Media Thread 2020/21

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pace89 said:
The problem with Cohen’s article is not that he raises issues relating to human rights abuses in Abu Dhabi but that he it’s in the context of Manchester City.

Investment from the UAE is prevalent in vast swathes of the western economy but, seemingly, it’s football where it goes beyond the pale. If City are supposedly contaminated by the policies of the Government of which are owner is part, then so is virtually every aspect of our society from the financial institutions on which we rely to infrastructure we use and the fuel we put in our cars. And then what’s the consequence? It’s implied in every article like this that City’s fans should rise up in an act of ethical resistance but seemingly the same isn’t expected amongst anyone else benefiting from UAE investment (or Chinese, Brazilian, Thai, etc) in the west.

Ultimately are we supposed to cut ourselves off from all nations that commit human rights abuses? Or are we supposed to hypocritically salve our consciousness by standing up to City whilst ignoring the egregious abuses that underpin the daily functioning of modern lives.

The second failure of Cohen’s article is the failure to understand that high profile investments from Abu Dhabi work in both directions. There’s a desire on their part to normalise Arab states as part of the furniture of the western world but it also exists to show conservatives that the UAE can invest and prosper in freer and more liberal cultures.

Nonetheless, the response on here to Cohen’s piece is typically depressing - he’s a **** etc. That’s playing the man and not the ball and we need more effective rebuttals. There may be blues who don’t care about torture and imprisonment without trial but I’m not one of them.
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You can’t really separate the man from the ball tbf when the main motivation for the piece and his previous attack is that City are embarrassingly miles ahead of his beloved team
 
Aba452 said:
Had a family do last night and inspite of my good sense usually, I was drawn into a debate with som of my brother in laws on football.

Now I'd spoken to my dipper in law earlier and we had a decent discussion on the relative seasons City and Liverpool had. All enjoyed the FA Cup final.

Then as I say this ambush. One of the gooners started off its disgusting how Citeh can spend so much on a defender, Guardiola such a 'decent ' coach but I could win the league with his resources!!!!

Then he started bleating on about about sportswashing. Sigh.

The other one who's not a football fan but his son supports the dippers (from Brum!) pipes up. Spent a billion in 10years, that's obscene! The mineral wealth of the state should belong to the people not the despots who own that state.

I plunged in pointing out that Sheikh Mansour is not a state but bought City through his private investment company had invested in the city as well as the team.

In the end I just said we'll agree to differ as I think I would have sparked them out. What's doubly disappointing is that they like me are of Pakistani origin but are happy to glibly repeat the standard racist troupes.

As fans we're now accountable for how or owner made his money????

Wish I'd pointed out about the later success of the arsehole's was built on conflict diamonds, vulture capitalism fuelling the red cheeks etc.

The point is does negativity work? Suppose geological ages of the Earth could pass before these idiots stop releasing hot stale air! Fuck em if they want to judge me. My parting shot last night was green isn't a good look for you.
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My response to this nonsense is simple. We have been compliant with FFP since 2014. So our owners are not shoring up City. Like all other clubs we can only spend what we bring into the club. Our revenue is slightly lower than United's and Liverpool's over that period. We have spent wisely, with almost every signing being a valued member of the squad. So the question is not how have City built this amazing squad. It is why haven't Liverpool or United. We all know what the Glazers are doing to United, taking millions every year out in interest payments and dividends. But Liverpool have had almost a billion and a half in revenue since 2014 with a net spend on their squad of £200m so they have stripped over a £billion out of football. That money not filtering down but leaving football. And it's City's owners who are bad for football? Give your head a wobble!
 
The Future’s Blue! said:
When they mention ‘Slave Labour’, ‘Atrocious Conditions’ and ‘Illegal Detainment’ do they not also refer to our fellow Europeans who come to this country to pick the harvest, living in sheds and caravans and earning less than minimal wage? What about our consent to allow detainees to be transferred to Guantanamo or the legitimate refugees forced to live in disgraceful conditions, during a pandemic, conditions that our very own soldiers were forced to endure not too long ago.

Selective reporting confirms that it is ‘Organised and clear’.
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Well said. Here in Lancashire there have been many instances of modern slavery in recent years. It includes dozens of Chinese cockle-pickers drowning in Morecambe Bay, farm workers living in sheds and being paid less than the minimum wage, and people trafficking on an industrial scale to provide girls for the sex industry and for working in rag trade sweatshops. And these cases are just the ones we know about. Perhaps some of the posh boy London-based Guardian journalists should get off their backsides and try and find some stories in the North of England.
 
SilvaisSkyBlue said:
Exactly as @bobbyowenquiff, there are quite a few human rights activists making a very nice living out of Manchester City who couldn’t give a flying fùck about actual real human rights abuses such as MacKenna and McGeehan, even Amnesty UK have used Man City as a way of gathering publicity to their associated causes.

I have yet to see them heavily reporting on the abuses by the various UK governments throughout the 20th century in Ireland, basically operating an internment and shoot to kill policy alongside various other questionable policies, many of which are only now gathering greater publicity.

Could also mention the US using the UK and other European nations as torture stopovers for ISIS and Al Qaeda suspects whilst operating Guantanamo Bay at full capacity, many of whom were later released with no charges or proof they were involved with either terrorist group.

Another favourite for these so called activists and journalists is the war in Yemen, a horrible conflict with civilians being targeted constantly, many point the finger at the Saudis and the UAE as the main protagonists in this war, whilst they are both involved of course heavily involved in the actual fighting, it is at the absolute behest of the US, UK and France governments who are openly operating a proxy war against Iran in many countries including the Yemen and Syria, whilst also making a nice tidy profit for each countries arms suppliers.

None of this information is hidden, it is in open view and easily accessible to all, but these forthright defenders of human rights such as the ones mentioned above and journalists such as Deloony and the many other journalists of the Guardian,Independent, Express and Mail etc use it to score points against City because we have the arrogance to win more football matches than their own shitty red tops who are equally associated with Middle Eastern sponsors as is our whole economy, fùcking lying duplicitous disingenuous cùnts!!!
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One of the Manchester Amnesty groups partly made up of united and liverpool supporting students tried to stage a publicity/propaganda stunt at the Etihad last year. Set fire to one of their inflammatory banners then falsely claimed it had been stolen and set alight by City fans. Police reviewed it and told them to do one, and even the media saw through it and declined to publish anything, despite them campaigning for days to get it in the papers.
 
west didsblue said:
I wonder how many people who slag off our owners due to their membership of an autocratic regime happily go on their holidays to Dubai without giving it a second thought.
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We saw for ourselves all these hypocrites on their free trip to the Russian world Cup
I mean it's not like there's any oppression there or detainment of political enemies or even government sanctioned assassinations
Let's see who turns down Qatar next year
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
Great post Marvin. It isn't an Arab v Jew thing but there certainly is a racist and patronising element to this, where Arabs are seen as untrustworthy, backward, backstabbing, bribe-taking, lacking in morality etc. and Europeans are seen as members of an advanced society, paragons of decency, morality and financial rectitude. This is a lazy, racist stereotype.

There's also the issue of "human rights", which is one-sided when we have millions in poverty, in low-paid jobs with little or no security, without a decent roof over their heads or even a roof at all, suffering lower standards of education or can't afford university.

There's a fascinating article in the latest issue of Harvard Business Review about attitudes to China. HBR is certainly no propaganda outlet but it makes the point that we look at China through the lens of human rights, whereas 95% of Chinese citizens are very happy with their lives and the leadership. That's because their leadership has brought them prosperity and financial security, creating a well-off and entrepreneurial middle-class. In return, they ask that these people don't rock the boat, which they're happy to agree to. China has never been a functioning democracy and may never be, certainly not in our lifetimes. Same applies to the UAE, which celebrates its 50th anniversary as a sovereign state later this year. It's been built from nothing, on the wealth from natural resources.

Organs like the Guardian ('organ' both in terms of being a media outlet and pricks) would cry blue murder if the USA or UK was ripping-off those resources, yet it also has a problem with brown-skinned people using that wealth, on their land, to build a nation and provide high quality housing, healthcare and education to its citizens. And I suspect the majority of the UAE's citizens are quite happy with this and quite prefer it to a group of self-serving politicians siphoning off vast wodges of cash, while simultaneously promising the earth yet delivering little.

Yes there are faults, particularly with the treatment of migrant workers. Yes they can be seen as repressive and intolerant of dissent, but when you look around the region, at place like Iraq and Syria, maybe that's the lesser of two evils. I suspect the majority of the people of the UAE are more than happy with their lot, yet papers like The Guardian would be quite happy to see them descend to the levels that some of their neighbours have, while tut-tutting over the outcome far less than they attack them now.

Rant over.
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Nailed it.
 


C172891F-947F-42CF-958B-3EEDE65B5416.jpeg


mcb.org.uk

MCB Responds to Ruth Kelly’s Speech | Muslim Council of Britain

15 Oct 2006 The Muslim Council of Britain has written a detailed letter to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, about her speech last Wednesday October 11th in which she appeared to link access to public funds to support for the government's...
mcb.org.uk mcb.org.uk
 
LongsightM13 said:
And as surely as night follows day, the “Touchy” card is deployed by Cohen

View attachment 17032
And of course, having deliberately baited City fans in order to provoke a response, he is now also deploying the “Antisemitism card”. Clear and organised. It has played out exactly as he intended.

View attachment 17033
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Nick Cohen knows where the UAE is.

We don't.

Nick Cohen has the facts.

We don't.

Nick Cohen wants an honest debate.

We are vile and full of racial hatred.
 
Aba452 said:
Had a family do last night and inspite of my good sense usually, I was drawn into a debate with som of my brother in laws on football.

Now I'd spoken to my dipper in law earlier and we had a decent discussion on the relative seasons City and Liverpool had. All enjoyed the FA Cup final.

Then as I say this ambush. One of the gooners started off its disgusting how Citeh can spend so much on a defender, Guardiola such a 'decent ' coach but I could win the league with his resources!!!!

Then he started bleating on about about sportswashing. Sigh.

The other one who's not a football fan but his son supports the dippers (from Brum!) pipes up. Spent a billion in 10years, that's obscene! The mineral wealth of the state should belong to the people not the despots who own that state.

I plunged in pointing out that Sheikh Mansour is not a state but bought City through his private investment company had invested in the city as well as the team.

In the end I just said we'll agree to differ as I think I would have sparked them out. What's doubly disappointing is that they like me are of Pakistani origin but are happy to glibly repeat the standard racist troupes.

As fans we're now accountable for how or owner made his money????

Wish I'd pointed out about the later success of the arsehole's was built on conflict diamonds, vulture capitalism fuelling the red cheeks etc.

The point is does negativity work? Suppose geological ages of the Earth could pass before these idiots stop releasing hot stale air! Fuck em if they want to judge me. My parting shot last night was green isn't a good look for you.
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I hope you reminded your in-laws that the rags have spent nearly a billion since Ferguson left eight years ago and are going backwards?
 
BlueBas said:
I'm blocked by Miguel because I asked him if the difference between a journalist and a propagandist depended on who was paying. The question is what do these "journalists" want, for us all to stop supporting City?
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They don’t want us to enjoy our success. For no reason other than personal tribalism fuelled by bitterness and resentment
 
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