Obama kicks pirate "booty"

[Sherri]

Originally Posted by pelathais

The acceptable post for AFF:

Oh My God!!!! Did they delete that comic book cover??? Jesus Christ!!! Why would they do that??? LORD have mercy!!!

**** Disclaimer: Please disregard the Second Commandment but pretend that all 10 are so important that they must be posted in every court house in the land.

I promise I didn't report you, but I'm glad that they deleted it.

By the way, what is THIS post?????? Have you lost your ever lovin' mind? You are on your way to INFRACTION JUNCTION.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Sherri

I promise I didn't report you, but I'm glad that they deleted it.

By the way, what is THIS post?????? Have you lost your ever lovin' mind? You are on your way to INFRACTION JUNCTION.

Yeah, there's folks that want to tear me a freaking 'nother corn chute.

[Sherri]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Yeah, there's folks that want to tear me a freaking 'nother corn chute.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Good call, coadie. I passed over that one.

The modern banking industry is based upon interest charges - and in fact the Qu'ran forbids the charging of interest.

The poster known as Walks_in_islam must be the one needing to do a bit of "study," "reading" and "research" on the subject of Islam. Maybe he could post his questions here and we can help him to understand his professed faith a little better?

Yes they take equity and share in profit. We have the capital markets for that. Lot of middle East banks are nearly insolvent suddenly.,. They wre flowing american oil dollars and that has dried up. They can't seemingly grow other industries like the Jews do.

[Walks_in_islam]

It is a very perceptive of you to point out that the billions invested in Citibank from the Mideast have "dried up" aka evaporated as you put it, and like the rest of the world these misguided investments in the "modern banking system" has "suddenly created" insolvency in other banks. I appreciate the validation with note that I suspect (without definite proof) that future bailouts of US banks from this area may be hard if not impossible to come by.

Originally Posted by coadie

Yes they take equity and share in profit. We have the capital markets for that. Lot of middle East banks are nearly insolvent suddenly.,. They wre flowing american oil dollars and that has dried up. They can't seemingly grow other industries like the Jews do.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by Walks_in_islam

It is a very perceptive of you to point out that the billions invested in Citibank from the Mideast have "dried up" aka evaporated as you put it, and like the rest of the world these misguided investments in the "modern banking system" has "suddenly created" insolvency in other banks. I appreciate the validation with note that I suspect (without definite proof) that future bailouts of US banks from this area may be hard if not impossible to come by.

Islamic banking can no longer claim immunity from the global financial crisis with now that it is hitting the industry’s main source of funding and property values in the Gulf.

The industry escaped the immediate fallout from the crisis as its ban on interest and its lack of structured products prevented it from investing in the assets that turned toxic for conventional banks.

In a report issued last week, debt rating agency Moody’s said Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf showed strong resilience during the global financial turmoil, but that they are not risk-immune due to a shortage of liquid instruments and the lack of an Islamic interbank market.


The ratings agency expects growth in Islamic banking assets to slow sharply in 2009, to around 10 to 15 per cent from a range of 20 to 30 per cent this year.

Islamic banks now stand in the same firing line as their non-Islamic counterparts, facing a slump in equities valuations and a slump in Gulf property, to which they are heavily exposed.

Even though Islamic banks avoided the speculative investments and complex financial instruments that derailed Western banks, their balance sheets still show a mismatch between assets and liabilities, and they depend more on short-term maturity liabilities than conventional banks.

At the end of 2007, only 10 per cent of Gulf Islamic banks’ liabilities were bonds and other long-term liabilities, compared with 23 per cent at conventional banks, according to McKinsey & Company.

“There is a need to diversify our funding sources, we still typically depend on retail deposits,” said David Pace, chief financial officer at Bahrain-based Unicorn Investment Bank.

As liquidity has dried up in a region spoiled by high oil revenues, Islamic banks need to diversify their products and better manage the cash they have on their balance sheets.
This year will see these banks shrivel a lot.

[Walks_in_islam]

(laughing) Wow. You are posting a news report indicating the absorption and loss of billions to citibank (and others) + slowdown to a mere 15% growth in the hopes of making what point? Why don't you google (I applaud your recent discovery of google) "banking job losses", you know, real people with real children and real families to support then list the numbers in the "modern banking system" followed by numbers here in the Mideast. Then report the "growth" from the vaunted "modern banking system". Please subtract the hundreds of billions of non-existant imaginary future dollars that are now in the banking system when making your 'growth report'. Who knows I am wrong. Please stun me and prove me so.

[Walks_in_islam]

All you have done is validate my point for me. Of course this article quotes only Western sources. In spite of all attempts to spin "slowdown in growth" somehow into something negative -

Ask yourself why and how: The industry escaped the immediate fallout from the crisis as its ban on interest and its lack of structured products prevented it from investing in the assets that turned toxic for conventional banks

Ask yourself why and how: Islamic banks avoided the speculative investments and complex financial instruments that derailed Western banks

Ask yourself why and how: Moody’s said Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf showed strong resilience during the global financial turmoil

Research Dubai / Bahrain business then come back and tell me that the businesses here are not diversified. For goodness sake I live (1) hour from Bahrain. I worked in US industry for (17) years. My in-laws live in Indonesia. My father in law is the equivalent of a Fed governor in an Indonesian bank. Are you seriously trying to convince me to believe something about banking, investments, businesses, jobs, job losses, and economic growth other than what I actually SEE?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Walks_in_islam

All you have done is validate my point for me. Of course this article quotes only Western sources. In spite of all attempts to spin "slowdown in growth" somehow into something negative -

Ask yourself why and how: The industry escaped the immediate fallout from the crisis as its ban on interest and its lack of structured products prevented it from investing in the assets that turned toxic for conventional banks

Ask yourself why and how: Islamic banks avoided the speculative investments and complex financial instruments that derailed Western banks

Ask yourself why and how: Moody’s said Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf showed strong resilience during the global financial turmoil

Research Dubai / Bahrain business then come back and tell me that the businesses here are not diversified. For goodness sake I live (1) hour from Bahrain. I worked in US industry for (17) years. My in-laws live in Indonesia. My father in law is the equivalent of a Fed governor in an Indonesian bank. Are you seriously trying to convince me to believe something about banking, investments, businesses, jobs, job losses, and economic growth other than what I actually SEE?

I really didn't take coadie as slamming the Islamic banking system, and the fact that he went out of his way to point out several advantages shows he at least appears to have a balanced view. There are obviously advantages to every system in play - otherwise the systems would have been abandoned long ago.

Getting back to the subject of this thread (as if the thread really ever had a subject) - what can the Islamic banking system do that would address the problems of Somali piracy? How can you get the benefits enjoyed by those in the Guld region to "trickle down" to those who are suffering such poverty as the Somali people?

[Walks_in_islam]

I actually looked this up. The results surprised me. The Saudis contribute an average of 3-4% of their GPD in aid to other nations. They per capita surpass the US in aid to other nations by a factor of (5), are 1/10th the size of the US, and are second to the US in total aid. So much for "the most generous people in the world" posts that pop up all the time, yes? Example - $500 MM to Food Aid in 2007 to match $341 MM contributed by (31) other countries. $100 MM to Bangledesh after the cyclone. As opposed to the $40 MM dontated by the US. And so on. Since the population is 1/10th the population of the US it cannot be said that they are not trying to contribute to efforts to fight world hunger and poverty.

To the subject of the pirates:

After the largest act of piracy in human history, the seizure by Somali pirates of the Saudi supertanker last year:

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said his country would throw its weight behind a European-led initiative to step up security in shipping lanes off Africa's east coast.

"This outrageous act by the pirates, I think, will only reinforce the resolve of the countries of the Red Sea and internationally to fight piracy," he said.

EVERYONE in the Gulf area recognizes this country and these groups as world criminals. It is the subject of much discussion here. Aid in this case is useless, it has not been getting into the hands of the people who the aid is meant to benefit. As of now the discussion swings between the effect of forced action on the Somali people vs. the need to forcibly remove the individuals behind these acts. As it does in Europe and the US.

Originally Posted by pelathais

I really didn't take coadie as slamming the Islamic banking system, and the fact that he went out of his way to point out several advantages shows he at least appears to have a balanced view. There are obviously advantages to every system in play - otherwise the systems would have been abandoned long ago.

Getting back to the subject of this thread (as if the thread really ever had a subject) - what can the Islamic banking system do that would address the problems of Somali piracy? How can you get the benefits enjoyed by those in the Guld region to "trickle down" to those who are suffering such poverty as the Somali people?