Tag Archives: United Arab Emirates

A mindful detour

I made one hell of a detour today, it was a virtual one. So my shoes were spared the support they would have needed otherwise. It all started thinking back to an event (some time ago) when I was making a muslim friend the compliment that his beard was so pronounced, that it was the envy of every garden gnome in the state. This got me thinking of a new kind of garden gnome, one based on Muslims Clerics. The reason for that was two fold, on the one side there were the ‘empty’ gardens and lawns in Dubai Jumeirah, the other was a video of gardens in Dubai featuring Smurfs. The thought evolved from that and now we get to the good part, a additional (or new) theme part based on the Dutch Efteling. Dubai has a few theme parks, but Riyadh not that much and I believe that the Efteling part would play nice. Not a copy but one based on the stories of 1001 Arabian Nights and other fairy tales. You see I remember being young one (yes I was young once) and I must have been between 5-7 when I went the first time to the Efteling and I saw the story of the Fakir and the gardener and I thought it was magic. 

I could stare at that part for hours, it was so magical. The analytical side of my now can clearly see the elements of the show and it is not magic anymore, but whenever I think of that show I once saw well over half a century ago still fills me with nostalgia. I think that if Riyadh wants to up its tourist setting, the idea that such a themed setting is in a place like a 400-metre-high, cube shaped skyscraper named Mukaab. Not all of it, but over the first 3-5 floors giving the shops the incentive to show more, ‘lure’ in the family is not the worst idea. And the size of that cube implies that there is plenty of space for a lot of things. The lower (up to) 5 floors with souks, shops and food-stands that could compete with the Dubai Global Village. 

The only way is to be unique and there is no real timeline, as such giving a place like the Mukaab that kind of visibility could draw in nearly every YouTube travel influencer on the planet. Of course there are other places where this could be done. And I believe that Saudi Arabia needs to do its share to call in the people they are hoping to call in and why be like every American theme park? 

It might only have 4 water rides and 6 rollercoaster, but it snatched the coveted theme park price away from Disney in 1972, 1992, 1997, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. It got the best theme-park in the world ribbon (by theme park insiders) in 2017 and 2018, a Pomme d’Or and several other mentions. As such the Dutch Efteling is a great choice. I have visited that place well over half a dozen times over a period of close to 50 years and I have always had a good feeling about that place. As such it should interest people like Ahmed Al Khateeb (Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia) As Riyadh grows, so will the need to entertain local and international families and I believe that a place like the Efteling had set out its version of excellence going back to 1952. The fact that it has accumulated that many awards in its lifespan should be a good reminder that Disney is not the only entertainer in town and there is place to grow a unique form of entertainment. There is nothing wrong with the Dubai IMG Worlds of Adventure and it looks awesome and perhaps one day I will see it for myself, but it is not the only way. Even now I still have fond memories (and only fond memories) of the Efteling and as I live on the other side of the planet, I cannot go there at present, but that yearning is still in me. That place was that awesome. Even now, you might think that you are too old for fairy tales, but your mind will react to seeing that setting as long as you live. I have to accept that people like Anton Pieck made it special and I accept that, but when you realise that something like that has please people for well over 50 years, it is not the feeling of a mere fashion setting, it was a form of excellence we seldom see. 

Now consider one of the true treasures of the Efteling. The Anton Pieck Diorama. Not a simple diorama, but one that is 700cm by 400cm by 200 cm in size. It has trains, buildings, people and the moving trains make it amazing. It opened in 1971 and has been working ever since. What is nice to know is that Märklin for many years manufactured the Minex steam trains specially for Efteling. A Minex train on that big a diorama. Now consider that setting of excellence in a Diorama that has a Middle East setting. Not just trains, but moving caravans, cars and all those buildings giving you a view on the past in a fantasy setting. That is what could draw in the crowds towards Riyadh and optionally to a place like the Mukaab. I wonder if anyone has looked into this in Riyadh (or Dubai for that matter). 

Well that was my Monday being active. Time to make some food and snore like a sawmill and in western Canada enjoy Monday, you still have all day to get through.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Tourism

Evolution is not merely the person

The setting started a few days ago, yet the new stage we are shown is merely hours old. Even as it seemingly started on August 12th with ‘Tapping an economy’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/08/12/tapping-an-economy/) the stage is getting redefined, almost as we speak. This is seen with ‘Saudi Arabia and UAE race to buy Nvidia chips to power AI ambitions’ (at https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-and-uae-race-to-buy-nvidia-chips-to-power-ai-ambitions-20230815-p5dws6). I believe personally it is merely one of two sides. You see, we are given “Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are buying up thousands of the high-performance Nvidia chips crucial for building artificial intelligence software, joining a global AI arms race that is squeezing the supply of Silicon Valley’s hottest commodity.” But it is merely one side and this side is putting pressure on the US, it’s companies are running out of funs and their credit cards are reaching limits. These two players have the cash to run circles around dozens of nations and that is not the only place they are in an advantage. I will not go back to my IP (no mater how valid it is). The larger station is that these two players will need data centres and that is where EVROC (as discussed in the earlier article 4 days ago) has the ability to set up national data centres, a stage that takes American companies out of the loop. I am not anti-American, I am anti-stupid and the catering that data centres have given the US companies all whilst places like Cambridge Analytics opened up to is now starting to show. There is the added setting that nationally speaking these two players prefer to be set in, the stage is not merely based on national needs. I personally believe that they have a ‘non-American’ involvement mindset. And I reckon that evidence will be proven when EVROC is allowed these two new data centres as well. It puts the USA in a massively decreasing setting. Another (non-related) stage is added to this. Only a few hours ago Yahoo Finance (merely one source) is giving us (at https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dollar-being-dethroned-india-just-201500390.html) ‘India just bought 1M barrels of oil from the UAE using rupees instead of USD for the first time’, we can chalk this up to a whole set of reasons and if someone states that this will be the pro-forma setting of BRICS, I will not be able to support or oppose it. There is not enough data accessible to me. The larger stage is set that the US is being ignored for too man settings and that is merely in the last week. I do not care how many Pizza al Fungi’s Janet Yellen has consumed, or how magical that dinner was. The stage is that the US has become trivialised and a lot of it is by their own doing. So whilst some are staging to trivialise that India is not using the US dollar. The reality is that only 3 years ago that option would be ludicrous and here we see it play out. So is BRICS becoming more powerful, it the US becoming weaker and just how much gains will Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates make in this year alone? EVROC is still a Swedish conundrum, but there are too many voices out there that are too anti-American voiced (which is not anti-stupid, my personal setting). I know I am seeing my own prophecies come to reality, but not in a way I envisioned. It could be that I never had the proper glasses to see it all, or it is because new elements are coming to bear and that second part is the larger stage I am now worried about. Not because of what the KSA and UAE are doing, but because of the US and its Trump and Karen setting, it is highly likely that it will drag the EU and Japan down with them. These latter two made the wrong calls a few times and now that the endgame (of the US) is starting to show, the back paddle actions of the EU (optionally towards China) might not be enough. I have no idea how this will play out for the Commonwealth. The stage of Canada with wildfires and 90% of the NWT being a goner looks more like a scene from ‘How it ends’ (2018) than reality, no matter how surreal both are. As such this stage will impact the rest of the Commonwealth. The UK is close to broke, and with Canada in the state it is in, the Commonwealth needs to find a safe place and footing and the US is less likely to be that place at present. It needs to find a solitary road to link to nations and that is the hard part. I have no idea what the safe route is, but I do feel certain that the US is no longer that part. I feel that finding a way to connect to the Middle East is presently safer than a link to China, but in reality I am speculating on what the safer route is. 

The setting we see now (the Nvidia AI chip) where we were given (at https://www.crn.com.au/news/ai-chips-could-save-future-data-centres-money-nvidia-599254)“Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has a mantra that he has uttered enough times that it almost became a joke during his SIGGRAPH 2023 keynote last week: “the more you buy, the more you save.”” Yet the setting is not merely ‘the more you save’ it is about to become who owns them and those who cannot afford them and now the KSA and UAE will have additional power positions. So consider “AI chips can save companies significant money on costs compared to traditional CPUs for what he views as the future: data centres, fuelled by demand for generative AI capabilities, relying on large language models (LLMs) to answer user queries and generate content for a wide range of applications” and a place like EVROC could set up two data centres all whilst these two nations provide the AI chips required, now we get an entirely new play and it will give these two nations the power to set a stage that excludes the US or their tech-firms. A stage none of them ever had before, as such do you still think I am boasting or creating non-sense? Too many sources had the elements available and the larger media ignored the puzzle pieces. So, is my puzzle correct? Not necessarily, but the pieces fit the image we have all seen before. This does not make the image correct, but it makes it decently likely and the more BS the American media spouts the less reliable it should be seen. This does not make China or the Middle East more reliable, but in the setting I currently see it makes the Middle East (KSA and UAE) a lot safer than the US has been the last few years and that counts, because that reinforces the image that Nvidia and EVROC are giving us, with optional speculations from yours truly (aka moi).

Your guess is as good as mine as to what comes next, but the larger fighting ring (a square setting) is about to show us who the contenders are and the amount of underdogs they face. Because no matter how much BS an underdogs brings to the table, in the ring it is what you can achieve and as I personally see it, the US, EU and Japan are starting to become the largest underdogs this century, which could be a stage pushed in by evolution.

Have fun today.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Science

Escalation time

We see it, we ignore it and we shout issues of disbelieve. I am no different, I have ignored a few elements at times, even as the writing was on the wall (ceiling and floor too). I thought that politicians would wise up. I considered that the people would take the intelligent path, but a lot of them are not. As such I saw a wake up call. The call came from the Kashmir Observer giving us (at https://kashmirobserver.net/2023/07/29/the-burning-of-the-quran-represent-an-act-in-desperation/) ‘The Burning of the Quran Represents an Act in Desperation?’ It comes with a question mark, but I think that the question is a lot closer to the truth setting than anything I have seen so far. We are also given “West’s far right still live in their invincible, racial, never-ending civilisational supremacy.  However, the rise and fall of civilisations represents a universal fact. None of the dominant civilisations lasted forever. What is consistent in the fall of civilisations is arrogance and delusional belief of never-ending dominance, looking down in disdain at other people and values dear to them. The same arrogance that West demonstrated had been the feature of prior dominant civilisation that is Islamic golden age. That also saw barbarians among the other non-Muslim communities till savage barbarians in the form of Mongols descended on them from nowhere decimating Islam’s golden age, and palaces of tyranny, precious literature that had origin in Quran’s teachings.” I can get behind the sentiment, but there is an issue. I wonder if you can spot it. It is the use of ‘civilisation’. As we look at the settings of governments in the west, there is a claim of civilisation, but I feel that that semi tank left the building some time ago. I reckon that the setting was vacated with the departure of President Bill Clinton. He left the office with Wall Street in too much power and any setting that is greed driven will undo civilisation every single time. Civilisation does not compute to the bottom dollar and we have seen the impacts that followed. Now as the US is one step away from being a third world nation we are seeing the impact that christianity bends to the powerful players and in this case it was Wall Street. Ethicality went out the window and any secular power that enforces the bottom dollar gets to call shots and guess what, it opposes civilisation every single time. 

Then in comes Saudi Arabia, they were mostly quiet during the initial Quran burnings, but there would be a response and the Saudi Gazette (at https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/634563) gives us ‘Prince Faisal renews to his Swedish counterpart Saudi Arabia’s rejection for all attempts to offend Qur’an’, where we are given “Prince Faisal noted to Billström Saudi Arabia’s demand on taking immediate procedures to stop these extremist acts that are trying to undermine the holy books, and provoke the feelings of Muslims around the world.” An essential diplomatic step, but I personally fear it was not strong enough. I get that politically speaking as an Islamic nation Saudi Arabia is cautious on how to proceed, it makes sense, but the lack of actions and the strife of secular governments (in this case Nordic nations) make the lack of push an issue. You see, I wrote in several stories over the last few weeks that there is an issue with Freedom of speech versus discrimination, the burning of Islamic holy scriptures makes that a clear case. I am for freedom of speech, but not at the cost of accountability. That is the larger station. People think that freedom of speech is one anchor without any sides, but accountability gives weight to that freedom and that is what people forgot. To be honest at times I forget that too. Now my transgressions seem small and insignificant, but when you think of it, it matters to the value of freedom of speech and Sweden clearly forgot that part of the equation.

And in comes Iran. The funny part is that I tend to shy away from anything Iranian, yet in this case (at https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/07/29/2932699/muslim-nations-urged-to-cut-ties-with-countries-allowing-quran-desecration) they might actually have a more important case to bring. It starts with ‘Muslim Nations Urged to Cut Ties with Countries Allowing Quran Desecration’, not only are they correct there is a larger truth here. This is a setting that should have been championed by Saudi Arabia or even the United Arab Emirates, but it is Iran that gives us “Over the past month, the Holy Quran has been subject to acts of sacrilege by extremist elements in separate incidents in Sweden and Denmark, where authorities gave a green light to the desecration.” I do not completely agree, but I can see how Muslims would see it that way and they have every right to be angry. The larger truth was not anti Islam, it was pro ‘Freedom of speech’ and when you see coins on any table, you merely see one side (the clever people see two sides) but both forget for an instance that there was another side to that coin and it is the side we do not see, we realise that it is there, we merely ignore it and accountability would have taken care of it, but our minds crossed out the other side. And now we have a problem and it is a large one. If the Islamic nations rekindle with the Iranian sentiment and not with the cautious approach that the KSA and the UAE hold we end up with quite the problem. 

Another view is seen (at https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/quran-burnings-prompt-u-n-human-rights-body-to-urge-increased-action-against-religious-hatred/) where we are given ‘Quran Burnings Prompt U.N. Human Rights Body to Urge Increased Action Against Religious Hatred’, this sounds nice, but it is a little too late for this.

More importantly too many newspapers and media shunned this setting and it is Al Jazeera that showed us two weeks ago (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/12/un-bodys-motion-on-quran-burning-how-did-your-country-vote) the part that matters. The people against this increased action on Islamaphobia include the UK, the EU, and the US. They revere their freedom of expression and are refusing to let accountability take a center seat. A stage that they are intent on pushing, a place where there is freedom of religion as long as it is under the direction of christian based elected aficionados. Sounds familiar?

And I think it is about to get a lot worse. Personally I think it is time for the Kingdom Holding Company to take a serious look at my IP as it pushes a lot more than accountability, it unifies muslims and that could open a lot more doors, especially as it pushes western media out of the way. The fact that I had to rely on an Iranian source all whilst the western media is setting a stage that is no longer reliable or accurate is cause for concern. And this is not really the end of it all, a mere 15 minutes ago we were given ‘Denmark to put legal limits on protests involving Quran burnings’ and the setting there is “Denmark’s government on Sunday released a statement saying that it would put legal limitations in order to stop the demonstrations involving the burning of the holy book Quran in certain circumstances, citing security concerns”. Really? How about the EU charter where we are given “Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.” The burning of a Quran is a clear act of discrimination, it is time for the EU to own up to that reality and act accordingly. The cornerstone of all this is accountability, I have stated this for 13 years and now that it all comes to pass the setting becomes an accelerator for a lot of things. I saw the power that one point eight billion people have, I saw the impact and how quickly the sands of opportunity will decimate for the EU and US if they do not wisen up and that is about to happen. The three new BRICS members is one, but if they push for a ban of Nordic products is merely the first step, it could mean a lot more bans that the middle east could push for in the near future. So what happens when over 400 million people in the Middle East decide to ban products from the EU? Don’t think it will not happen because Sweden and Denmark are merely the first steps. When Asia (India and China) steps up to replace items that enrages people there will be a sudden drain of revenues all over the EU (US too). 400,000,000 people needing a new alternative for products. So what happens when these places ban all Cadbury and Nestle items and Amul items take their place? What happens when Paneer (Indian cheese) replaces European cheeses. I bet the Dutch, Swedes, French and Italians will not be happy and that is merely two out of hundreds of examples. The Middle East has buying power and what happens when that is pointed in another direction? 

That is the larger setting that we need to be aware of. Do you really think that you can have freedom of expression without accountability? We are about to enter a phase of escalations and it does not bode well for the EU (or US for that matter). Feel free to disagree, but when the clock rings and you see how in August / September revenues are down all across the board the EU finds itself in a stage that is merely less than an inch for another recession, no matter how much it is labelled an economic downturn, because that is always how it starts, but this time around it could last well over a year pushing a massive amount of businesses out of circulation. Then what?

And it is just the start of the week, have fun.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Religion

Say What?

Yes, at times we get that. I have had my issues with the media for the longest time, but today was the wrong day to rub me the wrong way. It all started a few hours ago when the BBC decided to make ‘Obamas’ chef Tafari Campbell dies in paddle-boarding accident’ news (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66297450). I have no idea who he was and I mean no disrespect to Tafari Campbell. I think it is cool to get a job for one of the coolest presidents in America’s history, but lets be clear, the man was a cook. The starting text “Tafari Campbell, 45, worked in the White House before staying on with the Obama family after Mr Obama left office in 2016.” Is pretty much it, the rest should not matter to anyone. To give you a rundown of some of the things that the BBC did not tell you

Saudi Arabia (Front Sport Office)
There we see the news (at https://frontofficesports.com/saudi-arabia-reportedly-offers-1-1-billion-for-kylian-mbappe/) that a football player namely Kylian Mbappe got an amazing lucrative option, a one year deal for $1.1 billion dollars. I honestly have no idea why the man is worth that much, but basically, he’ll make in one year enough to retire from life in luxury. Now, I found a few more articles on this event, just not the BBC. I would never pay that much for anyone, even if I had the money, but that is not something I would have to justify anyway. And as news goes, it is new, sports is news to a whole range of people all over the world. And there is more!

Iran (CNN)
Here we get a human interest story. The story (at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/iran-film-festival-canceled-scli-intl/index.html) gives us ‘Iran bans film festival over poster of actress without hijab’, an action that is not entirely unexpected. One could argue that the people of that festival wanted the festival cancelled by default. We get a picture (picture was nice), and the story comes with the added text ““The minister of culture and Islamic guidance has personally issued an order to ban the 13th edition of the ISFA Film Festival, after using a photo of a woman without a hijab on its poster in violation of the law,” ministry spokesperson Mohammad Mehdi Samoui said in a statement, according to IRNA.” It is hard to ‘reflect’ on laws, especially on laws as they are in existence in Islamic nations, but there was a bright light for Iran, the BBC skated around it and gave the limelight to a dead chef.

Unite Arab Emirates (Khaleej Times)
A new stage and a clear news stage. The article (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/lifestyle/health/uae-new-case-of-mers-virus-confirmed-in-al-ain-says-who) gives us ‘UAE: New case of Mers virus confirmed in Al Ain, says WHO’, news if there ever was one. Mers (aka Middle East respiratory syndrome) is rare but serious. It is apparently spread through close contact with camels, camel products, or an infected person. It is one of those illnesses that go from animal to person and the WHO (World Health Organisation) has now confirmed a total of “All 108 identified contacts were monitored for 14 days from the last date of exposure to the patient”, in a population it does not seem much, but it is a serious issue and on a population of 9.5 million it is not much, but the disease is rare, as such the issue becomes foreground and limelight news. Interesting the BBC did not have this either, but the death of a chef, yes they did have that one.

At times I wonder who decides on the pressures of what makes the news, more important, what non-News makes that cut. Three stories that outrank a paddle boarding accident (by a lot). For something like the The Virginian-Pilot it is news. It was a person from Virginia and he did serve in the White House, no one denies that. Other local newspapers might follow suit on that. Why on earth the BBC did, I have no idea. Not in an age where events have the world stage. To underline this, the sports section gives us all kinds of news, but there is no coverage of the world championships in Japan? How does that compute? The top 25 articles over the last 24 hours and Swimming does not make that cut? Who runs that degenerative toko? (toko is slang for shop)
You see, another source gives us “28-strong British team look to make their mark just one year out from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris”, a team of 28 swimmers and the BBC cannot find the time to give its viewers and readers one story n this? What is wrong with them?

Overall there is a debatable side to more and more news agents, not merely on what the report, but also on things they let pass by. I want you to take a look for yourself and wonder why certain news events never make it to the BBC or several other news agents in the west. 

Enjoy the day! 

Leave a comment

Filed under Law, Media, sport

Overwhelmed

That happens to us all, even to me. Don’t get me wrong, I have been around the block (more than once) but even I have to admit that I was not ready for what I saw. To set the stage I have been (and spend time there) to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Stockholm, Malmo, Copenhagen, Munich, London, Birmingham, Brighton, Heraklion, Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Washington DC and that in reflection is used to describe what I saw. 

For several reasons I have been looking at Dubai. Initially to the Dubai Mall to consider and test one of my IP and see how it holds up. You see, it is easy to hold up any IP to places with all the defects in place. Yet can it hold up to a place that is as perfect (and as big) as the Dubai Mall? I believe it did, but not to the massive agree that it holds up to other places and seeing your IP in a diminished way also opens your ming up to optional innovations. So as I was looking at the mall I saw several walkthroughs. Some great, many less so. One provider that stood out was Alone in Dubai (at https://www.youtube.com/@aloneindubai) that provider gave me a lot more and after seeing over half a dozen of walkthrough videos I came to the initial conclusion that Dubai might be one of the most perfect places in the world. I stated ‘initially’ because I have never been there and video’s only show part of something. But what I saw showed me streets leaner than anywhere else on the planet. This is why I showed you the places I have been (I have been to a lot more places), these streets were the cleanest I have ever seen. The street radiate feelings of safety, I saw water dispensers where people and tourists could refill their bottles of water. I saw a lot that I saw before. Terraces that we see near beaches, but now nowhere near a beach. Inviting for coffee, lunch and so on. Places that we are used to seeing. Shops that we are used to see and sometimes they have a western and an Arabic facade. A global village that quite frankly blew me away and a lot of Turkish Ice cream places. Beyond this there was the skyline of Dubai which is impressive in many ways, but check out the video’s for yourself, there is nothing like a first glimpse to give you pause to question what was held in front of you and seeing that reality is different. Even outside the mall we see so much and so many places where it all seems like we have seen it all before, but we never saw it to such an immaculate degree. Then there was the Carrefour. A supermarket, yet I never saw one this big. Perhaps in America they have supermarkets that size, but the places I have been to are nowhere this big. The fish section alone was 10 times the size of the fish shops we have here. Isles with fresh fish, packaged fillet and so many choices. Isles of items we all see in our own supermarkets and the weird part was that plenty is on par with our prices, some are cheaper and some are less cheap, but there too there is the setting that the meat looks better, more high end and often at nearly the same prices. There was more of nearly everything. Something we might never have expected from a place so far from home. Today and over the last weekend I was overwhelmed by the views of a place I never expected to overwhelm me. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that the Dubai Mall was one of the most beautiful and most perfect places on the planet. What was unexpected was that Dubai was every bit as amazing as the mall was and when you see some of these videos on sights on Dubai. You will understand why it could be the best vacation spot you have ever been to in all your life.

The new week is about to start, use the video’s to survive until the next weekend.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media

Narrative

We all heard it, we all see it. There is a narrative, it is supplied by stakeholders and it does not matter whether it is an academic, a greed hoarder or what should be regarded as a traitor. It does not matter whether this was for Russia or for China. The narrative has overwhelmed their senses and others took that time to make a rather large consideration, all whilst we are pushed into the  narrative of greed driven players.  We saw the noise that people like Mike Burgess made and that illuminated the second tier of problems Australia has, the UK and other commonwealth nations have taken notice. But because the people who were supposed to do their jobs did not, other things were missed. Things that seem irrelevant, trivial, yet they are not. You see, I alerted readers to a few issues over the last 3-5 years. They weren’t simple settings and for the longest time I had no idea there was a much larger plan. There still is debate whether the larger plan is merely conspiracy theory and those claiming that it is would not be opposed too strongly. So whilst we see one thing happen, the clever tactician will see that there are a lot more elements happening. Almost like individual cogs that are one cog separated from one another. As cogs are united with missing cogs, we see a much larger machine in play, but it is one without identity.

Last May we were give via Arab news “Etihad Etisalat Co., known as Mobily, has signed an initial agreement with Telecom Egypt to build the first submarine cable system to directly connect Saudi Arabia to Egypt.” This is nothing new, this happens all the time, but there are a whole range of arrangements that Egypt has been making with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is where the money is. I myself have offered at least one IP to both the Saudi government and Kingdom Holdings, as such these steps make sense, but there is more. You see Egypt with its 100 million Muslims also lead to Turkey and Greece, extending one cable is relatively simple and that gives Saudi Arabia a first handhold into the EU and its optional hundreds of millions of customers. That is the setting and the impact is ignored. The stakeholders were not paying attention and their ignorance is what some were banking on. Is it ignorance? I make one claim, but neither can be supported. The larger stage (also why I offered one IP part to Saudi Arabia) is that Saudi Arabia is about to become the largest 5G player in the middle East, together with whomever in India becomes the power player, they will optionally unite with China and now we have a much larger ballgame, the EU becomes trivialised in 5G, no matter what games and what unsupported accusations the EU unite against. Huawei had the larger game in mind and now we see optional unison between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia and they link to China. Half a billion people and that is before Bangla Desh joins the equation, now as others join the Saudi 5G circle the EU will have a new stage, one where they are the smaller player and the telecom companies have no idea how to proceed, the narrative overwhelmed their senses and they weren’t watching what entered the corner of the room.

Is it real or is it fake. You merely have to seek out the articles I wrote and how they were ignored by others. Before the end of 2024 Saudi Arabia is in the market to be the largest 5G supplier in the Middle East with options all over Europe. Saudi Arabia and Huawei got it there and the claims and accusations will not hold up. Is it the media? I cannot say for certain because the stakeholders did their job well, too well. Yet I noticed the line all over the Middle East and Africa and most of you could have too, but that is on you. So when you consider “The GCC region is expected to have 62 million 5G mobile subscribers by 2026 and they will account for nearly 73 percent of all mobile subscriptions in the region, according to a report released last year by the Swedish company Ericsson” which was given to us 3 months after the intent of the submarine cables. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are merely one part. The 100 million people in Egypt as well as the the 200 million in Indonesia are seemingly ignored. I reckon that the 62 million mark will be surpassed before the end of 2024 and when we suddenly hear alarm bells, it will be because the stakeholders will look beyond their greed, but it will already be too late. There was a larger stage and there was a larger plan, the plan goes a lot further than what I can see, but that is because I am not in the loop. I took notice as it benefitted MY IP and as such I saw that 1+1+1 made 4 (one for me), as such I took notice and I adjusted my IP accordingly. Now we have a setting that is close to advancement. Where it ends I do not know, but it is clear that Saudi Arabia had a much larger plan for their needs and they are getting closer to fulfilling it. And the US games did not matter, China was there to fill up the space and now the US with no options left are about to be trivialised by their own narrative makers. That is merely how I see it, but I let you consider the narrative for yourself, make up your own mind.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Science

The other currency

This is one of these articles that had to be written. Some will take offence, I get that, but it is essential to speak truthful, to speak my mind. Some will agree, some will not. The bigger the issue, the larger the polarisation, that has always been the case. Yet in this case I need to say upfront that this is not an attack on the media, this is not an attack on the writers of the articles that I will oppose. This needs to be said upfront, not after the event. In addition, some will agree with the article, that is fine. Be not afraid to have a point of view, be not afraid to oppose me (or others), your point of view is not invalid, it is merely differs from some. 

The setting started with the article (at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/01/shamima-begum-justin-trudeau-to-follow-up-canadian-spy-claim). There we see ‘Shamima Begum: Justin Trudeau to ‘follow up’ Canadian spy claim’ and in addition we see “Canada’s PM defends need for ‘flexible and creative’ intelligence work by CSIS after claim operative delivered 15-year-old to Islamic State” with the added “were met at Istanbul bus station for their onward journey to Syria by a man called Mohammed al-Rashed. Rashed was also an informant for Canadian intelligence, who told the Met police of their connection with him in March 2015” Here we see the first problem. We are ‘informed’ to focus on ‘were met at Istanbul bus station’, but there was a lot before that. The recruiter/lover-boy who initiated contact, The fact that the girls thought they were grown up by keeping silent to their family, the people around them. They ignored it all and they became TERRORISTS. Canada did the right thing, they kept quiet and documented as much as they could for as long as they could. The fact that these girls arrived in Istanbul unopposed, unquestioned and no red flags were raised until then. That opens a lot of questions on this issue right from the start and I see nothing of that. 

And now we get to the important bit “Her family’s lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, argues that Begum was trafficked out of the country. The suggestion that a western intelligence asset may have been involved, including organising bus tickets for her, will reignite the debate over the removal of her British citizenship.” You see, as I personally see it, ‘trafficked’ implied ‘against their wishes, or optionally under false pretences. This was not the case. These girls KNEW that they would be going to Islamic State, more important. The stage of ‘a western intelligence asset’ was not the case until Istanbul, a little over 3000 Km. We do not get to see that either. There needs to be a price for assisting terrorists and now she is paying. 

You see you people need to learn that there is no option for terrorists. If you give them one you get to learn a very hard lesson, one with hundreds if not thousands of cadavers. There is a much larger issue. You see the bigger enemies of Islamic State are not the people you expect. It is Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Islamic nations all. This is not some islamic debate, Islamic State is a collection of wannabe tyrants, all wanting their own nation where they rule with iron hand. So where is that land? It is in every nation and it was for some time a large chunk of Iraq. I reckon I will be around when I get to put the ‘protectors’ of Shamima Begum in the limelight as co-conspirators towards the dead that we will undoubtedly see. At that point they will all hide, they will all demand silence and they will all shun and the media will let them. It was unfortunate, but it happens. That is where we are heading and as far as I can tell, Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) did whatever they needed to to keep Canada safe. These are not thieves, not bank-robbers and they were certainly not innocent. They are terrorists and that takes a whole different approach to keeping a nation and its citizens safe. And lets be clear, there are close to zero nations that condone Islamic State and we need to realise that if Islamic governments will not deal with them, how far have we strayed from the path by giving them leeway and listening to some crocodile tear approach? That path will lead to a lot of innocent deaths.

Leave a comment

Filed under Law, Media, Military, Politics

The simplicity of a label

That is at times a setting, not the setting, but an option. You see it is easy to paint all the piggie’s pink, but at that time we end up with all the painted piggies and piglet. Yet is piglet the one we were looking for? That is one of the settings and my issue with ‘No 10 network targeted with spyware, says group’. The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61142687) is not entirely wrong. But when I see “The Citizen Lab says it informed officials that suspected Pegasus spyware was discovered in 2020 and 2021, with the Downing Street incident linked to operators in the UAE.” My suspicious mind has questions. Now, I accept that the Citizen Lab has expertise and knowledge, I am not attacking that. It is the statement “The Citizen Lab, which tracks electronic surveillance, said in 2020 and 2021 it notified the UK government that networks belonging to both 10 Downing Street and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were suspected to have been infected using Pegasus spyware.” You see, ‘suspected’ is all good and well, but were the suspicions properly investigated and confirmed, or is that all it was, a suspicion? And it does not get better when we see “in the UK a number of official phones were tested including those of the prime minister, but it was not possible to establish which device was infected or what – if any data – was taken”, as such there is a suspicion and a lack of confirmation of which device was infected, whether data was captured and what the outcome was. And it does not end there. The statement “the suspected Foreign Office infections were believed to be linked to operators of Pegasus in the United Arab Emirates, India, Cyprus and Jordan.” You see, not only is the method a problem (through lack of evidence), but how in the hell can it be fingered to operators from United Arab Emirates, India, Cyprus or Jordan? Sometimes the simplicity of a label also has the lack of clarity. 

Why Jeeves, why?
It is actually simple. These are a few names: EverC, Sentar, Ignitho, PhishLabs, AppDetex, CyberInt, CareMessage, and Geneca. Eight names, all competitors to the NSO group. They all have ‘their’ solutions, they all have their ways and they might not be as good as the NSO group, but these players are raking in the millions. It is not impossible that they planted NSO materials, or  use a ‘friend’ to infect NSO guided options to lead the trail away. All speculation and none may be true or factual, I accept that. Yet the article gives us nothing but suspicions, no facts, no evidence and it is all given weight by “linked to an investigation by the New Yorker magazine which looked at the targeting of individuals campaigning for Catalan independence from Spain”, so what does the New Yorker magazine have and how do the two matters connect (if they connect at all). Consider the price of an NSO infection (it is enough to buy a 2022 Ford Mustang 5.0L Fastback, shadow black) and as people tend to rate cars higher than any Catalan interest, the list of interested people grows short really fast, the sliver thin comparison makes me suspicious even more. And to complete matters “The Citizen Lab said it believed the Downing Street suspected infection was linked to the United Arab Emirates.” So not only is there no evidence that an infection took place, they have a suspect too?

All half way statements, all half baked evidence and the lack of evidence that shows some clarity. All whilst I found 8 options at the drop of a hat. And I can tell you right now. I have no evidence of ANY kind. Yet the writings of some lack evidence too. So what makes the press so hungry for alleged illumination of the NSO group and the UAE all whilst there is no clear evidence? 

Questions should be asked, but I believe that additional questions should be asked of people who have been linking certain events with the near total lack of evidence. And it matters, because if we see the allegations that No.10 network is infected (which would be interesting to ANY party with non-UK or anti-UK needs). So there is a drastic need for the minions of Ken McCallum to wake up and find out what is going on. It might be essential to get the GCHQ goblins active as well, it is a digital issue so GCHQ gets to be connected to this. 

Yet none of the parties have clear evidence and no one can prove that it was not a competitor, there are larger plays in actions and they cannot be identified with piggy pink. Yet the station is optionally served by paint and finding WHERE it leads could be beneficial, but that is merely my thought on the matter. So far the media I have seen tells me little and the accusations and links are a little too shoddy to my liking.

It stands to reason to state that I do not completely trust the BBC article, thee is nothing wrong there, but too little of it is right and does not sit well with me, but that is just me, and I do not trust anyone, a habit of the beast and thorough knowledge on knowing that the beast is a self serving entity in all this, it always has been.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under IT, Science

Where are we heading?

That is the stage we comment on and most comment on events in Europe, most would and that is not bad. But something happened in Lebanon that got my attention (something is always happening there). You see, many might have noticed ‘UAE set to be put on money laundering watchdog’s ‘grey list,’ report says’ (source: CNBC), we are given quotes like “The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to combatting money laundering and illicit cash flows, is set to put the United Arab Emirates on its “grey list” over concerns that the Gulf country isn’t sufficiently stemming illegal financial activities”, now I am not debating it, it might be true, it might not. I cannot lay claims to events I have no data on. But whilst we see that, Reuters also gives us (at https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/lebanese-bank-closes-over-30-british-held-accounts-after-uk-ruling-depositors-2022-03-04/) ‘Lebanese bank closes over 30 British-held accounts after UK ruling-depositors’ group’. There we see “A Bank Audi official told Reuters the bank was “asking that the UK residents apply the terms applicable to anyone opening a new account: no international transfers, no cash withdrawals””, so just to help me out. You create a bank account and you are not allowed to withdraw cash? How does that make the bank a bank? And we also get “More than $100 billion remains stuck in a banking system paralysed since 2019, when the economy collapsed due to decades of unsustainable state spending, corruption and waste”, as such my question becomes what on earth is the Financial Action Task Force doing monitoring banks? First Credit Suisse, through state sponsored hacking and now we see Bank Audi. Two elements showing a massive cash stage running into the hundreds of billions. So what the hell is the Financial Action Task Force doing? Why are they not investigating banks? We see the mention of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the mention of nations, not banks. Banks are seemingly flying below the radar and we see an alleged flaccid response from action groups. Oh and it would be nice to see specifics. Not some journo’s BS approach towards emotional garbage. I discussed this in ‘The presumption is mine’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/21/the-presumption-is-mine/) where I wrote “so all that space on what amounts to 0.03% of the entire amount. Just like the ICIJ, shortsighted and a waste of time. So we get repeated invitations to explain 0.03% of what is such a massive leak? Is anyone waking up yet?”, now if the FATF did its job and also gives us why the UAE needs to be on a grey list and NOT the bank it becomes a different story, optionally an acceptable one. That same setting applies to Switzerland, home to 242 banks and Credit Suisse. Oh, and before I forget the data leak never explained (it never will) why such harsh methods needs to be applied to the other 242 banks. No one ever asked that question, not other authorities, not the wannabe journalists either. Is that not weird too?

We need to see where we are going and what games certain parties are playing. I saw the Credit Suisse for nothing but a simple fishing expedition. A chumming exercise by the NSA (most likely culprit) to get some of the fish out there. And no one saw that? I am clever, but I am not that clever (compared to self proclaimed clever people), which (as I personally see it) implies orchestration. 

Am I right, am I wrong? I also ask that question from myself. The Switzerland setting alerted me to weirdness of it all, the UAE draws the setting to the surface. The UAE and its 20 local and 30 foreign banks. Yes that is also the case, so the FATF better come with a very good and very large folder with evidence on a whole range of banks. And before you think the UAE does nothing, we saw a week ago “The government confiscated assets worth $625m last year.” As such I hope that the FATF can prove its setting of “concerns that the Gulf country isn’t sufficiently stemming illegal financial activities” it seems that the UAE has proven activities, so is the FATF merely blowing its own horn? Perhaps it needs to look into the Audi bank and a few other banks too and several of them are not in Switzerland or the UAE. When we see quotes like “About $227.8 million money laundering in USA in 2020 according to our calculation that based 2020 Money Laundering Offense Report”, so how much did the US confiscate? Just asking.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics

A disregarded shelter setting

The Guardian was at it again and they are not doing anything wrong (at least I think they aren’t) but the stage created is calling for a nice stage and it is getting close to immediate that we take a hard look at the meaning of hypocrisy. 

The article ‘Pandora papers: biggest ever leak of offshore data exposes financial secrets of rich and powerful’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/pandora-papers-biggest-ever-leak-of-offshore-data-exposes-financial-secrets-of-rich-and-powerful) gives us a few items and before you think we are digging into the air, lets take a look at a few essential parts. It starts with “companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands” first, this is not an illegal act, then we need to look at Monaco and Dubai. Monaco gives us over two sources “You can apply for a Carte de Residence once you have an address in Monaco (either bought or rented a property for a minimum of a year). You must also agree to live there for more than three months of the year. Resident individuals are not subject to personal income tax in the Principality of Monaco”, now this is not the easiest setting as decent apartments tend to start at €3,000,000 going up to €387,000,000. As such I wish you good luck finding something you like. In Dubai we see “There is currently no personal income tax in the United Arab Emirates. As such, there are no individual tax registration or reporting obligations.” These are called tax havens and they are perfectly legal. It is the way THAT nation operates and it works for them, so when we see the Guardian give us “But the secrecy offered by tax havens has at times proven attractive to tax evaders, fraudsters and money launderers, some of whom are exposed in the files”, which is a debatable setting. You see someone who takes effort in buying an apartment in Monaco or Dubai, or most of these places is not a tax evader, that person is involved with tax avoidance and it is not the same. Black letter lawyers found a setting where the rules work FOR their clients and they are allowed to do this. Yet the Guardian inserts ‘tax evader’ whilst knowingly adding “some of whom are exposed in the files”, some implying not all and some is seemingly inserted hoping that the people are flamed to the list of “more than 100 billionaires, 30 world leaders and 300 public officials” hoping that they are all painted by the flamed audience. And in light of this, did anyone take a long hard look at “the cache includes 11.9m files from companies hired by” what is not looked at is the source of that information and how that source got the information. A setting not dissimilar from my article ‘The same gramophone’ on September 16th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/16/the-same-gramophone/) regarding Pegasus and in light of evidence given (lack thereof) to the people by the Washington Post an interesting repetition of flames lacking evidence. The article on tax issues does not once, NOT ONCE mention tax avoidance, or give the setting of tax evasion versus tax avoidance. One is illegal the other is not. In this the text “They also shine a light on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries” could be seen as “They also shine a light on the private finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries”, yet they chose to not use the word Private did they? Private and non evidence could be seen as intrusive and harassing, the media really does not like it when their actions are seen in that way. 

My view?
You see if there was clear ‘tax evasion’ we would be getting this, instead of “leaked data with select media partners including the Guardian, BBC Panorama, Le Monde and the Washington Post. More than 600 journalists have sifted through the files as part of a massive global investigation”, so are they incompetent or is there too little remaining? The price of 600 journalists cannot be cheap so the more they flame, the more they ‘earn’ back, but that part is not really given is it? There is no top-line, a flaw we have seen more than once before. If it was clear 300 people can be shown in a top-line like Nation, government, non government easily enough. That would take an hour, perhaps two, but we do not get to see that, do we? We also get all kinds of embossed examples, with the added text “This is the Panama papers on steroids, it’s broader, richer and has more detail”, my view would be, then give it Ryle you dumb fuck! Do not posture, present facts! The top-line, the setting of tax evasion versus tax avoidance and a few other facts, including the source of the data, but we do not get any of that, do we?

I see it as a mere approach to the upcoming US debt ceiling and someone flaming that if ‘they’ had paid their taxes, there would not be an issue. Well, my view “Well, you stupid fucks, if you had clearly focussed on the tax laws that needed an overhaul for THREE DECADES we might not be in this mess either!” So whilst we are given “The files include disclosures about major donors to the Conservative party, raising difficult questions for Boris Johnson as his party meets for its annual conference”, an anti-tory smear setting. No matter who donates and to what party, if these people are not proven criminals, there would be no issue and I wonder how far these 600 journalists got. So when we consider “Many use shell companies to hold luxury items such as property and yachts, as well as incognito bank accounts” we need to see whether laws were broken and let’s be clear, they stated that these are people in over 90 countries. So which have laws against these acts and if they have an address in Monaco or Dubai, are any laws broken? This took me 5 minutes and we see a lack of a lot in one article seemingly the source of 600 journalists. 

I personally see only one option for a person like Gerard Ryle. Either give us that top-line clearly or become an Uber driver. As I personally see it, someone posturing absent of evidence should be somewhere else, not be some director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, but that is merely my call on the matter we see here now.

Oh, and before I forget the meaning of Hypocrisy is “the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case”, a setting too many journalists fall into lately.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Law, Media, Politics