my 2 cents - it's just rude and freaking ungreatful of them to complain

last week both my town (Limassol, Cyprus)and the town where the main airport is (Larnaca) were literally 2 refuge camps, we had about 10-15,000 people coming and going, mostly russian-speakers and their families, some fraction of them were tourists, but omg, they were so happy, most of them cried when the inteviews were taken, they kept saying how quick and understanding the authorities were, both the ones evacuating them and the ones welcoming them here, and just kept saying thank you

srsly, some ppl quickly forget that they could have easily died there

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quote:

Originally posted by Moral Hazard we only have one class of citizen in Canada thus regardless of residency if you're a citizen you get the same treatment

exactly.

quote:

Originally posted by simms327 you apply for a visa through the nigerian embassy in ottawa, and you board your plane. I am sure there are warnings available on a canadian gov't website, much like the State Department in the US does... but wether that comprises a fair warning, is a whole different argument. i found it http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report...?country=218000

Thank you for finding that information. I think that's very fair warning. It's the same with parking tickets. I got a ticket once for parking on a street that was supposed to be only for residential parking. I didn't see the sign. Is that the city's fault? No. It's mine b/c I didn't see it. They gave me fair warning.

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Originally posted by simms327 yeah, i posted that before. also its arguable that the internet is not an ubiquitos media. many people still travel frequently who cannot access the internet.

I'm sure you can get this information without having to access the internet. Hard copies. Not to mention, people don't live in boxes, they hear about what's going on be it on the news, in papers, on the radio...so they're not immune to the fact that the middle east is not the safest place to visit right now. Not to mention when you book your flight, hotel or whatever...I'm sure you could ask whether or not it is safe to vacation there!

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quote:

Originally posted by FunkyGroove my 2 cents - it's just rude and freaking ungreatful of them to complain last week both my town (Limassol, Cyprus)and the town where the main airport is (Larnaca) were literally 2 refuge camps, we had about 10-15,000 people coming and going, mostly russian-speakers and their families, some fraction of them were tourists, but omg, they were so happy, most of them cried when the inteviews were taken, they kept saying how quick and understanding the authorities were, both the ones evacuating them and the ones welcoming them here, and just kept saying thank you srsly, some ppl quickly forget that they could have easily died there

Good to hear that some people are appreciative of the FREE and NON-OBLIGATORY (is that a word? haha) help that they are recieving.

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quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 You forgot that most of the "Canadians" in lebanon are actually dual citizens that no longer live in canada. They are in fact lebanese who are now using the canadian passport for convenience. The government should evacuate canadian RESIDENTS only. The dual citizens who are non residents are actually residents of lebanon and should not be entitled to FREE PASSAGE. Do people get whine pills issued with their canadian passports? Just wondering.

Uh not all people living in foreign countries are in that situation....what about people working in foreign countries that aren't citizens at all yet hold residencies in a foreign country and not their own? What about people vacationing in a country on the other side of the world that just happens to get attacked? I'm sure there are people in those two very situations in Lebanon.

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quote:

Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* Good to hear that some people are appreciative of the FREE and NON-OBLIGATORY (is that a word? haha) help that they are recieving.

definitely
on the other hand US citizens were offered flights back to the US for a "reasonable" price of around $5K, there was even a scandal in the congress, since the US authorities couldn't afford to evacuate their citizens for free :\

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quote:

Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* These letters pissed me off b/c... 1. It's not Canada's responsibility to get these vacationers out of Lebanon. I think it's quite nice of Canada to do that, so they should be happy that anything is being done for them. When I've vacationed in Florida or Hawaii...I didn't complain that there was a hurricane and it was my countries responsibility to save me! I'm out of the country on vacation...why should Canada be responsible for my well being?

Did you just compare a hurricane to a war?

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Originally posted by KaiLee Uh not all people living in foreign countries are in that situation....what about people working in foreign countries that aren't citizens at all yet hold residencies in a foreign country and not their own?

then they should not be entitled.

quote:

What about people vacationing in a country on the other side of the world that just happens to get attacked? I'm sure there are people in those two very situations in Lebanon.

as i said..real tourists which under the law says anyone outside of the country for LESS than 6 months should have more rights. Those who stay 6 months plus one day are consdiered non residents and should be subject to different treatment.

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quote:

Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

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quote:

Originally posted by Skipper Did you just compare a hurricane to a war?

My point was that hundreds of innocent people have their lives in danger in a country that they are travelling to. Wether it be due to a war, or a natural disaster, it shouldn't be their country's responsibility to save them. And more importantly if the country does decide to help them, free of charge might I add...don't complain about it!

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quote:

Originally posted by simms327 and the country is not run by a terrorist organization lebanon has a legitimate gov't it has troubles with insurgents like many other countries do. spain, ireland, sri lanka, indonesia, etc.

Hahah, the Lebanese government is a JOKE. Hezbollah runs the show, and the entire world knows it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060716...deast_hezbollah

quote:

Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* My point was that hundreds of innocent people have their lives in danger in a country that they are travelling to. Wether it be due to a war, or a natural disaster, it shouldn't be their country's responsibility to save them. And more importantly if the country does decide to help them, free of charge might I add...don't complain about it!

I agree they shouldn't complain about it (I suspect most of them aren't complaining...it's always the loudest person that gets heard)...but the two situations are not comparable at all.

Hurricane warnings go out days in advance so people can take cover or evacuate. the situation in Lebanon is not nearly so simple.

I did read in the globe last Saturday that a woman who was on Harper's 11 hr flight back asked him for 5 minutes of his time to chat about the process of evacuees in Lebanon and the administrative difficulties she had with the Canadian Embassy, and he said, "Send me an email." ELEVEN HOURS ON A PLANE AND YOU WONT TAKE 5 MINUTES TO ADDRESS THIS WOMAN'S CONCERNS. He might as well have said "Didn't you know this entire trip was just for positive media attention?"

quote:

Originally posted by FunkyGroove my 2 cents - it's just rude and freaking ungreatful of them to complain last week both my town (Limassol, Cyprus)and the town where the main airport is (Larnaca) were literally 2 refuge camps, we had about 10-15,000 people coming and going, mostly russian-speakers and their families, some fraction of them were tourists, but omg, they were so happy, most of them cried when the inteviews were taken, they kept saying how quick and understanding the authorities were, both the ones evacuating them and the ones welcoming them here, and just kept saying thank you srsly, some ppl quickly forget that they could have easily died there

Yep my dad is in Cyprus right now evacuating the Belgian citizens from Lebannon.

My opinion on all this: I don't think ANYONE should expect luxury accomodation/transport when they are being evacuated. My father has dealt with a few evacuations so far and people don't seem to realise that it's not like the government has 6 weeks to plan it. It literally happens from one day to the next. One moment it looks like the country is still ok, the next moment there are bombs flying over cities. Because of the lack of decision time i think people who complain are complete wankers. They should be GRATEFUL that someone (most likely a consul/chancellor) is taking the time to get their sorry asses out of a country at war. The people who work to evacuate them are under a huge amount of stress because it's not just the tourists and registered Canadians abroad you have to get out. If it was that easy it would be awesome. But there are loads of people who live in the country and do not register at their embassy and hence show up at the airport waving their Canadian passport saying "Take me home"! That makes everyone's task even harder because technically you cannot stop the evac until ALL the citizens are out.

As for what Lisa was saying in her first post, i just checked my passport (Belgian) and Carlos's passport (Canadian) and there are no "countries at war" warnings in there lol. I think if anything, the embassy of the place you are travelling to will let you know the situation there should you ask. But regardless, if you go to the middle east for a holiday, i think you may kinda be asking for it no? lol Considering the way it's been over there for the past what? 30 years?

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