Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
For banks, 2018 is year of data
We are often told that regulation and technology are the key drivers of change in banking. This maxim remains true, but can distract from a more critical insight. In 2018, regulatory reform and technology innovation will continue to reshape banking. But the changes they enable are being propelled by forces so profound and far-reaching as …
Growth potential in emerging markets is unaffected by rising dollar
The decline in emerging-market currencies since March is the result of the dollar rally. However, emerging markets are still benefiting from synchronised growth in the global economy. That momentum provides a good opportunity to move back into this asset class. The year 2018 started well for emerging markets, until they peaked on 20 March. Since …
President Al-Sisi’s difficult dialogue
Within days, a new session of the Youth Conferences will be held. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will attend and participate in the conference. The upcoming conference may be difficult and held at a critical time. The question is why? The conference will be the first appearance of Al-Sisi after the decisions made to increase the …
An insatiable salesman
Unexpectedly, a casual incident brightened my life. It was one of the most interesting meetings I had during a recent trip to my native province, Tucumán, located in the north of Argentina. There I met Roberto Espeche, a local notary with a fascinating life history. I met Roberto when I was in a restaurant with …
Supreme Court candidacy crisis
The decision made by US Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony McLeod Kennedy to retire at the end of June has raised a crisis to choose an alternative for him in the American Supreme Court, which is the second battle that US President Donald Trump is getting into after his success in choosing Republican judge Neil …
Zionist entity succeeds in sowing seeds of sabotage in our societies through social media
Several years ago, the intelligence services of the Zionist enemy established an integrated e-team whose mission is to create sectarian strife between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Muslims and Christians in the Middle East, and among the Palestinians themselves. This specialised team created pages and groups on social media, named after famous Muslim and Christian personas, …
Opinion: The Nelson Mandela in us all
Nelson Mandela would have turned 100 today, and political copycats are falling over themselves to add a bit of his luster to their own bespoke suits. But Claus Stäcker asks, What role does Mandela have in society today?Barack Obama praised Nelson Mandela as the “moral compass” of his political career long ago. Obama spoke about …
Artificial intelligence, business intelligence both indispensable tools for digital future
In the wake of the fourth industrial revolution that has swept the globe, and most certainly in the Middle East, significant technology advancement has completely upended how businesses operate. Accelerating innovation and growing automation technologies have become widespread, and our region is making a concerted effort to embrace, adopt these technologies, and consolidate its position …
Balkan Egyptian community represent last link of a long chain
A scientific research about historical and anthropological aspects of Balkan Egyptians is important not only for the members of Balkan Egyptian community, but also for other people in the Balkans, Europe, Mediterranean lands, and of course in Egypt. Such research is important and for the development of scientific thought and to resolve many issues related …
Op-ed review: Blaming EFA, bad management for Egypt’s ‘humiliating’ World Cup defeat, exit
Egypt’s successive defeats in the World Cup dominated writers’ op-eds on Wednesday
Loans: Who is to blame?
The government borrows money to meet its short- or long-term needs when there is a budget deficit. This is called debt. So, debt is a bill paid by coming generations in cases of obtaining loans for the purpose of narrowing a budget deficit without aiming to finance development projects. Or it may be a bill …
Opinion: What we say when we talk about race
On the surface, Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding had all the glitz and glamour you would associate with such an occasion. But now accusations of racism-tinged media coverage have taken some of the shine off the gloss.It was a wedding fit for a (new) duchess: In one of the biggest TV events of the year, …
Serving growing need for higher education
The demand for higher education around the world is growing. By 2030, according to UNESCO, the number of enrolled students is expected to more than double to over 414 million. Serving that population and others requires extraordinary energy and imagination, strategic thinking, and innovation. The need for quality higher education is especially important in the …
Egypt: Turning potential into performance
The revival of Egypt’s economic fortunes over the past few years has been nothing short of dramatic. The Arab world’s most populous country has devalued its currency and carried out a series of bold, but necessary, reforms to stabilise its economy, stimulate growth, and increase employment. A $12bn loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) …
Chemical attacks will continue unless there are consequences
If the lives of thousands of Syrians have no value to those watching indifferently, the whole world will be in danger when these precedents become familiar acts, made acceptable by silence and failure to punish the criminals. Silence in the face of what the Syrian, Iranian, and Russian regimes are doing in Syria will make …
A small example of peaceful coexistence
Growing up in Tucumán, a town in the north of Argentina, I had the opportunity to see a small example of peaceful coexistence and collaboration between Arabs and Jews. I was reminded of that experience after reading an article by Uri Avnery, one of the leading peace activists in Israel, on the need for a …
The Iraq war fuelled the destruction of the Middle East
Fifteen years after it started, the Iraq war has nearly destroyed the country, one of the most prosperous in the Middle East, and destabilised the whole region by intensifying internecine and religious conflicts and giving rise to new and violent groups. And the human and material costs of the war keep mounting. In addition to …
5 things global CFOs should do in 2018
Where should CFOs focus their attention in 2018? In my conversations with customers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, a few key patterns and themes have become clear. Chief financial officers (CFOs) recognise that the role of corporate finance needs to change to keep pace with the world around them. Rapid changes in consumer …
Saving the environment, empowering women
Vickie Frémont, a French woman born in Cameroon, is a modern day heroine. For the past several years she has been conducting workshops around the world, using a hands-on approach for the transformation of rejects or trash into useful everyday objects. Included in her workshops—which take place in schools, community centres, universities, and even in …
New foundations
In the post-second world war era, American-Saudi relations had been a strategic constant in the Arab world. Both the United States and Saudi Arabia had made sure to work in concert and coordinate closely their Arab and regional policies. There had been disagreements, and in some instances, very serious ones, like the ramifications of the …
Opinion: The one way to control Facebook — delete your account
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who famously took his first cynical steps towards creating the society-smashing social network in a university dorm, has seen his company take a financial hammering. Or so the story goes.
The biography that Trump could not stop
New York, NY—Rarely was there so much expectation for the appearance of a book as is the case of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House of the North American journalist Michael Wolff. And never before were so many copies sold so quickly. Before its appearance, the book and its e-book version had reached …
A war of succession
On 12 October, the two warring Palestinian organisations, Fatah and Hamas, signed an agreement, under the auspices of the Egyptian Intelligence Service, to carry out a major national reconciliation. According to this agreement, Hamas was supposed to hand over local governance in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian government headed by Rami Hamdallah. The Cairo …
A risky venture in the Middle East
According to a New York Times article, published on Monday 12 March, the White House is expected to wrap up its much-awaited peace plan for the Middle East. The plan would deal with the major questions of borders, security, refugees, and the status of Jerusalem. According to three senior officials in the United States government, …
The economy tiring us: What after the presidential election?
There is no alternative to focusing on investment and stopping debt
The economy tiring us, Episode 71: Journey to Miami and the world of blockchain
It is no wonder that a number of countries, corporations, and major banks have begun to consider the adoption of dealing with blockchain and the related cryptocurrencies as means of payment. Some European countries, such as Germany, have announced the adoption of encrypted currencies as a means of payment. Venezuela created a new currency linked …
A strengthened alliance
Leaving behind his mounting legal problems, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington last Saturday to attend the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israeli lobby in the United States. On his five-day visit, Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump and congressional leaders. The White House meeting …
The wisdom of idiots: a brief morality tale
Idries Shah was a teacher in the Sufi tradition whose seminal work was The Sufis. He presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. In his writings, he frequently used teaching stories and humour to transmit this philosophy. His stories contained multiple layers of meaning and were written with the idea that …
Reconciliation efforts resumed
An Egyptian delegation arrived on Sunday 25 February to Gaza, in an effort to bring closer together Fatah and Hamas. Through an Egyptian mediation effort, the two Palestinian factions had signed an agreement on 12 October 2017 in Cairo, committing themselves to carrying out, in letter and spirit, a previous reconciliation accord reached back in …
A word I shouldn’t use
New York—Growing up in Argentina, I had an English teacher named Sarah, a kind and knowledgeable woman. Reading one of my papers, in which I called a character in the story “a despicable man,” she admonished me: “you shouldn’t use that word, César, it is too strong.” Now, decades later, I find that perhaps that …