yes, but they're still an economic powerhouse. Lots of manufacturing going on, also infrastructure, tourism etc. So maybe they don't have the respect politically, but the region still largely looks up to them. Possibly the only other country in the region that comes anywhere near the mark is Egypt. Egypt has an important film industry and publishing houses with clients all over the Arab world. Also their dialect is pretty much universally understood (even if not necessarily liked) And with that there comes a certain degree of influence and trend setting.

You mean, a forum where people can go to discuss their opinions on topics? Life? Politics? Religion? Sounds like the village square, which has existed wherever humans have gathered...

It is the "White Nights" like you who think stifling opinions which YOU deem wrong or bigoted who do the most damage to democracy. Why should any of the religions you mention be off limits to commentary?

Bigotry, racism, fascism, communism, libtard, Nazi are seriously overused in discussion these days and really just seem to mean, "I don't agree with you and you are a BAD person."

Apart from anything else Turkey has little money versus the neighbouring oil rich states, the credit rating agencies have Turkey rated at junk!

Inflation and unemployment both running at 10%.

Last year, Turkey adopted a new method for calculating gross domestic product, the key indicator of national economies.
The retroactive revision made Turkey the fastest growing country after China in the past six years, "readjusting" GDP upward by 20%.
Controversy over the credibility of the new method flared up again last week as Ankara posted a 5% growth rate for the first quarter.

Source

I also said something like that, but my post got deleted Actually, I've had several posts deleted in this thread the last few days.. Mostly statistics about killing in the name of Islam versus other religions. Seems it is offending somebody?

Here's some stats regarding Islamic terrorism.
This is from 2014:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-deadlier.html

Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...rorist_attacks

I don't have any fear to discuss about different religions or ideologies. It's rather disgraceful that the topic's title refers to people and not to ideas, as if there was only one way to interpret a religion. No, not all muslims and not all christians or buddhists are the same. A big human pot that is either good or bad is such a silly approach.

Kriss kross got banned for a month , bunch of my posts got deleted too - last one was about religious persecution in Pakistan and arguments refuting "it's only a tiny minority"...

How does that compare against Christian terrorist attacks ?

If you go to the original Maplecroft site that was the source of the Telegraph report then you will see this is a report on all terrorism, not just Islamic terrorism.

Also in the Maplecroft site they say Russia is at an extreme (the highest rating) risk level.

None of the major Western economies fall within the high or ‘extreme risk’ bracket – United States (33), France (44) and United Kingdom (46) all remain in the ‘medium risk’ category, whilst Canada (67) and Germany (70) are rated as ‘low risk.’
Interesting "low" rating for Germany when there is so much anxiety about refugees here

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It is naive to assume my posts are my own work

Did you read the report? I didn't notice any other "extremist" groups mentioned in there, other than Islamic ones.

I'm curious to see a credible report that compares killings in the names of religion, based on the religion. One CNN article...

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/17/wo...015/index.html

Yeas, I did read the report; the introduction says "The Maplecroft Terrorism and Security Dashboard (MTSD) is a new interactive mapping platform, which logs, analyses and plots all reported incidents of terrorism, piracy, political violence and human rights abuses by security forces down to 100m² worldwide."

The persecution of Christians is widely spread outside the Western world, unfortunately. Take India which has only 2% if you can imagine...aprox. 80% of population are Hindu.
In North Korea every kind of religion is forbidden with the exception of that monstrous personality cult.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ck-study-shows

Ah Germany that bastion of open thought. First close eyes and mouth to cologne attacks, pretend they didnt happen for a while, proceed with sacking some spapegoats because it was a decision at `local`level, and then stifle all criticism of allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants to europe with attacks of racism. All the while also denying terror attack increases are unrelated. Yes, lots to believe there.

Wouldnt be surprised if they classed the christmas market attack in Berlin under `road accident`.

What believe and express on FB vs. irl topics of conversation is probably vastly different.

Had 9/11 occurred in Germany it would have been a structural failure that brought down the twin towers.

A great article on the strange reality of being a secular ex-muslim and the hypocrisy of the pseudoliberal Left:

On Betrayal by the Left

" The betrayal of the left has really hurt us, because in principle these people should be on our side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our efforts to reform Islam and bring human and women’s rights to Islamic countries. But they’re barring the gate, telling us we’re ‘Islamophobic’ or spurring hatred toward Muslims or contributing to a hostile atmosphere for them. "

...

"Haider concludes that “If the left doesn’t take up this issue” – that is, start speaking honestly about Islam and its demerits – “they’re letting the right take it, and people end up looking to Donald Trump to protect them from terror, from morals that are rooted in the ideas of centuries ago. And that’s outrageous. Of course Trump isn’t the solution. But you’ve placed people in a situation where they feel they have no other choice. It’s only going to get worse if the left refuses to even engage with these ideas.”

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you are being programmed

Thanks
You also see here posts about "Western imperialism is to blame for terrorist atrocities nowadays"

Rohingya crisis: Johnson warns Suu Kyi over Muslim treatment



Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has warned Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi that the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya is "besmirching" the country's reputation.

Mr Johnson called on Ms Suu Kyi, the country's de facto leader, to "use her remarkable qualities" to end prejudice against Muslims in Rakhine state.
Violence in the province erupted about a week ago, with some 58,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh.

More than 100 people are thought to have died in the violence.
The Rohingya claim that security forces and Buddhist mobs of burning their villages.

Security officials in Myanmar, also known as Burma, claim they are reacting to more than 20 attacks on police posts by Muslim Rohingya militants.
Rakhine, the poorest region in Myanmar, is home to more than a million Rohingya. They have faced decades of persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, where they are not considered citizens.

Ms Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her political activism in Myanmar, which led to the first non-military elected head of state in the country since the military coup in 1962.

Although Htin Kyaw was sworn in as president in 2016 - as Ms Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from holding the position - she is considered the de facto leader of the country.

Ms Suu Kyi, who has the title state counsellor of Myanmar, came to prominence in the 1990s when she was placed under house arrest by the military government.

Mr Johnson said: "Aung San Suu Kyi is rightly regarded as one of the most inspiring figures of our age, but the treatment of the Rohingya is alas besmirching the reputation of Burma.

"She faces huge challenges in modernising her country. I hope she can now use all her remarkable qualities to unite her country, to stop the violence and to end the prejudice that afflicts both Muslims and other communities in Rakhine.

"It is vital that she receives the support of the Burmese military, and that her attempts at peacemaking are not frustrated.

"She and all in Burma will have our full support in this."

Burma Campaign UK - which lobbies European governments in a bid to restore human rights and democracy in Burma - believes the foreign secretary could have gone further in his remarks.

Its director, Mark Farmaner, said Mr Johnson should have also criticised the armed forces' commander-in-chief, Ming Aung Hlaing.

He said: "Min Aung Hlaing's soldiers are the ones killing hundreds of Rohingya and he is the only person in Burma with the power to order soldiers to stop attacking Rohingya villagers, shooting children and burning families alive in their homes."

Source

i feel sick from lots of stupid here. or politely "un justice".

Could you expand upon this? What, exactly, do you find unjust and stupid?

What if they don't tell anyone they're ex-Muslims? As a Christian at least, when you stop believing you don't tell anyone, why should you. Or you do, and apart from "why, oh, you are so wrong blah blah blah" nothing happens, people get on with their lives.
Not that I condone those reactions, mind, but one should find a way to be what they want to be.
Btw, most probably the same bakery wouldn't have any problem to write "Happy birthday ex-Christians" on top of a cake.