Please do a bit of research about how minority groups are treated in their countries.

Talk about cartoons. Have any of you any idea of how many people have been killed in protests against the cartoons, particulary christians. I mean what the hell has christians in Nigeria got to do with Danish cartoons?

I can never understand that if muslims hate the west so much why they keep trying to enter the west, claiming Asylum.

Muslims need a better understanding of word PEACE and realise that ALL lifes are valuable not just muslim lifes.

our little aqoul is not a “muslim” blog. matter of fact, i don’t even know the religious affiliation of most of the other authors. i certainly do not identify as “muslim” – i simply don’t DO ethno-religious identity.

to classify our postings are “moderate muslim voice” would, thus, be misleading.

we’re analyzing & commenting. we do not represent.

but thanks for the nice words, anyway …

–raf*

http://www.aqoul.com

Ash, you’ve raised some good points, but unfortunetly c’est la vie!
U can’t just minimise such inequalities that a majority of arab muslims are facing.
Firstly, you have to examine the fact that unless arab states (Saudia Arabia) can introduce establish a strong infrastructure and have political stability, then there will ways be a loop-hole which will be explioted by superstructures i.e The states, UK etc.
Secondly, examine the Gulfan economies, there GDP comprises primarily of oil export, they need to spread risk across several commodities inorder to defer reliance on such a rear commodity Oil.

PS – I’m by no means a specialist on Gulfan economies, so i’m generalising.

, it was this next idiot called Bijna, he/she needs to join u in line.”

I suspect that Ash missed the boat when they were handing out interpersonal skills too…..

“and im sure you haven’t got a complex either”.

i ain’t too good with words that i don’t use myself.

“Look at Western Europe: by means of high taxes (like 50%) the money is redistributed.”

“The people of Western Europe are better of because they share the money (and dont have 12 children).”

lets take an example, like say petrol(fuel duty).
Here in the UK we pay 82-85p per litre, now 65%+ of that is tax. The reason the british government can add that level of tax and still keep the cost of fuel at a level which is reasonably acceptable to the british public is because it buys the oil very cheaply, heres were the relationship between the saudi royal family and western governments pays off. U see the west protects the saudi royals, keeps them in power (all those US troops in saudi ‘protection against sadam’???) in return for dirt cheap oil.
the saudi royals don’t spread the wealth and so become billionaires, while most ordinary saudies live in poverty.
Now lets talk about the British standard of life….services like the NHS, schooling etc,
these all require funding which fuel duty plays a major part in, just think 65% of tatal fuel sales.
So u see Bijna, because the west greases the palms of middle eastern tyrants to obtain cheap oil, meaning the supplying countries inherit a fraction of the oils value, so as the buying countries can add on tax, so as to improve their own countries.
Western countries run on oil tax revenues, imagine if Saudi Arabia lost its royal family and became a democracy, they would almost definately increase the price of their oil so as to generate more revenue to improve services, they’d become the bench mark for every country to look up to, were as all western countries revenues would decrease, unless taxes were increased causing chaos in the their economies as businesses crumble, and hence living conditions drop.
This is why saudi is never under pressure to become a democracy, as long as it has oil.

i hope this makes things a little clearer for u Bijna, for one party to become more better off, another party has to become more worse off, thats the rule in a world of limited resourses.

oohh Jay Singh, where were u when they were giving out brains………..
Antiwestern views in the muslim world don’t come from poverty….u idiot….u may have heard of a thick black liquidy thing called OIL…it’s something the west needs to keep running and something most muslim countries have in abundance, now the west has done anything in it’s power (ever since oil was discovered) to obtain a cheap and reliable supply, such as install and support regimes in those countries despite their stance on human rights etc…….because we getting cheap oil right!
Also the west has used muslims in the past to achieve they’re own ends and abondoned them, knowing that those same people who they’d been ‘supporting’ would face grave consequenses when the support was cut off……but then u know, they’d served their purpose, they’re expendable(Afghanistan).

So mr Jay Singh, u see, all this meddling the west does with middle eastern politics leads to the people of the mid/east having to live with the policies made by their corrupt politicians who serve the interests of the western governments, seeing a way to make huge sums of money for themselves knowing they can’t be removed because they have western military support (Saudi Arabia).
All these billionares living large while the majority in the country live in poverty (u talking about), who helped them get too that position? who do u think?

Anti western views in the muslim world come from the people who have to suffer from the effects of western governments corrupting their countries, taking what they want without considering the effects it will have on the people of those countries…….and then there’s palestine, i ain’t even gonna start on that subject.

also u talking about why Hindus/ Catholic/buddhists don’t share the same antiwestern views, well what do(or ever did) any of those groups have that the west wanted as bad as oil, they live theyre own lives, they don’t get bombed by the west to remove dictators placed in positions of power by the west, also as islam is the world’s fastest growing religion, western natives see Islam as the only threat, so theres conflict there. u ain’t gonna get some Buddhist/Hindu uprising so why would they be interferred with? they have no reason to have anti western views other than the fact that they are being commercially exploited.

So Jay Singh, remember to get back in line for that brain, u kinda need one…..seriously!