prices fell back to $70 that would still represent a tripling of oil revenues.

Besides Goldman Sachs is on the record as believing oil prices will spike to $150 to $200 over the next couple of years. Less than a year ago that $150 target was laughed at and yet it was almost reached a couple of months ago. Who is to say that oil prices will not stay high and for longer than some forecasters now assume?

In the mid to late 1970s, for example, the global economy was in dire straits with crashing stock markets, depressed realty and yet commodity prices remained strong, albeit volatile. The Middle East flourished in its greatest oil boom.

Perhaps the same thing is going to happen again, and Goldman Sachs wants to be in on the act. Secondly, I am sure Goldman's analysts have taken note of the investment boom in the region. The $1.3 trillion (Dh4.7 worth of projects in the GCC exceeds present investment plans in China.

This is a huge forward order book that will keep economies moving for three, five, even 10 years ahead. A good parallel to draw here is with Hong Kong in the early 90s. Its $25bn airport infrastructure programme kept the city booming during a period of global recession, which actually helped keep construction costs down.

Only when the cranes came down and the Union Jack ceased to fly over Hong Kong in 1997 did the city experience a major economic recession. The Gulf states and principally the cities of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi are only in the early stages of their major growth phases, with so many projects either under construction or still in the planning stage.

Thirdly, I suppose Goldman Sachs has spotted a trading opportunity. With the emerging market funds on the retreat from the Middle East stock prices have fallen to levels not seen for five years in terms of price to earnings.

But at the same time profits are still heading upwards for regional financial institutions, and even the somewhat maligned property companies do have very substantial cash flows and the prospect of very much higher profits to come in many cases. Indeed, this is probably the point of the annual calendar when local stocks represent a great buy as autumn traditionally brings a revival of local investor interest, most likely after Ramadan this year.

No other part of the world is benefiting from the energy price explosion to the extent of the Middle East, and you can probably justify investment here just from the point of view of diversification. It makes excellent sense not to have all your investment eggs in one basket and to keep money in one place that is booming helps counter a downturn in other markets.

However, the big unanswered question is whether the Gulf states will prove to be negatively correlated to global markets, particularly their bourses. My feeling is that Wall Street remains wildly overvalued for what is coming: a double dip recession with a surge in bankruptcies, unemployment and further falls in real estate prices.

At some point in the near future this reality is going to catch up with the Street. Will investment houses then sell everything they have, including Gulf stocks? Some may well have to do so but others will be looking for non-correlated asset classes. They will not have much choice.

Real estate is in crisis. Bonds are threatened by inflation. Cash pays low interest rates. Global stocks will be in turmoil. So that leaves precious metals and the Middle East. Goldman Sachs and its partners may well think prudential diversification and an eye to the domestic investment plans of local governments more than justifies its decision to create Goldman Sachs Middle East Investments. And as we know from a recent survey of the expansion plans of global financial firms Goldman is not alone, as Dubai is the number one choice for growth over the next three years.

I Designed this logo for fun, it's the Saudi version. Enjoy!

OIL cartel Opec is expected to reduce supplies next month following a sharp fall in crude prices on Friday.

The value of US crude fell 5.5% to $114.59 a barrel – the biggest drop in percentage terms in one day since December 2004. In London, Brent crude dropped $6.24 to $113.92 a barrel. Read more here.

The stock market, Tadawul, has been the least open among Gulf Arab bourses to foreign investors, up to now giving foreigners access to stocks only through select funds. >>>>>

Musharraf exits the Pakistani stage as storm clouds gather

By

Rich Bowdenon August 20, 2008 7:40 AM

Pakistan's former leader Pervez Musharraf resigned yesterday in an emotional address to the nation ahead of impeachment proceedings brought by the country's newly-resurgent Parliament. Musharraf dominated Pakistani politics for almost a decade and strode the world stage as one of the U.S.'s chief regional allies in the war against terrorism. However the euphoria expressed at the ousting of the one time strongman was tempered with the knowledge that Islamabad is likely to face a protracted power struggle to fill the vacuum.

Musharraf's ascendancy was the catalyst that brought together the two main parties; the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), though the two have traditionally been rivals throughout the country's history. With the chief reason for the parties' awkward and fragile coalition now gone, the country could face an uncertain, if not violent, political future.

The record of the two parties coalition since obtaining office in February is mixed and there have been squabbles over key issues such as immunity for Musharraf and the vexing question of whether to reinstate the judges ousted by Musharraf, an act which proved to be the tipping point for Musharraf in the eyes of the Pakistani public.

Now despite an apparent agreement between coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif that all judges would be reinstated within 72 hours, this looks again to be on shaky ground as Zardari looked today to be backing away from the deal. Chief among points of contention seems to be whether or not the independent-minded judiciary will look to open an investigation into past corruption allegations against the leaders of the coalition.

These are not the only points of difference between Zardari and and Sharif though. Musharraf leaves two damning legacies: a militant Islamist movement gaining in popularity and a failing economy. Since the coalition's election in February, significant difference in ideology in how to deal with these problems have emerged.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald's Matt Wade, reporting from Lahore, little progress has been made by the new Government on either of these fronts.

There are significant ideological differences between the two parties on how to tackle Pakistan's two biggest challenges: combating militancy and managing the economy.

One of the reasons for the collapse of Musharraf's reputation was a failing economy, battered by capital flight, rapidly falling foreign-exchange reserves and soaring inflation, now at 21 per cent. People struggle to pay for flour and fuel. The entire country suffers from prolonged power failures, which, according to the International Monetary Fund, can be attributed largely to the failure of the Musharraf government to build power plants.

The new Government has made no major policy response either to this deepening economic crisis or the country's security problems. [source]

As if to underline the simmering problems facing the administration, a bomb ripped through a hospital in the north-western Pakistani town of Peshawar killing twenty-three people just hours after Musharraf's resignation. The region has seen prolonged sectarian violence. Agence France-Presse reports a provincial police spokesman Riaz Ahmad as saying, "It is not clear if the blast was a suicide attack."

Thus far the leadership of Pakistan's military has behaved impeccably, at least to Western eyes, promising to stay out of politics and uphold the democratic decision of the people in February. However history has shown that Pakistan's military has not been shy in coming forward to "save" Pakistan in times of political upheaval. The last such coup was in October 1999 when Musharraf led a bloodless takeover from the elected corruption-riddled government of Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf became the fourth Army chief of Pakistan to have assumed executive control.

As the road ahead for the governing coalition appears fraught with ideological potholes, the White House is concerned that Islamabad's war on Al-Qaeda and the recently resurgent Taliban could be compromised.

With anti-Americanism on the rise in the country, both Sharif and Zardari may look to loosen ties with the United States, in order to maintain popularity with the Pakistani people. If the struggle between the parties does indeed turn violent, and more pointedly, if the Islamist parties in Pakistan were to take advantage of the split to take control of the country, will the U.S. administration support the Pakistani military in yet another coup? The fact that Pakistan has been a confirmed nuclear power since 1998, the year before Musharraf's coup, adds a dangerously potent factor into the Pakistani political cauldron.

The White House has thanked Musharraf for his support during the Bush years and his alliance in the war on terror though many inside the administration have quietly claimed over the years that he was playing both sides against each other, allegedly harbouring Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani territory or not doing enough to pursue them. Musharraf's tactics were on the one hand to persuade the Bush administration that he was a loyal ally against such Islamist organisations such as Al-Qaeda while placating his own internal fundamentalist Islamists who accused him of being too pro-West. Musharraf had already escaped a number of assassination attempts at the hands of Islamist supporters.

His final place of retirement is unclear with some reports suggesting he will be exiled to either Saudi Arabia or the USA. With his penchant for whiskey and the company of woman, one would think he would be suited to a retirement home in the United States.

I really hate going in these lingerie stores ran by men. They are experts in sizing you up. This store is actually more posh than the ones that I shop at for moi (hey I can't give cheesy gifts), and the salesmen are more refined. I usually shop in souks with scrabby looking men chasing me around with bras and panties. At this store, when I was ready to make my purchase the salesman looked at me and looked at the outfit and asked if it were for me. I knew what he meant...it wasn't my size...lol! I told him it was a gift. Alhamduillah for my face veil because that is so embarrassing!

Where's the Haya/Mutaween/Religious Police/Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, when you need them?

Hmmm.

Well. Before you get too alarmed, Dr. Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan said "nothing in Islam prevents non-Muslims from donating their organs to Muslims because the Almighty Allah created organs clean and pure so that they can be transplanted in Muslims."

Phew!

...and I was so glad all my kids were not home. I had a raging headache and begged my husband to take the children with him. They went to visit friends in our old town. i thought I would just chill all day in the bed with the baby, that's one of the perks (no pun intended) of breastfeeding. Then we had a blackout...at 10:00pm! I strapped lil man in the stroller and went out. I was not alone..seemed there was a mass exodus! About 45 minutes later the lights came back on and I went back in.

Don't I have the most exciting life?!

Joke!... Sort of.

Well, new 3G technology for mobile phones has given rise to a growing underground porn industry in Saudi Arabia.

Service providers are now expected to offer pornographic pictures and videos on the side just to stay competitive (that's right, in the holy kingdom where porn is illegal). 

Apparently the demand for porn is so high that music and video stores have also widened their selections. 

Full article:

 http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2008081814715

Scheer examines the expansion of our military presence throughout the world, our insane nuclear strategy, the immorality of corporations profiting in Iraq, and the arrogance of our foreign policy. Although Scheer is a liberal, his view echoes that of former Republican president General Dwight Eisenhower, who, in his farewell speech to the American people, spoke prophetically about need to guard against the growing influence of the military-industrial complex. In George W. Bush's America, politicians like Ike and Richard Nixon seem like prudent centrists.

The views of libertarians, liberals, and pacifists are often overlooked or ignored by America's mainstream media. The Pornography of Power is the culmination of a respected journalist's efforts to change the terms of debate. At a time when many are exploiting fears of terrorist attacks and only a few national leaders are willing to advocate cuts in defense spending, nuclear disarmament, and restrained use of American force, Robert Scheer has written a manifesto for enlightened reform.

ABOUT ROBERT SCHEER

Scheer is a syndicated columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle.

To subscribe to Scheer’s regular column please visit robertscheer.com.

Scheer can be heard on the political radio program “Left, Right and Center” on KCRW, the National Public Radio affiliate in Santa Monica.

Scheer is also clinical professor at The University of Southern Californa, Annenberg School for Communication.

Whites fear discrimination by public services. Almost one in three white people believe they are the victims of racial prejudice, a Government study has found.

Random House accused of cowardice after withdrawing The Jewel of Medina amid fears of Muslim controversy. Og: Cancelled Novel about Mohammed’s Wife Highlights The “Sensitivity” Syndrome.

Newham councillor Alan Craig has accused Tablighi Jamaat, the controversial Islamic sect that wants to build Europe's largest mosque at West Ham close to the site of the 2012 Olympics, of breaking its promises about keeping local people informed.

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested after police found an assassin's armoury at his home.

Saudi authorities arrested an imam – Islamic preacher – who is suspected of carrying out several burglaries, a press report said on Tuesday.

Nigeria: A 50-year-old Muslim man, who allegedly made a blasphemous statement against Prophet Muhammad, was beaten to death in Kano on Saturday.

Thailand: A nine-year-old girl, her young brother and their father all were shot dead while the mother was critically wounded early Tuesday when insurgents ambushed their pick-up truck, police said.

Løgn, forbandet løgn og islam.

Gujarat riots and the history of incessant Muslim Violence against Hindus.

SON OF HAMAS LEADER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ISLAM

Prince Muqrin ibn Abdul Aziz, chief of Saudi intelligence (undated photo courtesy of Arab News, http://www.arabnews.com/)

Times of India, ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia on Saturday rushed its intelligence chief to Pakistan to broker a deal between embattled President Pervez Musharraf and the ruling coalition that plans to launch impeachment proceedings against him next week, media reports said.

Saudi, intelligence chief, Pakistan, Musharraf, 'safe, exit', Prince Muqrin ibn Abdul Aziz

Edith Honan, Reuters, August 14, 2008

NEW YORK - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, four princes and other Saudi entities are immune from a lawsuit filed by victims of the September 11 attacks and their families alleging they gave material support to al Qaeda, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

The ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey dismissing a claim against Saudi Arabia, a Saudi charity, four princes and a Saudi banker of providing material support to al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks.

The victims and their families argued that because the defendants gave money to Muslim charities that in turn gave money to al Qaeda, they should be held responsible for helping to finance the attacks.

The appeals court found that the defendants are protected under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Read More Here

This new development would surely help keep more Saudis charged with terrorism or other serious crime in the name of Jihad, to keep mum when arrested.

Of course, the Saudi's will be hiring an experienced American law firm to get the job done but in light of a recent ruling, U.S. court exonerates Saudis from lawsuit filed by relatives of 9/11 victims, it's not likely they'll need any help from the American legal system.

Saudis offer better protection to "subjects" arrested abroad

By Rachel Ehrenfeld

The benevolent Saudi King Abdullah decided it's time to better protect his "subjects" abroad, ordering Saudi embassies worldwide to provide bail and legal advise to Saudis detained abroad.

Arab News reported that King ordered diplomatic missions to appoint lawyers to defend Saudi citizens who are arrested on any charges during their stay abroad and will pay bail for them under new regulations approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday.

"The daily said starting next year, the budget of the Foreign Ministry would include provisions under the title, "Expenses of catering to the judicial requirements of Saudi citizens abroad."

It said the amount of money required would be decided by the Foreign and Finance ministries and the allocation would be used to pay the fees of lawyers, bail and other costs until the citizen is released and sent home.

The Saudi missions will follow up with the legal entities in countries concerned to make sure that the citizens receive a fair trial before they are either acquitted or convicted, the new regulations stipulate.

According to these regulations, the citizen will pay back the money spent on him abroad after returning to the Kingdom if he was arrested for negligence or for deliberate mistakes. He will also have to pay any financial settlements related to the alleged crime.

The diplomatic missions will send comprehensive reports about any such cases to the Foreign Ministry. They will also continue to provide citizens with legal counseling and help them choose qualified lawyers for civil contracts, personal affairs and correspondence with foreign governments.

The Foreign Ministry is being requested to contract an experienced American law firm with strong ties to other legal entities in order to assist with legal cases involving Saudi citizens in the United States."

This new development would surely help keep more Saudis charged with terrorism or other serious crime in the name of Jihad, to keep mum when arrested.