The Big Middle Eastern Thread

[Spike]

31 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I’m half English half Iranian

missed on a chance to end it with fully sick

[Spike]

On 28/09/2022 at 12:55, Dr. Gonzo said:

 

Shit like this is why I don't really have any respect for Justin Trudeau. Talks a big talk, but then is happy for Canada to be a second home for the children of the people running an awful government that in one breathe he's condemning. Because he's happy for Canada to be taking in rich people, regardless of the source of their money being wealth stolen from another country.

If you wanna see something crazy about Canada look at the demographics change since the 90s. I don’t think any country has had such a immigration change like Canada.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

If you wanna see something crazy about Canada look at the demographics change since the 90s. I don’t think any country has had such a immigration change like Canada.

They’ve got a long-standing policy of wanting to encourage immigration to have a constantly growing workforce, so it’s an appealing place to go for a lot of people. And Canada’s got a reputation of being pretty welcoming of immigrants. So I guess it’s understandable that in a time where migration is more possible than ever (flight more affordable for more people than earlier), Canada’s had such a big shift in that time period.

But I didn’t know anything about it until you told me to look at the demographics

[Spike]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They’ve got a long-standing policy of wanting to encourage immigration to have a constantly growing workforce, so it’s an appealing place to go for a lot of people. And Canada’s got a reputation of being pretty welcoming of immigrants. So I guess it’s understandable that in a time where migration is more possible than ever (flight more affordable for more people than earlier), Canada’s had such a big shift in that time period.

But I didn’t know anything about it until you told me to look at the demographics

It's too much and that sort of population boom can be bad. Canadians that would have been living in the major metros can no longer afford to as housing prices have skyrocketed with demand. Same issue in Australia, I will probably never be able to afford to live in one of the major cities.

It's kind of unfair to some people, it's bizarre how much immigration is pushed as a 'good thing' but it isn't a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' it's just something that happens, and while extreme consequences for better or worse. I'm an immigrant and I'm anti-immigration for the most part. It sort of works in a place like the USA because it's so big and can handle an incredibly huge population, but Canada and Australia just can't.

It's not like people immigrate to Winnipeg or Calgary. They want Vancouver and Toronto. People don't move to Toowoomba or Newcastle, they go to Sydney and Melbourne. Then it's just the smart and capable people moving, it just causes a brain drain on the migrant's country. My wife's parents were both doctors, are two doctors more valuable in the Philippines or the USA...? I'd say the country with people living in destitute poverty needs medical help more than literally the richest nation in existence. I don't blame people for leaving either, why stick around in a kleptocracy (the Philippines) or a theocracy (Iran) when they can live in the home of the free, land of the brave where the USA's inherit problems are hardly their concern?

Edited October 1, 2022 by Spike

[Waylander]

5 hours ago, Spike said:

It's too much and that sort of population boom can be bad. Canadians that would have been living in the major metros can no longer afford to as housing prices have skyrocketed with demand. Same issue in Australia, I will probably never be able to afford to live in one of the major cities.

It's kind of unfair to some people, it's bizarre how much immigration is pushed as a 'good thing' but it isn't a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' it's just something that happens, and while extreme consequences for better or worse. I'm an immigrant and I'm anti-immigration for the most part. It sort of works in a place like the USA because it's so big and can handle an incredibly huge population, but Canada and Australia just can't.

It's not like people immigrate to Winnipeg or Calgary. They want Vancouver and Toronto. People don't move to Toowoomba or Newcastle, they go to Sydney and Melbourne. Then it's just the smart and capable people moving, it just causes a brain drain on the migrant's country. My wife's parents were both doctors, are two doctors more valuable in the Philippines or the USA...? I'd say the country with people living in destitute poverty needs medical help more than literally the richest nation in existence. I don't blame people for leaving either, why stick around in a kleptocracy (the Philippines) or a theocracy (Iran) when they can live in the home of the free, land of the brave where the USA's inherit problems are hardly their concern?

Interesting post on the point about Canada can't handle as much immigration as the USA and want to understand a bit more.

Is that because the infrastructure is not there?

Or is that due to Northerly latitude making a lot of land uninhabitable for large parts of the year?

[Dr. Gonzo]

9 hours ago, Spike said:

It's too much and that sort of population boom can be bad. Canadians that would have been living in the major metros can no longer afford to as housing prices have skyrocketed with demand. Same issue in Australia, I will probably never be able to afford to live in one of the major cities.

It's kind of unfair to some people, it's bizarre how much immigration is pushed as a 'good thing' but it isn't a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' it's just something that happens, and while extreme consequences for better or worse. I'm an immigrant and I'm anti-immigration for the most part. It sort of works in a place like the USA because it's so big and can handle an incredibly huge population, but Canada and Australia just can't.

It's not like people immigrate to Winnipeg or Calgary. They want Vancouver and Toronto. People don't move to Toowoomba or Newcastle, they go to Sydney and Melbourne. Then it's just the smart and capable people moving, it just causes a brain drain on the migrant's country. My wife's parents were both doctors, are two doctors more valuable in the Philippines or the USA...? I'd say the country with people living in destitute poverty needs medical help more than literally the richest nation in existence. I don't blame people for leaving either, why stick around in a kleptocracy (the Philippines) or a theocracy (Iran) when they can live in the home of the free, land of the brave where the USA's inherit problems are hardly their concern?

That housing issue is happening even in places that don’t have as open of borders as Canada though. Canada’s immigration policy isn’t really much like the US’s for example - if you want to move for work you don’t even need a sponsor. I also wouldn’t say leaving the kleptocracy of the Philippines is really anything like leaving the autocratic theocracy of Iran. In 2022 it’s virtually impossible to emigrate to the US from Iran, it’s difficult enough to get a tourist visa for them. And in Canada they can only get in from Iran if you’ve got a lot more money than the average person in Iran has. So it’s either Iranian doctors or people closely connected to the regime. Or students who won’t be there permanently.

Most Iranians you meet in the west aren’t people who’ve come over recently. It’s people who left around the revolution and around the end of the war (I suppose some countries felt a bit guilty about supporting Saddam’s war crimes?)

Which is why I think Trudeau’s condemnation rings a bit hollow. Condemning the brutality of the IRI is a good thing. But its pretty hypocritical when you make it difficult for the victims of the IRI to get the fuck out… but you make it so easy for the children of IRI officials to escape the hell they’ve created.

Imo it’s complicity with the regime - condemning them and in the same breath taking in their money they’ve stolen from a country.

They should be given the Huawei heiress treatment & locked up. They’ve got more direct ties to the government and behavior being criticised than she did. Or they should be deported and made to live in the hell that their fathers created.

[Spike]

31 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

That housing issue is happening even in places that don’t have as open of borders as Canada though. Canada’s immigration policy isn’t really much like the US’s for example - if you want to move for work you don’t even need a sponsor. I also wouldn’t say leaving the kleptocracy of the Philippines is really anything like leaving the autocratic theocracy of Iran. In 2022 it’s virtually impossible to emigrate to the US from Iran, it’s difficult enough to get a tourist visa for them. And in Canada they can only get in from Iran if you’ve got a lot more money than the average person in Iran has. So it’s either Iranian doctors or people closely connected to the regime. Or students who won’t be there permanently.

Most Iranians you meet in the west aren’t people who’ve come over recently. It’s people who left around the revolution and around the end of the war (I suppose some countries felt a bit guilty about supporting Saddam’s war crimes?)

Which is why I think Trudeau’s condemnation rings a bit hollow. Condemning the brutality of the IRI is a good thing. But its pretty hypocritical when you make it difficult for the victims of the IRI to get the fuck out… but you make it so easy for the children of IRI officials to escape the hell they’ve created.

Imo it’s complicity with the regime - condemning them and in the same breath taking in their money they’ve stolen from a country.

They should be given the Huawei heiress treatment & locked up. They’ve got more direct ties to the government and behavior being criticised than she did. Or they should be deported and made to live in the hell that their fathers created.

The Philippines isn’t a kleptocracy anymore, I was referring to the past, the 60s/70s more specifically. 

[Spike]

4 hours ago, Waylander said:

Interesting post on the point about Canada can't handle as much immigration as the USA and want to understand a bit more.

Is that because the infrastructure is not there?

Or is that due to Northerly latitude making a lot of land uninhabitable for large parts of the year?

I don’t know if the inland areas can support as much population as the coasts. The environment of Alberta for instance is pretty hostile. I’m pretty sure the majority of Canadians live within 200 miles of the American border, or something ridiculous.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Students massacred at Sharif University (the country’s top uni) in Tehran 

[Azeem]

Biden's spokesperson said they will review Saudi relations after OPEC cut prices. MBS is underestimating America's vindictiveness right now... coup coming

[Dr. Gonzo]

Hooray my mum is out of Iran!

[Waylander]

20 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Hooray my mum is out of Iran!

Nice one.

Interesting as an asylum seeker or leaving on family grounds?

Did wearing the Hajib bother her?

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 minutes ago, Waylander said:

Nice one.

Interesting as an asylum seeker or leaving on family grounds?

Did wearing the Hajib bother her?

 

She lives in the UK & is a citizen - she went back because her brother/my uncle (who also lives in the UK) was there before the protests on Holiday & had a pretty serious stroke unfortunately. He needed help getting back to the UK, so his wife and my mum went there to go get him. They've both been in the UK since the revolution.

She hates wearing the hijab & said it was a bit of an interesting time to be back - as many women were openly not wearing a hijab. But also the basiji were out looking for women not wearing hijabs to beat. My Iranian side of the family is pretty anti-religion though, which is understandable because religious zealots ruining a country will do that to people.

[Waylander]

Yes an unpleasant situation in Iran.

You would hope the more progressive side wins in this dispute though religious autocracies are something else. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

25 minutes ago, Waylander said:

Yes an unpleasant situation in Iran.

You would hope the more progressive side wins in this dispute though religious autocracies are something else. 

It's mirrored 1978 in Iran in a lot of ways - the demonstrations at universities marred with violence, now the oil and gas industries going on strike with national strikes (which are happening today - so we're seeing basically a total internet blackout as Iran tries to hide it & their response to it from the world).

The oil and gas strikes are massive news. The government needs the energy revenues to survive. A few months after it happened in 1978, Pahlavi's Iran fell.

I hope the West holds its resolve and doesn't engage the IRI in any new nuclear deal that eases sanction restrictions (which is weird because in the past I had been a big advocate of engaging in democracy to gradually moderate them). I know the EU is keen for new sources of energy after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out - but with Iranians compounding the economic squeeze of sanctions... doing so now undermines the best chance for change in Iran in my lifetime.

There's obviously a huge amount of uncertainty about what could come next - but I think most Iranians I know seem to prefer an uncertain future over the certainty of the IRI staying in power.

[Waylander]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's mirrored 1978 in Iran in a lot of ways - the demonstrations at universities marred with violence, now the oil and gas industries going on strike with national strikes (which are happening today - so we're seeing basically a total internet blackout as Iran tries to hide it & their response to it from the world).

The oil and gas strikes are massive news. The government needs the energy revenues to survive. A few months after it happened in 1978, Pahlavi's Iran fell.

I hope the West holds its resolve and doesn't engage the IRI in any new nuclear deal that eases sanction restrictions (which is weird because in the past I had been a big advocate of engaging in democracy to gradually moderate them). I know the EU is keen for new sources of energy after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out - but with Iranians compounding the economic squeeze of sanctions... doing so now undermines the best chance for change in Iran in my lifetime.

There's obviously a huge amount of uncertainty about what could come next - but I think most Iranians I know seem to prefer an uncertain future over the certainty of the IRI staying in power.

Strikes are a good start for raising the stakes.

Revolutions normally gather pace when police ranks join the protests............

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

11 minutes ago, Waylander said:

Strikes are a good start for raising the stakes.

Revolutions normally gather pace when police ranks join the protests............

 

I think in this instance, we're hoping that the military steps in to stop the IRGC (which is a separate entity to the military... but better equipped and funded) - the people you see out in the streets beating and shooting protestors are Basij - a volunteer force of the revolutionary guard.

[6666]

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Hopefully it’s not the government killing off political prisoners and claiming it’s an accident

[OrangeKhrush]

On 28/09/2022 at 19:55, Dr. Gonzo said:

Shit like this is why I don't really have any respect for Justin Trudeau. Talks a big talk, but then is happy for Canada to be a second home for the children of the people running an awful government that in one breathe he's condemning. Because he's happy for Canada to be taking in rich people, regardless of the source of their money being wealth stolen from another country.

look just in trudaeu is a far left hypocrit that runs his country like Nazi Germany who did take the wealth from other nations even persecuted their own rich who don't fit the regime.

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, OrangeKhrush said:

look just in trudaeu is a far left hypocrit that runs his country like Nazi Germany who did take the wealth from other nations even persecuted their own rich who don't fit the regime.

Lol I don’t like him but Canada is a far cry from Nazi German 

[Dr. Gonzo]

14 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Hopefully it’s not the government killing off political prisoners and claiming it’s an accident

Unfortunately this is what’s happened.

[Spike]

RIP to @Dr. Gonzo he was so young 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/25/worlds-dirtiest-man-dies-in-iran-at-94-a-few-months-after-first-wash

[Dr. Gonzo]

24 minutes ago, Spike said:

RIP to @Dr. Gonzo he was so young 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/25/worlds-dirtiest-man-dies-in-iran-at-94-a-few-months-after-first-wash

Never should have had that first and last wash

lol wtf he smoked animal shit and ate roadkill and lived to be 94?!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Big day in Iran to mark the 40th day since Mahsa Amini was murdered by the government's "morality" police for improperly wearing her hijab:

• Thousands march to where she is buried despite several road closures to the site. Eventually basijis open fire on the mourners.
• Strikes and demonstrations in the Tehran bazaar - first time that's happened with these protests
• Shah Cheragh, a mosque/tourist attraction in Shiraz, was the site of a deadly shooting where at least 20 died and over 20 are critically injured. The government is claiming it was Wahhabi terrorists, protestors are claiming it was 3 basiji gunmen. The government is using this as an excuse to encourage people to stop having mass gatherings - which seems a little suspicious (along with the whole timing of everything)
• University protests, which have been large already are absolutely massive right now. The government increased the number of security forces at most uni campuses ahead of the 40th day since Ms. Amini was murdered - but the protests at unis have been overwhelmingly large.

Some of the shit I've heard and seen from my family has been absolutely outrageous. Shocking scenes.

I hope the IRI is overthrown and that hell is real so Khamenei can join the Shah and Khomeini there.