Check in with reality Ellen
Singapore becoming a nascent hub for Islamic banking…Soon enough, Islamic “values” will prove no more difficult for capitalism to mold in its image than Asian “values” were.
http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/2007/05/islamic_banking_hits_a_crucial.html banks use Murabaha (a “cost-plus” transaction) to finance mortgages. In a Murabaha deal, the bank purchases a property for market price and then immediately resells it to the buyer for an agreed-upon higher price. However, the buyer pays the higher price to the bank over a period of time, throughout which the bank retains ownership of the underlying asset as collateral. As a result, while the bank never formally charges interest, it receives imputed interest in the form of the contractually guaranteed higher resale price.
http://www.thestreet.com/newsanalysis/wallstreet/10373684_2.html Entirely missing from Ellen’s analysis is Iran’s principled support for Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, etc…
She appears to be making a pathetic attempt to deflect attention from the obvious: wars for eretz Israel.
“Islamic scholars have been seeking to devise a global banking system that would serve as an alternative to the interest-based scheme that is in control of the world economy, and Iran has led the way in devising that model.”
Disinformation. Malaysia is far and away more of a leader in this field.
“Iran was able to escape the debt trap that captured other developing countries because it had its own oil.”
More disinformation. Iran “escaped the debt trap” because the zionists refused to extend them credit. Many oil producers with large impoverished populations have been caught up in debt traps.
Iran offers a “viable economic alternative”???
Iran’s ban on usury is only superficial, in fact it’s economy is as capitalist as any. This article is so inane that it can only be viewed as a red herring. Iran’s economy is fully open to multi-national “free trade”, the true restrictions originate from the zio-cons. Iran’s national assets are even being privatised. What kind of “research” led Brown to this baseless thesis? Open your eyes Ellen, the “contagion” is resistance to zionist domination.