Hostage in Reverse

How Syria gained power over Iraqi oil, and what it cost both countries. 1934–1972. The first of three essays.

Oct 11 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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September 2026

The Counterattack

Hong Kong bought its own stock market. Malaysia shut its borders to money. In private, Washington was closer to them than its speeches were. Who paid…

Sep 21 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The People Who Could Not Get Out

Inside the declassified files of Asia's 1997 financial rescue: who was protected, and who paid?

Sep 6 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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August 2026

A Valuation Is an Opinion. Debt Is a Schedule.

When the Music Stops — Part 1 of 3: how short-term dollar debt put Asia's real miracle on a rollover clock

Aug 30 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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It Happened in 1974. It Is About to Happen Again.

I spent close to thirty years inside Gulf sovereign wealth. Washington is preparing its quietest ask — again.

Aug 15 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The Label Travels

AI surveillance does not need to read your mind. It only needs to make suspicion cheap, portable, and hard to erase.

Aug 8 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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When the Electron Learned to Tell Time

The West reads China’s power reform as liberalization. It is better read as industrial policy by price signal, and the world’s largest AI buildout is…

Aug 4 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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July 2026

Four Yen Before Lunch

The session opened at 163.41.

Jul 30 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The Tenant of Record

A $4.25 billion bond document raises a quieter question about the AI build-out: who is good for the rent?

Jul 28 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The Right to Stop

Every AI data center carries a hidden option: the day the watt is worth more than the model, it earns more switched off.

Jul 24 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The Price of Thirty Years

Washington is borrowing for thirty years. Its next buyer may only want ten.

Jul 23 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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The Last Ship Out

What the last LNG carrier out of Hormuz left behind.

Jul 20 • Nazem Alkudsi, CFA

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