What's up with Emirates?

[Ramadhan]

I have a friend from the U.A.E and she told me how she sees more and more every day non-Arabs get treated better around the region

By non arabs you must have meant europeans and americans, no?

surely not poor muslims from the subcontinent, indonesia or africa

 

[Aprender]

Yes. Europeans and Americans.

By non arabs you must have meant europeans and americans, no?

 

[Ramadhan]

This is great but that isn't enough. In the last 40 years the United States alone has donated $1 trillion dollars to countries in Africa and they're worse off now than they were before all of the money came in. I think this is something that should be discussed. It's not a good situation. Yes, they might be trying but there is obviously more work to be done.

I have been working in development area for 10 years.
You should know that when it is written in the official release about donor country A gives X amount of dollars of foreign aid is beneficiary country B, it does not mean that ALL X amount of dollars are received by country B.

For example, US government through USAID pledged USD100 millions grants to Indonesian government in a project to develop capacity of school teachers.
This does not mean the Indonesian Government receives USD 100 millions in cash.
To manage the project, USAID as the administrator of the grants would contract a US company (usually a beltway contractor, a reference to those US development contractors in Washington DC, such as DAI, Chemonics, RTI, etc) to manage the project. ONLY a US company is given the right.
Now, out of those USD 100 millions, a certain 10% or more are paid to the contractor as management fee.
then the contractor would hire people; the chief of party, deputy chief of party and all key personnels are usually americans, and they are paid far larger amount of salaries than locally hired, usually 10x as much, plus other benefits such as free housing, school fees for their children, cars and drivers, etc. The contractors also normally fly in consultants from the US for short periods, and they are paid around USD 1,000-2,000/day. These costs and including other operating costs would take out more than 30% of that USD 100 millions.
and so you have USD 50 millions dedicated to the project, but more chunk of money are taken out for travel, accommodations, per diem, etc etc.
In the end, very little of that USD 100 millions that actually spent on "developing capacity of school teachers"

And I gave you the strictest scenario. some other loans, especially by world bank and IMF actually are stolen more than 30% by government officials (Jeffrey winters, 1997) while world bank and IMF officials were completely aware such theft were happening. Their objectives were only to loan out or disburse money as fast as they can, as world bank officials are actually paid commissions on the basis of the amoung of money that they can loan out to foreign governments.

So when you read "US government donated USD 1 trillion in the past 40 years to Africa", that means USD 500 billions went back to the US in the forms of fees, salaries, equipments, services, etc. while USD 400 billions were siphoned off by african leaders who in turn store the money back in european or US countries.

 

[Aprender]

I have been working in development area for 10 years.

Masha Allah.

I'm actually studying international aid/economics at the university right now and we're learning about all of this and the conditionality placed on aid, and how it's been ineffective in helping many nations because of how it's not properly being used for what it's intended for.

What do you think is the best way wealthier countries in the region could approach helping a country like Somalia aside from just throwing money out there?

I think it's important to talk about. I've brought it up in class but students where I live aren't very knowledgeable of countries outside of the West and especially not Africa so we mostly get answers like "They should help themselves." which gets an eye roll from the professor. We've identified a problem so what are your ideas for some solutions that might work?

 

[جوري]

They won't allow it in the west there was such an effort to be made with Malaysia and other economically stable Islamic countries and that little **** George something or another I forget his name who has el bard3i as a member of his company btw for those of you thinking he's some Egyptian patriot completely ruined it. Google it..
The only way this will work out is with an all out war!

 

[جوري]

*George Soros I just remembered ..

 

[جوري]

The following sounds like a plot to a movie and yet it really seems true. I hate to fan the flames of conspiracy within the opposition movement in Egypt and of course by doing so the rest of the Arab world, but I have been doing some mild research with exactly who Mohamed El Baradei is connected to. It has not taken me long to discover a few things and dear readers this does not mean I am not in support of the Egyptian people’s current protest movement and need for real substantive change, but I am warning that the people who claim to be leading are none other than Western plants.
If one looks at Mohamed El Baradei ‘s dossier he seems quite impressive. He was chased out of Egypt by Mubarak and remained outside for 12 years until his return last week. He was also the head of the IAEA. OK so not much there right? Well doing some deeper research it seems that Mohamed El Baradei has been connected to the CFR (Council On Foreign Relations). In fact the whole notion that a united front of parties including both Western Liberals and the Muslim Brotherhood could somehow work together was already set into motion well before the current crisis. In a book by Bruce Rutherford entitled After Mubarak, the author explain how the Muslim Brotherhood, the judiciary, and the business sector can work in parallel, if not exactly together, to influence Egypt’s political future. CFR associate Steven A. Cook in fact showcased this book in his April 2009 article on CFR’s Foreign Affairs website. This is well before the current crisis.
In Comes El Baradei

Back to Mohamed El Baradei. To connect the dots, the Western press has, since the protests in Egypt began, pushed Mohamed El Baradei as the uniting figure for all of the above mentioned groups. One more dot should connect who this man really is working for: The International Crisis Group. This organization is heavily funded by George Soros, a man experienced in funding revolutions and placing leaders he wants and believes will push for globalization in that country. Well Mohamed El Baradei sits on the International Crisis Group’s Board.
I am all for a new Egypt, but please Egyptians, be careful who you replace Mubarak with. You may just find yourselves answering to to a whole new boss.

http://www.mideastnewswire.com/is-el-baradei-an-insider

you should google Soros' he's a staunch Zionist.. and so are the operatives they unleash upon us!

 

[Ramadhan]

I think it's important to talk about. I've brought it up in class but students where I live aren't very knowledgeable of countries outside of the West and especially not Africa so we mostly get answers like "They should help themselves." which gets an eye roll from the professor. We've identified a problem so what are your ideas for some solutions that might work?

There's no specific solution for all countries, I'm afraid.
The solutions would depend on the characteristics of the beneficiary country, and their levels of development.
In the past, the biggest mistake by the donor countries were that they tailored particular policies for all countries, regardless of their economic, social, political development and not prioritizing their most pressing needs. the donors also used to work separately and for various reasons (their respective government policies too inflexible, reporting mechanisms, etc etc) they were not willing to cooperate/coordinate, which was clearly not effective and efficient.
Nowadays, donor countries/organizations are usually more savvy.

In Indonesia, all donor activities are organized by bappenas (national development planning agencies) and the donor money pledged/planned must also be cited in the state budget for transparency. Hence, the donors' activities and work are more transparent and much more easier to coordinate which reduce and avoid overlapping of activities and waste of money.
Also, the trend is now more and more towards bottom-up proposal for activities. Many donor programs and policies are still drafted by their state departments/donor headquarters, but on implementation levels, those are subjected to requests and plans by counterparts and beneficiaries, which understand better than most others what their goals, priorities and capacities are.

Despite all advancements in development theories and practices, many programs are still wasteful, and this is most often caused by the policies of donor governments.
For example: Most Indonesians eat rice as staple. Around 8-10 years ago, the US government pledged to give food aid to Indonesia despite no request for such aid. It turned out the US sent boatloads of corns, and hired contractors to bump up demand for corn products in Indonesia, just because corn is subsidized in the US and they had bumper crop year. This in turn destroy the prices of corn in Indonesia, and harmed corn farmers who are mostly small farmers with little land.

 

[جوري]

^^ they've done the same thing in Egypt with strawberries.. destroyed our wheat which is a staple and gave us these disgusting strawberries that are nothing like the indigenous ones grown in Egypt and don't make it to anyone's table at breakfast or dinner..
can we say the spawn of Satan.. I wonder how they feel destroying here and destroying there?.. sob7an Allah

 

[Ramadhan]

Back to Mohamed El Baradei. To connect the dots, the Western press has, since the protests in Egypt began, pushed Mohamed El Baradei as the uniting figure for all of the above mentioned groups. One more dot should connect who this man really is working for: The International Crisis Group. This organization is heavily funded by George Soros, a man experienced in funding revolutions and placing leaders he wants and believes will push for globalization in that country. Well Mohamed El Baradei sits on the International Crisis Group’s Board.

The International Crisis Group is actually pretty neutral. But yes, they mostly consists people who would like to see secularism established in all countries
While other journalists and researchers failed to investigate, research and report complex and yet heavily damaging issues all over the world, ICG has done really deep research and wrote reports into those issues.

 

[Hamza Asadullah]

Please let us not let this topic be a cause of dissention amongst ourselves. Let us respect each others views and if we think we will post out of anger then it is best if we do not post in this thread. Shaythan only aims oo cause friction amongst us. So let us not let him suceed.

 

[ardianto]

Assalamualaikum

Imagine if you walk on the road, bring a piece of bread. Then you come to a place and you see a hungry poor man, while beside him there is a rich man who eat many food but doesn't share his food to this hungry man.

What will you do in this situation ?.

If I am in this situation, the only thing will I do is come to this hungry man, give smile and say "Are you hungry ? I have a bread for you". This is better than I come to that rich man and give him a khutbah about zakat, infaq and sadaqah. I am sure, many other people have remind him not to let his neighbor in hungry, but he never listened to them. So, I don't need to waste my time, and I will let his behavior that let his neighbor in hungry becomes a matter between him and Allah.

Sometime, or often, we are in this situation. We see poor people are dying because hungry, and in another side we see rich people spend their money in extravagant life without care to those hungry people. Yes, this situation will makes us angry. We can angry. But after angry it's better if ask ourselves, what we have done for those hungry people ? have we help those hungry people or we only angry to those rich people without did anything to help those hungry people ?.

We don't need to angry to rich people who don't want to help hungry people. Anger will makes our mouth lose control and say bad words. It's better if we help the hungry with what we have. Maybe just a little help that we can give. But no matter how small, every donation that given sincerely will becomes our plus point in the akhira.

This is what I can say in this post. I hope brothers and sisters here understand what I mean.

 

[جوري]

This is what I can say in this post. I hope brothers and sisters here understand what I mean.

We can't feed every hungry person though we may try, the problems go beyond mere hunger.. it goes to pursuit of life and security, none of which we can help them with, they need military might, strategists and an ummah that cares.. Not an Ummah that squanders its wealth on filth.

That's all I am saying.. I hope that the Emirati youths have an uprising if this sort of thing bothers them as it does us..

 

[♥ Sofia ♥]

:salamext:

i totally agree with you sis! just because the emirates may have done something to help an area doesn't mean their exempt from helping others. they have plenty to go round and the poorer countries really aren't expecting mansions to be built within weeks in their neighborhoods. the greed of some 'powers' sickens me.

 

[Insaanah]

While Allah is the One Who will judge all, I sometimes wonder what Rasoolullah would say were he to somehow visit the Earth now:

• Seeing Muslim rulers buying and hoarding up weapons, but not defending and protecting their brothers and sisters who are being oppressed, attacked and killed, with them.
• What he would think of those Muslim rulers who invite kaafirs armies onto their land, to help attack and kill their own Muslim brothers in the same or a "different" country.
• Those who give millions of dollars to save zoos and the like in western contries, while humans are starving and homeless.
• Muslims caring for their few square miles that make up their national boundary and perceiving the rest to not be their problem.
• Royal families, kings and nepotism
• and predominantly across the world including Muslim countries, a subservience to taghoot

I'm not saying they don't do good, indeed they do charity work, and the figures seem huge to us, but if you add up the wealth of these nations and their ruling families, the amount given is not even a drop in the ocean to what is required and what can be given.

Change only begins by recognising that there is a problem, or something that needs to be changed, feeling strongly about it, and passionately wanting to either help or do something to change it (even if you cannot physically do so). If that can't be in action, then words, or heart.

If you don't recognise there's something to be changed, then change will never come.

And perhaps, one day, a party from the ummah will rise up, against oppression and injustice of all kinds...

If they do good, Allah is the one to reward that, but we cannot ignore the reality of what's happening in the world.

"Do you consider the providing of water for the pilgrim and the maintenance of al-Masjid al-Haram equal to [the deeds of] one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and strives in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.

Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah's way are of much greater worth in Allah's sight. These are they who are triumphant." (Qur'an 9:19-20)

One of the reasons mentioned for the revelation of these ayaat:

There is a Hadith (from the Prophet) about the Tafsir of this Ayah that we should mention. `Abdur-Razzaq recorded that An-Nu`man bin Bashir said that a man said, "I do not care if I do not perform an action after embracing Islam other than providing drinking water for pilgrims who visit the Ka`bah at Makkah.'' Another man said, "I do not care if I do not perform an action after embracing Islam other than maintaining Al-Masjid Al-Haram.'' A third man said, "Jihad in the cause of Allah is more righteous than what you have said.'' `Umar admonished them, "Do not raise your voices next to the Minbar of the Messenger of Allah,'' and as it was a Friday, he said, "but after we pray the Friday prayer, we will go to the Prophet and ask him.'' This verse was revealed,

أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ
(Do you consider the providing of drinking water to the pilgrims and the maintenance of Al-Masjid Al-Haram), until,

لاَ يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ اللَّهِ
(They are not equal before Allah. )

Source of quote: Tafsir Ibn Kathir

 

[جوري]

^^ younsor deenik ya ukht..