Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Moving on from the chap's flick

Well, I think you all agree with me that the little footnote-post about that comic trash was a hit! I had much fun with comments. But more importantly, the high traffic on that site testified to the importance and centrality of visual culture, sadly hegemonized by Hollywood. Let's face it: Hollywood and the Weimar German cinema are blood brothers; fathered by the Soviet cinema.

But let's move from fiction to facts:

Halliburton's move to Dubai took a back seat to all the fuss about Scooter Libby! [I love it how opportunistic the Cheney mafia is!]

Halliburton, established in Oklahoma in 1919 under New Method Oil Well Cementing Co. is well on their way to realize their century-goal:

Over the weekend, the company announced that its chief executive, Dave Lesar, would move to a new corporate headquarters in Dubai to focus on business in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Of course, democrats are alarmed and Sen, Byron Dorgan wants to know: "is Halliburton trying to run away from bad publicity on their contracts? Are they trying to run away from the obligation to pay U.S. taxes? Or are they trying to set up a corporate presence in Dubai so that they can avoid the restrictions that currently exist on doing business with prohibited countries like Iran?"

As we all know last year, Halliburton received $6.1 billion of Defense Department contracts. that explains Cheney's war-mongering tendencies. But, the war-mongering Cheney also used to lobby, both as head of Halliburton and as Vice President for the U.S., to lift sanctions against Iran and Libya. Without waiting, however, Halliburton's been long doing business with Iran.

Now, irrespective of the Democratic Senator Leahy's indignation, considering Halliburton's practices an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who pay the tab for Halliburton's no-bid contracts, some oil analysts and consultants are heralding Halliburton's move to "the Eastern Hemisphere", as that is more heavily weighted toward oil exploration and production opportunities, which will bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio.

Halliburton, however is not the only one who is heading to Dubai for Business. Iran too has vast economic interests in Dubai. According to the Energy Information Administration Iran also holds about 20-30% of foreign investments in Dubai. Despite some subtle territorial dispute, Iranians seem to be in a warm relationship with Dubai. The Iranian Business directory in Dubai lists over 7100 businesses, in 31 categories, ranging from media to Oil, from transportation to agriculture and most prominently in real estate with large investments, alleged to belong to one of the most powerful men in the Iranian government, Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Mike Davis provides a detailed look into what kind of economy Dubai promotes! The free market economy, AEI-desired and Sheikh-style, perhaps aims to make this sinister paradise into the new Switzerland for banking in the Persian Gulf: a "neutral" financial haven, most needed at times of world wars! Somewhere that the rich and the powerful of both America and Iran can freely invest and enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, comes war or not between the two nations.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

chap's flick!

nunya said...

Ahhh my dear, I just love your blog. It give me a chance to post history links. A quick Google led me to the Brits love of the pirate's coast , and the BushCo current love of the ability to launder money in the UAE's pearl: Dubai .

Sophia said...

Naj,
Those who pay for wars are people like us but not our leaders, on both sides. In the middle of the Lebanese civilwar when barrages of militia were killing people based on their ID card and religion, militia religious chiefs and leaders were issuing Safe Passages cards and even hosting families of their rivals to offer them safety...
So Halliburton is moving to Dubai and Iran is already in Dubai and who cares about Mulsims being stigmatised around the world and tortured in extraterritorial jails and denied representation ? Not Big business...

Naj said...

Of course our leaders don't pay. They lead us into paying, that is their holy job.

I wish Iran was Already in Dubai; it is just a select group of Iranian leaders who are there, rubbing shoulders with American businesses!

As for Muslims being stigmatized, it is up to muslims to work on their PR skills! Until the muslim countries empty their prisons of unlawfully kept prisoners, they don't have a legitimate voice to raise against the unlawfully prisoners kept in US, Germany or anywhere else in the world.

I don't want to adopt the Jewish style of "we are always victims". And I don't need the big business to care for me; I am in charge of my destiny, because no one else will care.

nunya said...

Hey, I have a book that Mike Davis co-wrote: Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See
by Mike Davis (Author), Kelly Mayhew (Author), Jim Miller (Author)
(I'll bet the business interests in San Diego don't want this one out there and widely read)

Naj said...

Thanks Nunya for the very relevant links. Keep'em coming :)

billie said...

money makes the world go 'round- is the saying i believe. what continues to fascinate and perplex me is- people keep killing each other. the leaders of the world may want us to kill each other- but why do we comply? why do the bombers drop the bombs? why do the snipers shoot to kill? why do fellow citizens automatically hate the other side when told too? humans have been a species on this planet for a few million years (unless you are a christian and then it's something like 6,000) and we STILL keep doing the same things over and over like a hamster in the wheel. the folks who declare war wouldn't be able to if we didn't give them the ability. i think i may have strayed off topic in my ramble. sorry. :)

Naj said...

Hi Bemto,

I don't think you have strayed off topic at all! These are in fact very valid questions. And I think, certian societies have given up the let's go killing culture. Sadly American's love of killing is something like: let's pick a rifle and go smok'em out!

I don't think anywhere else in the world people just pick up a gun to go kill imagined enemies that they have had NO form of contact with. Such things happen only in America. Why?
Because America has obtained this moral justification, to go overseas for war (especially) during the WWII. They joined in late in teh game, but walked out victorious (nevermind that it was teh Russians who kicked teh GErman's ass really!) It is this sense of moral superiority that is making Americans particularly blood-thirsty; every call to arms is their crussade of "let's go beat the evil enemy"! Now if you ask: what is exactly the enemy ... well they just wave their arms and guns in teh air, don't they?

nunya said...

Wars. Always fought by the poor and financed by the rich in order to reap more profits, either in raw materials, production areas for finishing materials, for spheres of influence, or larger areas for planting crops.

betmo,
Why are the car bombers doing what they do?

My guess is, to feed their families.

Naj,
Yes, you're right, and the Russians lost 20 million people during WWII.

Any guesses as to how many Chinese died?

answers vary widely

Anonymous said...

Naj,

Bit off topic, but what is your reaction to "confession" of Khald Sheikh Mohammed?

Guy is putting hs hand up for everything. FBI and every agency in the country must be salivatng at the prospect of completely wipng their slates clean.

"Yeah, I stuck up the Ist National Bank at...."

"Yep, I bombed the Maine in Havana....er, and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building at OKC"

"I plannned the assassnation of Archduke Ferdinand which started WWI....*

Goes to show what a little brain washing can accomplish, eh?

When they are squeezing your nuts in a vice you do tend to become very cooperative.

What I would like to know is how he got the Air Force to stand down on 9/11.

How did he plant the explosives in the WTC buildings?

Betcha, the poor bastard will be executed. Dead men tell no tales!

Naj said...

Hi Anon-ymus :)

I have too little time to listen to people in captivity, or to ex-spies "confessing". Their confessions mean nothing!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Over 100 years ago Leo Tolstoy said: "In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful."