Another Tunisian Attack - Sousse
Discussion
Stayed in this very resort thrice before the Arab Spring. Very sad to see. Death toll at 27 and rising quickly.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/tunisia-...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/tunisia-...
HarryW said:
Shocking news.
Had more than one Holiday in Tunisia in the past. The topic came up last weekend over Father's Day dinner about going back perhaps on a late deal at the back end of summer. I dismissed it due the recent museum attacks. Great shame really as we found it to be a welcoming place with nice people. I feel for them a bit because over 15% rely on tourism and a couple of nutters have probably descended tourism into the abyss.
Collectively I've spent probably a few months in North Africa. An amazing people and a beautiful land. The missus hasn't been outside Europe so I've been trying to tempt her into Morocco or Tunisia later this year.Had more than one Holiday in Tunisia in the past. The topic came up last weekend over Father's Day dinner about going back perhaps on a late deal at the back end of summer. I dismissed it due the recent museum attacks. Great shame really as we found it to be a welcoming place with nice people. I feel for them a bit because over 15% rely on tourism and a couple of nutters have probably descended tourism into the abyss.
Funkycoldribena said:
Art0ir said:
Collectively I've spent probably a few months in North Africa. An amazing people and a beautiful land. The missus hasn't been outside Europe so I've been trying to tempt her into Morocco or Tunisia later this year.
Why would you put her at risk?SeeFive said:
My son in law is Tunisian. He came to England after Arab Spring. We spent a lot of time in the resorts and in his home town El Kef, up in the hills towards the Algerian border. It was a good country, peaceful except for petty crime and the punishments under Ben Ali's hard line rule were severe for the most minor transgression. Life was hard, the police were corrupt and everyone was in some fear of them, especially the young but it was a peaceful existence. The better off looked after the poor quite well, for example taxi drivers would always chip into the pot of a beggar walking between traffic in towns, and the drivers were by no means wealthy.
Post Arab Spring , the people all suddenly had "rights", and many had weapons but with little knowledge of what that freedom and capability meant. Hence life became very different with groups and individuals raiding other towns at will. In his words, the country is now f
ked. Everybody is out for themselves with massive escalation in prices for staple foods like tomatoes which were only a few millemes for a kilo, which soon became many dinars per kilo as they could be sold to Libya at that price, and the farmers lost all notion of selling them to locals at anything except that price. As he says, the general population of Tunisia is not too intelligent, and from scraping a living under the old regime with a barely affordable lifestyle, life has become even harder with many people forced to turn to criminal activity to live. The extremists always existed but now have more scope to do their work and people are seemingly happy to join them for the necessary dinars.
Back in the day, some of the roads we travelled were heavily policed, and on a two hour journey we would be stopped 4 or 5 times with the police looking for drugs being run between Algeria and Tunis. Now if you are stopped, it will not be the police, more likely bandits whit some dire outcomes. The place is just not safe now in many areas outside of the tourist belt.
10 years ago I would advocate Tunisia as a place to go to experience a simple, peaceful and very old fashioned lifestyle away from the tourist areas with very peaceful and welcoming people. Until this year I would still have hit Hammamet and the like. Now, I would not go anywhere near the place. That is what regime change has meant for them, poor souls.
So these acts by exremists are terrible, my heart goes out to the victims and families, but the way I could safely visit their country is long gone before today. Tunisian people will be very upset by this, tourism is a massive contribution to their economy and this can only make things worse for them.
Much the impression I got. The urban areas were certainly well educated though. We went for dinner with a local guy in his early twenties at his mates restaurant. They were all university graduates with impressive degrees, saving to move to Europe and work (legally) as doctors and other professions. He was working selling boat trips on the beach at the time. Post Arab Spring , the people all suddenly had "rights", and many had weapons but with little knowledge of what that freedom and capability meant. Hence life became very different with groups and individuals raiding other towns at will. In his words, the country is now f
ked. Everybody is out for themselves with massive escalation in prices for staple foods like tomatoes which were only a few millemes for a kilo, which soon became many dinars per kilo as they could be sold to Libya at that price, and the farmers lost all notion of selling them to locals at anything except that price. As he says, the general population of Tunisia is not too intelligent, and from scraping a living under the old regime with a barely affordable lifestyle, life has become even harder with many people forced to turn to criminal activity to live. The extremists always existed but now have more scope to do their work and people are seemingly happy to join them for the necessary dinars.Back in the day, some of the roads we travelled were heavily policed, and on a two hour journey we would be stopped 4 or 5 times with the police looking for drugs being run between Algeria and Tunis. Now if you are stopped, it will not be the police, more likely bandits whit some dire outcomes. The place is just not safe now in many areas outside of the tourist belt.
10 years ago I would advocate Tunisia as a place to go to experience a simple, peaceful and very old fashioned lifestyle away from the tourist areas with very peaceful and welcoming people. Until this year I would still have hit Hammamet and the like. Now, I would not go anywhere near the place. That is what regime change has meant for them, poor souls.
So these acts by exremists are terrible, my heart goes out to the victims and families, but the way I could safely visit their country is long gone before today. Tunisian people will be very upset by this, tourism is a massive contribution to their economy and this can only make things worse for them.
I remember them being quite proud of their comparatively liberal treatment of women for the region too.
If your idea of a holiday is an all inclusive endless sunbathing session fuelled by poolside beer,then yes not much point in going outside Europe.
If you were interested in the Atlas mountains, deserts, oasis, all manner of wildlife, cave dwelling bedouin, buildings from the Roman empire, a fascinating mix of Muslim and western culture and some of the most hospitable people on earth, then Tunisia was always a favourite of mine (closely followed by Morocco).
Halb said:
I always fancied visiting the Star Wars houses, but I don't see that being reasonable in the near future.
Amazing place. I have an album full of developed photos (remember them?) of the last time I was there and I took a mate who is a huge Star Wars fan.Just spoke to my Mum as well, the hotel that got hit was right next door to where we used to stay
pops666tt said:
If that's the case then why are the majority of people killed errrrr Muslim?
No mention on this site of the attack in the mosque in Kuwait in Ramadhan.....and you think ISIS are muslim? You got be having a laugh if you think they are.
They're set and and funded by the west. Just because I were to shout Allah Akbar or whatever and carry a black flag with some Arabic writing doesn't make me muslim. Atheist as that can be. I just don't buy into the media like most of the fools on here do.
The Tunisians I spent time with were as promiscuous and fond of alcohol as any Westerner.No mention on this site of the attack in the mosque in Kuwait in Ramadhan.....and you think ISIS are muslim? You got be having a laugh if you think they are.
They're set and and funded by the west. Just because I were to shout Allah Akbar or whatever and carry a black flag with some Arabic writing doesn't make me muslim. Atheist as that can be. I just don't buy into the media like most of the fools on here do.
bigkeeko said:
zygalski said:
What total garbage. Here's a quote from 30 seconds of googling:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaan...
Muslim Council of Britain secretary general Dr Shuja Shafi has condemned the attacks. He said:
'If the attackers claim to be doing this in Islam's name, they are misguided.
That it took place in Ramadan, a month of peace, love and mercy, is especially galling.
These atrocities have affected people of different faiths and nationalities, and come amid continued violence and conflicts around the world.
We pray for a more peaceful world; our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.'
Oh? So people are to go googling now for an apology? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaan...
Muslim Council of Britain secretary general Dr Shuja Shafi has condemned the attacks. He said:
'If the attackers claim to be doing this in Islam's name, they are misguided.
That it took place in Ramadan, a month of peace, love and mercy, is especially galling.
These atrocities have affected people of different faiths and nationalities, and come amid continued violence and conflicts around the world.
We pray for a more peaceful world; our thoughts and prayers are with the victims.'
More drivel.
Pathetic.
But Christ you're coming across as a complete idiot.
Take some deep breaths and count to ten before hitting the Submit button next time.
Mikeyjae]uper Slo Mo said:
spent 10 days or so in Libya in 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the glorious revolution (that was its official title, basically it was a meeting of the world's despots).
I have never met a friendlier bunch of people. The locals were welcoming to the point of being naive, it was quite surreal really.
We wandered down dark alleys in the middle of the night in complete safety, as were little children and everyone else.
The only incident we had was a cameraman getting shot by a kid with a BB gun, but he deserved it
.
I understood that life there wasn't too bad, provided of course that you toed the line.
Back then, of course, women weren't treated as second class citizens, indeed I believe Ghadaffi's close protection team had a good percentage of women in it.
Sometimes I wonder if we'd have been better off leaving these dictators in place, at least they kept fairly tight control of their people
I think I agree with that, The religion isn't set for rights without being dictated. The past shows we should fight the threat of terror against us but never try to turn that country/religion into a democracy as they are not ready or willing to accept it.
It has nothing to do with people not ready to accept it and everything to do with artificial borders trying to force very different people together. I have never met a friendlier bunch of people. The locals were welcoming to the point of being naive, it was quite surreal really.
We wandered down dark alleys in the middle of the night in complete safety, as were little children and everyone else.
The only incident we had was a cameraman getting shot by a kid with a BB gun, but he deserved it
.I understood that life there wasn't too bad, provided of course that you toed the line.
Back then, of course, women weren't treated as second class citizens, indeed I believe Ghadaffi's close protection team had a good percentage of women in it.
Sometimes I wonder if we'd have been better off leaving these dictators in place, at least they kept fairly tight control of their people
I think I agree with that, The religion isn't set for rights without being dictated. The past shows we should fight the threat of terror against us but never try to turn that country/religion into a democracy as they are not ready or willing to accept it.
Were the Yugoslavians not ready for democracy? Should another Tito have been placed in power to crush nationalism and the artificial state maintained?
Guam said:
Once again the nonsense about NI being about religion, go do some research talk to those who were out there.
You will find it was about criminal gangs who just happened to be from those communities.
It was about protection money, drugs, prostitution etc etc etc.
Nothing to do with Religion in the main!
Depends how far back you wish to go.You will find it was about criminal gangs who just happened to be from those communities.
It was about protection money, drugs, prostitution etc etc etc.
Nothing to do with Religion in the main!
It began as an independence movement, uniting both Protestant and Catholic inhabitants. The British astutely turned the two on eachother and the rest is history.
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