Delusional Russia?
What is wrong with Vladimir Putin? The Cold War is over and done with. The USSR no longer exists. Putin, with his KGB past, is determined to drag Russia back into the limelight as a power to be reckoned with. However, he fails to recognise that Russia is a trouble-ridden economy. Crime rates are up and free speech is an almost unknown concept. The Bear has crept back into the mountains. Indulging in ridiculous grandstanding when it comes to Crimea is not going to change the fact that adding another failing economy to an already existing economic crisis is not going to help. Russia will regret the annexation of Crimea. The world doesn’t need to bother with economic sanctions. Putin has got himself another financial headache in the long run and the Tatars who were driven out might find some metaphorical sense of justice. Self-aggrandizement usually ends in tears, in this case not just for the perpetrator but for many others, too.
From Ms Katya Winterrow
Dubai
WhatsApp connects in the ICU
There are approximately 417 million Whatsapp users in the world and till last week it was my firm belief that it is used mostly for frivolous social activities like forwarding jokes and various anniversary greetings between families and friends. All this changed last week, when my father suddenly suffered a brain stroke and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where he now recuperates. Since that day, my family’s Whatsapp group has become like a private and interactive news channel. My sister who is by my father’s bedside in my home country gives four-hourly updates about his status to all our relatives spread across the globe. Sometimes she posts a picture of the monitor in my father’s hospital room displaying vitals like blood pressure, heart rate and saturation rate. This enables the doctors in our family to tell us that he is improving. The group also allows my relatives to offer words of encouragement reminisce and post family pictures of happier times, without any intrusion. In these testing times, when a family member lies in the ICU, Whatsapp is providing the healing touch to the entire family.
From Mr Amitabh Saxena
Dubai
Why have a switch?
I have one serious question, and I hope to see a response from any aviation professional (“Malaysian Airlines jet mystery: Files were deleted from flight simulator”, Gulf News, March 20). My question is – why is such an important piece of equipment even available to be switched off during a flight? The transponder that sends signals to the ground about its speed, altitude and location has a switch in the cockpit available to be turned off - this seems to be such a loophole in aviation security. It makes it so simple for hijackers to enter the cockpit and turn off the switch or to make the airplane invisible to the monitoring system on the ground. It’s just unbelievable! That switch should not even exist or should be locked while the plane is in flight.
From Mr Amir
Abu Dhabi
Website comment
Change direction
Judging by the lapse of security, inaccurate reports from Malaysian authorities, the unclear amount of fuel the plane was carrying during take-off and comparing the flight time from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, perhaps the area around Somalia should be searched instead.
From Mr Rio
Dubai
Website comment
Stay on point
From the beginning, Malaysian government has mentioned that the flight flew to the north towards South China Sea, and that made Vietnam waste their time by keeping on searching for debris there (“Thai radar saw ‘unknown aircraft’ after MH370 vanished”, Gulf News, March 19). Later, after five days, new facts emerged, changing the search to a totally different direction. The flight just flew above their heads in their own area, and they said they had no idea. So instead of blaming Thailand for reporting this information late, we should ask Malaysia to take a stand on what they believe to be true. Thai radars just confirmed the information that Malaysia already had.
From Ms Uma Kietisirirojana
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
Dark plot
A jumbo jet vanishing without a trace in this era, where every nook and corner of the Earth is monitored? This could be looked at from another angle. This could be a dark plot claiming innocent lives in order to explore these waters and security using the veil of aid to find the missing airplane. I hope this is not another dark political plot claiming innocent lives. I hope the passengers are safe.
From Ms Ilham
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Full name withheld by request
Ground control
Today, when the world has the most advanced technology and the missing flight was a high-tech Boeing 777, I can’t fathom why all the controls were in the hands of pilots. There should be some way to control the plane from ground. Why was the information system in the pilots’ sole control? Any communication inside the cabin must transmit live to the ground and should be recorded. It’s a matter of precious lives. These are the questions that my mind raises when I need to fly.
From Mr Rizwan
Abu Dhabi
Website comment
Like a competition
Tooth decay among students is the most common chronic infectious disease (“Three out of four pupils suffer from tooth decay”, Gulf News, March 20). An awareness programme needs to be launched. Parents and teachers should be involved. Schools should launch a massive programme of weekly oral inspections for pupils. The school doctor should look after the process and more urgent cases be referred to specialists. Weekly presentations, relating to oral hygiene, should be made during morning assemblies. Poster competitions in oral hygiene can be arranged. Practical demonstrations of healthy gums and teeth can also be arranged followed by awards and prizes.
From Dr S. Kumar
Abu Dhabi
Confusing
It is funny that on one hand Dubai is consuming a large amount of electricity by organising a Festival of Lights and on the other hand they are organising an event for Earth hour to save energy (“Dubai to go dark for Earth Hour”, Gulf News, March 20).
From Mr Iqbal Mohammed
Dubai
Facebook comment
Not sure
In my opinion the party led by Arvind Kejriwal has entered the poll campaign a bit late. There was no clarity whether Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would be only in Delhi or everywhere in India. This chaos will be a setback in the party’s political future. The party is only strong in Northern India, because the party’s think tank does not seem to be giving enough time to propagate its schemes during the election days. In the rarest of rarest cases, AAP might be able to provide some seats for a party to form a government, but that also looks unlikely considering that no one wants a strong anti-corruption law. I suggest that AAP should stop criticising just one person or one party and do the same to all those who have been corrupt and have let the nation down. The common man needs proof. What they could do now in order to consolidate their position is spell out what would be their strategy to alleviate the problems of the common man with regard to employment, housing and overall welfare beside the anti-corruption law.
From Mr Kumar Shastri
Fujairah
Don’t call me!
I wanted to raise this issue with concerned authorities for a while, but just didn’t know how to. I fail to understand how various banks get our phone numbers and call us offering new credit cards and personal loans with lowest processing time. Some people who are working as marketing representatives are forming a team and sharing available mobile numbers with each other. I am not sure what sources banks are using to get their hands on mobile numbers of people. Sometimes the spokesperson of the bank does not even know the name of the person they are calling. They simply try to convince the customer to opt for their product. When the person refuses or accepts the offer, shortly after other bank representatives call them offering their product. They are practically forcing people to buy their product. Even when customers request them to not call again, they don’t stop. There have been days when I have got four to five calls. Being busy at work, these calls just annoy people and waste their time. I feel like switching off my phone, but I can’t even do that because I don’t want to miss important calls. I have spoken to my colleagues and friends and most of them have the same problem. Please find a solution to these unwanted promotional calls.
From Mr Nagaraju K.
Dubai
Editor’s Note: Kindly be advised that, legally, UAE Central Bank has put a stop to banks selling loans and other financial products to customers over the telephone. You can contact the UAE Central Bank on complaint@cbuae.gov.ae or call on 800CBUAE/80022823
Editors’ note: Is there a news report that you feel strongly about? Something that has to be addressed in the community and requires resolution? Email us on readers@ gulfnews.com. You can also post a comment on our Facebook page.
