Suprised that all the talk of religion.....Islam

[aris2chat]

If I am not, the last 100 years are.

If they had wanted to - it would have been destroyed long ago.

I take it you do not live in Tel Aviv.
Or maybe get all your news and history from "special sources" only.

No. I do not get all my news and history from "special sources". Do you?

Well let's start with history. Islam and its sword were only stopped by Christians battling them from going far further into Europe from the 7th century on until the 16th century. They already had conquered all of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia Minor. Clearly their mission is to conquer the world by force.

Israel in particular has had to fight 5 wars and countless attacks since the day it became a nation -- by themselves. What do you think these Arab nations would have done if they won any of those wars? What's changed?

What was Genghis Khans religion, since his nation of Mongols had the world's largest continuous empire the Earth has ever known???

Tengrism, though most of his descendants and empire became muslims

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

This unwarranted hatred of Islam is ridiculous idiocy, such bigotry exhibits poor reasoning skills – or the complete lack thereof – as to condemn an entire religion for the bad acts of the few fails as a composition fallacy.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

It's caring too much and trying to change what happens in other people's countries that's gotten Islam pissed with us in the first place.

Mind your own business.

 

[Dajjal]

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

Wrong, the Quran tells Muslims to behead unbelievers.

Yusuf Ali: 8.12 Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them."

 

[Coyote]

Are you saying Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait are destroying Israel and everything Christian?

If I am not, the last 100 years are.

If they had wanted to - it would have been destroyed long ago.

I take it you do not live in Tel Aviv.
Or maybe get all your news and history from "special sources" only.

No. I do not get all my news and history from "special sources". Do you?

Well let's start with history. Islam and its sword were only stopped by Christians battling them from going far further into Europe from the 7th century on until the 16th century. They already had conquered all of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia Minor. Clearly their mission is to conquer the world by force.

Israel in particular has had to fight 5 wars and countless attacks since the day it became a nation -- by themselves. What do you think these Arab nations would have done if they won any of those wars? What's changed?

There's a lot left out of your "history" including Christianity and it's sword that was conquering territory as well - and not behaving very nicely. Clearly it's mission is to conquer the world by force, to use your words.

 

[Coyote]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

and sadly there are too many muslims flocking to their 'cause' every week.
There are many reason and exceptions to fasting during ramadan. Children do not have the same will power to abstain from eating or drinking in the heat of summer for a month from sun up to sun down. There is little or no electricity let alone AC in much of the area. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.

It is not just tragic what ISIS is doing but shameful more muslims from around the world are not speaking out more loudly and forcefully about this. It should not just be arab states fighting against ISIS but muslims teaching the world that this is not what Islam is about. Where are the calls for takfir? Why are there not people at every airport and border crossing to keep muslims from joining in this travesty? Where are the parents and imams preventing kids from traveling half way around the world?

Where is the outrage of all faiths against the massacres and abuses? This is not something that should be limited to a few opeds in a handful of newspapers. This is something that should be everyone concern. It is not isolated to the middle east but effects just about every country in the world.

Why are there not more voices?

Everyday, there is something in the news about what is going on in Syria and Iraq - everyday. Most of the news I listen to is on the radio to and from work and the reporting is pretty indepth - not shallow.

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

 

[aris2chat]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

It's caring too much and trying to change what happens in other people's countries that's gotten Islam pissed with us in the first place.

Mind your own business.

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

 

[aris2chat]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

and sadly there are too many muslims flocking to their 'cause' every week.
There are many reason and exceptions to fasting during ramadan. Children do not have the same will power to abstain from eating or drinking in the heat of summer for a month from sun up to sun down. There is little or no electricity let alone AC in much of the area. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.

It is not just tragic what ISIS is doing but shameful more muslims from around the world are not speaking out more loudly and forcefully about this. It should not just be arab states fighting against ISIS but muslims teaching the world that this is not what Islam is about. Where are the calls for takfir? Why are there not people at every airport and border crossing to keep muslims from joining in this travesty? Where are the parents and imams preventing kids from traveling half way around the world?

Where is the outrage of all faiths against the massacres and abuses? This is not something that should be limited to a few opeds in a handful of newspapers. This is something that should be everyone concern. It is not isolated to the middle east but effects just about every country in the world.

Why are there not more voices?

Everyday, there is something in the news about what is going on in Syria and Iraq - everyday. Most of the news I listen to is on the radio to and from work and the reporting is pretty indepth - not shallow.

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

Waiting for others to post news on the message boards is just lazy, so is expecting to hear news on the radio.

 

[turzovka]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

 

[aris2chat]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

People of all faiths and political backgrounds need to put out the right message and become leaders with solutions. They have to get people involved, motivate them to help not just rant or throw money into PR stunts that cost more than they raise. People need to help one person at a time, but the world need everyone to get involved and do that. Christian charity, Islamic charity, Hindu charity, etc.
All nations need to be involved, not just a handful. People need to be out there teaching kindness and how to get engaged. Companies can help train and back small start up businesses so refugees can support themselves. Teach them to start small gardening and farming, even vertical farming to they can feed themselves. Modern/tradition medicine as well as herbal and alternative medicine to treat people at lower cost with local items they can grow or find.
Purifying their own water, recycling water and other items, generating their own power from waste, alternative to electric lights, how to cook with little or no fuel, how to set up and even make solar power, how to desalinize their own water in some areas. There are a million thing that could be done to help on a temporary and more permanent basis, one at a time or thousands at a time. You help two people and they in turn help two people, so forth and so on.
Being informed and wanting to help is the first step, not just expecting someone else to deal with it. It should not be someone else's problem but everyone's problem.

Those suffering also need to understand that they can help themselves and not just become permanent charity cases with no escape. Nor expect to return to what was. They have to be taught to rebuild their lives better than before and make sure what made them become refugees does not happen again, to them or anyone. For much less than is being spent now we can help them with more sturdy housing and provide them with the means to supply much of their own water and power and teach them to grow at least some of their own food.

I've worked with refugees, I've also been a war refugee.

 

[Avatar4321]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

Wouldn't it be nice if you had the same attitude to.the Westbrook Baptist church and the rest of Christianity.

 

[turzovka]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

People of all faiths and political backgrounds need to put out the right message and become leaders with solutions. They have to get people involved, motivate them to help not just rant or throw money into PR stunts that cost more than they raise. People need to help one person at a time, but the world need everyone to get involved and do that. Christian charity, Islamic charity, Hindu charity, etc.
All nations need to be involved, not just a handful. People need to be out there teaching kindness and how to get engaged. Companies can help train and back small start up businesses so refugees can support themselves. Teach them to start small gardening and farming, even vertical farming to they can feed themselves. Modern/tradition medicine as well as herbal and alternative medicine to treat people at lower cost with local items they can grow or find.
Purifying their own water, recycling water and other items, generating their own power from waste, alternative to electric lights, how to cook with little or no fuel, how to set up and even make solar power, how to desalinize their own water in some areas. There are a million thing that could be done to help on a temporary and more permanent basis, one at a time or thousands at a time. You help two people and they in turn help two people, so forth and so on.
Being informed and wanting to help is the first step, not just expecting someone else to deal with it. It should not be someone else's problem but everyone's problem.

Those suffering also need to understand that they can help themselves and not just become permanent charity cases with no escape. Nor expect to return to what was. They have to be taught to rebuild their lives better than before and make sure what made them become refugees does not happen again, to them or anyone. For much less than is being spent now we can help them with more sturdy housing and provide them with the means to supply much of their own water and power and teach them to grow at least some of their own food.

I've worked with refugees, I've also been a war refugee.

I have no problem with what you have just said and I think most people would agree. And in fact, that would be an enormous change if more people (including myself) volunteered to do more charitable work and gave far more generously to those missions and organizations assisting the most needy. That is about as central of a Christian message as there is.

However, that is not exactly the same issue as the one I raised. And if you want to avoid discussing that, fine with me. But as for me, global terrorism is not going away and it is the main cause of all these multi-million refugees. We can care for them but if that is all we do it will not stop the every increasing numbers and unspeakable suffering.

Unfortunately, it seems everyone is too afraid to call if for what it is publicly, nor does anyone have much desire to try and fight it.

 

[aris2chat]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

People of all faiths and political backgrounds need to put out the right message and become leaders with solutions. They have to get people involved, motivate them to help not just rant or throw money into PR stunts that cost more than they raise. People need to help one person at a time, but the world need everyone to get involved and do that. Christian charity, Islamic charity, Hindu charity, etc.
All nations need to be involved, not just a handful. People need to be out there teaching kindness and how to get engaged. Companies can help train and back small start up businesses so refugees can support themselves. Teach them to start small gardening and farming, even vertical farming to they can feed themselves. Modern/tradition medicine as well as herbal and alternative medicine to treat people at lower cost with local items they can grow or find.
Purifying their own water, recycling water and other items, generating their own power from waste, alternative to electric lights, how to cook with little or no fuel, how to set up and even make solar power, how to desalinize their own water in some areas. There are a million thing that could be done to help on a temporary and more permanent basis, one at a time or thousands at a time. You help two people and they in turn help two people, so forth and so on.
Being informed and wanting to help is the first step, not just expecting someone else to deal with it. It should not be someone else's problem but everyone's problem.

Those suffering also need to understand that they can help themselves and not just become permanent charity cases with no escape. Nor expect to return to what was. They have to be taught to rebuild their lives better than before and make sure what made them become refugees does not happen again, to them or anyone. For much less than is being spent now we can help them with more sturdy housing and provide them with the means to supply much of their own water and power and teach them to grow at least some of their own food.

I've worked with refugees, I've also been a war refugee.

I have no problem with what you have just said and I think most people would agree. And in fact, that would be an enormous change if more people (including myself) volunteered to do more charitable work and gave far more generously to those missions and organizations assisting the most needy. That is about as central of a Christian message as there is.

However, that is not exactly the same issue as the one I raised. And if you want to avoid discussing that, fine with me. But as for me, global terrorism is not going away and it is the main cause of all these multi-million refugees. We can care for them but if that is all we do it will not stop the every increasing numbers and unspeakable suffering.

Unfortunately, it seems everyone is too afraid to call if for what it is publicly, nor does anyone have much desire to try and fight it.

That is where education and the right example come in. If you help feel productive and assist them in resettling, if not back where they came from then in other countries, there will be less anger that fuels radicalism and terrorism. When they believe 'you' are the cause of every wrong in the world, they will attack you. If they see you as part of the productive solution, they will not see you as the enemy but as a brother of friend. If they feel exploited by you, or think their people are, they will try to eliminate you. If you help them help themselves and give them a sense of pride, you will be seen as part of the human family, not the spawn of shaitan.

Throwing them in camps and barely enough food to survive will not bee seen a help but subjugation and abuse, even though the situation they escaped from we more abusive. They go from one prison to another. They have to show that there is a door to get out of the trap. Throwing them out to fend for themselves in a world they don't recognize or understand is not freedom. It would be like throwing a pet or caged bird out on their own when they don't have any idea how to feed themselves or protect themselves. It is often a death sentence.
You can't expect refugees to go to a country where they don't speak the language to know how to find housing, find a job, understand the laws or even shop for food. Even without the language barrier they are often going from second or third world situation into a modernized world with no skills to survive in it.

They ran because of desperate situation and violence, but they need to learn that violence is not the answer, that there is a better way. There is hope with out hate and anger. That there are positive ways to get what they need, to achieve a better life.

It is much the same way an abused child will grow up to become an abuser without the right help.

 

[turzovka]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

People of all faiths and political backgrounds need to put out the right message and become leaders with solutions. They have to get people involved, motivate them to help not just rant or throw money into PR stunts that cost more than they raise. People need to help one person at a time, but the world need everyone to get involved and do that. Christian charity, Islamic charity, Hindu charity, etc.
All nations need to be involved, not just a handful. People need to be out there teaching kindness and how to get engaged. Companies can help train and back small start up businesses so refugees can support themselves. Teach them to start small gardening and farming, even vertical farming to they can feed themselves. Modern/tradition medicine as well as herbal and alternative medicine to treat people at lower cost with local items they can grow or find.
Purifying their own water, recycling water and other items, generating their own power from waste, alternative to electric lights, how to cook with little or no fuel, how to set up and even make solar power, how to desalinize their own water in some areas. There are a million thing that could be done to help on a temporary and more permanent basis, one at a time or thousands at a time. You help two people and they in turn help two people, so forth and so on.
Being informed and wanting to help is the first step, not just expecting someone else to deal with it. It should not be someone else's problem but everyone's problem.

Those suffering also need to understand that they can help themselves and not just become permanent charity cases with no escape. Nor expect to return to what was. They have to be taught to rebuild their lives better than before and make sure what made them become refugees does not happen again, to them or anyone. For much less than is being spent now we can help them with more sturdy housing and provide them with the means to supply much of their own water and power and teach them to grow at least some of their own food.

I've worked with refugees, I've also been a war refugee.

I have no problem with what you have just said and I think most people would agree. And in fact, that would be an enormous change if more people (including myself) volunteered to do more charitable work and gave far more generously to those missions and organizations assisting the most needy. That is about as central of a Christian message as there is.

However, that is not exactly the same issue as the one I raised. And if you want to avoid discussing that, fine with me. But as for me, global terrorism is not going away and it is the main cause of all these multi-million refugees. We can care for them but if that is all we do it will not stop the every increasing numbers and unspeakable suffering.

Unfortunately, it seems everyone is too afraid to call if for what it is publicly, nor does anyone have much desire to try and fight it.

That is where education and the right example come in. If you help feel productive and assist them in resettling, if not back where they came from then in other countries, there will be less anger that fuels radicalism and terrorism. When they believe 'you' are the cause of every wrong in the world, they will attack you. If they see you as part of the productive solution, they will not see you as the enemy but as a brother of friend. If they feel exploited by you, or think their people are, they will try to eliminate you. If you help them help themselves and give them a sense of pride, you will be seen as part of the human family, not the spawn of shaitan.

Throwing them in camps and barely enough food to survive will not bee seen a help but subjugation and abuse, even though the situation they escaped from we more abusive. They go from one prison to another. They have to show that there is a door to get out of the trap. Throwing them out to fend for themselves in a world they don't recognize or understand is not freedom. It would be like throwing a pet or caged bird out on their own when they don't have any idea how to feed themselves or protect themselves. It is often a death sentence.
You can't expect refugees to go to a country where they don't speak the language to know how to find housing, find a job, understand the laws or even shop for food. Even without the language barrier they are often going from second or third world situation into a modernized world with no skills to survive in it.

They ran because of desperate situation and violence, but they need to learn that violence is not the answer, that there is a better way. There is hope with out hate and anger. That there are positive ways to get what they need, to achieve a better life.

It is much the same way an abused child will grow up to become an abuser without the right help.

Fine and dandy. All nice.

But once again you avoid my point. So no need to respond again.

But you make it sound like those trying to help are the real problem here, because they are not helping enough to meet your standards. Meanwhile, there is an enormously large "fringe element" of Islamic fanatics that are creating this gigantic refugee problem and fear and terror and death.

And just maybe those refugees are more concerned about these fanatics than they are with the sub-standard treatment they are getting from those trying to help them survive.

 

[Coyote]

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

and sadly there are too many muslims flocking to their 'cause' every week.
There are many reason and exceptions to fasting during ramadan. Children do not have the same will power to abstain from eating or drinking in the heat of summer for a month from sun up to sun down. There is little or no electricity let alone AC in much of the area. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.

It is not just tragic what ISIS is doing but shameful more muslims from around the world are not speaking out more loudly and forcefully about this. It should not just be arab states fighting against ISIS but muslims teaching the world that this is not what Islam is about. Where are the calls for takfir? Why are there not people at every airport and border crossing to keep muslims from joining in this travesty? Where are the parents and imams preventing kids from traveling half way around the world?

Where is the outrage of all faiths against the massacres and abuses? This is not something that should be limited to a few opeds in a handful of newspapers. This is something that should be everyone concern. It is not isolated to the middle east but effects just about every country in the world.

Why are there not more voices?

Everyday, there is something in the news about what is going on in Syria and Iraq - everyday. Most of the news I listen to is on the radio to and from work and the reporting is pretty indepth - not shallow.

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

Waiting for others to post news on the message boards is just lazy, so is expecting to hear news on the radio.

I've posted threads on the Congo, Mexico, the Rohinga multiple times. The radio is a perfectly legitimate source of news - as much as newspapers, television or the internet. What are you waiting for?

 

[Coyote]

Surprised that all the talk of religion and yet no one is talking of the ISIS hanging or executing boys for eating during the day.
The abuse of Islam is not discussed but you all want to attack gay and christians that don't have identical think.
You are so consumed with what is and is not a sin but you don't even blink at brutality in the name of god being carried out more than five feet beyond your front door?
You gripe about xmas trees and birth control but not about massacres?
Corruption and distortion of the second larges faith is not relevant? You would rather bicker about Jesus did and did not actually say or carry on infighting between different christian denominations. This is constructive?

Wrong.

The self-proclaimed 'Islamic state' is not 'representative' of Islam, it is not sanctioned by Islam, its acts are that of terror, not religion.

Wouldn't it be nice if you had the same attitude to.the Westbrook Baptist church and the rest of Christianity.

Most of us don't consider the Westboro's or abortion clinic bombers to be representative of Christians, more like the lunatic fringe.

 

[aris2chat]

It is my business. I grew up in the middle east. I still have family there, heritage there going back centuries.
Islam invaded the byzantine empire, so you could say they started this, they intruded on christianity, they took over christian and jewish sites. They interfered where they had no business. They did not stay in their own part of the map.

How many muslims are trying to change what is happening in western countries, pissing off those of other faith around the world? They are pissing off other muslims as well destroying mosques and carrying out massacres. They have been pissed with each other since the dawn of Islam.

It is not about pissing off muslims, it is about that distortion and corruption of Islam and using it as a weapon against the world.
It is not about Islam as much as it is about hate and the killing of thousands and justifying it 'in the name of god'

This is not just my business, more than 40 yrs ago it was also my job to try and bring peace. It should be everyone's business.

Ok. It could very well be most Muslims want peace with their neighbors and are not interested in destroying them or converting them, but that is not apparent when you look at the last 100 years. Is it because they are too afraid to speak up? Are they powerless, because on the ground Islam is causing a lot of trouble for countless people.

The leaders of Islamic nations are not exactly putting forth the right message or action either.

So what do you expect from all those suffering? Just to keep reminding everyone it is not Islam’s fault and hope it will all correct itself?

People of all faiths and political backgrounds need to put out the right message and become leaders with solutions. They have to get people involved, motivate them to help not just rant or throw money into PR stunts that cost more than they raise. People need to help one person at a time, but the world need everyone to get involved and do that. Christian charity, Islamic charity, Hindu charity, etc.
All nations need to be involved, not just a handful. People need to be out there teaching kindness and how to get engaged. Companies can help train and back small start up businesses so refugees can support themselves. Teach them to start small gardening and farming, even vertical farming to they can feed themselves. Modern/tradition medicine as well as herbal and alternative medicine to treat people at lower cost with local items they can grow or find.
Purifying their own water, recycling water and other items, generating their own power from waste, alternative to electric lights, how to cook with little or no fuel, how to set up and even make solar power, how to desalinize their own water in some areas. There are a million thing that could be done to help on a temporary and more permanent basis, one at a time or thousands at a time. You help two people and they in turn help two people, so forth and so on.
Being informed and wanting to help is the first step, not just expecting someone else to deal with it. It should not be someone else's problem but everyone's problem.

Those suffering also need to understand that they can help themselves and not just become permanent charity cases with no escape. Nor expect to return to what was. They have to be taught to rebuild their lives better than before and make sure what made them become refugees does not happen again, to them or anyone. For much less than is being spent now we can help them with more sturdy housing and provide them with the means to supply much of their own water and power and teach them to grow at least some of their own food.

I've worked with refugees, I've also been a war refugee.

I have no problem with what you have just said and I think most people would agree. And in fact, that would be an enormous change if more people (including myself) volunteered to do more charitable work and gave far more generously to those missions and organizations assisting the most needy. That is about as central of a Christian message as there is.

However, that is not exactly the same issue as the one I raised. And if you want to avoid discussing that, fine with me. But as for me, global terrorism is not going away and it is the main cause of all these multi-million refugees. We can care for them but if that is all we do it will not stop the every increasing numbers and unspeakable suffering.

Unfortunately, it seems everyone is too afraid to call if for what it is publicly, nor does anyone have much desire to try and fight it.

That is where education and the right example come in. If you help feel productive and assist them in resettling, if not back where they came from then in other countries, there will be less anger that fuels radicalism and terrorism. When they believe 'you' are the cause of every wrong in the world, they will attack you. If they see you as part of the productive solution, they will not see you as the enemy but as a brother of friend. If they feel exploited by you, or think their people are, they will try to eliminate you. If you help them help themselves and give them a sense of pride, you will be seen as part of the human family, not the spawn of shaitan.

Throwing them in camps and barely enough food to survive will not bee seen a help but subjugation and abuse, even though the situation they escaped from we more abusive. They go from one prison to another. They have to show that there is a door to get out of the trap. Throwing them out to fend for themselves in a world they don't recognize or understand is not freedom. It would be like throwing a pet or caged bird out on their own when they don't have any idea how to feed themselves or protect themselves. It is often a death sentence.
You can't expect refugees to go to a country where they don't speak the language to know how to find housing, find a job, understand the laws or even shop for food. Even without the language barrier they are often going from second or third world situation into a modernized world with no skills to survive in it.

They ran because of desperate situation and violence, but they need to learn that violence is not the answer, that there is a better way. There is hope with out hate and anger. That there are positive ways to get what they need, to achieve a better life.

It is much the same way an abused child will grow up to become an abuser without the right help.

Fine and dandy. All nice.

But once again you avoid my point. So no need to respond again.

But you make it sound like those trying to help are the real problem here, because they are not helping enough to meet your standards. Meanwhile, there is an enormously large "fringe element" of Islamic fanatics that are creating this gigantic refugee problem and fear and terror and death.

And just maybe those refugees are more concerned about these fanatics than they are with the sub-standard treatment they are getting from those trying to help them survive.

Do you help someone dying of starvation by handing them a hamburger? For them same amount you can buy them a bag of rice, dried beans and a bottle of clean water, or you can buy them half the amount of food and teach them to provide for themselves and their family for years into the future.

The wrong help can often be as bad or worse than the right type of help. Most people living on the streets or that are refugees don't want to be someone's guilt project or charity case. You don't give them a fur coat when they need proper clothing. You don't put them in a hotel for one night when they need a place to live. It is about helping people the way they need not the way you want.

You don't put refugees in camps for years or decades when they need to find a place in the world where the can belong and have respect for themselves. You don't make them wait till there is peace in their homeland, you help bring about a peace, before everything is destroyed and thousands are killed.

It is knowing and asking what is the right help. About treating them like people not a herd of animals.

It is about the difference between actually caring and just making you feel better about been better off or looking good to others.
Caring is not about making your self a status symbol in your community. Then it becomes selfish.

 

[aris2chat]

and sadly there are too many muslims flocking to their 'cause' every week.
There are many reason and exceptions to fasting during ramadan. Children do not have the same will power to abstain from eating or drinking in the heat of summer for a month from sun up to sun down. There is little or no electricity let alone AC in much of the area. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.

It is not just tragic what ISIS is doing but shameful more muslims from around the world are not speaking out more loudly and forcefully about this. It should not just be arab states fighting against ISIS but muslims teaching the world that this is not what Islam is about. Where are the calls for takfir? Why are there not people at every airport and border crossing to keep muslims from joining in this travesty? Where are the parents and imams preventing kids from traveling half way around the world?

Where is the outrage of all faiths against the massacres and abuses? This is not something that should be limited to a few opeds in a handful of newspapers. This is something that should be everyone concern. It is not isolated to the middle east but effects just about every country in the world.

Why are there not more voices?

Everyday, there is something in the news about what is going on in Syria and Iraq - everyday. Most of the news I listen to is on the radio to and from work and the reporting is pretty indepth - not shallow.

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

Waiting for others to post news on the message boards is just lazy, so is expecting to hear news on the radio.

I've posted threads on the Congo, Mexico, the Rohinga multiple times. The radio is a perfectly legitimate source of news - as much as newspapers, television or the internet. What are you waiting for?

Radio is not about in depth knowledge but inciting anger towards someone or something. It is not about solutions but about blame. Headlines are not news. Talking heads are not news.

Do you actually know about the places in the congo (there are two countries), myanmar or mexico you hear about on the radio? Do you actually know anything about the people involved? Do you understand the politics? do you know why the problems exist, or just that there is problem? Did you get involved in the solution or just pass on the rants and disinformation and feeds the problems?

 

[Coyote]

Everyday, there is something in the news about what is going on in Syria and Iraq - everyday. Most of the news I listen to is on the radio to and from work and the reporting is pretty indepth - not shallow.

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

Waiting for others to post news on the message boards is just lazy, so is expecting to hear news on the radio.

I've posted threads on the Congo, Mexico, the Rohinga multiple times. The radio is a perfectly legitimate source of news - as much as newspapers, television or the internet. What are you waiting for?

Radio is not about in depth knowledge but inciting anger towards someone or something. It is not about solutions but about blame. Headlines are not news. Talking heads are not news.

That depends on what you listen to. The stories I listen to are covered in depth, from a variety of viewpoints on both sides and often will discuss the historical background of a conflict. They don't focus on sensationalism, blood and blame because most conflicts aren't that black and white. That is why I like to listen - I end up learning a lot. Maybe you are making a lot of assumptions here.

Do you actually know about the places in the congo (there are two countries), myanmar or mexico you hear about on the radio? Do you actually know anything about the people involved? Do you understand the politics? do you know why the problems exist, or just that there is problem? Did you get involved in the solution or just pass on the rants and disinformation and feeds the problems?

When I don't know, I try to research. I try to understand the conflict and both sides.

What do you do Aris? Do you just just pass on the rants and disinformation and feed the problems?

 

[aris2chat]

I don't know about your radio but not enough is said in most of the papers around the world that I read daily. Not enough is said on the TV news, or not enough of the right thinks are said. This has to go beyond a few reports but to the hearts and minds of all muslims, of all people that is a humanitarian travesty. Not enough is said about how to stop it or why this is not what Islam is really about.

I don't hear enough about peace and tolerance from any religion but far too much about the end times, rapture, and armies of god taking up arms in a final battle. Far too much about then vs us instead of 'all of us'. Too much about destroying the enemies instead of teaching love of all mankind, all life on the planet.

Too much about who is going to heaven,or hell, instead of creating heaven on earth here and now.

How are 50 million refugees good for the planet? How many massacres before it is too many? How much hate is being taught instead of common respect and lawful behavior. How many have to die before we learn to care more about life?

Where are the solution to stop the spiraling out of control? Where are the leaders to help us all on the right path, irregardless of religion or politics?

I agree with your sentiments but I don't hear much of what you are saying in the news - mostly on this messageboard.

According to the UN, the number of people displaced by conflict is over 60 million - a record number, and many of those conflicts receive little attention.

60 Million People Displaced By World Conflicts U.N. Refugee Agency Says NPR

At least since the U.N. Refugee Agency started counting more than half-a-century ago. The report says that if these nearly 60 million people were a nation, it would be the 24th largest in the world. Half of the refugees are children. There's been a 31 percent jump in refugees in Asia where Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar only to become the victims of human traffickers. Between Syria and Iraq, some 15 million people have been uprooted. Turkey is now the biggest host country for refugees, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.​

This is 2012, but the situation has not changed all that much in those regions.

Top 10 neglected refugee crises

Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector...

Sudanese refugees in South Sudan: Over the past 18 months, an estimated 170,000 people have fled conflict between Sudanese government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North in Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, pouring into South Sudan's Upper Nile and Unity states. Humanitarian agencies are bracing for a further influx once the rainy season comes to an end and impassable roads reopen. Aid workers fear that swelling refugee numbers, flooding and disease outbreaks could aggravate the crisis, and UNHCR is urgently appealing for an additional US$20 million to man

Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources...

IDPs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Defections from the Congolese army, which gave rise to the M23 armed group, have led to a resumption of violence in the DRC's North Kivu Province in the last six months. More than 260,000 people have been displaced so far, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A further 68,000 have fled to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. The IDPs are living in dozens of makeshift camps across the province, where aid agencies are providing shelter, protection, food and health services, despite a severe funding shortfall and recurrent attacks on aid workers. The new wave of IDPs adds to the 1.7 million already internally displaced in the country, according to UNHCR.

This conflict is one of the longest running and most brutal conflicts in modern times - certainly as brutal as ISIS but little attention is given to it. Women, children (boys,, girls, infants) are brutally raped often neccessitating extensive reconstructive surgery to regain some normalicy - assuming they survive. Child soldiers are common.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Muslims from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State - commonly referred to as the Rohingya - are an ethnic minority that has endured systemic discrimination and abuse over the past five decades, including being stripped of their citizenship under a 1982 law. Over the past 50 years, thousands have fled the country, the vast majority to Bangladesh. UNHCR has not been permitted to register new arrivals since mid-1992, but it estimates that there are more than 200,000 Rohingya in the country’s southeast...

Tamil refugees in India: More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, there are more than 100,000 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankans in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, including 68,000 in 112 government-run camps...

Afghan refugees in Iran: Afghanistan is the source of one of the world’s largest and most protracted refugee crises, with waves of refugees fleeing the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion, then during Taliban rule in the 1990s, and finally during the last decade of conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents. While much has been written about the 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the presence of some 900,000 registered refugees and 1.4 million unregistered Afghans in neighboring Iran has received less attention...

Horn of Africa refugees in Yemen: Yemen has long been a transit country for migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia in search of work, but since 2006 it has also become home to increasing numbers of refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Despite conflict, poverty and a sometimes xenophobic environment in Yemen, a record 103,000 refugees and migrants arrived in 2011, bringing the total number of registered refugees to 230,000, in addition to an estimated 500,000 migrants...

Malian IDPs and refugees in neighbouring countries: During and after the April takeover of northern Mali by Tuareg rebels, who were quickly supplanted by Islamist groups, some 34,977 Malians escaped to Burkina Faso, 108,942 fled to Mauritania and 58,312 went to Niger. Some 118,000 Malians have been internally displaced, 35,300 of them within the north itself, in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu...

IDPs in Colombia: Since the start of the conflict between the Colombian government and armed Marxist guerrillas in the mid-1960s, the threat of violence has forced millions to abandon their homes. Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations living in remote, rural areas have been particularly affected. The government puts the number of IDPs at 3.6 million, but several NGOs estimate the figure is closer to 5 million, pointing out that many of those displaced have not been officially registered...​

That's as of 2012. Just last week I listened to a story on Haiti and the Dominican Republic where mass deportation of Dominicans of Haitian ancestery, as well as their decendents will be stripped of legal status and citizenship and deported to Haiti.

There are ongoing conflicts in South America and Mexico sending floods of migrants over the border into the US - most of them children. In fact the drug wars in Mexico have been ongoing for decades, cost thousands of lives, people killed brutally and horribly to make a point. The conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3,000 people.

But no one pays attention to these conflicts. If you start a thread on anything to do with Islam or IP it goes on to perpetuity. Start a thread on the violence in Mexico (such as the bus load of young students massacred, burned, and buried in an anonymous grave) or the plight of the Rohinga or the Congo or the refugee crisis in Ukraine and it dies.

Waiting for others to post news on the message boards is just lazy, so is expecting to hear news on the radio.

I've posted threads on the Congo, Mexico, the Rohinga multiple times. The radio is a perfectly legitimate source of news - as much as newspapers, television or the internet. What are you waiting for?

Radio is not about in depth knowledge but inciting anger towards someone or something. It is not about solutions but about blame. Headlines are not news. Talking heads are not news.

That depends on what you listen to. The stories I listen to are covered in depth, from a variety of viewpoints on both sides and often will discuss the historical background of a conflict. They don't focus on sensationalism, blood and blame because most conflicts aren't that black and white. That is why I like to listen - I end up learning a lot. Maybe you are making a lot of assumptions here.

Do you actually know about the places in the congo (there are two countries), myanmar or mexico you hear about on the radio? Do you actually know anything about the people involved? Do you understand the politics? do you know why the problems exist, or just that there is problem? Did you get involved in the solution or just pass on the rants and disinformation and feeds the problems?

When I don't know, I try to research. I try to understand the conflict and both sides.

What do you do Aris? Do you just just pass on the rants and disinformation and feed the problems?

Even living where I did, I was always learning from people as well as anything I could get my hands on. I have done a lot of research both as part of my job and because I cared. I am still researching on ways to help. I am in touch with those who are effected. I might not be able to physically get involved in helping any more, but I can through education and information. I can't travel half way around the world any more, but I used to. I've help those in africa, asia and the middle east. I've traveled and gotten to know the people around the world. South and Central American is not a major part of my knowledge base, but many of the problems and solution can be applied.

I've worked in refugee camps. I help people in africa. I've been involved in rescues in asia. I've been involved in both medical and hospice care. I've studied and taught about the world history, politics and religion. I've been involved in negotiation and politics. I've researched, written, organized and participated. Now I am limited to a computer. I've seen war and disasters from both sides. Now I can neither speak or travel the way I used to. I am not ideal though. My fingers are my voice. In more ways than most I have BTDT. I am still from where I live help those that suffer. I would like more people to want to get involved not because they should or because it looks good but because they care.

I've seen how lives can be changed and many mistakes made in the past. I have tried to inspire my children and seen them grow on their own into amazing people. Now I hope my grandchildren will find their own way to help others.

No, I don't just rant. I have strong opinions, as do most people by a certain age, but I have based my opinions on knowledge and experience as much as possible. I hope I will continue to help, share and motivate others till my last days. I don't have the patience of youth but I keep trying.