He thought some more, and added, "Right now, we could make an argument that the border is relatively secure.
"If a tenant is of good stature, the income is relatively secure and there are few instances in this country of rent being reduced".
Although the main channel in the Gulf of Aden is relatively secure, pirates are now threatening ships planning to berth at Mombasa, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, he said.
According to Pierre Thomas, professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, hydraulic fracturing is "relatively secure," but only if drilling is preceded by expensive studies, and the operation is monitored thoroughly.
Marcus's own dollar is relatively secure: though he didn't benefit from the Comcast deal, which would have netted the executive $80m had it closed, he did manage to unload some $43.7m in stock last year, according to SEC filings, and will certainly benefit from the Charter transaction, should it go through.
As long as Mr. Gbagbo can pay his security forces and a core group of civil servants — a tab of $50 million to $100 million a month, depending on the accounting — he is relatively secure in the short term, diplomats and business officials here say.
