Seeking readers contribution: A term to replace "Islamophobia"?

Dear readers, put on your thinking caps, we need your inventiveness and intelligence!

The problem with "Islamophobia" as a term is that it refers to the 'fear of Islam' - which has been spun by various racist groups who declare themselves to be 'proud' Islamophobes, on the assumption that there is indeed reason to be afraid of the Big Bad Muslims and that they're merely reacting.

As such, we need to find a stronger term, one that refers to 'hatred' rather than 'fear', one that would be strong, insulting, unequivocally shaming, and absolutely inexcusable.

Think "anti-semitism": There is no acceptable way in which one can be 'proud' of being an anti-semite, which is an inexcusable offense.

So far, discussions with friends over at Facebook have given those proposition:

Anti-Islamism: Most obvious, but too much in the realm of the political.
Anti-Muslimism: too "cutesy", says Dani.
Misislamy: Dani's uber-erudite construct, built like 'misogyny' (hatred of women) but, let's face it, no one will get it.
Islamamentia, suggests Semil, because he views it as 'confusion, not hatred'.

Muslim-hatred? Yeah, that's the meaning, but it isn't agile enough as a catchword.

What do you think, dear reader? Any suggestions? Which one would you select, what do you suggest?

Join to the discussion, leave a comment!!

"We're offended? Again?" -- Of humour, symbols, and pop-culture

Two new instances in which we are seemingly 'insulted' and we should get offended, huff and puff, and boycott someone.

In the first instance, a B-class US cinema production titled "I love you, man" -- I can already picture the semi-illiterate audience that will watch that -- pictures a dog named "Anwar El Sadat" because, as the dog's owner explains, they look "exactly" like one another.

In the second - which is just starting to bubble, you read it here first! - it's a German football song of the FC Schalke 04 club that includes the lines -

Muhammad was a prophet who understood nothing about football
But of all the lovely colours he chose [Schalke's] blue and white.


Now what I think, very quickly:

a) For the "Anwar El Sadat" case, it's just a bad joke. Given how badly the name was mangled anyway, that the vast majority of the film's audience will likely be unaware of the existence of a man named Sadat - let alone who he was, no one will remember that this joke was made by the times the credits roll.

Plus, the number of jokes that involve various world leaders is innumerable. The number of times Hollywood picture their own president(s) as a complete hillbilly of is innumerable. (I mean, people, Hot Shots? Harold and Kumar? Everything with Leslie Nielsen?). Kim-Jong Il as a puppet in Team America, GW Bush as a monkey (in every possible occasion)?

And I don't see Obama suing for the recent 'Joker' photos either.

Obama's wife, daughters, mother-in-law, and welad el giraan w ahl el 7etta will be suing someone. Oh wait..

Plus I cannot begin to count the number of the 'presidents/kings = animals' jokes circulating around Cairo. (Most popular quadruped comparisons involve donkeys and cows, as you may have guessed).

Many people have put forward other arguments why there's no conspiracy behind the Sadat dog joke, at least because he was - and somehow still is - the quintessential Middle Eastern leader in the eyes of the Western political analysis establishment. (see Kabobfest, or the comments on Zenobia's post).

It's not that big a deal. Really.
And Sadat is not above mockery or sarcasm.

Live with it. Personally, the lawsuit the Sadat family wants to bring before court is more embarrassing to me than the film. Stop making us look like such an intolerant, humourless
bunch already!

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b) The second one is more interesting, primarily because it's about the Prophet, pbuh, not a politician.

Now mind you, like your 'average Mo', I have the same gut reaction to religious insults (Aaaah, the danish cartoons...:) as I would to family insults. And I have a very low tolerance to people harbouring ill-will towards me or my community. The cartoons, since we mentioned that, were meant to insult (and hence confirm the 'right to offend', as was put forth at the time).


Yet herein lies the entire the decision factor: intent. I sincerely doubt there's any in this case. I'm not the least bit insulted - puzzled, sure, but not insulted.

First, the song dates from the 1920's - at a time when probably Muslims and all that were far more 'exotic' than they are now.

Second, I can totally see them using 'Abraham' or 'Jesus' instead of 'Muhammad' in that song: I don't think it'd be out of ill-will or hatred.

Third, I really don't see any insult in what was said per se. People didn't know much about football 1400 years ago, did they? :)

Plus, there is something to be said in favour of Islamic symbols being integrated in pop-culture.
The use of the word 'mecca' for 'convergence point' (as in, "MIT is the mecca of tech nerds") is a very positive example of that.

For Muhammad, Islam, prayer, fasting, hijab, etc to be normalised, banalised, and commonly referred to in conversation or in jokes - and you know how powerful a medium jokes can be - is the best thing that can happen to Muslims living in the West, and to Muslims at large.

And, more than the Talibans, it's random explosions of anger on the part of our irritable masses that scares non-Muslims, and further isolate us as 'problematic' populations (or minorities).

We need to grow up and learn to stomach a little bit of harmless humour at our own expense. It will be better for everyone. And who knows, we might get a laugh or two out of it, too.

Egypt-Israel gas deal: WHO is behind it? The names, the relationships, the clientelism...

(Three Quick notes:
- Part One of this article presented a background to the Egypt-Israel gas export deal and what was ‘renegotiated’ last week, and can be found here.

- The research here was all made from public sources. Some sources required a sign-up for a trial version. References from newspapers, business reviews and databases, and industry analysis consultancies are mentioned as often as humanly possible. Information from unreliable online sources, or quoting an inaccessible print source was discarded.

- That article took me quite some time to write. So If you liked the article - or, hell, if you didn’t - go ahead and leave a comment!)

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EMG signed the gas export deal on the Egyptian side. But what hides behind this acronym? And why are they mandated with selling the country’s natural resources?


EMG is short for 'East Mediterranean Gas' - an Egyptian-Israeli consortium. Which, despite managing multi-billion dollars projects, has no online presence or website.

We do know however that it was originally a joint venture between the Egyptian Gas Petroleum Consortium (EGPC), a government joint venture operating under the ministry of Petroleum, and Israeli corporation Merhav, after a deal between Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy and then minister of infrastructure Binyamin Ben Eliezer in 2005.

The company has been quite keen on keeping a low profile - hell, I can understand them - but it has gone a bit too far: it is actually spreading false information about itself!

But take a look at this page: this is a typical company-generated public profile - the only one I could find on the internet.

It is so full of misinformation I am still laughing. For instance:

- The website address is fictitious. That’s right: there is no www.emg.com. As a matter of fact, the domain name is registered for an education company in New Jersey.

- Check out the listed shareholders (graph):

Right. Only there is no “MIDGAS” that I can find, there is no Fordas Pernamanian, there is no Middle East Pipeline NV in the Netherlands, and there is no Coltex in Britain. There’s a Coltex in Austin, Texas, which generates annual sales of $170,000 so I’ll make the assumption that they’re not shareholders in a transnational pipeline.

The profile makes no mention of business with Israel anywhere. It just says (hihihihihi) “... to Turkey, to other countries situated along the Eastern Coast of the Mediterranean”.




Now to some more reliable information on the company.


Currently, the owners of EMG appear to be as follows:

28% for HKS, the main Egyptian partner. They seemingly started off with 53% - a controlling share -but sold a 25% stake to PTT - before gas even started pumping.

25% for Thailand's Public company PTT (see page 3 of this document)

20% for Yosef Maiman, through Ampal-American Israel Corporation which he chairs, and Merhav MNF Ltd., which he owns

10% for the Egyptian government, via the Egyptian Natural Gas holding Company (EGAS)

4.4% for Israeli institutional investors. (Source)


The main remark to make here is that -- the Egyptian shareholders in the company that signed on behalf of the Egyptian partner own, that is commonly referred to as “Egypt’s EMG” hmmmm, a mere 38% of the capital.

Let's be very clear here: the Egyptian signatory to the deal is, ehhhh, not Egyptian. Beautiful, right?


A little digging into the main partners in this venture is in order, surely.

1. EGAS:

The State, of course. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding company (EGAS) was established in August 2001 by Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy (whose name pops up time and again in the EMG story). It "supervises the natural gas industry in Egypt, manages the foreign investments in exploration, production, and the usage of Liquefied Natural Gas tankers".

In 2000, the Egyptian government decided to allocate one third of the then proven reserves for domestic market requirements for 25 years, the second third for strategic purposes, and the remaining third, plus most gas discoveries from 2001 onward, for export." Seems that EMG got some of those concessions..

Notice that when we read (like here or there) that “EMG reached an agreement with the Egyptian Government” - EGAS is the mandated government counterpart here.

So EGAS reaches an agreement with a company it is itself a shareholder of. Does that sound like a conflict of interest to you?

I guess we shouldn't be surprised but can't help to be a little bit - the 10 % share in EMG appears nowhere on the list of EGAS affiliate companies.

The Egyptian government is a silent partner. Hilarious. Though not unforeseen, given the expected unpopularity of the deal.



2. HKS-GROUP

The HKS-Group is named after the initials of its founder's, Hussein Kamal-el-Din Salem (usually just referred to Hussein Salem).

A real-estate development company, it owns a number of hotels, most notably the Jolie Ville hotels franchise it took over in 1997.

HKS defines itself as a "a Private Sector Egyptian investment Group whom (sic) has been active during the last Twenty-Five years in international business linking Egypt to the rest of the world in addition to managing a strong investment portfolio abroad."

Hotels aside, HKS is no stranger to energy mega-projects.

In 1993, it established the 'Middle East Oil refinery' (MIDOR - Remember that name!) but declared it pulled out of project (apparently in 1999?) to, I quote, "concentrate in (sic) other new ventures and projects... on the core business of Hospitality and tourism".

Yet it still owns the Midor Electricity Company (MIDELEC), which provides electricity to 3 oil refineries in the Alexandria region, chiefly to... MIDOR.
(Which HKS says it pulled out from).

Interestingly enough, MIDELEC is no longer mentioned on the company's main website - but it seems they may forgotten to remove it from the company profile page on the Jolie Ville website.

This said, MIDELEC has its offices (as does EMG) within the HKS building in Cairo - at 26 Roshdy Street, Cairo. So much for distancing oneself...


MIDOR itself is a fascinating story. And it was most probably the meeting point for many partners of the EMG adventure.


For instance, guess who was made CEO and Vice-chairman of MIDOR in 1997? Sameh Fahmy, who 2 years later became minister of Petroleum, apparently supported by a recommendation of Mr. Hussein Salem to the President.

Briefly thereafter, a spinoff of HKS’ MIDOR was established in 2000, Al-Sharq Gas Co., selling gas to Jordan and Syria via the ‘Arab Gas Pipeline’. Al-Sharq, along with a handful others JVs, was granted particular advantages, namely “the same incentives and profit splits as foreign firms”.
Nice, eh?


And guess what Israeli company was part of the MIDOR joint venture? Merhav. They eventually withdrew - APS Review suggested that Gulf countries wouldn't supply the refinery, forcing it to buy on the spot market; the Ahram Weekly put forth similar justifications at the time. Other explanations include the more general deteriorating Egypt-Israeli relations with Likud's accession to power in 2001 - but I'm not too inclined to buy this justification.

Today, MIDOR makes a point of mentioning that 100% of its capital is Egyptian. Not Isra... shhhh!! :)
Its Chairman and CEO is a gentleman named Medhat Youssef Mahmoud; until 2006 though it was still reported that Hussein Salem, who held on to 2% of the shares, held the post.


HKS seems to have botched attempts to distance itself from the MIDOR sour memory, and to pass EMG for something it is not. At some level, their behaviour seems so nonchalant I wonder if they really meant to try to put this distance.


3. And the main Israeli partner, Yosef (Joseph / Josef / Yossi) Maiman?

He’s not this the guy on classmates.com :).
German-born, Peru-raised Maiman is a wealthy and influential Israeli businessman who owns Merhav (since 1972), is President and CEO of business conglomerate Ampal, and is on the board of Israel’s Channel 10. (see here, or here if you like US Government archive documents!). and, random fact of the day, his 2007 compensation was $2,154,563. Not bad!

With business interests around the globe, including several very large energy projects in the Middle East and Central Asia - with so much political influence there it reportedly worries Iran. He was also involved in a messy gas concession debacle off the Gaza coast with British Gas and the Quartet Representative a couple of years ago.

He’s a former intelligence officer (yes, former Mossad, but don’t freak out :), hence the close relationship with Shabtai Shavit, whom he recruited to head EMG’s Israel office.

(Yes. The Israel office of "Egypt's" EMG is headed by the former Director of the Mossad. Tadaaa!).

Oh, and apparently Maiman is such good buddies with President Shimon Peres, he reportedly hosted his 80th birthday party in uber-posh neighbourhood Herzliya Pituah. Selfless friendship, clearly.

His Egypt connections go via HKS (MIDOR, of course) but also apparently via a longer chain of Maiman -->Shavit --> Omar Suleiman --> Every Egyptian Government big head. This relationship, Haaretz suggests, helped him get the EMG deal.


So there you have it.

The concession to EMG apparently followed no rules of tendering what so ever. The State is in bed with private interests, in blatant conflict of interest.

The entire Egypt-Israel gas deal, it turns out, is a barely concealed cesspool of clientelism, personal relationships and private interests, breaches of government procedure, of transparency rules, and of corporate governance.



And we're wondering why the deal was originally underpriced? I'm surprised we knew anything about it in the first place.

The new Egypt-Israel Gas deal: What we need to know

A 3.3 billion USD gas deal was signed a couple of days ago between Egypt and Israel, under which Egypt will supply its neighbour with between 12.5 to 16 billion cubic meters of gas over the next 17 to 22 years. (longer report in Arabic here.)

As you may know, this is the outcome of the renegotiation of the terms of the agreement signed in December 2007; the sale price was egregiously below world market prices, causing the ire of an irritable Egyptian public, already uneasy because of the identity of the buyers - it's no secret most Egyptians do not favour deeper economic ties with Israel, even if they're beneficial.

Yet more than a vocal public opinion, it was a lawsuit that nearly got the deal overturned that scared the parties into renegotiation. (the flow of gas, however, was never suspended.)

As one of 80 million owners of the resource in question, I am quite bothered by the opacity of the deal - it is after all a multi-billion dollars deal, and I am somewhat uneasy that the Egyptian press would have to quote its Israeli counterpart for information.

As a concerned citizen I am fully entitled to know:

a) whether this new deal makes economic sense, and
b) who on earth is behind the deal?

From what we can gather, events apparently unfolded as follows:

"EMG", we are told, signed an agreement in early June with the Egyptian government, amending the original December 2007 deal "on repricing at a higher price, as well as periodic price adjustments, and new gas delivery targets".
By the following week, gas flow into Israel had increased to 1.5-1.6 BCM per year.

The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) however announced, mid-July, that it will "probably not increase the amount of gas it buys from Egypt's EMG".

Despite IEC's declarations, it appears that we're looking at new targets in terms of quantity and duration: according to Business Week, "the Amendment determines that the duration of the gas supply will be for 17 years with an option to Dorad to extend the period for 5 more years. The total contracted gas supply will be between 12.5 BCM to 16 BCM and the total annual amount of income will be between $125 million to $150 million."

Seemingly, we're looking at an increase between 10 and 35% increase of the sale price: the wide margin is due to the fluctuation of prices between peak and off-peak consumption hours. Frankly I'm surprised they factored it in, but I know little about gas contracts...

My understanding is that the price remains well below spot market prices but that's the cost of hedging the fluctuations - having a guaranteed contract at a fixed price. I think I'm relatively satisfied on that side.

(And the fact that the Israelis are trying to find a scapegoat to blame is rather a good sign, too).


b) Who is behind the deal? Who are the players??

--> That will wait for the next post!! (Update: Part two HERE!!) But from what I've been finding, it's pretty damn interesting. :)