Mideast

The U.S. Dollar has been holding up quite nicely during this credit crisis. In fact, it rallied significantly from deeply oversold levels against the Euro and British Pound (remember Dollar-Euro at 1.60 and Dollar-Pound at 2.10?). However,…

The Financial Times Deutschland is reporting that China and Iraq want to revive a Saddam-era oil contract between the two nation that is worth billions of dollars. The contract, an obvious economic coup for China, secures Beijing…

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), which played such a vital role in the recapitalization of U.S. financial institutions during the first go around, are looking to cut their U.S. exposure.Basically, the U.S. is running an extremely inflationary…

Apparently, the Bush administration isn't just waterboarding its detainees; it's doing much, much more. I can't hope this book will get enough press because the American people are completely apathetic, but this is a travesty. Does it…

This report comes from Fin24 in South Africa.Iran on Sunday said it has discovered a new oil field in the hydrocarbon-rich province of Khuzestan with more than one billion barrels of crude in place. Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said…

If you haven't heard yet, you will soon. The Chrysler Building was snapped up by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (otherwise known as the government of a foreign country). With the U.S. still sporting a current account deficit over 5% of…

Whether you believe that peak oil is here or you believe that it's fantasy, ultimately your opinion rests on whether the Saudis can pump more oil. For years, Saudi Arabia has been the swing oil producer, able to turn on its oil spigots…

Barclays was successful in raising the money it needed. It was able to avoid a rights issue with the attendant problems that HBOS has faced by going cap in hand to Asia and the Middle East. In the end, it was the Qatar Investment Authority…

Earlier today in the news, it was revealed that our top man in the military in the Middle East, William J. Fallon has asked to retire and resign from his post (see story)This story may seem innocuous and of little to no consequence at a…