Re: Scaremongering?
 

last time the saudi were shooting at the uae was in the 60's, the last time the uae was shooting at qatar was last week when they bombed people supported by qatar in libya in a proxy war being fought alongside the egyptians.
i think everybody is way way too sensitive and paranoid and the have guns lots and lots of them

i think it wouldnt be long until they started shooting and i think it wouldnt be too long after that that the shooting stopped because all the armies suddenly vanish as they realise there is real danger of chipping a nail and having to do some work

Re: Scaremongering?
 

:goodpost:

Nah, it would be mayhem if the armies left.
Israel would be the first to invade Syria and Lebanon in my opinion or the Syria / Iran / Iraq block would try and attack Israel, either or.

The wahabs I think now feel that they have stirred the hornets nest by
a. Allowing the septics to do what they did in Iraq
b. Funding the Sunnis in Syria which eventually spilled over (had to) into Iraq
c. Superimposing a sectarian war in the middle east, where in fact there really wasnt one to begin with. I mean, sure there were tensions, but most were brought on by the Shias and Sunnis grinding gears in Iraq and that too was quite a lot under control within Iraq's borders.

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Exactly.

If you tickle the lips with your japs eye, you may as well stick the whole thing in. You've ****ed it already.

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Ain't that the truth.

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Agreed, although I think there would be a very marked divide between those countries who could muster an effective army (ie those who already have, although I use the term effective loosely), and those who couldn't. For all the top brass having attended Sandhurst there'd be a great number of hoarse voices...

Re: Scaremongering?
 

You are drifting away from the main argument. The point I am making is this, whether it’s the African tribes, or the European nations, or the desert tribes, or the Amazonian tribes, each l have had a go at inter-fighting among themselves throughout history. But who among them should be given the medal for being the best at it? I think the medal should be given to those who had conducting those fighting on a biblical level!!

As for the Scandinavians, yes I am aware of their Viking ancestors, but that is just about the only time when that nation spilt over their boarders. Compare that with how many times the English went into France for example!

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Unfortunately Mike is giving in to the pressure from those members who are uptight and can’t take a joke :p

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Your friend is very right in his thinking and for anyone to think otherwise he would be a complete nutter. Those military bases in this region are not particularly a peace keeping force brought there to settle down the disputes between the Gulf countries. They are there to carry out missions such as the ones we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan, and God knows where else in the coming future. The vast majority of them (if not all) were brought to this region right after the Kuwait war and their presence has been hugely troublesome for the region, not least it was used by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaida as a propaganda to gather supporters by claiming those are infidel armies in Muslim lands.

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So let me turn the table on you and ask you, what about your brother jimmy savile and his gang? And no, those are not some scum individuals from some community, they are actually highly respectable members of the society. And also what about those who travel abroad to refugee camps in trouble stricken areas to target the children there?

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you mean the saudis, jordanians, egyptians, kuwatis and so on.

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**** me you genuinely are off your trolley

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I think you really are 12. You certainly have virtually no grasp of the realities of the world. Do you not read anything of authenticated veracity? To engage in meaningful debate you need to have an appreciation of, preferably, a wide range of subjects but, as a minimum, the matters under discussion. India doesn't have many of the items on my list, in particular those relating to civil liberties. It seems that everyone needs a great deal of effort to convince you of things which are common knowledge, or at least easily verifiable.

You really do need to go away, read, listen and learn to think beyond what you've been told is fact. You need a mentor who can teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Then come back and try to debate--you'll find it far more rewarding.

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No, the bored is getting very bored with your responses. In particular the prepubescent fantasies.

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Why are you talking about India? Of course they are the greatest country on earth. :rofl: Well, according to every Indian I have ever met (in the gulf) who doesn't live in India anyway. Makes you wonder..

Ah yes. All the issues in the region started just after the Kuwait war :huh:

As to your last point re infidel armies in Muslim lands what does this tell you about the level of education of the people who actually believe the propaganda from these so-called religious groups. On a side-note Europe also had an issue with low education up until about 50 years ago. It seems education has a tendency to calm people the ***** down..

My friend is an optimist and a dreamer! The core problem will be that there is a lot of money and oil-wealth floating about in the region, but it is (of course) not equally distributed so you will have some countries who are a lot better off than others despite the size of their population which in turn makes them an easy target. And just like the pringles ad says 'once you pop you can't stop'....

Re: Scaremongering?
 

Yet another thread completely derailed. Aren't the mods supposed to do something about this? (question to self).

Back to topic, is there now a very real threat to the UAE assuming that the recent reports in Libya are true?

It seems like a crazy assed move by the UAE if it is true. I can't imagine that the security forces over here will be able to prevent a hand full of gun men walking into one of our many shopping centers and causing havoc......Cue mass exodus.

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Surely the Sand Pit is exactly where things can go off-topic, since its labelled as a place of off-topic chit chat. Tangential discussions are interesting, surely?

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Sometimes they are interesting. Mostly its the same protaganists having the same old arguments.

The original purpose of this thread, as I see it, could be quite important for people living in the UAE particularly those with families, but that seems to be completely lost amongst the squabbling.

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However, I just glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of my own petard...

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I'm sure we can get the thread back on track if we try hard enough..(I have been wrong before though)

Personally I believe the GCC is at a very tricky point in time. Disagreeing on foreign policy is one thing and honestly I was never of the impression that they were supposed to be united on that front, but this latest Libyan incident has the potential to become interesting. Quite possibly too interesting!

Also if the US proceed with their rumoured plans for a coalition to defeat the ISIS chaps that just adds to the temperature..

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Yes for years we have heard that the UAE will be ok because the GCC's wealthy invest here, etc. But if they continue to get their hands dirty with the extremists, while being laudible it could bring some unwanted side effects.

Interesting times indeed, I don't believe it would take much for most to leave this place.

Re: Scaremongering?
 

hell at least its some sign of life in the place

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possibly but unlikely.

Everyone will throw their dummies out the respective prams, meet for lunch in london or paris and realize that none of them have the stomach for any actually fighting.

The qataris will realize that Saudi and the UAE aligned its a ****ing nightmare for them and that the Saudis have more soldiers on their border than they have people and that in fact collecting art and flying supercars around the world is far preferable to a war that would destroy them all.

There are issues, most are underlying and have been for a few hundred years but there is such an iron rule and some sense of pragmatism that while things may get heated in the media and some lower down diplomats expelled anyone who is anyone wont be sanctioned or insulted in anyway.

This will ensure a decent show of righteous indignation whilst being very careful to avoid insult to those that matter, keeping national face and pride whilst showing the various locals that the leaders are serious and actions ar e being taken.

it'll be a bit like a pantomime and probably not very convincing.

however that said, it will only take one zealous idiot who took a remark too seriously to go too far and all ****ing hell will break loose in a matter of days.

Re: Scaremongering?
 

Do you think Mods sit online all day watching for any 'transgressions'? Or maybe they have real jobs to attend to and there is no Bat Light shining over the sky in Gotham City to call them in to sort out any trouble?

It's only the internet, chill out. If you're so offended don't read the thread, better still switch your PC off and do something more interesting instead ;)

Re: Scaremongering?
 

Today has been a slow day at work, but I still have to look like I am doing something. A bit of faux offence brightened up my afternoon and gave you something to do. I know how bored you get.

I do think abusing posters should be clamped down on though. But I raised it with the abuser rather than reporting it.

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Poor. I hate it when threads get all deleted.

It was hardly World War III.

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sheesh i go away for 5 minutes and now i've no idea what happened.
was it fun?

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Not really, nothing happened.

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Its not finished yet. Sue'll be round soon.

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Meh

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That being said, I'm currently torn between staying on here all night and leaving the office in 8 minutes and going out for dinner with my Dad (arrived last night).

It's a bloody tough call.

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Given current events mate, what the **** are you doing still in the office!

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I often wonder that.

Think we'll go to Bab Al Shams this weekend instead of another brunch. Definitely going to slope off early for the football with him tonight. :thumbup:

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Isn't "exit plan" overstating it a bit? More like "most expats know they'll leave at some point in the future".

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Yes a plan for when they'll exit. Just how you use/interpret the words. My exit plan is retirement back to UK in April 2016.

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It's the bits that don't get reported that worry me the most. I have met many Emiratis from the Northern Emirates and they are a totally different breed to the Abu Dhabi Emirati - less materialistic and much more focused on religion etc...

Re: Scaremongering?
 

heheheh I had assumed by 'exit plan' you had 4 or 5 different ways out of the UAE depending on the unfolding scenario :lol:.