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shafique

Agree with your observations Maad.

How is going into Palestinian territory and detaining Hamas parliamentarians called an 'arrest' or 'detention' and not termed 'hostage taking' or 'capture'????

shafique

Dario, I maintain that under any circumstances the concious decision to kill civilians in general and women and children in particular cannot be condoned. Revenge is a natural human instinct and atrocities do occur in war, but my view is that as humans we have choices and I cannot think of a situati...

shafique

Dario, I can understand the sense of desperation that leads people to justify the killing of Israeli women and children - the arguement is that so many more Palestinian women and children have been killed by Israel. I just make the point that I do not condone this - this is my view and it is actuall...

shafique

Hmm... should I sign or not sign the anti-Opec petition??? Let's see what the proponents of the petition say: Quoting from the first linked site: "Terrorism is historically normal mode of war. Israel must respect terrorists as efficient warriors – and kill them, no matter the collateral damage....

shafique

Please excuse my ignorance - but what is a visa run to Oman?

On our list of things to do is a visit to Oman, but I read you got a visa from the embassy in Dubai or at the border. So what is a visa run?

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique

I'd be interested too. In fact today I went to the Polyglot website to see their courses.. I was interested in their Long Course - 36 weeks of tuition, 2 hrs a day, five days a week. Takes you from ABC to detailed Grammar and an understanding of literature and poetry. Then I looked at the cost - 150...

shafique

Thanks Arnie - makes sense now.

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique

Mandela was actually the head of Umkunte we Sizwe (spelling?) which was the armed wing of the ANC and was responsible for guerilla attacks - mostly against infrastructure. He was not a pacifist, but certainly is a great statesman and a paragon of restraint and peacefulness now. Note that for most of...

shafique

Constantine, I agree with your points about the violence during partition - the point I was making was exactly that Ghandi's views and philosophy (if applied by only one side) would not have helped the situation. For the reasons you mention, the violence took place despite Ghandi's views and philoso...

shafique

Raidah, Actually it has been shown that otherwise peaceful and well-brought-up and balanced people can be made reasonably easily to condone violence on others - and in fact inflict pain on others. see http://www.ralphmag.org/milgrimZN.html There have been follow up studies on this and analyses on ho...

shafique

Mraph - you say that UAE is perhaps one of the exceptions to the rule that 'fathers' of countries came to power/gained independence as a result of violence/war. SecretDubai blog had a post on this subject a few years back: The Great Battle of Deira A short history of Dubai, Vol I, for the many UAE r...

shafique

Point taken Maad - but it is interesting to note that almost all countries seem to have been involved in wars etc for control of the land. Look at USA, UK (ok, you have to go back to 1066.. but it was still invaded and poor old Harold took one in the eye), France (revolution), Africa (colonial invas...

shafique

It's time to start looking for a car for me and hand over the 4x4 to the wife. Dilemma for me at the moment - I've decided to get a sedan for the commute and the head says go for a new Honda Accord 3.0L with all the toys for around 100k (and there's even an attractive 2.99% finance deal at the momen...

shafique

So, one for heart, one for head... grrrh Maybe I'll get a warm glow of righteousness if I follow my head and won't miss the refinements of the beemer. That said, I haven't yet driven the Accord - on paper it looks so well speced and the reviews are good (but the Beemer is better!! aaargh). It wouldn...

shafique

hmmm - resale value, let's see if I can convince the head that it makes sense to get a 2 year old Beemer.. I can't buy it cash, so finance rates is an issue - the Toyota with 2.99% vs a 2 year old 530i on about 5% interest.. The 2 yr old BMW will be around 160k? (I've rang a couple of 2nd hand deale...

shafique

Update - going to see a 2004 530i on Saturday, lady driver, low miles, selling quite cheap... will be going with chequebook in pocket..

shafique

Wellington opened it's doors in September and has just finished it's first year. My 9 year old goes there and loves it - the facilities are great and it is as good as the website indicates. The potential intake will be large, but last term I think there were 600 students. As for where to stay - we s...

shafique

Thanks Maad - I'll bear that in mind when I negotiate - it's on for 140k, but its fully loaded and has 5 year servicing included and only done 38k..

What is the procedure for buying a used car privately here? Is it a hassle?

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique

Yes. To believe in no God requires much more faith than I posess. I cannot bring myself to believe that a table came into existence by chance (rather than being created), but I accept it is POSSIBLE it was created by chance..but highly improbable. I choose to believe in the more plausible explanatio...

shafique

Dave - the sites are blocked by Etisalat, so I can't see them at work - but I'll have a look tonight. I'm not clear what your main point is on the Dead Sea Scrolls (hopefully will be clear when I get to the site), but I've read up a little on the translations of the scrolls thus far. As for the firs...

shafique

Thanks Jag - the one I'm looking at has the 5 yr service package from BMW and I will be checking for service..

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique

The first link argues that Islam does not treat men and women equally because of this hadith. This is a strange arguement to me - Islam does not say men are equal to women in all aspects of life, but that there is no discrimination in terms of faith or any other aspect that has nothing to do with ph...

shafique

happy to oblige HP

shafique

This post is primarily for Kanelli - but I would recommend everyone who wants more detail on Israel to read. It is a verbatim record of what was said at the UN in 1947 by the Pakistan delegate.. (from official UN archive http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93dcdf1cbc3f2...

shafique

Valkyrie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism If you have any more specific questions after reading this, then please let me know and I'll do my best to answer. In short though: Sufism is a mystical offshoot of mainstream Islam (think Karbala vs Judaism which emphasises the spiritual over the physic...

shafique

Interesting - Sufism is not a homogenous school of thought.. here is another cut and paste job which I think covers the subject well (includes a critique of the practices from a Sunni perspective): There are four major well-established and highly revered sects of Sufism which also deviated from the ...

shafique

Kanelli, The depressing thing is that the speech was referring to a SMALLER Israel than we have today - subsequent to the setting up of Israel, more land was 'aquired' during wars etc. This is despite being given the majority of the fertile land, etc that was part of the deal. Had a vote been taken ...

shafique

The sad thing is that no one can't say this mess couldn't have been foreseen - millions around the world before the invasion expressed their views in words and actions, marching etc..

The world is a far more dangerous place now

shafique

Fayz - thanks for posting. A very moving account of Beirut. I continue to pray for all those suffering, but I find myself getting more and more angryand frustrated at the injustices.. makes my family feel very priviledged to have lived a life so far free from this kind of upheaveal. Cheers, Shafique

shafique

The situation is dark. I draw parallels with the period in South African history where there seemed no hope for the black South Africans. We wait for a Nelson Mandela figure - but note that the US and UK viewed him as a terrorist and for years did not advocate for the rights of those whose ancestral...

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shafique - Posts

Honda Accord 3.0l or a BMW 530i

Formation of Israel - 1947 debate, Essential reading

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