No margin, no mission

So like, in the middle of an Accounting class, when lots of people were walking in and out, Smith actually said, "Is this Churchgate station, I ask you?! I don't think so!" Too funny.

Over two hundred of Hollywood’s top animation experts are moving to Dubai, in an attempt to develop the world’s biggest outsourcing centre for movie animations.

"We will bring in talent from the US for this — we're talking about Oscar-winning animators — who will relocate to Dubai and be able to produce 3-D animations. These will be of movie quality — so, for example, a lot of the production for a movie like Star Wars could be outsourced."

Read more here...

Nakheel boss Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, and flamboyant real estate mogul Donald Trump are pouring millions into a massive joint development.

Two weeks ago, Nakheel, developer of more than US$30 billion in real estate in Dubai, and The Trump Organisation stunned the region, revealing plans to invest US$400 million into a tulip-shaped hotel on The Palm man-made island development in Jumeirah.

Read more here...

Here is an excellent article written by Walid Akawi about the Mehlis Report on the assasination of Rafik Hariri. Akawi raises some very vital questions which reinforce the feeling that there is a conspiracy to bury the consipiracy. I wonder if the UN will commission more investigations or if this is it. Admittedly there are no legal implications but is Syria truly responsible?

Front-end margins vs. back-end rebates? Dubai has been a haven for back-end rebates for as far back as I can remember. Stuart Wilson does a good job of discecting this model.

This is still a problem for the majority of vendors in the Middle East. They will talk until their blue in the face about the importance of channel support and development, and then implement a financial model that completely undermines these lofty ambitions. Unless the fundamentals of the financial model underpinning the Middle East channel are addressed soon, the market is going to face a credit crunch.

It snowed yesterday. The first snow is always so very nice. I also found a Reef restaurant close to home with excellent baba gannouj and grape leaves. Methinks dinner tonight shall be Lebanese. Ooooo... kahweh...