By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters)- After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be — and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted.

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jbeli (C) smiles during a meet with Saudi businessmen at Riyadh’s Chamber of Commerce February 19, 2012. REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed

Islamist parties swept the first free elections in both countries in recent months after campaigns that stressed their readiness to work with the secularists they struggled with in the Arab Spring revolts against decades-long dictatorships.

With political deadlines looming, the Tunisian coalition led by the reformist Islamist Ennahda party and the head of Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood both made statements this week revealing a stronger emphasis on Islam in government.

Popular List, an Ennahda coalition member tasked with writing Tunisia’s new constitution, announced on Monday its draft called Islam “the principle source of legislation” — a phrase denoting laws based on the sharia moral and legal code.

On Tuesday, Egyptian Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said his group wanted a president with “an Islamic background.” That term is vague, but not as vague as the conciliatory “consensus candidate” talk heard from most parties until now.

Secularists in both countries warned voters against trusting the Islamists and these subtle changes could have come straight from a secularist playbook on how Islamists would gradually insert more religion into the political and legal systems.

TAKING GHANNOUCHI AT HIS WORD

Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi, a leading reformist Muslim thinker during his years in London exile, reassured secularists last year by agreeing with them that the first article of Tunisia’s constitution should remain unchanged.

The article, which said Tunisia’s language was Arabic and religion Islam, was “just a description of reality … without any legal implications, he told Reuters in November. “There will be no other references to religion in the constitution.”

In the draft constitution, Islam is described as Tunisia’s religion “and the principal source of its legislation.”

“Using Islamic sharia as a principle source of legislation will guarantee freedom, justice, social equality, consultation, human rights and the dignity of all its people, men and women,” it says.

Mentioning sharia means all laws must be consistent with Islam, a condition found in many constitutions in Muslim countries. This can be interpreted broadly, or strictly if those vetting the legislation impose a narrow reading of Islam.

Reaction in Tunis to the draft has been muted so far because Ghannouchi is planning a news conference on Thursday where he will probably have to declare Ennahda’s position on it.

Hachmi Hamdi, who supported Ennahda before forming Popular List, said the draft was more Islamic than expected because “the public that voted for us is a conservative public that wants sharia as the principle source of the constitution.”

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has decided not to present its own candidate for the presidential election due in June and argued until now that it wanted a candidate acceptable to all.

Even Emad Abdel Ghaffour, head of the leading Salafi Islamist Nour Party, told this to Reuters two weeks ago. He said the sharia mention in Egypt’s constitution should be retained without being tightened, as more hardline Salafis have urged.

But Badie told the daily newspaper of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party on Tuesday that “the candidate must have an Islamic background.”

“It’s clear now the Brotherhood are willing to throw their weight into the ring …to support someone who is in line with Islamic values and is sympathetic to Islamic law,” said Shadi Hamid, an expert on Islamist groups based at the Brookings Doha Center. “That will have major implications for the race.”

Badie’s comments seemed to rule out Brotherhood support for Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister and Arab League secretary general seen as one of the frontrunners.

Lying between the two countries, Libya is also transforming its political system after ousting Muammar Gaddafi but has not yet held elections or begun work on a new constitution.

The chairman of the ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalal, has said Tripoli would take sharia as the source for its laws. Hundreds of Libyan Muslim Brothers and Salafists rallied last month to demand sharia law.

(Reporting By Tom Heneghan)

14-9

Hindu Times

China it seems is looking towards India to form a new alignment and counter the United State’s policy of expanding influence in Asia.

Few days after commenting that India’s democratic system and hostile media were the impediments against better Sino-India relations, a government-run newspaper said that the two countries should set aside differences to offset the US’s foray into the region.

“…the development of the China-India relations is being tested by the United States’ strategic adjustment in the Asia-Pacific Region, which will have a complicated and in-depth influence on the future of China-India relations,” the People’s Daily said in an opinion piece.

It referred to the first US-Japan-India trilateral dialogue held last year and said the effort was to besiege China. Instead of getting into an apparent anti-China effort, India should enter into a strategic partnership with China that will create,”… a mutual trust and benefit featured Asian security environment and deter penetration from foreign powers who attempt to interfere with Asian affairs.”

In November, President Barack Obama said that the US would expand its military influence in the Asia-Pacific region. So, it is to counter this US attempt that China is now looking at India.

14-9

By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo
-Associated Press

Imam Abdul A. Muhammad of the Masjid Imam K. Ali Muslim mosque in Newark, N.J., speaks in his clothing and accessories store regarding surveillance of the Muslim community by the New York Police Department, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. Americans in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department’s effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive, even the city’s mayor says he was kept in the dark. For months in mid-2007, plainclothes NYPD officers snapped pictures of mosques and eavesdropped in Muslim neighborhoods. The result was a 60-page report, obtained by The Associated Press. It cited no evidence of crimes. It was just a guide to Newark’s Muslims. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Americans living and working in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department’s effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive even the city’s mayor says he was kept in the dark.

For months in mid-2007, plainclothes officers from the NYPD’s Demographics Units fanned out across Newark, taking pictures and eavesdropping on conversations inside businesses owned or frequented by Muslims.

The result was a 60-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, containing brief summaries of businesses and their clientele. Police also photographed and mapped 16 mosques, listing them as “Islamic Religious Institutions.”

The report cited no evidence of terrorism or criminal behavior. It was a guide to Newark’s Muslims.

According to the report, the operation was carried out in collaboration with the Newark Police Department, which at the time was run by a former high-ranking NYPD official. But Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker, said he never authorized the spying and was never told about it.

“Wow,” he said as the AP laid out the details of the report. “This raises a number of concerns. It’s just very, very sobering.”

Police conducted similar operations outside their jurisdiction in New York’s Suffolk and Nassau counties on suburban Long Island, according to police records.

Such surveillance has become commonplace in New York City in the decade since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police have built databases showing where Muslims live, where they buy groceries, even what Internet cafes they use and where they watch sports. Dozens of mosques and student groups have been infiltrated and police have built detailed profiles of ethnic communities, from Moroccans to Egyptians to Albanians.

The documents obtained by the AP show, for the first time in any detail, how those efforts stretched outside the NYPD’s jurisdiction.

New Jersey and Long Island residents had no reason to suspect the NYPD was watching them. And since the NYPD isn’t accountable to their votes or tax dollars, those non-New Yorkers had little recourse to stop it.

“All of these are innocent people,” Nagiba el-Sioufi of Newark said while her husband, Mohammed, flipped through the NYPD report, looking at photos of mosques and storefronts frequented by their friends.

Egyptian immigrants and American citizens, the couple raised two daughters in the United States. Mohammed works as an accountant and is vice president of the Islamic Culture Center, a mosque a few blocks from Newark City Hall.

“If you have an accusation on us, then spend the money on doing this to us,” Nagiba said. “But you have no accusation.”

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not return a message seeking comment about the report. Former Newark Police Chief Garry McCarthy, who is now in charge of the Chicago Police Department, also did not return messages left on his cellphone and with a press aide.

The goal of the report, like others the Demographics Unit compiled, was to give police at-their-fingertips access to information about Muslim neighborhoods. If police got a tip about an Egyptian terrorist in the area, for instance, they wanted to immediately know where he was likely to find a cheap room to rent, where he might buy his lunch and at what mosque he probably would attend Friday prayers.

“These locations provide the maximum ability to assess the general opinions and general activity of these communities,” the Newark report said.

The effect of the program was that hundreds of American citizens were cataloged — sometimes by name, sometimes simply by their businesses and their ethnicity — in secret police files that spanned hundreds of pages:

• “A Black Muslim male named Mussa was working in the rear of store,” an NYPD detective wrote after a clandestine visit to a dollar store in Shirley, N.Y., on Long Island.
• “The manager of this restaurant is an Indian Muslim male named Vicky Amin” was the report back from an Indian restaurant in Lindenhurst, N.Y., also on Long Island.
• “Owned and operated by an African Muslim (possibly Sudanese) male named Abdullah Ddita” was the summary from another dollar store in Shirley, N.Y., just off the highway on the way to the Hamptons, the wealthy Long Island getaway.

In one report, an officer describes how he put people at ease by speaking in Punjabi and Urdu, languages commonly spoken in Pakistan.

Last summer, when the AP first began reporting about the NYPD’s surveillance efforts, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his police do not consider religion in their policing.

On Tuesday, following an AP story that showed the NYPD monitored Muslim student groups around the Northeast, school leaders including Yale president Richard Levin expressed outrage over the tactics. Bloomberg fired back in what was the most vigorous defense yet of his department.

“The police department goes where there are allegations. And they look to see whether those allegations are true,” he told reporters. “That’s what you’d expect them to do. That’s what you’d want them to do. Remind yourself when you turn out the light tonight.”

There are no allegations of terrorism in the Demographics Unit reports and the documents make clear that police were only interested in locations frequented by Muslims. The canvas of businesses in Newark mentions Islam and Muslims 27 times. In one section of the report, police wrote that the largest immigrant groups in Newark were from Portugal and Brazil. But they did not photograph businesses or churches for those groups.

“No Muslim component within these communities was identified,” police wrote, except for one business owned by a Brazilian Muslim of Palestinian descent.

Polls show that most New Yorkers strongly support the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts and don’t believe police unfairly target Muslims. The Muslim community, however, has called for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s resignation over the spying and the department’s screening of a video that portrays Muslims as wanting to dominate the United States.

In Newark, the report was met with a mixture of bemusement and anger.

“Come, look at yourself on film,” Abdul Kareem Abdullah called to his wife as he flipped through the NYPD files at the lunch counter of their restaurant, Hamidah’s Cafe.

An American-born citizen who converted to Islam decades ago, Abdullah said he understands why, after the 9/11 terror attacks, people are afraid of Muslims. But he said he wishes the police would stop by, say hello, meet him and his customers and get to know them. The documents show police have no interest in that, he said.

“They just want to keep tabs on us,” he said. “If they really wanted to understand, they’d come talk to us.”

After the AP approached Booker, he said the mayor’s office had launched an investigation.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he said.

Booker met with Islamic leaders while campaigning for mayor. Those interviewed by the AP said they wanted to believe he didn’t authorize the spying but wanted to hear from him directly.

“I have to look in his eyes,” Mohammed el-Sioufi said at his mosque. “I know him. I met him. He was here.”

Ironically, because officers conducted the operation covertly, the reports contains mistakes that could have been easily corrected had the officers talked to store owners or imams. If police ever had to rely on the database during an unfolding terrorism emergency as they had planned, those errors would have hindered their efforts.

For instance, locals said several businesses identified as belonging to African-American Muslims actually were owned by Afghans or Pakistanis.

El-Sioufi’s mosque is listed as an African-American mosque, but he said the imam is from Egypt and the congregation is a roughly even mix of black converts and people of foreign ancestries.

“We’re not trying to hide anything. We are out in the open,” said Abdul A. Muhammad, the imam of the Masjid Ali Muslim mosque in Newark. “You want to come in? We have an open door policy.”
By choosing instead to conduct such widespread surveillance, Mohammed el-Sioufi said, police send the message that the whole community is suspect.

“When you spy on someone, you are kind of accusing them. You are not accepting them for choosing Islam,” Nagiba el-Sioufi said. “This doesn’t say, ‘This guy did something wrong.’ This says, ‘Everyone here is a Muslim.’”

“It makes you feel uncomfortable, like this is not your country,” she added. “This is our country.”

14-9

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Professional tennis player Shahar Peer was already the first Israeli female athlete to compete in the United Arab Emirates, and this past week she made another piece of diplomatic history. Peer caused a political tremor two years ago when, after much wrangling and fiercely strict security arrangements, she was eventually allowed to enter the Dubai Open. Her admission was preceded by a convoluted refusal to grant her a UAE visa the year before in 2009. This year, by contrast, Peer was actually invited to take part in the tournament.

The invite came through a wild card entry, a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) regulation which permits tournaments to seek competitors who are unable to gain automatic acceptance through a high world ranking. “I think it’s an amazing gesture,” Peer told the press. “It’s not something that you just think is going to come naturally. So it’s an overcome [sic] for them and I really appreciate it,” she added, meaning that there were obstacles to overcome before the decision could be made.

Amongst them are the  living arrangements, changing and dining facilities separate from other players, a designated and protected outside court for all Peer’s matches, bodyguards, and, in the past at least, snipers hidden in strategic locations. “I really appreciate them coming forward and giving this to me,” Peer added. “I think we’re doing amazing things here in the last few years, so I think it’s very good for everybody.”

She was asked whether her courageous appearances had had a big impact back home. “Actually they talk all the time – it doesn’t matter whether I’m here or not,” answered the Jerusalem-born pioneer. “Obviously it’s also a big thing for us as Israelis, what I’ve been doing here the last few years, so they really support and appreciate it. They’re always putting it in the news,” Peer said. “I think 2010 was one of the top two or three tournaments ever for me. I also played really well at the Australian Open when I got to the quarters. But I played some of my best tennis here. I’ve beaten two top 10 players and two other top 20 players so it has been an amazing week for me.”

Her presence in Dubai has both been good for cultural and political progress in the Middle East, and excellent public relations for a possible Dubai Olympic bid in 2024. It has also been an inspiration for the player herself. This year  Peer started her tournament by defeating an Arab Muslim, Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman, 6-3, 6-1.

14-9

TACC President Says Focus will be on Creating High-Wages / High-Skills Workforce

AUSTIN, Texas: Welding could be one of the high-wage/high-skills training programs community colleges will offer under the President’s proposal.

Details are sparse, but the dollars are plentiful in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal to distribute $8 billion in training funds to the nation’s community colleges. It’s certainly garnered the attention of community college officials in Texas, according to Dr. Rey Garcia, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC).

U.S. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan said Obama’s proposed Community College to Career Fund is part of the President’s strategy to “educate our way to a better economy.”

While community college officials are wide-eyed about the possibility of increased funding, Garcia said if it is approved, it will probably take at least a year for the money to trickle down to community colleges nationwide. And the impact the funding would have? “It’s way too soon to know that,” he said. “We don’t even know if it’s going to be a national competitive process or if the funds will be given to the states to let them distribute the dollars to the institutions.”

Federal programs aimed at workforce training focus on high-wage/high-skills jobs, said Garcia, from emerging and growing industries such as high-tech to allied health jobs. But in rural areas, even welding is a high skills occupation, particularly in areas like oil field process technology.

While administrative and legislative details have not been laid out yet, Garcia said community colleges are well aware that the proposal “will require congressional action.” And that’s never a given, particularly during a campaign season.

Garcia offered an educated guess about who would administer the funds. “If they run it through the Department of Labor, the local funds would likely go through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC),” he said, “although some might align with one of the governor’s initiatives.”

The TACC executive said from what he’s heard of the program so far, it sounds a lot like the Skills Development Fund money distributed by the TWC. Some of those funds help community colleges provide training to create a match between local businesses and the colleges to train or attract new employees to fill local industry jobs. Newspapers across the state often feature photos of state officials handing off oversized checks to community college officials for such training. With $8 billion at stake, Garcia said those checks “would be a lot bigger.” Garcia added that the Comptroller’s Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) program is another Texas-based program similar to the White House proposal.

However, he also notes that the $8 billion “isn’t all for us,” saying community colleges would get the biggest piece of the pie, but some of the funds also would be used for entrepreneurship training, performance incentives and for state and local partnerships.

One key need of community colleges that continues to grow as quickly as their student enrollment is funding for infrastructure – and that often means bricks and mortar. Garcia said it’s not clear yet whether any of the funds could be used for new construction, nor is it known to what extent any of the funds might be used to retrofit a building to coincide with the special needs for certain training.

This latest push for community colleges to take on a bigger role in ensuring an educated, skilled workforce, said Garcia, follows an earlier focus on that role that arose during the Bush administration. It was a “fairly small” community college training grant program then, he said, “that broke the ice.” Two years ago, there was an even bigger push for training, in part because of the Trade Adjustment Act that addresses the needs of workers who are unemployed because of the impact of international trade. Since then, said the TACC executive, the role of community colleges in training workers “has grown in prominence.”

This latest push for training workers is related to the nation’s economy, said Garcia. “As the workforce ages and the needs of employers change, they need an entity to help modify the skills of the workforce.” That entity is the community college.

Garcia said he is more hopeful that this attempt to provide funds to community colleges to carry out their training mission will be approved by Congress. But Congressional bickering has been prominent of late. However, Garcia notes that everyone is talking about jobs – Democrats and Republicans. “Businesses say they can’t hire because they can’t fill the positions with skilled workers. There’s fairly significant bipartisan acceptance that this country needs to invest in jobs.” The administration is hopeful such an investment in community colleges will help the nation’s economic recovery.

The goals are lofty. The President seeks a return of investment on the $8 billion as the successful training of 2 million workers for high-paying jobs in high-demand industries.

14-9

Michigan Secretary of State Press Release

Local issues on ballots in some communities

Calling voting a right and a responsibility, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is urging Michigan citizens to vote in the presidential primary election on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
“I would urge all citizens who wish to do so to celebrate their freedom and make sure their voice is heard, their vote counts,” said Johnson, Michigan’s chief elections officer.
This election, like all elections, is open to all registered voters.

However, because this is a “closed primary,” voters will be required to indicate which party’s primary they wish to vote in, and they will then receive that party’s ballot. Remember, voters do not need to be a registered member of a political party in order to cast a ballot.

Communities in more than 50 counties are also holding special elections that day, such as asking voters to consider local ballot questions.

Voters who wish only to vote in those elections may request a ballot that does not include presidential candidates.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

To obtain a sample ballot, determine whether you’re registered to vote and find your polling place, you can visit the Michigan Voter Information Center at www.Michigan.gov/vote. People needing additional information can visit the Secretary of State’s elections website at www.Michigan.gov/elections.

There is still time for voters to obtain an absentee ballot. As a registered voter, you may obtain an absentee ballot if you are:

●       age 60 or older.
●       physically unable to attend the polls without the assistance of another.
●       expecting to be out of town for the entire time the polls are open on Election Day.
●       in jail awaiting arraignment or trial.
●       unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons.
●       appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.

Voters who wish to receive their absentee ballot by mail must submit their application by 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 and must indicate their political party ballot choice in writing (Republican ballot; Democratic ballot; or ballot without presidential primary, for jurisdictions with local issues on the ballot). Absentee ballots can be obtained in person from the voter’s local clerk anytime through 4 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 27. Voters who request an absentee ballot in person on Monday, Feb. 27, must vote the ballot in the clerk’s office. Emergency absentee ballots are available under certain conditions through 4 p.m. on Election Day.

Residents who registered to vote by mail or as part of a voter registration drive and have never voted in Michigan are not eligible to vote by absentee ballot in their first election. They must vote in person at their precinct. This restriction does not apply to voters who are overseas, disabled or 60 or older.

Voters are reminded of Michigan’s photo identification requirement. They will be asked to present photo ID at the polls, such as a Michigan driver’s license or identification card. Anyone who does not have an acceptable form of photo ID or failed to bring it with them can still vote. If the voter does not have a photo ID, the voter may sign a brief affidavit attesting to their identity. Their ballots will be included with all others and counted on Election Day.

A specially equipped voting station called the AutoMARK Voter Assist Terminal is also available at each polling location for use by voters with disabilities.

For more information about office locations and additional services, visit www.Michigan.gov/sos.Sign up for the official Secretary of State Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/Michsos and Facebookupdates at www.facebook.com/Michigansos.

Customers also may call the Department of State Information Center to speak to a customer-service representative at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424).

###

For questions, please call Gisgie Dávila Gendreau at 517-373-2520.

14-9

By David French

DUBAI, Feb 22 (Reuters) – More than two years after the Dubai debt crisis erupted, the restructuring of corporate debts remains in legal limbo as it is unclear how banks can get back their money from government-linked enterprises in the Gulf state.

The impasse, which is aggravated by deficient bankruptcy legislation, is finally pushing some banks to lose patience and consider legal action. But their tougher stance is being matched by a hardening of the government’s attitude to bailing out state-linked entities, raising the risk of further delays in completing these restructurings.
In other jurisdictions, the spectre of legal action would have loomed long before now.

Local and international banks have been waiting nearly two years in some cases for resolutions to drawn-out restructurings of entities hit by the debt crisis in 2009, when Dubai was forced to request a standstill on flagship conglomerate Dubai World’s $25 billion pile of debt.

While Dubai World reached agreement on a debt restructuring a year ago, a string of other state-linked entities have not, leaving banks unable to get back money they are owed. As well as being hampered by a lack of legal remedies to force the issue, banks are also undermined by the fact that potential plaintiffs are companies ultimately owned by the emirate’s ruling family.

“You’ve got to get a Dubai judge to sign off on anything you bring, and it’s never going to happen as the owner is the heir apparent,” said one Dubai-based banker, talking about potential legal action by banks against Zabeel Investments, the investment vehicle of the Crown Prince of Dubai.

Talks on restructuring 6 billion dirhams ($1.63 billion) of Zabeel’s liabilities have ground to a halt with multiple loans in limbo and few assets available for sale, leaving banks facing steep reductions in the loan principal they are likely to recover, sources told Reuters in January.

Banks have sent multiple notices demanding repayment, but no legal action has been taken as it is not known whether such a step would succeed in a Dubai court.

The government’s hardening attitude to providing financial support is further complicating the situation for banks.

Banks involved in a $10 billion restructuring of Dubai Group, in which banks are owed $6 billion, said in December they were considering legal action to secure their dues from the company, which had not paid interest on its debt pile since August 2010, sources told Reuters in November.

This month the government walked away from talks on the Dubai Group restructuring, dashing hopes of a state-backed rescue. Dubai Group is a unit of Dubai Holding, the personal investment vehicle of the ruler of Dubai.

Analysts say the government has been emboldened in its negotiations with creditors following a number of successful debt repayments, including one for a $3.5 billion sukuk issued by state-owned developer Nakheel, and by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, which has made Dubai’s difficulties in paying back debt seem minor by comparison.

The reduction of well over 50 percent which banks will be forced to swallow on their Greek bond holdings, as part of the euro zone’s rescue plan for Greece, is far worse than anything seen on a Dubai restructuring. Dubai World promised to fully repay $14.7 billion it owed banks, but over a longer period of time and at a lower interest rate.

“To be honest, when the Dubai World restructuring news came out, I was thinking and, perhaps even hoping , they (Dubai World) would drive quite a bargain to reach a more sustainable capital structure. But they chose to go the other way,” said Jean-Michel Saliba, economist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Banks involved in the Dubai Group restructuring have argued that the government should provide financial support because the documentation promised it. However, they are not in a good position to enforce the claim.

MAY ORDER, WON’T ORDER

While the United Arab Emirates has bankruptcy legislation, the statute has never been tested by the kind of multi-billion dollar, multi-jurisdictional case which a Dubai government-related entity would represent.

Lawyers and bankers complain the legislation is out-of-date – especially in terms of criminalising anyone who defaults on debt – and is open to a judge’s interpretation, which means two identical cases could yield vastly different rulings. Also, bankruptcy legislation is spread across several different laws.

The authorities have recognised its limitations and a new insolvency law is being drafted, according to James Farn, a partner at Hadef & Partners, which along with Clifford Chance is drawing up the legislation.

“It attempts to bring in best practice from insolvency regimes in a number of other major legal jurisdictions,” Farn said.

However, the new law won’t be in place in time for the current wave of restructurings.

In the 2011 World Bank Ease of Doing Business report, the UAE was ranked 33rd overall globally, but came 134th on enforcing contracts and 151st on resolving insolvencies.

The current insolvency legislation is weighted towards creditors driving a court process to get their cash back, according to Farn. And the process is uncertain.

“One thing that a creditor wants to avoid is to enter into a procedure which may take ages and ages to finish and which may involve spending a lot of money in order to get your money back,” he said.

The new bankruptcy law may ease debt restructurings with greater provision for out-of-court negotiations between parties. In addition, the availability of “cram-down” provisions – where a minority of creditors can be forced to accept a restructuring agreement if it is acceptable to the majority – should prevent debtors from being held hostage by a few unruly creditors.

But it will still be difficult to seize assets – even if they are pledged as collateral – since land ownership in the UAE is on the whole restricted to citizens, with some provisions for nationals of other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

So international banks involved in a state-linked corporate restructuring would not be able to take control of assets and sell them on to realise their dues, as would happen in the West.

And the new law contains the same potential flaw as the existing legislation: it requires a UAE judge to rule against a government-owned entity – something which appears unlikely.

While Farn would not be drawn on whether a court would sanction anyone at a government-owned commercial entity which got into debt difficulties, he acknowledged that a court might be slightly wary of acting against such companies.

“The new draft law says the court may order, it doesn’t say the court shall order,” Farn said.

Banks for their part are wary of upsetting the authorities. That is making them cautious as they start to consider legal action in restructurings, since they do not want to damage future business opportunities.

“The banks are very aware of the ownership of the company and the prominence of the name, its importance to Dubai,” the Dubai-based banker said of the Dubai Group negotiations.

“The banks don’t want the negative publicity of legal action and insolvency for a company of this profile.”

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

14-9

Why would Iran settle scores with Tel Aviv in Delhi and Bangkok undermining its own interests?

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

This is perhaps what the expression ‘setting the cat among the pigeons’ means. Just when Israel was putting up that little show, going around the world crying about the way Iran was targeting its peaceful diplomats around the world, Tehran comes up with its own little performance taking everyone’s breath away.

Not that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad didn’t warn us. As always, everyone was sufficiently intimated that glad tidings on the nuclear front were on their way. Yet it was a master stroke. Give the Iranians their due. If the Israelis are known for their cunning and craft of obfuscation and manipulation, it’s not easy beating the Iranians at mind games either.
Defying years of western sanctions and the endless talk of war by Israel, the Iranians seem to have gotten another decisive step closer to their goal. And they have all the players and pawns where they want them to be. And for all their bluff and bluster, Israel and its guardian angels can’t do much about it.

As a former Indian envoy to Iran put it, this is like the classic Persian puzzle. Iran takes one step forward and waits and watches for the reaction of adversaries before taking the next cautious step. Call it the Persian incrementalism or whatever, but it seems to have worked so far.

The calibrated ‘diplomatic incidents’ in New Delhi, Georgia and Bangkok were of course a stroke of brilliance. They were apparently meant to hit two birds with one stone: First, pin the blame on Iran, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did within minutes of the Delhi blast calling Tehran ‘the biggest exporter of international terror,’ and create a credible pretext to hit the Islamic republic.
Second, derail the growing Iran-India relationship. The Israelis and Americans haven’t been too pleased with India’s refusal to stop buying Iranian oil after recent sanctions. By the way, India isn’t the only one to do so. China, Japan and South Korea too have refused to toe the western line.

As Dr Trita Parsi, the Iran hand at Johns Hopkins University and author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States argues, why would Iran do something so foolish as this and that too in New Delhi? It’s an insult to the Iranian intelligence.

India is, after China, Iran’s biggest trading partner and importer of Iranian oil. Besides, the two have shared a quiet partnership since the Russians left Afghanistan. It has even survived the Indian vote against Iran at the IAEA. Incidentally, Thailand is another major trading partner of the Islamic republic. So why would the Iranians choose the distant tourist paradise to settle scores with the Israelis, hurting their own interests?

Secondly, in both India and Thailand, it’s the Israelis who have been quick to declare that the sticky bombs used in Delhi, Bangkok and Tbilisi are similar to the ones used in killing four Iranian nuclear scientists over the past two years. Be that as it may, how does that link them to Tehran? Indeed, having repeatedly used the device to deadly effect against the Iranians, why couldn’t the Israelis have used it again in the Indian, Georgian and Thai capitals?

On razor’s edge

The detention of an Iranian, who blew up his legs while handling the explosives, proves nothing. It’s hardly a secret the Israelis and Americans have been using the Mujahideen-e-Khalq militants against Iran. As the West turns up the heat on Iran by way of economic sanctions, a trade blockade and crippling of its banks, coupled with the rising chatter of coming war, the region has been on a razor’s edge for months now. All that is needed is a tiny spark to blow it all up. A minor skirmish here, a misunderstanding there or a perfect false flag in distant lands could prove excuse enough for a full-blown conflagration with catastrophic consequences.

That moment seems to have arrived with the incidents in India, Georgia and Thailand. Israel is desperately looking for a pretext to punish Iran. With the arrival of US election season and Europe being preoccupied with its economic mess, perhaps there cannot be a better time to do so. But it’s easier said than done. Israel cannot do so on its own without US help. If it was doable, Israel would have done it by now. Iran is not Iraq.

Even though a demonstration of the capacity doesn’t mean willingness, would you be terribly surprised if Tehran indeed goes for nukes? Given Israel’s terrorizing of the region over the past six decades and the West’s hegemonic wars, it’s actually tempting and makes sense to go for the comforting reassurance that nuclear weapons seem to provide.

More to the point, what right does Israel — and other world powers — have to lord over their nuclear arsenal while the rest of the world has to submit itself to IAEA scrutiny? If the international community is indeed serious about a nuke-free world, it has to first address this nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty duplicity. Nuclear weapons are a clear and present danger to the Middle East and the world, no matter who owns them.

Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Gulf based commentator. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/aijazzakasyed

Special to Gulf News

14-9

By Karin Friedemann, TMO

Pall-bearers load the casket of pop singer Whitney Houston into a hearse following her funeral service at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey February 18, 2012. Houston, 48, died in a Beverly Hills hotel room on February 11, the eve of the music industry’s Grammy Awards. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Whitney Houston’s recent death has caught a lot of media attention, and a lot of commentary. Many people are posting pictures on Facebook with pictures of starving Africans saying, “Whitney Houston dies, millions cry: Millions die, nobody cries.” While I fully sympathize with anyone who wants to do their part to save the starving African children, I detect some racism in these comments. Why shouldn’t a successful Black woman in America be blessed with honor, sympathy and the love of millions?

Whitney Houston was most noted for her beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the 1991 Superbowl, our nation’s most uniting event of any given year. The US national anthem is one of the most difficult songs in the English language to sing because of the wide tonal range that it demands. Even though I am not a nation-worshipper, I have to admit she nailed it.

I don’t know a lot of the details about Houston’s life, but the tragic fact is that although she was adored by many, she died her tragic and premature death alone. It makes me wonder how many other people in this country are alone tonight, feeling depressed about their failed relationships, and taking medication to stop feeling depressed and anxious. How many of us could quietly slide underneath our bathwater and die without anyone noticing? Granted, even if someone else were in the other room while Houston was taking a bath, they might not notice that she went unconscious. But maybe if she had had one friend to watch TV with, who could cheer her up with a joke, she would not have felt it necessary to take those medications with alcohol. She died a death that would have been fully preventable, had she not been distraught, alone in her hotel room.

One of the reasons I rushed into marriage when I was young and probably not ready for it, was because I slipped and fell in the bathroom and realized that if I had hit my head and not been able to get to a telephone because I was too hurt to move, I might die and nobody would notice until the smell of my rotting body disturbed the neighbors. There was another time, twelve years later, after my first divorce, when I was in so much pain and I had no health insurance nor money to see a doctor, that I laid down on the balcony in full view of the street so that in the event that I died, people would eventually notice. I was not even seriously ill. I was just so tense and lonely that my emotional pain became unbearable physical pain. Yet even during both of my marriages, there were times that I needed medical attention and was too weak to insist on the seriousness of the situation, but my spouse simply did not notice or care enough to take me to the hospital or help me. This might be the saddest type of loneliness of all.

The news reports often mention that Whitney Houston seemed to fall apart after her marriage failed. It is also quite possible that her marriage failed because she was falling apart. She was apparently struggling with huge amounts of grief and sadness, frustration and anxiety, maybe even absorbing emotional abuse, and probably suffering from unanswered questions like “What if?” Even though starving children in Africa are absolutely worthy of our affection, the privacy of emotional trauma is no joke. Carry it around alone long enough, and you will become sick and die even if you don’t drown in the bath. The sad fact is, there are a lot of desperately unhappy people in this world, perhaps even living in your house. That person could even be you.

I hope Houston’s death will serve as a wake up call to those of us who need help. I know that when I was lying on the balcony waiting to die, I didn’t have any idea who I could call. I felt that I had been abandoned by all the world. There were other times when I was panicking from the sound of silence in my apartment and went for a walk, hoping that somebody would say “hi” to me, but no one did. I have to admit that my second failed marriage was arranged underneath the weight of that panic level. So, what could I have done better, looking back? How would I advise someone in a similar situation?

The first step of survival is realizing that you deserve to live. Giving yourself the “right” to take up space in this world is a First Chakra issue. The First Chakra is located at the base of the spine, the center of the nervous system that connects your organs to their blood flow. It is the house of desire. It is vital that you learn to increase your appetites, dream about what you want, believe that you deserve to eat good food, live, thrive and be happy because God made you.

Once you acknowledge your own personal Right to Life, you have a duty to get help for yourself the same way that you would feel like you had to do something if you found a lost child crying on your doorstep. Assertiveness takes some courage but far less courage than dying. Ask and you shall receive.

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