Michael Karam: US-based Lebanese businesses will overcome Trump



I’ll say one thing for the new and divisive US president, Donald Trump: he doesn’t waste any time. In his first week in office he signed about 20 different executive actions. He tore down the healthcare law; renegotiated trade deals and, in what was without doubt his most inflammatory act to date, barred refugees and citizens from seven terror-prone countries from entering the US. The ban extended to those citizens who have dual nationalities but were nonetheless born in those countries.

Lebanon wasn’t flagged but Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen were. The Lebanese, however, especially those from the business community who willed Trump to victory, must surely realise they have been very short-sighted in their support. It was a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and the enemy this time around was the Democratic candidate, the scandal-plagued Hillary Clinton.

Many Lebanese and Syrians looked to Mr Trump as a welcome antidote to Mrs Clinton, who they saw as continuing a pro-Israeli policy. The Donald, on the other hand, they reasoned, was simply looking to make America great again and this signalled a more isolationist, less interfering policy. Now it seems that the relationship between the Washington and Tel Aviv is likely to reach unparalleled levels of intimacy, especially if the US embassy is relocated to Jerusalem. After that, all bets are off.

The Lebanese have fallen for unconventional and unpredictable demagogues before (president Michel Aoun being the prime example); they lapped up the “Crooked Hillary” conspiracy theories and above all they felt they could trust a businessman whose hands were not soiled by international politics. He was a dealmaker, and they thought they understood his world. After all, the Lebanese are the last people to blame someone for wanting to turn a profit.

They also may have breathed a sigh of relief at having dodged this particular bullet, but it doesn’t mean there won’t be extra scrutiny at US borders – especially for Lebanese Muslims or those Christians with Arab names. And there is always the chance that Lebanon will be added to the list, especially if tensions with Iran escalate and Hizbollah comes into the Trump crosshairs. Many will fear that with heightened tensions over the Muslim terror threat and a sense of alienation in a country they call home, the current climate may signal the end for many Lebanese who live, work and own businesses in the US and who, crucially, send back remittances to Lebanon.

What will happen in huge Arab communities such as those in Dearborn, Michigan, which is also home to Iraqis, Syrians, Palestinians and Somalis? How many of those, like my sister-in-law, voted for Mr Trump because they saw Hillary as a Zionist pawn and now feel very silly? And now what of the Syrian Christians, in many cases the backbone of what is left of the Syrian economy? They will feel cheated by the man they embraced as a natural ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was helping the Assad regime fight ISIS.

But in this spontaneous era of extreme vetting, it won't hurt to end with a bit of levity. On Saturday, for no particular reason other than a burst of childhood nostalgia, I was leafing through a copy of Asterix the Gladiator in which there appears the wonderful Ekonomikrisis, the rotund and oily Phoenician trader who serves as the supreme symbol of the Roman Empire's free market. Ekonomikrisis, in fine Lebanese tradition, is both chairman and chief executive of his seaborne trading company, sailing, literally and metaphorically, close to the wind and possessed with a sense of spin that was millennia ahead of its time (Who else but an early Lebanese would shamelessly call the rowers on his galley his "partners"?).

Like Ekonomikrisis and the real Phoenicians, the Lebanese have been trading across oceans for millennia. It will take a lot more than a jumped-up construction mogul to dampen our spirit.

Michael Karam is a freelance writer who lives between Beirut and Brighton.

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The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

Price, base: Dh1.2 million

Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm

Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm

Fuel economy, combined:  12.3L / 100km (estimate)

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

Ruwais timeline

1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established

1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants

1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed

1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.  

1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex

2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea

2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd

2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens

2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies

2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export

2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.

2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery 

2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital

2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13

Source: The National

Asia Cup Qualifier

Venue: Kuala Lumpur

Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September

Fixtures:

Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore

Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman

Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal

Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore

Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu Sep 6: Final

 

Asia Cup

Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Schedule: Sep 15-28

Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier

'Nope'
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How to get there

Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
 

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained

Defined Benefit Plan (DB)

A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.

Defined Contribution Plan (DC) 

A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.

 


 

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Company profile

Company name: Dharma

Date started: 2018

Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: TravelTech

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs

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Company%20Profile
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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home. 

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5