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#UAE @HHShkMohd in the spirit of tolerance use #EAFOL16 to return passport of @Ahmed_Mansoor - ht @EmiratesLitFest

This is addressed to all participants of #EAFOL16  #Dubai, #UAE, whether audience or authors.  2010 was the second year of #EAFOL and I...

Tuesday 15 September 2015

60 Seconds with John McDonnell - YouTube

60 Seconds with John McDonnell - YouTube: ""



'via Blog this'

Monday 14 September 2015

Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership campaign: behind the scenes exclusive | Owen Jones talks - YouTube

Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership campaign: behind the scenes exclusive | Owen Jones talks - YouTube: ""



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Sunday 13 September 2015

Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide Labour leadership victory - an outsider's view | Anywhere but Westminster - YouTube

Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide Labour leadership victory - an outsider's view | Anywhere but Westminster - YouTube: ""



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Saturday 12 September 2015

It's an honour to serve you | @jeremycorbyn - I will continue with my right to support @thesnp & @UKLabour

It's an honour to serve you - Gmail:

"Jeremy Corbyn theteam@labour.org.uk via bounce.bluestatedigital.com
18:48 (1 hour ago)

to me



Dear Rupert,



It is a deep honour to be elected as our party's new leader. The honour is not about holding office - it is about the opportunity to serve each and every one one of you in the fight to get a better government for our country.



I want to pay tribute to Andy, Yvette and Liz. As the last few weeks have shown, each of them cares passionately about our party and its values and has made a fantastic contribution to it.



If you voted for me, thank you for putting your faith in me. If you didn't vote for me, I hope I will win your trust and support in the coming months. Whoever you supported, we must come together to serve the millions of people who desperately need a Labour government.



The Labour Party is the joint endeavour of each and every one of us. I want to use your talents to make us stronger, and I want to represent you.



So, help me be your representative. When I stand at the despatch box for Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, I want to be your voice.

What do you want to ask David Cameron?



Tell me now and I will put your questions to him in parliament. My questions will be your questions. 



Let's hold this government to account together with straight-talking, honest politics.



Thank you for your commitment to building a better future. I look forward to working with you.



Best wishes,



Jeremy Corbyn"



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Friday 4 September 2015

The Arab world’s wealthiest nations are doing next to nothing for Syria’s refugees - The Washington Post

The Arab world’s wealthiest nations are doing next to nothing for Syria’s refugees - The Washington Post:

   

The world has been transfixed in recent weeks by the unfolding refugee crisis in Europe, an influx of migrants unprecedented since World War II. Their plight was chillingly highlighted on Wednesday in the image of a drowned Syrian toddler, his lifeless body lying alone on a Turkish beach.
A fair amount of attention has fallen on the failure of many Western governments to adequately address the burden on Syria's neighboring countries, which are struggling to host the brunt of the roughly 4 million Syrians forced out of the country by its civil war.
Some European countries have been criticized for offering sanctuary only toa small number of refugees, or for discriminating between Muslims and Christians. There's also been a good deal of continental hand-wringing over the general dysfunction of Europe's systems for migration and asylum.
Less ire, though, has been directed at another set of stakeholders who almost certainly should be doing more: Saudi Arabia and the wealthy Arab states along the Persian Gulf.
As Amnesty International recently pointed out, the "six Gulf countries -- Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain -- have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees." This claim was echoed by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, on Twitter:


That's a shocking figure, given these countries' relative proximity to Syria, as well as the incredible resources at their disposal. As Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a Dubai-based political commentator, observes, these countries include some of the Arab world's largest military budgets, its highest standards of living, as well as a lengthy history -- especially in the case of the United Arab Emirates -- of welcoming immigrants from other Arab nations and turning them into citizens.
Moreover, these countries aren't totally innocent bystanders. To varying degrees, elements within Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the U.A.E., and Kuwait have invested in the Syrian conflict, playing a conspicuous role in funding and arming a constellation of rebel and Islamist factions fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
None of these countries are signatories of the United Nations' 1951 Refugee Convention, which defines what a refugee is, and lays out their rights, as well as the obligations of states to safeguard them. For a Syrian to enter these countries, they would have to apply for a visa, which, in the current circumstances, is rarely granted. According to the BBC, the only Arab countries where a Syrian can travel without a visa are Algeria, Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen -- hardly choice or practical destinations.
Like European countries, Saudi Arabia and its neighbors also have fears over new arrivals taking jobs from citizens, and may also invoke concerns about security and terrorism. But the current Gulf aid outlay for Syrian refugees, which amounts to collective donations under $1 billion (the United States has given four times that sum), seems short -- and is made all the more galling when you consider the vast sums Saudi Arabia poured into this year's war effort in Yemen, an intervention some consider a strategic blunder.
As Bobby Ghosh, managing editor of the news site Quartz, points out, the Gulf states in theory have a far greater ability to deal with large numbers of arrivals than Syria's more immediate and poorer neighbors, Lebanon and Jordan:
The region has the capacity to quickly build housing for the refugees. The giant construction companies that have built the gleaming towers of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh should be contracted to create shelters for the influx. Saudi Arabia has plenty of expertise at managing large numbers of arrivals: It receives an annual surge of millions of Hajj pilgrims to Mecca. There’s no reason all this knowhow can’t be put to humanitarian use.
No reason other than either indifference or a total lack of political will. In social media, many are calling for action. The Arabic hashtag #Welcoming_Syria's_refugees_is_a_Gulf_duty was tweeted more than 33,000 times in the past week, according to the BBC.
"The Gulf must realize that now is the time to change their policy regarding accepting refugees from the Syria crisis," writes the columnist al-Qassemi. "It is the moral, ethical and responsible step to take."
Read more: 
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Thursday 3 September 2015

Reasons why so many seek refuge in #EU - open your hearts to all please my fellow humane Europeans