Xerxes

thank you. will look into this. Those few words could end up be the most important part of this investment/insurance AGM.

Pete, Going on same theme of embedded call option getting good value in recent years for FFH, do you see a similar “step-change” in Berkshire history in the 90s and 2000s, where it was the optionally that got fully valued more than anything else. Is Berkshire being ready for the disaster that GFC was, counts in your opinion as the same as FFH being ready for a major re-rating ?

Finished the book. The last few pages cover like 10 years or so. The show is at episode 9. One more to go. Episode 8 and 9 were straight from the book (with minor changes that made it better). It is incredible to see how the producers were able to create a show based on such complicated book without oversimplifying it. Reading this book I have learned more about Japanese people in that era, culture wise than the past 25 years of my life reading history books about Asia. This novel somehow seeps in all the cultural nuances that gets missed just by reading history books. I think I will read Tai-pan next that deals with merchant families in Hong Kong. According to Wiki: Four of the six books—Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, Noble House, and Whirlwind—follow the dealings of the great trading company Struan's, the Noble House of Asia (based on Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited), its founder Dirk Struan, and his various descendants. Gai-Jin provides the major link between the Shōgun and Struan's storylines.

Plan within plans within plans. This is right out of Frank Herbert's Dune.

Medical question: Anyone understood what medical test Prem Watsa was talking about in the AGM ? that he makes available for everyone in the company. Related to the heart. I recall few years before Covid, I think his CFO passed away. I wonder if that was the reason why this initive was started.

I am less than 25 pages from the end. Of the 1,100 or total pages. Somehow the author is going to weave and wrap all the plotlines in those 20 or so pages.

interesting title they chose for the book ”ruthless” ….and not “relentless” as they should have. Is that a miss ? I don’t know if you are familiar with that historical tidbit. go to www.relentless.com see what happens

@Dinar If you are interested in obituaries of slain revolutionary guard generals, the one that The Economist wrote on Suleimani in 2020, was spot on the man. And his background. I don’t know how The Economist are able to get a profile so well in a short span of time. Credit goes to that magazine and its reach and resources. https://www.economist.com/obituary/2020/01/09/obituary-qassem-suleimani-was-assassinated-on-january-3rd

@whatstheofficerproblem We have no stake so we can talk non emotionally. Others have stake, family and friends. At this stage (nor anytime soon), I don’t expect neither a Palestinian nor an Israeli to be able to have that type of conversation. So they get a free pass from me. Wounds are way too deep. That said, I have no problem in blasting North Americans and European when they go off into full Peter Jackson LOTR mode uttering whatever. on Starbucks, imagine my surprise Monday morning when it didn’t open 10% down. lol. I own it and love the brand.

Dinar I don’t read anything coming from Tehran that is official. It is of no use. Mostly lies. They may claim something they didn’t do while not claiming something that they actually did. The audience is always the domestic Middle East folks. And right now there is a “market share” to gain of being a “defender of Gaza”. Not knowing the details of Oct massacre, it is highly unlikely that Hamas (a Sunni organization) took orders from heretic Persians. Sure they will take their money, and weapons, but they do their own thing. The Mullahs in Tehran are after continuity and self preservation. To give an easy analogy: For instance, Iran sees Israel as a US proxy. But it doesn’t mean everything that Israel (the proxy) does is directed from DC. Israel has a mind of its own as Hamas has a mind of its own. The proxy actions sometimes may or may not conflict with what the “higher up” desires. And just it is easy to find “hard connection” between the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza and US military, well you know they use American h/w and are in constant communication, it is probably not hard to “find” communication trails between Hamas and IRGC, if one wants build a hard narrative. Now that said, any of this does not change Iran’ “foreign legion” malign behaviour in Levant. Nor does it change that while they do not have hard control over Hamas, they DO have hard control over Hizbollah, where that ideological relationship goes back decades. I will also add for those here actually interested in history, the Hamas organization and Tehran were at odds for better part of the 2010 decade. Why ? Because they were on the opposing side of the Syrian War. Only the end of the Syrian War in the last couple of years, brought Hamas close to Iran, to invest in as “passive non-controlling stake”. I hope this post helped anyone who actually looking for some pointers. Aside of just relating the latest talking points from either side. I may not be totally right, but I think directionally I am right.

Agree with your post. One of the better post in the whole 5 pages. your two cents are in the money. IMHO but I don’t think US cherish its role and not looking to score election win point.

Renewed half of mortgage to 5.5% (3-year) up from 3%. The other half still hanging at 1.7% expiring in very late 2025. Unknowingly I sort of shorted the bond market by issuing debt at bubble territory during Covid mania.

thanks. If that was you, I think then I saw you on video conference in Q&A for FIH for a brief period. thanks for your contribution to this forum

If anyone has notes from the British Tobacco that was presented I would appreciate if they could post. Also please don’t be shy to share stuff that was outside the televised AGM that was FFH related

it was brought up in FIH meeting and not FFH meeting. Basically the question was : “we heard rumours, if true will it be through FFH balance sheet or FIH?” Prem confirmed that it is a rumour and such. But not worry they can get creative with large transactions given FIH’ situation. In fact I would say he was borderline confident.

lol

Not much detail but better than nothing. Their exposure to resources was kind of interesting

Do we have Israeli, or Palestinian, or Jewish people with folks/contacts back home or Arabs from neighbouring countries in the ME that can chime in this thread ? Or are they all hiding and just lurking. I think they should be commenting more than us North Americans and Europeans

It has been said (i don't know where I read that many years ago) one bad outcome of the otherwise great Israeli decisive victory in the Six Days War was that they suddenly came into possession of the West Bank and its entire population. Typically, when you gain land over many years, inch by inch, you can de-populate by attrition, forcing people out slowly. It is much more difficult when suddenly you gain and land with people in it. That needs some long term commitment to make life miserable and brings about all kinds of problem, one of which is that from Jordan point of view, Israel has now the West Bank and the people in it. Not their problem anymore. You see, you cannot just conquer the land but deciding not be responsible to the people in it. But like I said in my post to Dinar, in my opinion Conqueror's Rule prevails. Israel won the West Bank. Fair and square. How they deal with their subjected population (And thus far, I ain't impressed) is what we can opine on, but not their right to the territory. My history of Gaza is a bit fuzzy. Not exactly an interesting topic for me to read about.

Disagree, the moment war stops Netanyahu is out of the job. That was the whole point of the embassy strike. War has to continue and take a new form. It is about Netanyahu' "right to keep his job", everybody else is acting their role as puppets, with clueless North Americans cheering on

I have a different take. It doesn't matter that much who was there 1,000 years ago. or even 500 years ago. We as humans may have personal bias and attachment to a particular culture and religion. So this kind of debate is pointless and will never stop. Should black South African put all the white people to sword because Black people were there first. In this analogy black people are like Jews "who were there first" and white people are like Arabs "that came later". What matter is (in my view) is what I call the "conqueror' law". Israel has won wars against Arab state in '73, '67 and others before. Government fight wars because they cannot agree diplomatically. The two sides could not agree diplomatically, therefore they entered into a contest. And the Gods of War have decided the matter for them. Israel prevailed. And it deserve recognition. And the fact that it is historical link to its ancestral homeland is a nice touch. Palestine (IIRC) was part of the kingdom of Jordan pre-1967, so they changed their masters from the Hashemite dynasty to Tel Aviv, but they remain subjects. Israel had signed peace treaties with most of the Arab countries that it was fighting against, but subjugated people (that swap one master for another) don't factor into peace treaties between sovereign powers. Now how Israeli treat their subjugated population is really for them. We, however, as outside observers and as human beings have every right to question when we see injustice. Wether it is from the subjugated people toward their overlord (terrorism) or vice versa (state-sponsered terrorism). So that there is no confusion, subjugation is not solely about annexation and direct rule, you could have de facto control over a population in every sense, and not annex it and just choke them for decades. In its heyday, the British ruled Egypt, yet formally it was governed by the office of the viceroy who formally answered to the Sublime Port and its Grand Vizier. It was de facto control. Gaza and West Bank be it before 2006 or after has always been under de facto control of Israel. So that makes them responsible. It is a shitty job, but that comes with victory.

There will be no Gulf money for Gaza, until they are sure there is a credible path forward with all parties involved. No one is going to pay a dime, only for Israeli to blow stuff with their 2,000 Ib bombs, two months later.

The best outcome would the sudden death of Khamenei. Not that flowers will blossom after his fall, but rather that next generation (most likely the IRGC) will have different view, as they control Iran's assets, borders and have an interest for a quid pro quo. This view would (that IRGC would be better) be counterintuitive for Westerners. But then again, Westerners are not exactly up-to-date with everything in the real world. The second best outcome, would be for Netanyahu to depart. Surely, the Israeli people deserve a better leader than this clown. Sadly, Netanyahu as hateful as he is, he is actually somewhat of a balancing moderate in his cabinet when compared to some (not all) crazy extremist in his cabinet. So he is unlikely to go. Folks (Westerners of course), like to point out to no end how Gaza voted for Hamas in 2006. Yet, they look the other way, when it comes to Israeli government and it current extremist profile.

Really .. lol. Where you expecting the rides of Rohirim out of a scene from the Lord of the Rings. Or perhaps the Ayatollah on a back of a camel, marching toward Jerusalem like a scene out of Riddly Scott’ Kingdom of Heaven. Extended Edition no less. Iran and Israel have been at it like two wild dogs for the best of the past several decades. Most of the time covertly. Sometimes overtly. When it is overtly it becomes state to state. Even shadow wars have rules of engagement. As silly as it is. Assassination, cyber wars, proxy wars are considered “covert”. Everything else is that is state-to-state is considered “overt”. Israel understands this. Iran understands this and US governments understands this. The only folks that don’t understand any of this are normal everyday folks based in Europe and North America, who SUDDENLY gets interested in a topic, and than move to their Netflix show once it is no longer exciting. Before being suddenly interested in a new topic. So yeah i don’t think the mullahs (that somehow survived for 4 decades like a parasites despite it all, that outlived many regimes) were going to get suddenly stupid and unleash their deterrent arsenal from south of Lebanon. And launch actual ballistic missiles from Iran. (Despite their news coverage) You guys just had to watch SkyNews that has excellent coverage. And great defense analysts talking.

Hamas is what it is. A terrorist organization that needs to be wiped out. Now given the things that you just wrote and that we agree what Hamas is, can you explain why Netanyahu was funding Hamas in the past couple of years, and using it to undermine PA in West Bank. North Americans may be naive but Bibi is not. Explain to me how any of that and settlement expansion was meant to forge a path forward toward the two-state solution. Why Netanyahu was funneling Qatari money to Hamas ? the reality is that neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian were and are interested in two-state solution. Like I said they deserve each other. Since they are both so hateful. ps: this last statement is not intended to offend Arabs, Israeli, Jews and Muslims. I love them all. But it is 100% intended to offend all decision makers and their racist brainwashed lackeys on both sides and everywhere.