Category Archives: Middle East

The Bloody Business of War

Posted on 30 September 2014 by Laleh Khalili

I discovered something interesting that somehow I had managed to miss all those years ago about the massacre at Karantina… Years ago, I wrote in my first book (which was based on my PhD research) which also included stories about … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, militaries, ports, shipping conditions, transport, war | Leave a comment

Mohammad Al Fayed and the ports business

Posted on 22 September 2014 by Laleh Khalili

It seems like Mohammad al-Fayed (of Harrod’s fame – and obviously many other ventures) was also in the port business.   In 1964, he entered a deal with Papa Doc Duvalier of Haiti, whereby he invested $5 million in the … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, finance and insurance, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports | Leave a comment

Shipping Alliances

Posted on 13 September 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The world’s top three shipping lines are, in order, Maersk (Denmark’s second largest company after Lego), MSC (a privately-held Italian firm), and CMA CGM (a French firm).  Some time ago, they decided that they were going to start up an alliance, … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, transport | Leave a comment

Other uses of ships

Posted on 10 September 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The Guardian reports that the Libyan legislature has taken refuge in a Greek car ferry: A Greek car ferry has been hired as last-minute accommodation for Libya‘s embattled parliament, which has fled the country’s civil war to the small eastern … Continue reading →

Posted in infrastructure, Middle East, ports, ships, transport, war | Leave a comment

How the (closure of the) Suez Canal changed the world

Posted on 31 August 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The segment of my January/February container-ship journey I am most anticipating is passing through the Suez Canal.  Here is what Horatio Clare writes about his passage through Suez: Unfinished wars lie under all our horizons.  The chart on which Chris plotted our … Continue reading →

Posted in infrastructure, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, ships, transport, war | 4 Comments

Hitching a lift on a US aircraft carrier

Posted on 9 August 2014 by Laleh Khalili

The Super Hornet bombers that dropped 8 500-pound JDAM bombs on Islamic State forces in Iraq had flown from the aircraft carrier USS George H W Bush, afloat in the Persian Gulf.  It is one among at least 5 Navy ships and 3 ships … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, militaries, readings, ships, war | Leave a comment

A love story far from the sea

Posted on 16 July 2014 by Laleh Khalili

This beautiful little love story has some extraordinary bits about the Syrian revolution, the subsequent civil war(s), love, families, sectarian sentiments, and the sea: On the second day of Ramadan, I come home from work to find Jesus, Maalik, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, ports, readings, seafaring, the sea, war | 4 Comments

imaginary cities

Posted on 21 June 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Hav is like a nested doll.  There is an original fictional travelogue published in 1987 embedded within the arc of a narrative that updates the story originally published in 1987 with “the events”; with the resulting diptych published in 2007.  Then … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, Middle East, ports, readings | Leave a comment

The Port of Beirut

Posted on 20 June 2014 by Laleh Khalili

This gallery contains 23 photos.

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“a city of many rivers”

Posted on 8 June 2014 by Laleh Khalili

It is extraordinarily rare to read someone whose work haunts you and then becomes part of your personal canon.  That you wake in the middle of the night wanting to look at the map of his imaginary geography.  The last … Continue reading →

Posted in literature, Middle East, ports, readings, the sublime | Tagged , | 1 Comment