redShark

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!

redShark

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

redShark

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.

redShark

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?

shiva

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

shiva

**** me you genuinely are off your trolley

Bahtatboy

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.

mikewot

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

norsk

Why are you talking about India? Of course they are the greatest country on earth. 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

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'....

Dumbo

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.

Bahtatboy

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?

Dumbo

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.

Bahtatboy

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

norsk

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..

Dumbo

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.