Counting the Cost

From China to Iran, and in between

Criss-crossing the world with stories from China, to Iraq, to Europe, to Iran.

Hi there,

I am trying to find a way to describe this week’s show, but so far it is a bit of a struggle… simply because we’re criss-crossing the world with stories from China, to Iraq, to Europe, to Iran.

I’ll tell you a couple of interesting things though.

On Iran, I had the chance to interview the country’s interior minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar when he made a quick trip to Doha to sign a security agreement with the Qataris.

Now Iran’s budget had just been released, so I talked to him about that and how the government was planning to reduce food and energy subsidies again.

To me it seemed like a huge risk, and maybe an unnecessary one. We know all too well how a portion of the population reacts to this government nowadays… just imagine if they have to struggle even more to buy food and gas? And really, in a country with that much oil?

And on China… well frankly we could do a whole show on China every week if we wanted, such is the volume of economic news coming out of there.

This week though, Teymoor Nabili is sitting down with Marc Faber, a Swiss investment analyst, who is a real go-to guy for economic trends.

His track record is very good, and in this case he did predict the rise of China and the commodity market some years before this current boom. Watch out for that.

And keep an eye out online in the coming weeks too. I’m finally succumbing to the latest fad (though I remain a little unconvinced by it!) and will have a Counting the Cost Twitter page very soon!

We’ll use it to bring you the interesting business news as it happens, point you to some of Al Jazeera’s business blogs as they come out, and also use it to increase our interaction with you. 

We’re planning a new segment which will take in your views from the street, and we’ll use Twitter to actively promote that.

So keep an eye out on your screens – both TV and computer – and join us for Counting the Cost on al Jazeera.

Counting the Cost can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 1430, 2030; Saturday: 0430, 1230, 1900; Sunday: 0130, 1630; Monday: 0830; Tuesday: 0600.