More harm than good
What people fail to understand is that a lot of US government contracts are tied to this facility and a lot of corporations are milking the tax payer’s money through these contracts (‘An interactive tour of Guantanamo Bay,’ Gulf News, January 22). Closing this is not an easy task. This has nothing to do with the terrorists in the prison. It is all about the money! A lot more terrorists will come out of Guantanamo Bay than actually went in, thanks to US government policies!
From Mr Norman
Dubai
Website comment
A brave mission
This is a wonderful piece of news. After what I have read, I have got to say that I want to read everything about Guantanamo Bay. Whoever the reporter was, has been very brave and hats off to you! Awesome stuff!
From Ms Anantha
Sharjah
Website comment
Engaging the audience
This is outstanding work by Gulf News. This raises the bar on journalism standards. The interactive aspect was engaging and executed flawlessly. The writing and reporting was absolutely outstanding. I have never written to a newspaper, but this warrants praise - high praise. I hope you keep this on your website for a long time so that people around the world have a chance to engage. What a fascinating piece of journalism and the presentation was superb. Well done.
From Mr J. Simmons
Dubai
Website comment
We need peace
It’s sad to see Muslims being tortured. It reminds me of a film I saw once where a Muslim was shown before being tortured and he wrote, “I love USA” and after the torture he wrote, “now I love USAma”. Peace is what this world needs!
From Ms Sadia Khan
UAE
Facebook comment
Happy when it goes
We all welcome the rains in the UAE (‘UAE explores ways to enhance rainfall,’ Gulf News, January 22). We were all waiting for the rains to come and the climate has become cooler and finally now it feels like the winter is here.
But there are some adverse effects of rain in this part of the world. If it rains here we experience traffic jams and accidents increase on the roads. This is all because we are not used to driving in the rain in this country. The drainage facilities are still not adequate enough, which results in water clogging on the streets. Some of the areas like the Sharjah industrial areas experience very bad water clogging resulting in foul smell and can lead to viral fever. We do wait for the rains, but when it comes we always wait for it to stop so that life becomes normal again. In spite of so much awareness about safe driving during the rainy days, we find reckless drivers who do not care about anything and are responsible for most of the accidents during that time. My only request to such drivers is to please care about other people’s lives if you do not care about your own.
From Mr Ajeet Kumar S. Pillai
UAE
Children adapt
It’s the parent’s fault that children are growing accustomed to exotic pets, I tell you (‘Exotic animals ‘have replaced stuffed toys’ for children in UAE’, Gulf News, January 21)! Children are children and they will always be! They are fastest to adapt to any situation as well. So if you give them an exotic pet and that sort of life they surely would get used to it and vice versa. Try bringing them up like sane human beings by trying to keep them well-mannered and properly grounded. They would surely adapt to that lifestyle as well! The choice is in the hands of the parents and sadly they are in a race to prove to society!
From Ms Natasha Preena Soomoon
Dubai
Facebook comment
Just say “no”
This is rubbish! The market isn’t driven by children at all, it’s driven by the parents who buy these pets because of demands made by their children. If you don’t have the foresight to say “no” to your children, then you need to get some parenting classes. Put more effort into educating your children instead of trying to keep up with the rest of society!
From Ms Sam Clarke
Bridgend, UK
Facebook comment
Rules are rules!
There are certain rules that should be adhered to while at school (‘British schoolboy kicked out of class over haircut,’ Gulf News, January 22). Children should not only be groomed well and in their proper uniform to attend their classes, but they should also refrain from doing things that separate them from the rest. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children are up to and whether or not it is acceptable at school. It is sad that the boy’s mother is defending his haircut and finds it fair to the rest of the students who follow the rules. Not all fashion and fads are to be followed by children. While schooling in Dubai, I remember how we girls were instructed to keep our nails trimmed and hair tied up neatly. There were latest trends back then too, but rules are rules and they are meant to be followed.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
Sharjah
Facebook comment
Why does it matter?
Who cares about this boy’s hair? It’s just a haircut. It’s not affecting his school work or anyone else. The boy is healthy, getting an education and has a loving family. What else matters? I think it is ridiculous.
From Ms Laura Masson
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
Respecting each other
We should all respect each others religions (‘Simplistic Je suis Charlie only widens rift,’ Gulf News, January 22). In the same time, nobody has a right to kill anybody because we are not giving life to any human being. It’s God who gives life and He is the only one who has the right to take it as well. In the end, we are all brothers and sisters with one Father: our Creator.
From Mr Jozsef
Ras Al Khaimah
Website comment
The strengthening dollar
The growth trajectory of the US economy is very promising (‘Dubai cautious as dollar strengthens,’ Gulf News, January 22). Besides this, the US could generate more jobs than any other country in the recent past. On one hand, the UAE economy is enjoying the benefits of a weak Euro and, on the other hand, they need to tackle the harmful impact of a strengthening dollar. With the oil price collapse and the strengthening of the dollar, once again the dominance of the US is becoming stronger around the world. Cheap oil supply, a robust economy and a strong currency - things are looking favourable for US President Barack Obama and America.
From Mr Girish R. Edathitta
Dubai
Website comment
Transparency needed
The public and, more specifically, the families of the deceased need to know the sequence of events that led to this disaster in order to bring closure to this tragedy (‘AirAsia jet’s alarms were ‘screaming’ before crash: investigator’, Gulf News, January 22). Transparency in the media from information released by the investigating authorities is the need of the hour.
From Mr Gregory G.
Dubai
Website comment
Drone warfare
The use of spy aircrafts and drones by major powers will lead to a dangerous arms race in Asia as many nations will respond by deploying weapons of similar capability. The idea of using pilotless aircrafts remotely emerged more than fifty years ago. However, the operational concept behind drones as weapons has changed significantly over the years.
Future developments look set to intensify these questions. As signatories to the Geneva Convention and additional protocol, many states that manufacture drones are required to uphold the principles of distinction and proportionality during warfare. Such complex decision-making is not feasible in robot technology. Currently and for the foreseeable future, no autonomous robots or artificial intelligence systems have the necessary properties to enable discrimination between combatants and civilians or to make proportional decisions.
The issue with drones in the world with regards to war, power and military force has not been addressed by conventions and laws formulated in the previous century. Currently many nations possess and operate military drones, making the issues of drone warfare causes for international concern as more nations acquire and deploy drones in combat.
Laws pertaining to wars and warriors are inadequate in relation to drone warfare. Drone warfare’s impersonal qualities may change our view of war or change the world’s balance of power as we know it. Action must be taken to address these problems. Unmanned systems may lead to a safer type of warfare for soldiers, but they will be unable to eliminate the inherent brutality of war.
From Mr Farouk Araie
Johannesburg, South Africa
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