Qatar vs all others

[Pannonian]

As a first in the area the reasons are out there for the public to see and in an official capacity too.

- AJ coverage of Yemen
- Inciting 2011 Arab Spring movements in neighboring states
- Relationship with Iran
- Housing Brotherhood members and wanted criminals from nearby states
- "Lack of commitment" in Yemen
- Funding Hamas

The straw that broke the camel's back was the hostage situation in Iraq where they paid a ransom, and a series of events before that involving literally planeloads of cash landing illegally in Iraq.
https://www.ft.com/content/dd033082-...91d43?mhq5j=e2

In depth article about it.

Western liberals thought this was a great thing. More freedom and democracy is good for the west in particular and the world in general!

[Gilrandir]

We had the gastronomy in the past without the aggressive religion. Go back 25 years and Islam wasn't an issue in the UK.

That is the way with foreign culture penetration. It starts with food. Then when the locals are familiar with it and even begin to to like it - you find that you are inside a China town.

And you're the one who mentioned it was his stepmother, am I to assume you're a liar?

You doubted all the rest of my information on the issue yet believed that the woman was his stepmother. Isn't it a strange way to pick the trustworthy facts?

The point was that it's hard to know what happened for sure, at least for me.

Yet you do have an explanation for yourself?

That Russian police are rather brutal is not news, it's an integral part of the wonderfully colourful Russian culture.

Not only the police. It is noteworthy the Russian ombudsman for civil rights (or for children's rights, don't remember exactly) was totally on the side of the police.

[Pannonian]

That is the way with foreign culture penetration. It starts with food. Then when the locals are familiar with it and even begin to to like it - you find that you are inside a China town.

Not much problem with that. Soho Chinatown is an excellent centre for Asian groceries and ingredients. I go quite often to restock on ramen and stuff. 5-10 minutes in either direction to Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street, with Leicester Square next door, so it's a convenient meeting place too, grabbing a bite from one of the nearby food shops while I wait. And if you're of that bent, Shaftesbury Avenue aka the West End is on the other side of Chinatown, so you can literally cross the road and have your pick of the big theatres. I've heard that 30 years ago Chinatown was even more of a centre for Asian culture, but most of that seems to have been assimilated into the semi-mainstream, with Chinatown itself mainly a centre for food. Good food though.

[Gilrandir]

Not much problem with that. Soho Chinatown is an excellent centre for Asian groceries and ingredients. I go quite often to restock on ramen and stuff. 5-10 minutes in either direction to Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street, with Leicester Square next door, so it's a convenient meeting place too, grabbing a bite from one of the nearby food shops while I wait. And if you're of that bent, Shaftesbury Avenue aka the West End is on the other side of Chinatown, so you can literally cross the road and have your pick of the big theatres. I've heard that 30 years ago Chinatown was even more of a centre for Asian culture, but most of that seems to have been assimilated into the semi-mainstream, with Chinatown itself mainly a centre for food. Good food though.

China town is an example showing how ethnic neighborhoods develop. I doubt if you would find "Syria town" as much agreeable, though you may no doubt like the food.

[Pannonian]

China town is an example showing how ethnic neighborhoods develop. I doubt if you would find "Syria town" as much agreeable, though you may no doubt like the food.

Chinatown and the Anglo-Chinese community is a typical example of how ethnic groups develop in the UK. Starting with an alien first generation, subsequent generations are born into the host nation and are largely indistinguishable culturally from the host culture (at least on the street). The host culture takes on aspects of the guest culture.

If only Muslim culture was the same. I certainly used to think Pakistani culture was the same. The problem is it's not, uniquely among the guest cultures in the UK. And sadly, it didn't used to be the case, as there was quite a bit of friendly mixing of cultures in the 90s.

[Greyblades]

Pakistan was a mistake to begin with.

[Pannonian]

Pakistan was a mistake to begin with.

There was a time, certainly among cricket fans, when Pakistan were the team/country to look to. Spinners, tapeball, gully cricket, everything Pakistan was fashionable. When I thought of Muslims, I thought of "Pakistan zindabad", not "Allahu Akbar".

[Dâriûsh]

In other news: Qatar has withdrawn its peacekeeping troops from the Djibouti/Eritrean border.

By the way, here is a fun experiment for anyone who can read Arabic. Try going onto, for instance, UAE’s al-Arabiya and do a comparison on their English versus Arabic Qatar topics. In English they often lambast Qatar for their close ties to Hamas, Ikhwan, and Iran. In Arabic, they often criticize Qatar for their close relationship to Israel as well.

Pakistan was a mistake to begin with.

Unlike British colonialism.

[Furunculus]

The host culture takes on aspects of the guest culture.

This is more the way i would like it to work, rather than what we see in practice.

There are three broad ways of doing things:

One extreme - normative multiculturalism with parallel communities. (Britain)
The other extreme - you are french¬!!!! with ghettoes for those that haven't become french enough. (France)
A happy medium - the melting pot - if 10% of the pop are immigrants, the natives become 10% foriegn and the immigrants 90% american. (USA)

That is obviously simplifying things greatly, but i think both Britain and France could do with a closer look at the melting pot idea.

[Pannonian]

This is more the way i would like it to work, rather than what we see in practice.

There are three broad ways of doing things:

One extreme - normative multiculturalism with parallel communities. (Britain)
The other extreme - you are french¬!!!! with ghettoes for those that haven't become french enough. (France)
A happy medium - the melting pot - if 10% of the pop are immigrants, the natives become 10% foriegn and the immigrants 90% american. (USA)

That is obviously simplifying things greatly, but i think both Britain and France could do with a closer look at the melting pot idea.

Have other non-Muslim cultures strengthened their parallel communities in the UK? AFAIK it's only the older members who are distinctively "other", and even they see themselves as guests in a host country. It's mostly been a hodgepodge fusion that existing Brits then claim is uniquely and typically British. Take out the Muslim issue, and there are hardly any cultural problems with the other cultures.

[Brenus]

That is obviously simplifying things greatly, but i think both Britain and France could do with a closer look at the melting pot idea.

So, your idea of great success is for immigrants to destroy the locals, confiscate their lands, put them in ghettos, signed whatever treaties you want as you have no intention to keep your word anyway... Interesting...
The big flaw in your reasoning is both France and England, in their own way, have adsorbed immigration waves in the past. It is not perfect, but we will do the same again.
As the idea of ghettos, I have to laugh... Problem is lack of jobs, urberisation and cuts, not "ghettos" which exists only in newspapers (and in some minds who dream to have populations to exploit), as shown in some reports from fox News that had to apologise later for them.