Don't take my word for it then. It's the work of quite a bit of research. Understanding Drivers of Violent Extremism: The Case of al-Shabab and Somali Youth | Combating Terrorism Center at West Point There is no way solutions will be instant and there is no way that Muslims will be adopting western values and culture. First and foremost, these values and cultures are constantly changing. Multiculturalism is what happens after you have an empire. While running round the globe nicking people's oil, tobacco and all other natural resources to bring them back home, inevitably people come back here too. We have a multi cultural society, whether you like it or not. That means many peoples, many religions, many cultures and traditions, all of which should be respected.
You are right, it was a long time ago. Dubai's gross domestic product as of 2008 was US $82.11 billion.[1] The Great Recession slowed the construction boom.[2] The International Herald Tribune has described it as "centrally-planned free-market capitalism."[3] Although Dubai's economy was initially built on revenues from the oil industry,[4] revenue from petroleum and natural gas currently account for less than 2% of the emirate's gross domestic product. Dubai became important ports of call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centres were headquartered in the port area. Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. The city of Dubai has a free trade in gold and until the 1990s was the hub of a "brisksmuggling trade" of gold ingots to India, where gold import was restricted. Today, Dubai has focused its economy on tourism by building hotels and developing real estate. Port Jebel Ali, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbor in the world, but is also increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Emirates Airline was founded by the government in 1985 and is still state-owned; based at Dubai International Airport, it carried over 28 million passengers in fiscal year 2006 and 24 million the year before.[citation needed] According to Healy Consultants, Dubai is the top business gateway for the Middle East and Africa.[5] The government has set up industry-specific free zones throughout the city in hopes of giving a boost to Dubai property. Dubai Internet City, now combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave whose members include IT firms such as EMC Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft,Sage Software and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, Reuters and AP. Dubai Knowledge Village (KV), an education and training hub, is also set up to complement the Free Zone's other two clusters, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, by providing the facilities to train the clusters' future knowledge workers. Dubai Outsourcing Zone is for companies who are involved in outsourcing activities can set up their offices with concessions provided by Dubai Government. Internet access is restricted in most areas of Dubai with a proxy server filtering out sites deemed to be against cultural and religious values of the UAE. Contents Real estate and property Construction See also References External links Real estate and propertyEdit The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based but oil-reliant economy to one that is service- and tourism-oriented resulted in the property boom from 2004–2008.[citation needed] Construction on a large scale has turned Dubai into one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.[citation needed] The property boom is largely driven by megaprojects such as the off-shore Palm Islands and The World, and the inland Dubai Marina, Burj Khalifa complex, Dubai Waterfront, Business Bay, Dubailand and Jumeirah Village. The Jumeirah Palm, the world's largest man-made island. Dubai is home to skyscrapers such as Emirates Towers, which are the 12th and 24th tallest buildings in the world,[citation needed] and the Burj-al-Arab hotel, located on its own island in the Persian Gulf and currently the world's tallest and most expensive hotel.[citation needed] Emaar Properties constructed what was at the time the world's tallest structure, theBurj Khalifa. The height of the skyscraper is 828 m (2,717 ft) tall, with 160 floors. Adjacent to Burj Khalifa is the Dubai Mall, which at the time of construction was the world's largest shopping mall.[citation needed] Also under construction is what is planned to become Dubai's new central business district, named Business Bay. The project, when completed, will feature 500 skyscrapers built around an artificial extension of the existing Dubai Creek.[citation needed] In February 2005, the construction of Dubai Waterfront was announced, it will be 2½ times the size of Washington, D.C., roughly seven times the size of the island of Manhattan. Dubai Waterfront will be a mix of canals and islands full of hotels and residential areas that will add 800 km (500 mi) of man-made waterfront. It will also contain Al Burj, another one of the tallest buildings in the world. Dubai has also launched Dubiotech. This is a new business park to be targeted at biotechnology companies working inpharmaceuticals, medical fields, genetic research and biodefense. One of Dubai's plans in 2006 was for a 30-story, 200 apartment skyscraper that will slowly rotate at its base, making a 360 degree revolution once a week. The world's first rotating skyscraper was to be in the center of the Dubailand complex.[6] There are over 300 stores in the Gold Souk. The International Media Production Zone is a project targeted at creating a hub for printers, publishers, media production companies, and related industry segments. Launched in 2003, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2006. In May 2006 the Bawadi was announced, with a planned 27 billion US-dollar investment intended to increase Dubai's number of hotel rooms by 29,000, doubling it from the current figure offers now. The largest complex was to be called "Asia, Asia" and was planned to be the largest hotel in the world with more than 6,500 rooms.[citation needed] The first villa freehold properties that were occupied by non-UAE nationals were The Meadows, The Springs, and The Lakes (high-end neighbourhoods designed by Emaar Properties, collectively called Emirates Hills). Expatriates of various nationalities brought capital into Dubai in the early 2000s. Iranian expatriates were estimated to have invested up to $200 billion in Dubai.[7] From 2005 to 2009, trade between Dubai and Iran tripled to $12 billion.[8] Dubai nationals have also purchased real estate in New York and London. Purchases in 2005 included New York's 230 Park Avenue (formerly known as the New York Central Building or the Helmsley Building) and Essex House on Central Park South.[citation needed] The Dubai property boom of the mid-2000s peaked in 2008 and plummeted in a wave of activity which saw large scale projects, including partially completed properties, abandoned. Many developers went to the wall, while others, including those with government backing, entered into debt-restructuring deals with their lenders. By 2012 the market began picking up steam again. 2013 was a stellar year with prices accelerating significantly, however the government and industry players began putting in place measures that would safeguard against another bubble developing. One notable difference is the number of cash buyers compared to those in previous years that borrowed heavily. Part of the reason for the current cash surge is the influx of investment from troubled countries.[9] In September 2013, the Dubai Land Department increased property transfer fees from 2 to 4%.[10] In early 2014 the government regulator imposed restrictions on outside-companies acquiring real estate in the emirate, insisting such companies had to have a presence in Dubai, and had to be owned by a natural person or persons, and not by another company. The measures were largely seen as a means to dampen speculation in property prices.[11] ConstructionEdit Since 2000, Dubai's municipality has initiated construction phases in the city, predominantly in the Mina Seyahi area, located further from Jumeirah, towards Jebel Ali. This has come at a cost however. Dubai ( and UAE ) construction companies employ low-wage labourers from Asia for up to 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week.[12] These workers often have their passports withheld and are threatened if they speak to media. During the 90s and 00s, many workers staged protests and those who were expats were deported. [13][14] In 2002 a change was made to the law allowing non-nationals of the UAE to own property (not land) in Dubai as fee simple, and 99-year leases are sold to people with ownership remaining with private companies. Property companies includeNakheel Properties and Emaar Properties. Rent rises were capped at 7% per annum up to 2007 under a directive fromMohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Legislation in this area is still developing as the property market for foreigners is relatively new. See alsoEdit Dubai World Economy of the United Arab Emirates The National Sukuk Program Human rights in the United Arab Emirates ReferencesEdit "Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Emirate of Dubai 2006–2008". Dubai Statistics Centre. Retrieved 5 May 2010. Verma, Sonia (2009-02-05). "Driven down by debt, Dubai expats give new meaning to long-stay car park. Business Times Online.". The Times (London). Retrieved 2009-11-27. Pohl, O. (28 June 2004). "Dubai keeps superlatives coming. International Herald Tribune.". Retrieved 2012-10-03. "Dubai - Overview:", USAToday.com, retrieved 22 July 2007 "Dubai Company Formation". Retrieved 26 August 2013. "Dubai plans first rotating skyscraper". USA Today. 29 November 2006. "Import Bill From Dubai $28.7b", Iran Daily, 4 April 2006 "Dubai Helps Iran Evade Sanctions as Smugglers Ignore U.S. Laws". Bloomberg. 25 January 2010. "Gulf cash replaces debt to fuel new Dubai property boom", Reuters, 9 October 2013 Developers Work Overtime As Government Increases Transfer Fee to 4% "Dubai tightens laws on companies acquiring real estate", Dubai News.Net, 16 February 2014 McDougall, Dan (9 April 2006). "Tourists become targets as Dubai's workers take revolt to the beaches". The Guardian(London). Retrieved 3 June 2011. Riot by migrant workers halts construction of Dubai skyscraper | World news | The Guardian United Arab Emirates: Over 600 construction workers arrested after protest - World Socialist Web Site UAE Banking Digest
Nothing contradictory here. Except: Multiculturalism does not necessarily occur solely as a result of running an empire. There has to be a willingness on the part of the host nation to allow immigration. There has to be a willingness of the host country to allow parallel societies to develop within its own borders. Multiculturalism is the enemy of integration, and vice versa. That's not a judgement, that's logic talking.
So the extreme ISIS Muslim 'laws' should be respected? It appears they are based on their Karan, should this be respected also?
Yes, some of us are even intelligent enough to ensure that we assiduously avoid gratuitously and childishly insulting people because of their political allegiances. When was the last time you heard a Tory insult a Labour supporter in the above manner? Tempting to counter with something like: "It must be a question of breeding." The worst you might get is Labour supporters and politicians being called "economically illiterate". I don't want to kill anyone for except using their right to be gratuitously insulting but insulting words like "scum bag" are best left in the playground or union assembly hall if you want your argument to be taken seriously. And before anyone goes off on one and accuses me of coming from a silver-spoon background, my father left school at 13 and was an apprentice carpenter who later who somehow worked his way up to senior management and I got to university after attending a state school. He though brought me up to believe that "Manners maketh man" and "good manners cost nothing", two aphorisms many in the political arena and their acolytes would do well to take note of.
More errant nonsense. "Multiculturalism is what happens after you have an empire. While running round the globe nicking people's oil, tobacco and all other natural resources to bring them back home, inevitably people come back here too." Oh please, 749er. Read Glid's demolition of TTonup's similarly specious statement earlier. We didn't "nick" any oil from the Middle East for a start. We helped the goat herders exploit their own mineral wealth and then bought it from them. And Saudis etc come here to shop, drink alcohol and gamble not because they want to be part of our society. Please read some history. If you'd said cotton, you might have had a bit of a point because Indians and Pakistanis have settled here - after we GAVE them passports. But tobacco and oil are erroneous examples at best!
Why? That is a mere assertion, and one which few people agree with. Most of us do not 'respect' bronze age cultures, racist misogynist cultures, murderous fascistic cultures, anti-scientific cultures, and several others - nor should we. Civilisation does not consist just of uncritically respecting all manner of evil rubbish; it also involves exercising some discrimination between different ideas. Respecting people as human beings is a very different matter from respecting their religions, for example.
Precisely. Respect a Nazi culture - like Islam - and no one's culture will be respected. Even the good ones. We shouldn't be afraid to stand up to inferior aggressive cultures that have no place in the civilised world.
Just out of curiosity what are you doing to stamp out Islam I'm hearing you but what actions have you in place (meant in a nice way) You say we but who is we?
I don't want to stamp anything out. As a humanist I respect anyone's right to believe whatever they want to believe. I just take issue with anyone's right to enforce their beliefs on me - particularity via violent means. "We" as in we in the West. We had to stand up and be counted from 1939-45 when a fascist culture tried to impose its values and by taking a strong line with this latest incarnation of heinous intolerance now, we might avoid a worse situation in the future.
What will you do to stop their enforcement Your a journalist? Will you behave like Charlie Hebdo or is there another way?
It is so much easier to destroy than to build. isn't it? Each country, like the UK France Germany & Italy, has been painstakingly unified out of component parts in historical time by the efforts of generations of dedicated and far-sighted people, and welded together as a nation by both prosperity and adversity. Along comes a type of ambitious politician who sees a chance to make a career out of promising to tear down their nation, split up its regions, dismantle its structures. Inevitably a percentage of the people get tempted by this, because a policy of destruction is so much quicker simpler and easier to implement. In the same way, international treaty bodies (like the EU, NATO, UN, Council of Europe) are immensely complicated to create and take many years to establish by a delicate and many-sided process. Advocating destruction and threatening withdrawal are so simple that any fool could say them. When WWI and WWII were recent memories, a large majority of people favoured avoiding WWIII and fending off the Nazis as the highest priority; therefore unity, alliances and peace were immensely popular policies. 70 years on peace and security are taken for granted, and continuously growing prosperity is regarded not as an aspiration but as an entitlement. Any bump in the road which our ancestors would have taken in their stride is regarded by some today as a reason for tearing down everything which has been built.
I don't believe Islam is a substantive threat to our way of life. Too many Muslims enjoy the freedom offered by living in the west. But there may be a lot of collateral damage. Islamic terrorism is particular dangerous because the zealots are willing to die to kill infidels. I believe we have no option but to stick to our beliefs and accept that fact. The Charlie cartoonists were not breaking any laws in their own country. Do you really want to see a situation whereby people can be summarily killed by citizens of other countries merely because their actions would be outlawed in their own backward country. What if they say they are going to target women leaving abortion clinics. Where do you draw the line. Simply put, should we give in to bullies? Stop drawing cartoons to appease Islam one day, the following day you'll be shutting abortion clinics and before long children will be being stoned or having their hands cut off for nicking a tube of Smarties. It's your choice. I hear a lot about respect but it seems to me that where bullies are concerned it's a one-way street. Respect me just means do what I tell you, think what I tell you and behave as I tell you.
so in the mean time you can keep stiring it up, the governments can keep taking with one hand and giving them the finger with the other and we on the street can live with the fall out. yip great idea. you don't have any answers.
No you shouldn't give in to bullies I have taught my children to stand up for themselves it's in one but not the other I taught them once you fight back the bully usually leaves you alone. This fight against Islam doesn't seem to me to work like that Fighting back seems to entice them even more! My thinking is the less ammunition you give it the less it stands out. Those guys that killed the Charlie Hebdo employees will remain in history for what they did so a job well done for them All this does is promote Islam to the forefront of everyone's mind isn't that giving Islam what it wants
What I we taking? Islam wants to take from us our freedom to think differently from and will succeed if we don't assert strongly our right to do so. Lots of Muslims want to share our freedoms apparently and it worries the despots. I'm glad. We need to support anyone who tries to bring about the sort of reformation to the faith that Christianity went through centuries ago or wants to leave it. As I have said before, Mohammed came along six centuries after Christ so that's how far behind the religion his teaching spawned is behind Christianity. But Muslims have also had all those years to learn from Christians' mistakes and they haven't, so maybe it'll take some time!
What do I intend to do about it? I intend to live my life and contribute to threads like this. In the face of Islamic anger and bloody-handedness, if standing up to them doesn't work, we should button our lips and keep are heads down? The best way we can support the victims at Charlie Hebdo and others who stood for free speech, human rights, etc is to forget them? What does Islam want? DB in a burka, for one thing. There are other things, too. I won't continue down this line though, I'm sure you see the point and where it leads.
