Arab newspapers comment on Lebanese stalemate and UAE Islamic banking

Editorials in Arab newspapers comment on Time Magazine's selection of influential Arab leaders, an Israeli counterpart to Al Jazeera

Dubious criteria for influential people

In a commentary for the Lebanese newspaper Assafir, Satea Noureddine criticised Time Magazine for its lack of judgement over who should be named the year's most influential person.

In this, it resembles the famous Guinness Book of Records, which compiles wonders and sparks people's curiosity more than it records humanity's true achievements. Thus, both publications have become sources of entertainment rather than sources of serious information.

The trend has started since the 1950s, when the Time pioneered a tradition to choose the most influential persons each year in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, science and arts.

With the passage of time, this tradition has lost its appeal for many reasons. Mostly, the world has failed to produce figures who deeply affect the course of history. Instead, ephemeral personalities stepped in.

Meanwhile, the reputation of Time has gone through the same process and lost its credibility. More than that, it adopted loose if not ambiguous criteria. This is at a time when the public worldwide has access to information and can know about the lives of many names honoured.

Interestingly, this year's list of the 100 most influential people included such names as the Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada Sadr, the Yemeni Anwar al Awlaqi, and Saif al Islam al Qaddafi, to name but a few.

Israel plans to counter Al Jazeera TV Network

In response to the growing influence of the Doha-based Al Jazeera TV Network in sparking Arab revolutions, the Israelis are mulling over establishing a similar media institution themselves, wrote Yasser al Zaatra in an opinion piece for the Jordanian newspaper Addustour.

This came during a forum hosted by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue at Israel's Netanya Academic College. Panellists unanimously agreed on the danger Al Jazeera represents for Israel. Some went on to call it a serious threat to the very existence of the state of Israel.

Earlier, at a meeting of US Jewish leaders in March, the Jewish billionaire, Alexander Meskovic, announced his intention to launch an international news TV channel broadcasting in English, Arabic, French and Spanish. He maintained that the aim of his enterprise would be have a media platform to tell the truth, mentioning that the other channels falsify facts. This will cost Israel its image worldwide. Mr Meskovic described his planned channel as the "Jewish Al Jazeera".

This is not the first time that efforts were made to compete with Al Jazeera and reduce its impact. Al Arabiya, which has a quite good share of the Arab media landscape, remains a distant second. In 2004, the US launched the Arabic-speaking Al Hurra TV right after the invasion of Iraq, yet it failed to grab the attention of viewers and remained on the margins.

Politics go back to square one in Lebanon

"Officials can easily lose their grip on the boundaries between their private and public lives, encouraging the public to view them only from this perspective," noted the Lebanese newspaper Al Anwar in its editorial. "And since Lebanon is such a small country where people tend to know each other in close circles, the gap between what is the public and private domain in the life of politicians tends to be even blurrier."

Prime minister designate, Najib Miqati, left Beirut for London, yet the media failed to report it. He left in silence. There was no press release to announce it. Later, it was discovered that he was on a private visit to see his daughter, who had just given birth to twins.

On another note, close sources revealed that Mr Miqati is less likely to form a government that goes against his convictions and plans. They added that the man won't bend to the conditions of anyone. And only when the right time is right will he discuss a new government team with the president for approval and the issuance of decrees.

Mr Mikati, however, is in dire political straits, even though he claims to reserve a right to nominate his team members. The first sign of opposition came from Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, who demands that nominations be proposed by various political blocs.

This means that the government formation process is still at square one, and any progress is nothing but lip service.

Islamic banks' role is under scrutiny

In an opinion piece for the UAE newspaper Emarat al Youm, the economist Najeeb al Shamsi highlighted Islamic banking in the UAE, pointing out some of its flaws.

The first Sharia compliant bank was established in the UAE in 1975 and since then the number has increased. Islamic banks have expanded the range of their products, especially in the provision of finance, prompting other commercial banks, including foreign ones with branches in UAE, to engage in Sharia compliant activities. This practice yields more revenue compared to interest-based banking.

Islamic banks are supposed to promote Islamic values without exploiting customers, who rush to these institutions as an alternative to interest-based banks. Yet some of the Sharia compliant banks contradict Islamic principles when they abuse customers by exaggerating the price of their services, whether financing a car, a house or university fees.

Unlike commercial banks, Islamic ones reject the requests of borrowers when they want to pay off their debt earlier. This lets us question whether there is at all any difference between the two, and puts the development role of Sharia compliant banks in doubt.

* Digest compiled by Mostapha El Mouloudi