Michael Shiloh

Independent. Award-winning 35-year broadcast #news reporter, anchor AND former improv, standup #comedy. Where's a good place for Chinese breakfast?

[Super Journalist (Retired) - JOURN-EL of Skrypton @Magnum_CK]

Look at all that joy! 🙄

[NewsMike @NewsMike_]

10 Threats that endanger America on this birthday. From China to data centers, from corporate capture to incompetent leadership, let's define the problems on this day of celebration, so we can solve them.
#AmericanPride #AmericanFortress #china #war #ww3

https://t.co/PHO0UdXfw2

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@ThatEricAlper "Too much...MODERATION."

(Under the Volcano)

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@SprinterPress Why does it have to be Iran? Think bolder, maybe?

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@SharylAttkisson That's crazy! (Which is now a universal exclamatory)

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

I didn't recognize this symbol on my rental car, but I didn't push the button because I wasn't in the mood to enter The Time Tunnel.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@BBCWorld The West would like to have access to the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It would be an advantage to Iran to gain some access to the SWIFT system, breaching the economic wall that has existed since the banks were nationalized in 1979.
https://t.co/2M6CVjUWx9

[Izabella Kaminska @izakaminska]

It seems to me the popular framing around this $300bn reconstruction fund being akin to reparations is all wrong. As far as I can see it’s a private investment vehicle, funded by a consortium of international private sector companies and investors that need legal certainty and stability to act. And guarantees that they will not be at risk of being sanctioned themselves.

That makes it more like a bailout of Iran’s collapsing economy by external capital (based on a bunch of conditionality) than a “reparation” fund.

Fascinatingly, at $300bn the deal represents FDI several times larger than all foreign direct investment Iran has received since 1979 combined!

The most striking thing about the reporting of this so far is how little has leaked regarding governance, ownership rights, equity percentages, or investor protections. The headlines focus on the size of the fund, but the structure remains largely opaque. And this arguably is the most important element of the deal. Without this info I wouldn’t be too quick to proclaim wins or losses.

If the deal secures 50:50 ownership of capital invested in (rather than majority share for Iran) this would be a significant capitulation of control by Iran. And a MAJOR shift in economic norms for the country.

Worth remembering modern Iranian nationalism was formed around the belief that foreign powers repeatedly extracted Iran’s wealth while leaving Iran with little control.

Since 1979, Iran has consistently structured its economy to ensure that foreign capital could enter only on terms that preserved ultimate Iranian ownership and control.

Throughout the period it has nationalized major industries and banks, embedded state control of strategic sectors such as oil, gas, minerals, banking, foreign trade and infrastructure in the constitution, prohibited foreign ownership of hydrocarbon reserves, rejected concession agreements and MOST IMPORTANTLY production-sharing arrangements common elsewhere.

It has relied instead on tightly controlled buyback and service contracts that required foreign investors to finance and develop projects before handing them back to the state.

Even when it later liberalized through investment laws and newer petroleum contracts, it generally insisted that foreign firms remain contractors or minority partners rather than owners of strategic assets. The underlying objective throughout was to prevent any recurrence of the foreign economic influence associated in Iranian political memory with the pre-revolution oil concessions, the 1953 coup, and decades of perceived external control over national resources.

If the reported $300 billion vehicle ends up being structured around genuine equity participation and shared ownership rather than Iran’s traditional contractor-style arrangements, it would represent a major departure from the economic model Iran has largely followed since 1979.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@MarkNewman1954 I'm sorry, Mark, I had no idea, but it's great work. I was just thinking you might have someone else singing "Amarillo's Still Mournin'", but I'll have that one on YouTube as soon as possible.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

https://t.co/eyPgULPVcp

[NewsMike @NewsMike_]

i am highly skeptical of the assertion that one might die by deliberately jumping off this bridge. It would give new meaning to the old song, however, were Billy Joe to have been pushed.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@MarkNewman1954 @paigered3 Enjoyed it, Mark, thanks! Who sings "Amarillo's Still Mournin'"?

See the cut below.

https://t.co/RSMhz74Hfb

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@Variety The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@PamelaHensley22 The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@RobSchneider The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@PirateBeerd @adamcarolla The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@godard @Acosta @NicolleDWallace The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@glennbeck @SharylAttkisson The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@mazemoore The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@Magnum_CK The original "60 Minutes" correspondents were breezy and bigger than life, but the show turned stuffy and self-important many years ago. Now it's just the venue that draws people, not the correspondents.

[Michael Shiloh @doctorshiloh]

@Magnum_CK @pudgenet @tmi3rd @DukeSelden “No one ever wanted to hire me. Ever. I’ve never been recruited anywhere. I have beat my head against every wall, at every place that I worked.” -- Scott Pelley

He's done it again.