Redesigning Lebanon’s Consociational Confessional Democracy — atiejelmouallem.com
Lebanon has adopted the consociational confessional framework of democracy due to its complex multi-religious sectarian population. These electoral laws were created under French mandate in 1926 and for the most part, have endured to this day as the current electoral system.
This arrangement was to be temporary, as mentioned in the 1943 National Charter, and the Taif Agreement also mentions that a national committee was to be formed to investigate sectarianism and that the distribution of top positions was temporarily allowed on the basis of sectarian lines.
Our ideal democratic institution would be a secular, numerical democracy, but that has not been possible because of sectarianism and religious fanaticism. The real problem is not consocialism per se, but the rigid and extreme consocialism practised here. So before we go about redesigning Lebanon’s Consociational Confessional Democracy we need to know what are the frailties of the existing design.
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Why buy now pay later is on the rise across the GCC
Highlights:
– There is a huge gap in the market that the current legacy financial solutions are not filling. To get a sense of the size of this gap, Tamara is only 15 months old and 2021 was our first financial year, yet 2 million customers joined our platform and we have processed around SAR 1 billion of GMV across 2,000 merchants in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” said Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, the CEO of the Saudi-based BNPL platform.
– Hosam Arab, CEO and co-founder of tabby says “Young millennials are savvy consumers and want transparency in how they are transacting and therefore if you are very clear with them about what happens at the time of purchase – meaning that they don’t get charged any hidden fees and what happens if they miss a payment – they will embrace it.
– This transparency has allowed for consumers to adopt this payment method en masse and is something that will continue to displace some of the more traditional methods out there”
– Platforms such as tabby make their money by charging participating merchants a fee, explained Arab.
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EXPERIENCE LIVING IN PIXEL
Pixel is the first mixed-use residential community at Makers District. Pixel offers its residents & visitors a unique space to enrich, collaborate & engage.
Designed as human-scale, the 7 mixed-use residential towers surrounded by quiet pocket gardens have been strategically arranged around a vibrant pedestrianized plaza.
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Abu Dhabi’s Alpha Dhabi makes its second big real estate investment, with 25.24% in Al Qudra | Property – Gulf News — gulfnews.com
Highlights:
– Hamad Salem Mohamed Al Ameri, Managing Director and CEO of Alpha Dhabi Holding said. “Al Qudra’s business strategy is a perfect fit for ADH, and this acquisition will add considerable shareholder value as we continue investing in carefully selected industries with sustainable growth potential, as the company is active in unique investment opportunities and has facilitated the development of various projects that meet the local and regional market needs.”
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Europe’s Energy Supply Crisis Has the EU at the Mercy of Putin and the Weather – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– With its natural gas stockpiles running dangerously low, the European Union is at the mercy of two wily forces—Putin and the weather.
– The energy crisis hit the bloc when the security of supply was not on the menu of EU policymakers,” says Maximo Miccinilli, head of energy and climate at consultants FleishmanHillard EU. He expects the energy crunch to keep prices volatile and also trigger more political tension between regulators in Brussels and the leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states.
– Europe is in the midst of an energy transition, shutting down coal-fired electricity plants and increasing its reliance on renewables. Wind and solar are cleaner but sometimes fickle, as illustrated by the sudden drop in turbine-generated power the continent recorded last year.
– Russia stands poised to further cement its position as the bloc’s top supplier. Gazprom and its European partners have plowed $11 billion into Nord Stream 2, a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) pipeline running beneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
– A recent bump in LNG imports from the U.S. has provided some relief, but it’s temporary at best.
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Hybrid Work Schedule: Which Flexible Arrangement Employees Actually Want – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– When given a choice, most rank-and-file office workers favor two days a week in the office. Some prefer to have those days back-to-back, but the majority separate the days.
– The employees who like three days per week are predominantly managers, client-facing employees, and those with highly people-heavy jobs.
– Of all the employees polled, only one person preferred five in-office days, because of home conditions that aren’t conducive to working.
– Pandemic upheaval has not shaken the concept of 9-to-5. Even staffers coming in for only one-morning meeting tend to stay all day, though they predominantly slip out after seven or so hours, rather than eight or nine.
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Billionaires Dalio, Peterffy Embrace Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum as Inflation Hedge – Bloomberg
Highlights:
– Thomas Peterffy, the Hungarian-born billionaire is well versed in cryptospeak. Peterffy, worth $25 billion, said it’s prudent to have 2% to 3% of one’s personal wealth in cryptocurrencies, just in case fiat currency goes to “hell.”
– It’s possible that cryptocurrencies could reap extraordinary returns — even if the opposite is also true, Peterffy said.
– Ray Dalio recently revealed he was holding at least some Bitcoin and Ethereum in his portfolio.
– The Bridgewater Associates founder views the investments as an alternative money in a world where “cash is trash’’ and inflation erodes buying power.
– Paul Tudor Jones disclosed he’s invested as a hedge against inflation, and almost half the family offices Goldman Sachs Group Inc. does business with were interested in adding digital currencies to their portfolios, according to a recent bank survey.
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Crypto world divide exposed by ‘bividend’
Highlights:
– Bitcoin, according to Allen, is an unproductive asset, “just literally sitting there”. It might appreciate. But it doesn’t generate revenue, which has historically been the purpose of a publicly listed company.
– The ethereum has a job. The bitcoin does not. BTCS has begun staking — placing ethereum and some other cryptocurrencies in a kind of digital escrow, vying for a chance to verify a ledger of transactions. The more coins you have staked, the higher the likelihood you’ll get to verify the ledger. The reward is a fee of more coins.
– The bitcoin protocol is not designed for staking. Bitcoin, by design, is supposed to just sit there, hopefully becoming more valuable, transferable if necessary.
– If BTCS is right, bitcoin is headed for a strange twilight. It is not quite ready cash. Nor it is a productive asset.
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