Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

Everybody's entitled to their opinion. I lived permanently for two years in Qatar and thought it was awful, in fact for the second year I had a diary and I actually went through it and entered the number of days until the end of my contract on every single page. I was literally counting the days until I could get out. As far as I could see, all of my Western colleagues, and there were about 70-80 of them, with a massive staff turnover, thought the same and couldn't wait for the day it would be over. Yes, other people are perfectly entitled to like the Gulf. I can understand how somebody who just goes there once in a while to do business deals and then gets out would have a different impression.
So they build a lot of tall, glitzy buildings with their oil money for show. So what? I remember at the time I was in Qatar the ruling family was miffed because Dubai had built the tallest building in the world so of course they were planning an even taller one for Doha. No doubt that was built and so Dubai felt obliged to build an even taller one. The funny thing is, if you actually analyse the use these glitzy buildings are put to, you will see that it's all show and they don't really serve any economic purpose. Unlike skyscrapers in places like New York and London.

[Tim Drayton]

No-one fiddles with kiddies in Saudi Arabia, huh? What was this then:

The basic facts are these, according to Saudi activists and Saudi press reports: When Lama Al Ghamdi was hospitalized on Christmas Day 2011, she had a crushed skull. Her left arm and some of her ribs were broken and one of her fingernails torn off. The child’s mother, who is divorced from the father and did not have custody, says that hospital staff told her the girl’s rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed. It took 10 long, agonizing months before, finally, the little girl died.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... abuse.html

And please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that most Saudis are child molesters. But it happens.

[Tim Drayton]

More news from Saudi Arabia where, according to our self-appointed country expert on the basis of hobnobbing with a few members of the educated elite in five-star hotel lounges before getting out on the next flight, “no one fiddles with any kiddies.” Well, what about the following:

Saudi Arabia conducted its first public beheading under the rule of the newly installed King Salman bin Abdulaziz on Monday.

The executed man was a school teacher convicted of child sex abuse. According to the interior ministry, he raped 13 girls with the first attack in 2006 while working as a school teacher.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/beheading ... -new-king/

There you are, somebody has been convicted by the Saudi courts for “fiddling with kiddies”. So it is even substantiated in a Saudi court ruling that child rape takes place in the country. So much for the blanket statement that it never happens.

Incidentally, as a British citizen, I am greatly disturbed by news stories that are gradually leaking out about child abuse in the UK forty or so years ago, and I am not trying to say that this happens in Saudi Arabia and not elsewhere, I am just seeking to rebut the silly generalisation that “no one fiddles with any kiddies” in the country.

[supporttheunderdog]

No-one fiddles with kiddies in Saudi Arabia, huh? What was this then:

The basic facts are these, according to Saudi activists and Saudi press reports: When Lama Al Ghamdi was hospitalized on Christmas Day 2011, she had a crushed skull. Her left arm and some of her ribs were broken and one of her fingernails torn off. The child’s mother, who is divorced from the father and did not have custody, says that hospital staff told her the girl’s rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed. It took 10 long, agonizing months before, finally, the little girl died.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... abuse.html

And please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that most Saudis are child molesters. But it happens.

Mohamed himself was said by some to have had a 9 or 10 y/o bride among his 13 wives - Aisha bint Abu Bakr - and if correct if that is not "kiddy fiddling" I do know what is - though others argue she was at least 17 -

see

And in the Middle East, it's young girls who are considered desirable and men are able to satisfy their lusts legally through child marriages. In Yemen, more than a quarter of girls are married before the age of 15. Cases of girls dying during childbirth are not unusual, and recently, one 12-year-old child bride even died from internal bleeding following sexual intercourse. In another case, a 12-year-old girl was married to an 80-year-old man in Saudi Arabia.

So why is the practice of child marriage sanctioned in Muslim countries? Unfortunately, ultra-conservative religious authorities justify this old tribal custom by citing the prophet Muhammad's marriage to Aisha. They allege Aisha was nine years old when the prophet married her. But they focus conveniently on selected Islamic texts to support their opinions, while ignoring vast number of other texts and historical information, which suggests Aisha was much older, putting her age of marriage at 19. Child marriage is against Islam as the Qur'an is clear that intellectual maturity is the basis for deciding age of marriage, and not puberty, as suggested by these clerics.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/25/middle-east-child-abuse-pederasty

[supporttheunderdog]

More news from Saudi Arabia where, according to our self-appointed country expert on the basis of hobnobbing with a few members of the educated elite in five-star hotel lounges before getting out on the next flight, “no one fiddles with any kiddies.” Well, what about the following:

Saudi Arabia conducted its first public beheading under the rule of the newly installed King Salman bin Abdulaziz on Monday.

The executed man was a school teacher convicted of child sex abuse. According to the interior ministry, he raped 13 girls with the first attack in 2006 while working as a school teacher.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/beheading ... -new-king/

There you are, somebody has been convicted by the Saudi courts for “fiddling with kiddies”. So it is even substantiated in a Saudi court ruling that child rape takes place in the country. So much for the blanket statement that it never happens.

Incidentally, as a British citizen, I am greatly disturbed by news stories that are gradually leaking out about child abuse in the UK forty or so years ago, and I am not trying to say that this happens in Saudi Arabia and not elsewhere, I am just seeking to rebut the silly generalisation that “no one fiddles with any kiddies” in the country.[/quote

I had an interesting discussion a few years ago about the level of child sex abuse. The kidnappings, then abuse and sometimes murder of children by eg the Hindley and Brady's and acts of the Jimmy Savilles and Rolf Harris's of this word get the headlines but they are probably only the tip on an iceberg: the rest, the majority, is hidden, and that is because tends to happen within the family, or involving close family friends or less so with other prominent people in a trusted position but with some sort of dominance by authority over the child victim, e.g. teachers or the local priest. This frequently goes unreported and undetected by the authorities. In the close family the mother might overlook it as she is not getting bothered by her husband and the daughter does not complain because she is getting attention. In other cases silence may be imposed by fear or the "no one will believe you" story.

It probably happens all over the world. Cyprus is not immune and we have had several reported cases in the papers, over the past few months. As indicated above they are probably just the tip, where it could be happening a house near you, unknown, due to the conspiracy of silence.

It is something every society needs to talk about as the only way to protect the Children is raise awareness and make it clear it is NOT acceptable.

[miltiades]

To suggest that a culture that discriminates against women, a culture that carries out public beheadings, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, honour killings with the occasional stoning, again discriminatory against women who are buried from the shoulders down whilst men have their hands free, a culture that considers any other faith as not acceptable in their countries, a culture that prohibits the import of any other holly book as un Islamic, a culture that gives a footballer before the start of the game a haircut on the grounds that the fucking hair on his head is un Islamic !! What the hell is there to admire about such dark age culture. Sky scrapers and flash airports and roads ?

Our friend Paphitis is obviously impressed or perhaps he just loves Arabs and heir way of life.

Mate there is more culture in Stroumbi The Great than in the entire M.East. The M stands for Medieval by the way

[Linichka]

I usually like what Paphitis has to say on other topics.

This one I absolutely disagree with.

I see nothing either 'smart' or superior about Arab culture.

[GreekIslandGirl]

I'm with Linichka on this one. You have to be seriously desperate for a job and some money to think the Arabs are *superior*.

A source of money is all they are.

Otherwise they are the dregs of humanity that would sooner let a school burn down with countless female students dying than put the fire out and let them walk free from the burning building without their veils on. Sick!

Deluded and shamefully naive self-serving propaganda.

[Paphitis]

I'm with Linichka on this one. You have to be seriously desperate for a job and some money to think the Arabs are *superior*.

A source of money is all they are.

Otherwise they are the dregs of humanity that would sooner let a school burn down with countless female students dying than put the fire out and let them walk free from the burning building without their veils on. Sick!

Deluded and shamefully naive self-serving propaganda.

What is deluded is you ignorance. They won't let their females burn alive.

Every time you go to the bowser, just remember that your life depends on their resource. So be thankful that there are desperate Western Oil companies and millions of westerners who bring this resource from the field to the pump.

I could easily say that UK society is full of kiddy fiddlers. The dregs of society and humanity who will prey on schools with innocent girls and boys.

[Paphitis]

To suggest that a culture that discriminates against women, a culture that carries out public beheadings, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, honour killings with the occasional stoning, again discriminatory against women who are buried from the shoulders down whilst men have their hands free, a culture that considers any other faith as not acceptable in their countries, a culture that prohibits the import of any other holly book as un Islamic, a culture that gives a footballer before the start of the game a haircut on the grounds that the fucking hair on his head is un Islamic !! What the hell is there to admire about such dark age culture. Sky scrapers and flash airports and roads ?

Our friend Paphitis is obviously impressed or perhaps he just loves Arabs and heir way of life.

Mate there is more culture in Stroumbi The Great than in the entire M.East. The M stands for Medieval by the way

You are making sweeping generalizations.

Their culture does not discriminate against women anymore than western culture does. Unless you refer to KSA, if you go to their Sister Gulf States, women are everywhere and in senior Public Positions and none wear Burkha's if they don't want to. Most only wear an Al-amira or Hijab which is pretty much what some older women wear in Cyprus.

You see female police officers, customs, security, Public Servants. soldiers, and even Fighter Pilots and Helicopter Pilots. The Military has female Officers. They have female diplomatic staff, and women in Government and in the highest offices.

So I would be very careful what you say about the Arabs, because quite clearly you're wrong.

That is where KSA is headed. In their own time.