Tag Archives: Asia

September 11, 2025 · 14:11

Beyond the laughter

Yup, we get that, we scream deriving howl of laughter as the expression goes. For weeks I have been saying the setting was one that was merely expanding and people called me crazy (now, there is a case to be made that I am as crazy as any loon gets), but in this case the setting is different. You see (at https://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article138012.html) we see ‘Abu Dhabi Hotel Industry Achieves Record August Occupancy’ and that is less then 24 hours ago. I stand that Abu Dhabi was on a track to break all tourism records and now I am proven correctly. You see, we are given “Abu Dhabi’s hotel industry recorded its highest occupancy rate for August, reaching 79.3%, according to preliminary data from CoStar. The average daily rate (ADR) increased by 10.6% to AED482.32, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose by 15.4% to AED382.25. These figures represent the highest August ADR and RevPAR since 2008.” This shows that Abu Dhabi is on the right track and the numbers will impress others even more and within a year, this is merely seen as average. You see, not only is Abu Dhabi building around Yas Island, Abu Dhabi is gaining global population and even as America should have been countering this with their own options. ABC (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-09/australians-with-us-e3-working-visas-hit-with-new-rules/105752706) is now giving us ‘Thousands of Australians living in US face new restrictions on visa renewals’ and the underlying text becomes “The directive, which took immediate effect after it was issued on the weekend, warns visa-holders against the common practice of traveling to countries closer to the US to renew their visas. Some Australians who had made visa appointments in other countries before the change was announced have already had their applications denied at those appointments.” As I said it, it will evoke howls of deriving laughter. It invokes a brain drain and America wants the ‘Americans first’ rule, but when these Americans don’t have the brain power to set this to a workable solution, These people will seek employment elsewhere and that also impacts tourism, because these people will not go back to America for any vacation any day soon. It opens up stages of profit for plenty of places (including the UAE) who is now showing to be a yummy destination for thousands more. You see, the E-3 Visa is limited to 65,000 per fiscal year plus an additional 20,000 for those who have earned a US masters degree or higher. This implies roughly 80,000 people who are now looking for other options anywhere else and they will seek other than American vacation options. 

A rolling stone that starts an avalanche of economic hardship. I wonder how many of them would consider ADNOC, Etihad Airways or the First Abu Dhabi Bank as a worthy employer? Business Intelligence, IT, teaching people all of them are seeking other options I reckon that this will break up a few marriages and then there is the chance that these marriages will all seek a family setting outside of the USA. It would be my idea for the UAE to start poaching these people on an E-3 Visa. They get to pick the cream of the crop and it might be an idea to do this before corporations in the EU figure out the deal they could be having. There is of course the other place (Dubai) and the people at Emirates NBD, DP World and The Emirates Group could see the impact that they could have poaching E-3 visa people. For them they are looking at a pool of people who have been vetted in many ways already and that could be easy picking for them. Of course this is where the evil sneaky person in me is setting the premise to a Google advertisement on browsers and in LinkedIn applications to get people with an E-3 Visa to offer them a way out. I reckon that they might scoop a little over 25,000 worthy employees in under a month. Not a bad deal for the UAE.

It is with great joy that I bring the people the old expression of the grass is always greener on the other fellows grave, or there are a number of expressions that celebrate the additional blunders that the American administration is making. So as I was shown last week that the tourism drain is set to the $60 Billion (I expected this to go to somewhere in the 80-135 billion range, we now see that aside from that, America is now invoking a brain drain of over 60,000 people.

So, not to kick a dog when it is down, this is all the doing of ints own administration and as the tourism articles are saying that Canada is still happy to avoid America, we see that overall nations in the EU, Asia and Commonwealth are basically all avoiding America. I saw last week that for the first time in history China has a more positive appeal than America has. So there is that too.

As I see it, These people could explore their options at https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/visiting-and-exploring-the-uae

Have a great day and try not to be negative over the dumbness of the America administrations. When one door closes another one opens. 

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July 22, 2025 · 17:06

More bad news?

Yesterday I got some news from FTN News that might spell bad news for America. America is at this moment drowning in tourism ‘debts’ (for a lack of a better word). At present the downfall is set to 29 billion dollar and there are several sources who give us that there is all likelihood that this will not be reversed until 2029. And that is merely the reversal of income (if America does an about face basically today) the loss of income will continue. America will bleed tourism revenue for years to come. And the bad news that is added is seen (at https://ftnnews.com/travel-news/aviation/inside-saudi-arabias-bold-plan-for-a-low-cost-airline-with-45-planes-by-2030/) giving us ‘Inside Saudi Arabia’s Bold Plan for a Low-Cost Airline with 45 Planes by 2030’ where we see “Saudi Arabia’s bold plan for a low-cost airline with 45 planes by 2030 is the Kingdom’s latest move to transform its aviation sector and boost tourism and connectivity” Now don’t think this is a silly notion, but at present in Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia and a few more countries people can only afford one vacation a year and the sewing of cheap holidays to a place where many like to see it, it means that most will contemplate Saudi Arabia against the unwelcoming grounds of America. Considering that the bulk of Muslims (who are about 1.8 Billion, close to 20%) they all will consider Saudi Arabia over America, especially if that comes with lower costs. As such this is almost a slam dunk win for Saudi Arabia. So when we see “The new carrier will be operated by a consortium led by UAE-based Air Arabia, in partnership with Saudi companies Kun Investment and Nesma Group. According to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, this alliance was awarded the contract to launch the airline after a competitive bidding process that also included Jazeera Airways and other regional players.” It sets a setting that the UAE/Saudi Arabia connection could spell a lot more bad news for certain parties. As stated, base operations might be in Dammam, yet they are aiming to carry at least 10 million passengers per year once fully operational. Its 81-route network—comprising 24 domestic and 57 international destinations will set the fall to others up to 10,000,000 passengers annually and that is merely the beginning. As I see it, the 10,000,000 will grace Dammam, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Considering the simplest setting that many will now be able to afford a trip to Dubai with its 0% taxation and Apple growing there too I expect a boom of people trying to unite cheap vacation with cheap shopping and in that regards Abu Dhabi remains an option for these people. The could visit both with the High Speed train that takes you to the other UAE destination in a mere 35 minutes. So how interesting is that against any place in America? 

So is this a real threat against American revenue? I believe it is and after the bad setting that America pushed itself in, and the upcoming Vision 2030, I reckon that America might get a prolonged bad tourism time going through until 2032/2033, a few years after Disney and Harry Potter theme parks graced Yas Island totaling the amount of theme parks to 6 with the added Yas Island Mall and the F1 races there too. And Harry Potter to be expected to arrive late 2026 and as there is no date for the new Disney park, I expect that this will not happen before early 2027. But that sets a new danger for America getting relieve to its tourism downfall. 

The setting that SeaWorld is an unique place merely sets the premise towards a lot of tourists selecting Abu Dhabi over America and that is merely the start of this matter. So as I see it, whomever invested in the new airline (apparently The NESMA Group and Kun Investment Holding) seem to be riding an great profit venture and as this goes on the investment might turn out to be a golden one and that is before the impact is seen that Neom Bay airport will face and that means tourists will flock towards Trojena and its ski slopes. Yup, the Kun Investment Holding is looking towards the bright side of profits.

So could I be wrong? 
It is a fair question, but the reality is that nearly all people need a vacation and when the price goes down people can do more and as such these 10,000,000 annual places are 10,000,000 that America loses, pretty directly and that is after the losses it is already facing at the moment, as such I feel pretty confident that this will make it, even as it is not the only one in Saudi Arabia. There is also Flyadeal, Flynas and Air Arabia. The fact that Saudi Arabia is ready to expand the tourist game implies that they have been upgrading with a focus and I think it will drive people towards Trojena and Sindalah, which is besides the options that Abu Dhabi and Dubai offer. So as I see it, America will be facing several more hard years and that is if they do an about face on tourism as per today, when they do not, by 2028 Ski tourism will go towards Saudi Arabia as well. A nasty package is coming to the American shores. They did this to themselves, as such I feel it is their own fault. But to see this amount of damage due to the stupidity of America first is pretty laughable in any book you read.

As such have a great day and if you need a point of investment, I reckon having a better look at the Kun Investment Holding might not be a bad idea. Don’t ask me for advice, this is all I see and I am not the expert in investing, but there are good times ahead for Kun Investment Holding.

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June 9, 2025 · 20:23

At the right time

That is what we all seek (if we can afford it), that golden ticket that is out in the open and we are in time to grab it. I get it, it is not easy and you need to have feelers out, but that is at time the setting we face. For example, Disney Golden Oaks has had his new park settings with residences and houses out there for almost a year. This is nothing bad. The places look amazing and when you are approaching retirement, or a life setting where you get to enjoy life at least three months a year (basically before the Trump era) nearly everyone who has the money would grab something like that. They are still taking orders, so there is space. I am not criticizing the setting. Disney has made enormous strides with their Golden Oaks and these places are top notch. The setting that the Four Seasons is there as well, merely adds charisma and flavor to that place. So what gives? 

You see, the Emirati News Agency WAM, gives us (at https://www.wam.ae/en/article/15l6shd-aldar-announces-launch-day-sell-out-all-133-homes) a simple setting. They give us ‘Aldar announces launch day sell-out of all 133 homes at Waldorf Astoria Residences’ a setting where we see a launch day sell out? Don’t get me wrong, I cannot afford living there, so I don’t feel sad. I had my eyes set on Sama Yas (which I cannot afford either) but at least it is more affordable than either two. And lets be clear onboard this, as America slides down to a near third world stage, would you want to live in Orlando? Yas Island will be the new Saint Tropez. With its 4 theme parks (soon to be 5) and Warner Brothers being busy to add the world of Harry Potter to their Arsenal, that place will be da bomb (as the expression goes). Ferrari World, The Yas Mall (not as big as the Dubai Mall), but a cracker of a mall. WaterWorld with slides, lazy river and all, SeaWorld which might be the most impressive water zoo you have ever soon and the Warner Brothers Theme park, soon to include these rascals from Hogwarts. And in (an expected) 2027 Disney will grace that place too. So what is there to hesitate over? Well the 133 new owners of their Waldorf Astoria Residences had that same idea and on launch day it all sold out. The first ever branded residential development on Yas Island generating AED 850 million in sales. That almost a billion amounts to $232 million, which amounts to a little under $2 million per unit, there are different sizes, so the small ones are cheaper, the big ones larger and Golden Oaks gave us the setting that they started at 5 million. So it is a win in several ways. And it gets better if you get the Yas Annual Diamond pass, which gives you unlimited Quick Pass Access at all Yas Theme Parks and offers unmatched benefits, such as 25% off dining, shopping, and more. Plus, you’ll receive early park entry, special events, and exclusive member-only experiences. And the price (at present) is $900 a year, with all these benefits you would be crazy not to get it, especially as it gives 25% on loads of stuff, even in the Yass Mall. For an entire year? That pass will earn itself back in less than a month. As such, I reckon that the price goes up when Disney is added to the flavour. And as there are free busses all over Yas Island, the need for a car becomes debatable. 

So in that world where does Orlando stand? Nowhere as I see it and Abu Dhabi has a lot more to offer. As I personally see it theme parks in America are soon done and when the economy collapses (which is likely to be this year) there will not be any reason to go to America. So when you consider these news clippings that America is crawling up from the mud, consider that the Economic times gave us 4 hours ago ‘Adrian Mowat on why non-US assets are becoming more appealing than US equities & bonds’ you’re seeing merely a first and as the pressures on Yas Island to expand is clearly seen in many ways, we will need to consider that America is close to done for. 17 hours ago we were given ‘Half of the bond market is US Treasuries. Why it’s ‘not healthy.’’ Remember that I talked about the dangers of Japan or China dumping the bonds they have and the other one following suit as not too be left with (what I personally speculative see) as toilet paper. Well this is a first sign. The entire Waldorf Astoria setting was out in the open and it is gone on launch day. Orlando never pulled that off, not even when they were the luxury height of the residence markets. As such the oligarchs, the billionaires and others will soon get their own place there and perhaps several already have their place. In addition, the UAE is a zero tax nation, well not exactly, but you do not pay income tax, so the money you get is the money you get to spend and with a Diamond card it gets to be even cheaper. Don’t think you are stuck there. The high speed train ride takes you to either place in 30 minutes, so breakfast in Dubai and Dinner in Abu Dhabi (or the other way round) becomes a reality, although I was unable to find prices, but a normal train going at half the speed is also an option, as such you would be in a train for an hour. 

As I see it the UAE is not merely making waves, they are an economic tsunami about to unleash their good times and as I see it America (Europe too) will face the economic onslaught it makes on both of them and as I see it, with the F1 also on Yas island, the setting gets to me almost embarrassing for America. And feel free to look at the Abu Dhabi videos on YouTube done by hundreds of visitors. A city that is clean, safe and spacious. What more do you need? The article ends with “Commenting on the sales performance, Jonathan Emery, Chief Executive Officer at Aldar Development said: “The sell-out of Waldorf Astoria Residences Yas marks a significant milestone for Aldar and highlights the attractiveness of Yas Island both as an investment destination and prime residential address. As the island’s first branded residential offering, its overwhelming success is a strong indicator of the rising demand for luxury, hospitality-led living in Abu Dhabi and the universal appeal of the Waldorf Astoria brand.”” As such I wonder what will come next, because the intake of wealthy residents is merely at a start this implies that Abu Dhabi is looking at 3-5 new settings and as the Satellite photos show, between Zayed International Airport and Yas Island are several large ‘plots’ that might be the setting of more. The influx of wealth and economic good times are setting a new era for the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi. Did anyone consider that when billionaires see new grounds, they tend to go from other places? Where does that leave America? You see, you can spin all you like, but when the wealth walks away they might be left with merely a dozen wealthy people and President Trump is not that rich, so when Elon Musk leaves, the expression about rats leaving the sinking ship comes to mind. Oh, by the way, I am not calling Elon Much a rat, or implying that he is leaving. But I think the setting comes across to all my readers (and its not my mum, cause she is dead).

A larger setting is coming to the shores of America and I have stated that as warnings for over the last 2 years at least, so whilst we now get “‘‘Death spiral’ nears as US debt service costs reach ‘unsustainable’ levels’” (source: Sky News) consider that I stated this danger es early as October 4th 2021 in ‘Utter insanity’ referring back to an article I wrote in 2013, it has been this long that the media could have informed you. Did they? Oh and the fact that October 4th is also World Animal Day is merely icing on the cake. I like my irony with a sweet tooth. I am a victim of circumstance. Still, the setting was clear years ago, you merely needed to learn to use an abacus, something that has been around for over 3000 years, no super computer needed.

So have a great day and enjoy your morning coffee in Toronto this morning (it is 06:00 there). 

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December 3, 2024 · 22:58

Bully tactics

The BBC (LinkedIn also) gave us a story. The BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrwj0p2dd9o) is giving us ‘Trump threatens 100% tariff on Brics nations if they try to replace dollar’. We are given “US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on a bloc of nine nations if they were to create a rival currency to the US dollar. “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote on social media on Saturday.”Now we can shout high and low, but the simple setting is that this is merely the second setting on the line that the good times are over in the US and things are about to get a lot worse. The simplest setting to consider is that if these facts present themselves the first hurdle will crash the little economy that they have. Let me explain. If President elect Trump goes through with that. Stuff in a place called Walmart will become close to twice as expensive. This implies that Walmart will drop all goods from China and India. As such others will have to provide, which will turn out to be close to impossible. Consider that Walmart employs 2,100,000 people and as I see it close to 60% will be out of a job then. Walmart has a net income of 16 billion dollars. It comes from $648 billion dollars. Now all these Chinese and Indian goods would get a 100% Tarif. So what happens when all those goods get a 100% surcharge? The American administration will drown Walmart into oblivion. Add to that the Google issues and China will get near clean run on running the global economy. So why wouldn’t they push for a Yuan to become the new central currency? And in that process slam the American administration as well? I reckon that China is chomping at the bits to get started on that. With the hardships given to Google, Huawei gets a smashing option to take market shares from Google in Europe the Middle East and Asia. Apple will get hit, but not as much. Then we get the Walmart and its wannabe’s who rely on cheap goods from China and India and they will all pretty much lose whatever they had. When we see Walmarts closing all over America many will realise that the game for America is up. I did mention this danger for well over a decade. When you let the debt run out of control with no exit strategy there is no real solution coming. I saw that a mile away, so why didn’t these overpaid economists? Now we get the new AI bubble and soon people will realise that it is merely another gimmick. When the revenue stays away from the books, when these revenues get pushed back again and again the third step will be reached. So president elect can bully as much as they can, but the pole position was missed and whomever is in control have no solutions to offer other then austerity that goes beyond anything Wall Street could ever have predicted and the party is over now. Don’t worry the family members to Sam Walton and Bud Walton will be fine. They can relocate to a nice place where they can spend their money. The other 2.1 million are royally screwed. I will not blame any Walton. They played the economy game and they played it well, they have options. The bulk will not. And when the dollar is replaced, banks, retirement companies will as I suspect buckle as well. The impact of a $36,000,000,000,000 debt. The impact will go slow but it would be undeniable. As BRICS decides on another currency they will attract several other players and the European parties will consider the change and they will do what is in the best interest of their Euro, they will not care about the US dollar for one second. That is the reality that was pretty much spelled out half a decade ago. I get that America will try to do what is best for America, but that option was nulled when parties decided to break up Google. That was the first step towards the end. And now Huawei will be the best option for many players. So as the economic map will be redrawn, we will see a new horizon with India, China, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia at the head of this new horizon. In that new map there is no longer a mention of America, the US dollar will remain a little while longer until all other nations have dumped trillions in dollar bonds. That will be the trigger that ends the world economy as it currently is. 

Have a great day today, tomorrow is the midweek and a mere three weeks until Christmas.

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October 9, 2024 · 23:48

Personal perception

It is always funny to see greed and stupidity in one compact package. In this instance I am introducing you to the American department of Justice. The one that will not prosecute Microsoft, the one that hands their economy to China and the one that throws away whatever economic options they have. Hobbled by ego trippers without a clue, chastised by a failing religion, one nation under the league of flaccid atheists. 

Is that clarity enough? In comes the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62504lv00do) giving us ‘Google threatened with being broken up by US’ where we see “The US government is considering seeking the break-up of the world’s biggest search engine, Google, which it accuses of causing “pernicious harms” to Americans.” Really? The US government is accusing Google of “irreparable harm done through evil or insidious corrupting or undermining”? Who is the idiot making that accusation? Lets have a rundown

It was founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They released Google search and they were clever they had the IP properly patented. Two clever dudes designed something that Microsoft never considered. Microsoft who was licking the rear end of the CFO’s of the fortune 500 were outsmarted by two students who gave people a system they needed, they handed system the people needed. So in this daytime and age, who would you rather appeal to? 500 persons who think they know it all, or a few million who are happy to be grateful? One implies money, the other gives you clusters of happy workers. In 2010 they improved the search engine making it twice as fast. At that point they had the cornerstone of modern telecom electronics. And  that is when 4G came out. And Google became the power player it is today. The story is a little more complex but this is the gist of it. The power player who proclaimed to be innovating were surpassed by two students who actually were innovative. Apple took the option of letting the innovators be and offered their technology for a large payout. 

There is more to all this, but the lowdown is that innovators recognise other innovators (YouTube) and they came up with Google Ads and in all that time the so called innovators (Microsoft) couldn’t even get close to what Google designed. They failed to offer a decent search engine (Bing) and they had nothing to offer against Google Ads (Microsoft Advertising) they failed 4 times over. And now we get stakeholders to push for breaking up Google. So let’s see how stupid that is.

In 2019 Huawei created HarmonyOS. In 5 years it created a decently worthy opponent to Android. It is now available in 77 languages. Last year it created HarmonyOS NEXT. It allows several smart devices to talk to one another. We can speculate that Harmony OS NEXT is more than a worthy opponent to Google. It will allow Huawei to hand the people in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East with mobile solutions that will be happily accepted in the houses there. That is what the DoJ is achieving. And this is not the first time they are interfering where they seemingly have little knowledge. And for me it could open another door (yay me). 

All this matters because Huawei Harmony OS NEXT will enable seamless interactions among a wide array of device forms, from earphones and automobile head units to smart TVs and mobile phones. Google does this with the devices they have, but until now they had no real competitor, Microsoft was too soft and not enough micro and beside that they are spread too thin. Now that the DoJ is seemingly planning to break up Google Huawei gets a nice clean playing field to promote their brand outside the USA and with that America loses more and more market share. So whatever deceitful claim America makes They are about to be sliced and diced in the mobile industry by Huawei, TikTok (ByteDance) for video and on the electronic field by Tencent. Three companies that have real innovators and the one innovator that needs the space to continue their work is hobbled by “If the DOJ pushes ahead with the proposed remedies – and they are accepted by the judge in the case – it would represent arguably the biggest regulatory intervention in the history of big tech” which hands a clear victory to Chinese entrepreneurs. How silly they are.

As I see it, they are about to lose seven times over with the losses they have and looking at timeline of the innovators, the stakeholders as I personally see it are handing Chinese companies massive victories and I reckon that those ‘siding’ with America will change sides to the Chinese corporations before the ink dries of whatever bankrupt statement America gives the world and with the 35 trillion dollars they have less then 4 years to avoid that and I have no idea what happens to whatever Wall Street will side with. This is my personal perception of what is about to happen. Many will say that I will be wrong and I could be, but there is too much data siding with me and whilst these stakeholders get politicians to side with the need to line their pockets America keeps on losing more and more. 

In 2022, Saudi Arabia signed $4 billion worth of arms agreements with China, including deals for armed drones, ballistic missiles. In 2024 it has grown to $50 billion. This is partially important as I wrote on the 21st of February 2021 ‘How to miss out on $20,000,000,000’ And I was wrong, I stand corrected. Their revenue grew to $50 billion a mere three years later. I saw it coming a mile away and now it is happening. And the DoJ is making it worse. As I see it Google, Adobe, IBM and Oracle are the last of the real innovators and the DoJ is about to hobble one of these four, it will soon be that bad. 

As such, is my perception wrong? It might be, but my presumption has been a lot more correct than it has been wrong. No matter how you view it the entire Google mess is being mishandled (as I personally see it) pretty much from the beginning. 

And now America gives the option for a much larger win to Huawei Technologies. It will not impact  America, but Google is very likely to lose market share on several fronts. There is a much larger loss if Huawei would include TikTok on every Huawei mobile. Should these mobiles come with HarmonyOS NEXT the damage would increase and with their multi sharable sides Apple revenue would also be impacted as well as a loss of revenue to all kinds of accessories. These losses of revenue will hit Apple as well as Google. As I see it a simple creation of imbalance by people who (by my reckoning) have no clue on the internet of things. What a lovely present ego makes for others.

Enjoy the coming day.

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July 28, 2024 · 11:24

As the idea erupted

This happens, we do one thing and suddenly an idea erupts. In this case I was thinking of the second script that I am generating in Final Draft.

It was a setting that made me think for a moment. And this setting came from the days of the Commodore Amiga. I even was working an reset emulated version of the game in Macromedia Flash, just 1-2 weeks before I suddenly was made redundant. I suddenly had to relocate from Stockholm to Gorinchem when I got screwed over by my previous boss. But the thought got to me and I thought “Wouldn’t this make a great small budget movie?” An ‘almost’ one person movie with its own narration. Most of the movie in a sort of CGI and an interaction with computers and a sort of deserted place. It might not be the Hollywood stage of stories and not really for the big screen, but an idea that a streaming company might like or consider. In a stage where they have to pump billion into material, a low budget might have a much better chance. They can test an actor or actress as well as the director and director of filming in a cheaper setting. As such 3-5 people straight out of film school. I reckon that Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Steven Spielberg would be too expensive. But there are over 50,000 actors many of them do not have a place in Bel Air, not to mention of the amount of Directors in the field. New players have a hard time getting through. So, here the speculated number race through my head and now there is a viable setting. The stage of using low budget films to create a talent pool of newbies. You know people like Pedro Pascal had a lucky break. Considering he was the man behind Napoleon Dynamite (vote for Pedro), I know I can be quirky (read: funny) at times. Still the premise remains, luck isn’t always available so what then? I believe that low budget movies are part of that key and places like Dubai Media are likely to break through their own confinements and start breaking through into the West European streaming markets. There is an upside to that. When the current borders by Netflix and Disney plus start pushing their own limitations others could be there taking up the slack. You see one source is stating ‘The US will need 22,700 film directors over the next 10 years’, I cannot vouch for the accuracy there. Yet this implies that ever upper level University will need to fight off job offers with a stick for 100% of their art students. I nice setting, but not realistic. Adding a talent pool becomes essential and not merely for these people, they will all need scripts. There are plenty of them around, but how good are they?

These elements put the larger streamers on the spot and those ready to grow could enter new fields. This puts Dubai Media in a nice place and lets not forget iQiyi and Tencent Media either. America might hate all that is Chinese, but I reckon that Europe is more open to this stage. As the mindset goes that in the first century Decimus Junius Juvenalis stated “Give them bread and games and they will never revolt” It was around the age of Emperor Trajan. What strikes me was that no-one considered owning the bakers. It might be merely a coin per bread, however the Colosseum had 50-80 thousand spectators and that makes for a nice penny. And there were more places over the empire of Rome where these places had crowds. Being the admiral of baker makes perfect sense to me. Even today ‘give them bread and games’ applies but in this setting nowadays growing the streaming services makes a lot more sense. And there to centrality of content becomes a new focal point. Everyone is looking towards Hollywood, but there is a problem there. California is losing their focus, they are saturated, so new borders are required. The Middle East and Asia make sense and when Europe finds out that the American prices are getting too high the aforementioned three players as well as other other streamers will see their markets erupt. Not to mention countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh that over these two countries have a little over half a billion citizens, we see a disrupted market. All looking at California and Hollywood to hand them materials, but the ongoing mass emigration of residents and businesses from California to other U.S. states (Texas) or countries is about to leave California is a near desperate state and the desperate need to pay a lot more. That opens the doors for the Middle East and Asia to make their mark. It is almost the proverbial butterfingered aide putting all egg in one basket. 

All that came to me in a near instant (in less than on hour) whilst was contemplating a low budget movie. I have no idea yet how to do that (I have three other projects in my brains) but it is something to keep in mind. Considering that this setting will take time to implode (before 2026) I still have time and until the end of the year I need to focus on the next two projects but Residuam Vitam comes first. 

Enjoy this Sunday 

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June 21, 2023 · 22:18

The definition of diplomacy

Yup, we have all been there and me with my mouth at least twice a day. Diplomacy is at times where it is at and I scrapped that word from my dictionary. So as I stated over the last week that Blinky Tony (aka Anthony Blinken) had a hard time coming. First he had to visit Saudi Arabia, the place where its de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud was labelled by President Biden as A pariah (before he become president) then the trip went to China where we assume that things did not go well, as we now see (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65969802) the BBC headline ‘Biden calls Xi a dictator a day after Beijing talks’. So what evidence is there that President Xi is a dictator? I am not opposing the view, I merely do not know. You see the dictionary gives us “a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.” Now, lets be clear. President Xi was elected. I do not know the election process in China, but there was an election and he was elected in November 2012. Wiki gives us “a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, since 2012. Xi has also served as the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since 2013.” There is no mention that he took that nation by force. OK, I is havening to be jesting. The reality is much more serious. I thin this meaningless jab by President Biden implies that there are a few issues. Apart from the ties with Saudi Arabia, there is now a growing concern that Taiwan could be getting a new flag soon enough (see below).

And this was going to happen. For it not to happen, the US would have had to be able to be a real superpower. This is no longer the case. It is rushing from debt ceiling to debt ceiling and the people just know that this clambake will end sooner or later and sooner is now the premise of that game. You see America made gospel of the expression ‘Money talks, bullshit walks’ which has been around since 1968. Now that America has no money left, the ‘friends’ they had are walking away, the people who bled the system dry are vanishing to zero tax havens to live of their final years and the people caught in the middle will vanish without a penny in their name. 

The article gives us ““The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset, in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it, was he didn’t know it was there,” Mr Biden said at the event on Tuesday. “That’s a great embarrassment for dictators. When they didn’t know what happened,” he added.” There is a lot about a balloon no one cares about and there is even less known who the actual owner was. I am not debating that it was Chinese, but was it governmental, military, a science experiment from a Chinese telecom firm. There are many options, but the press is no longer to be trusted, they have been silent on too many things and the US government is all about boasting, but not on revealing ACTUAL facts (for as far as they might be known). As is see the lack of diplomacy by President Biden, there is every chance that China talks are falling flat leaving Taiwan in the middle of nothing. The other side is that there is every chance that the continuation of BRICS will have larger impact on the west and it will diminish America to a much larger degree. The larger part that we do not know is how China and Saudi Arabia will forge their connections. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now in a central setting to be the hub for connecting Asia, Africa and Europe, a strong setting and NEOM will be that hub implying that this half a trillion location will ensure trillions in business between 2030 and 2050, with news channels, sports inviting the Asian, African and European people to a much larger degree. I wonder if they have made their first designs on the F1 Neom track to start between 2030 and 2035. It will most likely be a magnificent track, add to that the most impressive golf course in history and we will see the first impressions that Saudi Arabia was not wasting money as some imply, they merely lacked vision for what was about to happen and more sport arena’s will follow. Now we see the part of China in a larger degree, the Silk Road and in all that Taiwan will play a more central role (an assumption by me). Two players who played the long game, not some spreadsheet game from quarter to quarter. By the way, what evidence that it was ‘two box cars full of spy equipment’? They blew up the evidence. I am not saying this wasn’t some agent 99 thing, I merely would like to see evidence, just like the evidence on Huawei that so far no one saw or presented. 

As such we get to the headline. The definition of diplomacy is “the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country’s representatives abroad.”  In this I reckon that there is no managing international relations at present, whatever success Anthony Blinken might have had was undone by one sentence given by President Biden (according to the BBC). As such the situation for Taiwan is not on a good setting, but I might be wrong. And the other issues? Well, we have no idea, but I reckon that China told might have told America to put up or shut up, which is also a speculation by me. No matter how we slice it, there will be more coming soon enough, the question who will be making the initial revelations, China or America?

More soon enough and as we enter the second half of the week, this weekend might give us a little more than we expected.

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April 19, 2023 · 14:38

Too big a workforce?

Yes, there is a speculative setting where this happens. The BBC revealed yesterday (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65305165) the clear message ‘EY cuts 3,000 jobs in US blaming ‘overcapacity’’, and I wonder what really the issue is. You see when you have to shed 10-20 jobs there are all kinds of explanations. But when you shed 3000 jobs something else is going on. I wonder what it is. And there is plenty to question. You see on their website they claim “Apply now. We recommend applying early as we will be recruiting on an ongoing basis, and positions will close once filled.  View the current opportunities below. There are a small number of programs which have closing dates. Once we open for those programs, their closing dates will be listed underneath the program.” My issue is that when you shed THAT many jobs, you need to adjust your career page as well. I personally think that this is a job for HR, but that remains debatable. When you shed 3000 jobs and your career pages imply that it is business as usual another setting comes to mind. To be honest I am not sure what it is, but something is there. In the 90’s and ten years ago it was in IT and several other places about shedding the expensive staff members and getting cheap labour (graduates). Now there are a few issues. The first is that Ernst and Young has over 360,000 people. This means that only 1% is affected and that happens. Yet this only affects US staff and the number I gave you is global. There are issues in banking and that could be a setting, but whatever I give you is speculative and might not apply. But in the US we see that there is slowing but they are surpassing the numbers, as such these numbers do not add up. But the BBC gives us a handle. We are given “The move comes as corporate America is bracing for an economic downturn”, OK I can get along with that, it merely implies that EY was ahead of the curve which is never a bad thing. And they are not alone, we are also given “Accenture is slashing 19,000 jobs or roughly 2.5% of staff globally, while McKinsey is reportedly cutting about 1,400 roles or 3% of its employees” and there is more bad news, but not for EY. You see, in an age of aging losing that much staff might become counterproductive later on. We see the events that call for an economic downturn and that is fine, this happens. But in other news we see Europe going on (slightly less god than now) and the Middle East and Asia is making waves, larger positive waves. I would think that retrenching staff in the latter two areas might give a raise to better times down the track and optionally sooner. OK, I am pretty much alone in this. Most BI people say I am bonkers and they might be right. But the idea of losing qualified staff in a world where relocating them might offer more seems weird. You see, only two days ago the Financial Times gave us ‘Dubai court orders KPMG to pay $231mn for Abraaj fund audit failure’ according to the courts KPMG dropped the ball, which in sales terms means that their customers are looking around. That could be good news for EY and we do get that these grounds are not the same, but to get parties shifting into these areas implies that other areas need filling up and losing 3000 staff is not a healthy way to fill places and relocate people to fertile accountancy lands. Even as we see that most are shed from the consulting division, the truth is that most consultants are versatile, there are grounds of not losing that much staff, but that is purely a personal view on the matter. Consider the cowboy stage of cyber divisions, the need for consultants are more and more pressing, not merely on the Cyber part, but on the price-tag setting. That part could need addressing quite soon and that is where we find that EY cannot vie for such clients as they just told 3000 people to vacate the building. That I how I see it, but I could be massively wrong here and I am not an accountant. And when you see that Accenture is ridding itself of 19,000 jobs implies a larger failing all over the field. In 2003 Telia shed thousands of jobs, as far as I can tell they never rose to the old Telia, but that was merely me seeing it as I personally saw it. Is it the wrong thing to do for EY? I cannot say, but to shed 3000 jobs in the US implies more than just Economic downturn, it implies that they are already losing customers and long term projects, or they aren’t gaining long term projects, which implies that there is another issue at EY, not merely overcapacity. Yet, this is a personal view on the matter and I have no idea on how they could solve it, but as I see things around me I wonder what consultants are doing not merely to get the job done, but how to get new clients and that is the stage for the next article, because the story I wrote on February 24th 2022 ‘Red Flags’ gets a new lease on life. About that more in the next article, lets see if people actually learn from their mistakes.

Have fun (I will)

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October 5, 2022 · 21:46

They just won’t learn

That happens, people Incapable of learning. IT people listening to salespeople because these sales people know what buttons to push. Board members pushing for changes so that their peer will see that they are up to speed on the inter-nest of things (no typo) and there are all other kinds of variation and pretty much every company has them. Even as Australia is still reeling from the Optus debacle, Telstra joins the stupid range (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-04/telstra-staff-have-details-hacked/101499920). So explain to me why an HR system needs to be online? OK, you will get away with that and there is a need for some to access it, but in what universe does this need to be so open that EVERYONE can get to it? That is the question we see raised with ‘Telstra data breach sees names and email addresses of staff uploaded online’, a blunder of unimaginable proportions. On the other hand, Telstra will be bleeding staff members left, right and forward pretty soon. You see, this list is well desired by over a dozen telecoms in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. They all need staff all over the place and now their headhunters know EXACTLY where to dig. Even as the article gives us two parts. The first part is “a third party which was offering a rewards program for staff had the data breach in 2017” as well as “Telstra has not used the rewards program since 2017, the spokesperson said” in all this the question that matters are not asked. We get Bill Shorten trying to change the conversation back to Optus with: “get the information so I can stop hackers from hacking into government data and further compromising people’s privacy”. The massive part is “Why was a reward program not used for 5 years still linked to HR data?” It seems that ABC does not ask this and the others do not either. So even if we get “Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has said he will review Australia’s privacy laws and tighter protections could be brought in by the end of the year” Yet the larger question remains unanswered. How to protect these systems from STUPID people? A reward system that has a direct link to the HR data and was not used for 5 years is stupid, plain and simple stupid. As such this affects their IT and their HR department. Yet the people (politicians and media are not asking these questions are they? They let Labor loser Shorten change the conversation. Oh, do not worry we are not even close to done with Optus, but the setting that the conversation is pushed away from Telstra allegedly implies that Telstra has too large a hold on Media and politicians. So whilst the media allowed Telstra to hide behind “while the data is of minimal risk to former employees” they fail to see the larger picture. In an age brain drains these people are worth their eight in Lithium (more valuable than gold) and it seems to me that an employment database of 30,000 telecom people will be eagerly mined in the three earlier mentioned regions. These hackers were smart, they can get a million easily (over 10-15 customers) and these customers will not care where that data comes from, they need personnel and they needs them now. So it seems that certain people just ill not learn and there is no hiding behind “in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach” Telstra claims to be so superior, of that is so either the hack would not have affected them, or these systems are in a worse shape than ever before and that is also missing from the article. Two competitors successfully hit by the same flaw? It seems that too many people are asleep at the wheel. And no one is asking the right questions, not even the media, why is that?

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August 11, 2022 · 19:49

Stirring the soup

Things are afoot in the Kay es Ah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), but to see this we need to reflect on a few items. The first one is (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-10/twitter-former-employee-convicted-of-spying-for-saudi-arabia/101318490) and gives us ‘Former Twitter employee convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia’, the simple setting is that this happens, If Jack Dorsey had played a few items over to the NSA, no one would hear if it, but when a non-American agency gets the key to the Twitter Data Kingdom, it becomes news. So when we see “Ahmad Abouammo, a US citizen and former media partnership manager for Twitter’s Middle East region, was charged in 2019 with acting as an agent of Saudi Arabia without registering with the US government.” And then someone slips, the text becomes “used their positions to access confidential Twitter data about users.” It is ‘their positions’ which is plural, so how many were caught? We get it with “This included their email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, the latter of which he used to identify a user’s location. A third man named in the complaint, Saudi citizen Ahmed Al-Mutairi, was alleged to have worked with the Saudi royal family as an intermediary.” So was the second man? We see that in the end when we get “The FBI still lists Ali Alzabarah and Ahmed Al-Mutairi as wanted.” Well, this is 3 years ago, so the other two are optionally celebrating their success in Riyadh. Espionage happens, it can happen where ever we see this much user data. The fact that this had gone on, and we do not see HOW LONG this had been going on should also be reflected on all this, it should see us accept the larger Elon Musk discount for data copied into other places. Transgressed data loses values and as stated “This included their email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, the latter of which he used to identify a user’s location.” And nowhere do we see for how long this was going on before the alleged culprit was arrested. I state alleged, because we do not know (or we are not told) what spy one did and what spy two did. The court-case might shed light on this, but he was acquitted of several points, so there.

Then it is time to add vegetables to the soup in the form of a story (at https://www.silkroadbriefing.com/news/2022/08/10/china-saudi-arabia-announce-massive-strategic-partnership-energy-agreement/) there we see ‘China, Saudi Arabia Announce Massive Strategic Partnership Energy Agreement’, it was what I said months ago, they might drill more but that does not mean it goes to the place we hope/expect/wish it will go and now we see this, a larger gain for China and the agreement between Aramco and Sinopec, which showed a fear I expected to come for almost two years, with “The two companies will join hands in renewing the vitality and scoring new progress of the Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Vision 2030” we see a larger gain for Chinese construction and a loss for western ones. This was the setting I feared, because it means that there is no relief for western construction. The little tidbits thrown at them like scraps are the only ones they are likely to have. In a place that I about to invest well over $1,000,000,000,000 for new buildings in Neom, as well as the line, there is now a decent chance that the small hidden engineering texts will be Arabic/Chinese and not Arabic/English. A station that was always likely to happen, but now it seems it is becoming the passing of a fact. 

The third ingredient in any soup is the stock and water. That is given to us through an article (at https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-egyptian-investment-co-invests-13-bln-four-egyptian-firms-2022-08-10/) by Reuters. There we see ‘Saudi Arabia invests $1.3 bln in four Egyptian firms’. It is not the amount, when you invest 0.1% in companies after you set in motion  building bill, we see the appearance of dwarfism. It seems like a speck, but you would be wrong. This event will give larger rise to the final ingredient and here we see “The companies are Abu Qir Fertizilers and Chemical Industries (ABUK.CA), Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MFPC.CA), Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling (ALCN.CA), and payments firm E-Finance for Financial and Digital Investments (EFIH.CA).” And we see nothing weird here, not when you consider the larger building needs, this makes absolute sense and “Saudi Arabia has already provided billions in support since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait this year all promised to increase their investments in Egypt” does not change that. But the water and stock are mere building blocks for the vegetables to connect to, it is the beef, the beef completes the picture. This is seen (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/mobily-signs-mou-with-telecom-egypt-to-build-submarine-cable-from-saudi-arabia-to-egypt/) and you might think that it does not make sense. How does ‘Mobily signs MoU with Telecom Egypt to build submarine cable from Saudi Arabia to Egypt’ imply beef? Well this started for me at least a little over three years ago, 3 years ago, before the Covid started hitting us that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had, with Neom an uncanny option to become the large (optionally largest) 5G powerhouse of the Middle East, stretching into Egypt and becoming the 5G powerhouse in the Mediterranean with larger options towards stretching into Europe. Now, I do not fear it, telecom powerhouses are often awesome, but this states that the larger players (like Vodafail) are seemingly asleep at the wheel and the KSA has nothing opposing Huawei, it is the foundation of Saudi 5G, so now the 100,000,000 Egyptians will fuel the 35,000,000 5G users all over the KSA and as Neom becomes a 5G hub for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia becomes the one powerhouse no one saw coming, and those who did were awfully quiet about it. 

A stage that I saw coming 3 years ago is now gaining momentum and optionally they will get a lot more over the next 2-3 years. And Europe with their promises will go nowhere, as someone ones said, a promise and an empty sack are worth the empty sack and with the beef giving fragrance and texture to the soup. 

I will offer you the position of the fifth element in an image, it is the soul of tastebuds and it matters, because the place and ownership of the fifth element are not a given, not even how they will become part of the equation, but they are there, not in the tall grass, but out in the open. Someone has a double role to play and I honestly do not know who, where or what they represents, but when you make soup, you can add your own ideal mix, or rely on people to grab the fifth element, and that is what I did. I added little of the spices, so the consumer of soup will add it themselves opening the field for player number five.

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