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Online shopping: beware you are being tricked

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Online shopping has become the trend; especially in the COVID era, many newbies are drawn to this easy, at-home shopping habit. Those who have already been shopping online in the pre-COVID times now rely on online shopping for almost everything.

What could be easier than getting your groceries, clothes, and essentials with just a few touches, but hold on! Are we just shopping for obliged products or are we falling bait to the digital shopping’s outwit? Is online shopping, thrusting us to spend more than we have the wherewithal for?

Online shopping: do you really want it?

How many times have you bought things online on the impulse of the moment and later regret it? You are not alone, nearly everybody has fallen into this trap multiple times. The problem becomes more serious with people who keep on buying futile products despite being in debt.

 A former social media influencer and blogger, Lissette Calveiro’s story dictates a story that shows us the dark side of online shopping and the glamour world. The obsession to fake an “ideal” life and impulse online buying led the influencer is a debt of $10,000.

Calveiro, says “constant online shopping for a closet that enabled me to ‘never repeat an outfit’ for a picture, endless açai bowls, and brunches and a need to feed my newly acquired travel bug without consideration of the potential risks of being in debt – all to show off to my newfound followers”.

The above story is not exclusive, millions of people fall into this trap every now and then. But what is there in the digital shopping that attracts us to buy vain things?

According to the charity, Money and Mental Health, on an average every eight adult spends more than they can bear on online platforms; also, every one of four products people buys but they don’t actually need. The most vulnerable to over purchasing online, are people who had some history of mental health issues.

What makes online shopping so compelling?

While visiting the supermarket for a few stuff, we always end up buying a lot more, which we don’t even need. What is the reason behind this over-shopping? These are the retailer’s trick, which at a psychological level propel our brain that makes us feel we are missing out good deals.

When we shop online, these propelling gets more intense because of the following reasons:

Limited availability trick

What makes sales voguish? the fact that they will be live just for a limited time. This limit alarms our brain to catch the deals before they end. The retailers make use of these alarms in our brains, and sugarcoating the deals with ‘free shipping’, ‘ hurry only a few left’, ‘free gifts’, which makes the deal furthermore compelling.

Ads and reviews

Have you ever noticed, if you search for a product online, it will keep haunting you everywhere until you buy it? These are ads. This is another trick used in online marketing, which shows you the product over and over again on every website you open. Reviews of products also play an important role in this game, highlighting good reviews by customers, makes us want that product even more.

Presentation

Scrolling through lots of things is exhausting, so in order to outshine their products or websites, online marketers, use different tactics. Usage of different font sizes can make a huge difference in customers’ decisions.

“Subconsciously your mind will pick it up. And because it’s a little bit bigger, you will naturally pay attention to it. Therefore you feel that you like this product – but it has nothing to do with the product”; says Kate Nightingale, a consumer psychologist, the British Heart Foundation.

Easy and varied payment options

Online payment, with just one click, makes buying stuff online very easy, which avails customers to buy without any hassle, therefore they end up buying more every time.

no-cost Easy Monthly Instalments (EMI) though is an excellent alternative for those who are not capable of paying large sum at once; many times it also creates a problem. We sometimes end up buying things like expensive gadgets, vehicles, furniture etc that we might not actually need; and thus we end up in debt.

How can we be saved?

Online marketing tricks aim to compel consumers to spend more money, sometimes more than they can afford. Such leaves the vulnerable under huge debts which could further lead to deadly outcomes. These immoral business techniques if changed could surely create a safe online shopping experience for everyone.

One suggestion to do so by MMH is, adding more friction to the online buying procedure. As says Nightingale, “How many times did you drop your potential purchase because you were standing in a long queue?”

We the consumers on the other hand are equally responsible for keeping us safe from online shopping exploitation. Word to the wise, thinking before every purchase, using a debit card instead of a credit card, being aware of the compelling ads; are a few things that can keep us safe from falling bait to the online shopping traps.

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Israel is Hiding Crucial Demographic Facts About Palestinians

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demographic facts about the Palestinians and Palestinian demographic data

For decades, Israel has been hiding crucial demographic facts about the Palestinians West of the River Jordan (Israel proper, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip). During this period, Successive Israeli governments consistently sought to inflate the number of Jews while deliberately belittling the number of Palestinians.  The purpose of this manifestly racist and still-ongoing policy is to portray the Palestinians as an insignificant and shrinking minority.

Palestinian demographic facts:“The Palestinian womb is overwhelming Israel”

Demographic facts and data are considered Israel’s best-guarded state secrets.

However, from time to time, Israeli officials make racist statements reflecting Israeli anxiety toward the growing Palestinian population and Palestinian demographic data and facts.

 Moreover, the toxically racist Israeli media normally resort to “Statistical manipulation” to ensure the pathologically insecure Jewish citizens that Jews are still a large and growing the majority of the population.

This week, a senior doctor at the Soroka hospital in Beir Sheva in Southern Palestine was quoted as saying that  “the Arab womb is overwhelming the Jewish public” in the country.

The doctor,  Gideon Saar, a cardiac surgeon, was recorded on video, saying the remarks during an election gathering to promote the notoriously racist former Justice minister Ayelet Shaked.

Crucial Palestinian demographic facts: Short is the robe of lying!

As we all know, mendacity has always been and continues to be Israel’s modus operandi and ultimate lifeline. Israel lies about almost everything, from how it came into being to its possession of nuclear weapons. So, we shouldn’t be surprised a bit to discover Israeli efforts to cover up crucial demographic facts in occupied Palestine.

Indeed, lying rather obscenely is simply an integral part of being Zionist.

Read Also: Is anti-Semitism essential for the survival and growth of Zionism and Jewish peoplehood?

Honesty and being Zionist are eternal oxymorons and shouldn’t be used in the same line. Israel lies as often as Israelis breathe.

Rare admission:

In 2014,  the Head of the Military Administration in the West Bank, euphemistically called the Civil Administration, made a rare admission when he pointed out that the number of Palestinians between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean exceeded the number of Jews. 

The admission has since been confirmed by many Israeli scholars, including Sergio Della Pergola, an Italian-Israeli demographer and statistician.

Some irate right-wing officials dismissed the shocking revelations demographic facts about Palestinians as “spurious and distorted.” But Della Pergola, a Hebrew University Professor, dismissed these right-wingers as “delusional.”

Three out of four Russian immigrants are “non-Jewish”

According to the Israeli media, it has been revealed by official Israeli circles that hundreds of thousands of “Jewish” immigrants from the former Soviet Union are actually “nom-Jewish” according to the so-called “Law of return.” The Ynet English website on 17 November 2002, reported that in 2020, three out of every four Russian immigrants were actually non-Jewish.

The “shocking” report came after leaders of the religious and fascist Jewish parties, which won the recent elections in Israel, expressed intention to amend the Law of Return and reopen the sensitive question of who counts as Jewish according to Jewish law or Halacha.  According to the Jerusalem Post, only 28% of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union were actually Jewish. The same source reported that between 1990-2020, the percentage of truly Jewish immigrants didn’t exceed 36%. 

 

Palestinians have a clear majority

Today,  data shows that the existence of a Palestinian demographic majority west of the River Jordan (Israel and the occupied Territories) is a clarion fact that only the willfully blind refuses to see. In fact, if we deduct around 500,00-600,00 non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union from the projected Jewish population, the Palestinian majority becomes an axiomatic fact that even the most dishonest Israeli politicians wouldn’t deny.

According to Palestinian and Israeli experts, the crucial Palestinian demographic facts today exceeds the Jewish population by at least 300,000 people.

However, some hot-tempered Israeli leaders and pro-settler circles keep indulging in prevarication, statistical sophistry and outright lies to produce an otherwise rosy outlook.

Palestinian demographic facts: Apartheid to make “them” out of sight and out mind”!   

Israel, especially the so-called  “deep state,”e.g.,  the hawkish security establishment, has been using a variety of criminal tactics to neutralize the problem. These tactics include the following:

1- Denial and concealing crucial Palestinian demographic facts, classified as “top secret”  from the general public, while making the classified data available to top politicians, like the Prime Minister, the President, and Mossad Chief. Moreover, military censorship has been barring the normally-liberal Israeli media from discussing the matter or making “harmful” Revelations.

2- Maximizing systematic persecution, repression and state sponsored-terrorism against the Palestinians for the purpose of coercing them to emigrate as the Zionist gangs did in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave following the perpetration by Jewish terrorists of genocidal massacres like Dir Yasin, Tantura, Dawaymeh, etc. Indeed, for decades, Israel claimed the refugees were not expelled but left voluntarily.

Read Also: Rectifying Nuclear Imbalance with Israel should be a strategic priority for Egypt, SA and Turkey

3- Confining as many Palestinians as possible to the smallest possible territory.

4. Refusing to grant non-Jews building licenses to construct a home in (Area C) of the West Bank, which constitutes more than 65% of the occupied territory.

5- Demolishing Palestinian homes in the contiguity of Jewish colonies or in areas coveted or slated for settlement expansion. It is estimated that Israel demolished more than 50,000 Palestinian homes in Gaza and the West Bank since 1967.

6-  Applying two sets of laws, one lenient, another harsh and draconian, to  Jews and Arabs living in the same area, even the same neighbourhood.

Yet Zionist Jews bark furiously and uncontrollably like rabid shipyard dogs whenever someone calls the racist entity apartheid? Do they want the world to celebrate with them their “exemplary egalitarianism” and the kosher savagery meted out to the helpless and virtually abandoned Palestinians whose only “crime” is their being goyem and therefore un-kosher? Is this the way Jews are supposed to pay back for Muslim protection for many centuries in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and many other places?

I advise doubting Jews to read “the Jew and the Cross” to realize the huge difference in the treatment Jews received under Islam and Christendom. (see The Jew and the Cross – Dagobert David Runes).

Exercising some honesty and rectitude is always beneficial and rewarding.

7- Israel has been manipulating statistical data and crucial demographic facts to give the impression that the Palestinians are not actually a nation, but a cacophonic set of sects and tribes with very little common bonds.

Thus, Israeli statisticians divided Palestinians into Muslims, Christians, Bedouins, Jerusalemites, Israeli Arab citizens, and Circassians. Samarians, etc.

This sort of statistical mutilation is not met with a reciprocal sub-categorization when dealing with the Jewish community which has far more ethnic and religious heterogeneity. For example, the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate doesn’t consider a majority of American Jews (Reform and Conservative Jews) to be bona fide Jews. Orthodox Jews, who are in control in Israel, routinely quarrel and scuffle with Reform and Conservative Jews at the Western Wall esplanade, shouting obscenities at them and calling them abusive epithets like “Goyem” (non-Jews) and “Notsrim” (Christians).   

Demographic holocaust

One might wonder how Israel would deal with its demographic dilemma in the medium and distant future. Some Israeli leaders, especially within the jingoistic religious messianic circles don’t hesitate to use far-fetched explosive terms like “demographic holocaust” to describe the Palestinian demographic advantage.

The scandalously corrupt analogy between one of the greatest tragedies in the history of mankind on the one hand,  and the survival and growth of the Palestinian people in its own ancestral homeland on the other, cheapens the holocaust and seriously corrodes international efforts to combat true, virulent anti-Semitism. It also exposes the brutal ugliness of the Zionist mindset.

Unfortunately, we Palestinians have learnt that nothing can be dismissed as unthinkable as far as the depraved Zionist mentality is concerned. Indeed, a state that shamelessly argues that Jews have an inherent right to be racist “because they are a special people” can do anything, however ghoulish and nightmarish or diabolic it may be.

That is why, the Rabbis of Gush Emunim, who represent religious Zionism, declare openly that the solution for the Palestinian problem is a combination of three measures: Transfer or collective deportation; a tight, humiliating apartheid regime; and\or a war of extermination. Frankly, I prefer to believe these evil rabbis rather than notorious pathological liars like Netanyahu, Lapid, and Biden.

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Muhammed: The Greatest Man to walk on Earth

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This article was written to coincide with the annual anniversary of the Prophet Muhammed’s birthday.

I readily admit I tremble a little, with awe and humility,  whenever I write or talk about this extraordinary figure, who is, indeed, the greatest man to walk on earth. Muhammed, may God’s peace and blessing be upon him, was not an incarnation of God, or God on earth, or the second or third person in some polytheistic holy trinity.  Nor was he a quasi-heavenly figure who demanded that his companions and followers deify and worship him in any conceivable manner. Muhammed was none of that.  

After all, Muhammad was the ultimate advocate and champion of pure monotheism or the oneness of God. He strongly rejected and resented any suggestion  that he shared any of God’s attributes  and characters such as  eternality, omnipotence (being all-powerful) and omniscience (being all-knowing).

Nonetheless, the Prophet of Islam was a Quran walking on two legs. He epitomized the Quran, the final Testament  to mankind in his daily life, as described by Aisha, his beloved wife.

 Muhammed  excelled in every sphere, as a husband, as a father, as a teacher, as a leader,  as a judge and  peacemaker. Indeed, if there were such a person as the perfect human-being, Muhammad would be that person. But perfectness belongs to God alone. The prophet said  “All the children of Adam are prone to sin, and the best of sinners are those who repent.”

The Prophet never ever claimed or suggested that he was more than just a human being According to the sira, the meticulously-researched biography of the prophet, a man came up to the prophet, trembling in awe of  his aura of venerability.  The Prophet told him: “take it easy, I am not a king, I’m the son of a (simple) woman who used to eat Qadid (dried, salted sliced meat).  

In Sura 7 (Aaraf), verse 188, Allah instructed His Prophet to stress  to the  people that he was but a man chosen by God as a warner as well as bringer of good tidings.


Say (O Muhammad): “I possess no power of benefit or harm to myself except as Allah wills. If I had the knowledge of the (unseen), I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings unto people who believe.”

Read also: “Do Not Waste Water Even If You Were At A Running Stream” Prophet Muhammad

Ultimate paragon of virtue, justice and morality

When  the American astrophysicist, Michale Hart, author of   A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History,  was asked why he ranked the Prophet of Islam as the greatest man in history, he simply pointed out that the Prophet  was “supremely successful” in both the religious and secular realms, being responsible for both the foundation of Islam as well as  the subsequent  growth and phenomenal expansion of the monotheistic faith whose followers now exceed two billion human beings. Hart pointed out that while numerous other great persons excelled in one sphere, Muhammed excelled in every sphere.

Muhammed is greater than all the words.

There is absolutely no doubt that Muhammed is greater than all words.  I  understand that counting Muhammed’s virtues, merits and values would take so much time and space. However, I do also  realize that counting a great man’s virtues would be inappropriate for him if  his virtues were beyond counting.

None the less, the holy Prophet of Islam, the final messenger of the Creator to mankind, must always be present in our daily life, as his pure and immaculate Sunna must be our ultimate guide  to happiness, prosperity and salvation in this World and the real after

In Sura a-Ahzab, V.21, we read:

 “Verily, in the messenger of God you have a good example for him who looks unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembers God much.”

Indeed, by following the Sunna of Muhammed in all walks of life, we don’t benefit the Prophet, for he doesn’t need our  benefits, praise and good deeds; It is we who ultimately benefit from following the Sunna of the messenger of God .

The lofty values of morality

Soon after the Prophet received his call, he stood up at the center of Mecca and declared: “I  have been sent by God to uphold and complete the sublime ideals of morality ( Makaremul Akhlaq).”

Indeed, from the very inception of the Muhammedan call,  morality and moral values  always  loomed large in the message of Islam. The following are some examples of the   prophet’s sayings on  morality:

 The Prophet said ” Pay the deposit (trust) to him who deposited it with you, and do not betray him who betrayed you.”

He also said : “you will not win the hearts of men with your money, But you can win their hearts with your kindness and virtuous behavior.”   

On the subject of cheating, the Prophet said “whoever cheats, is not one of us.” As to lying, he said ” a Muslim must not lie”

Moreover, he said: give a laborer his wages before his sweat dries up”

Furthermore, the holy prophet said “The best of you is one who is best to his family (wife) and I am the best of you to my family.

Finally, as the prophet was dying, he said: “I strongly urge you to observe ordained prayers and to be kind and behave well toward your women.’

The Muhammedan message on justice, peace and racism

Islam is extremely sensitive to the issue of justice, even in adverse situations, such as the time of war. Islam teaches that peace can only be as the result of true justice. Justice comes before peace.

In fact, justice in all its forms is a central feature in the religion of Islam. Just consider the following verse:

O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do. Sura 4-v..135

Can we find such a verse in any religious scriptures other than the Quran?

On the subject of peace, the prophet reportedly said.

“By Allah, you will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I tell you of something which if you do, you will love each other? Foster peace amongst yourselves.”

Finally, the religion of Islam condemns in the strongest terms  all forms of racism, including tribalism, chauvinism, parochial nationalism and fanaticism to family or country, calling it “filthy”

In the Holy Quran, in Sura al Hujorat, there is a popular verse which can and probably should be adopted as an international charter for human  brotherhood and solidarity:

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). Al-Hujorat, v. 13

I have no doubt in my mind that should humanity adopt  at least some of Islam’s teachings on world peace, international cooperation, combatting racism, oppression and aggression, our world would be a true paradise on earth.  But who would listen?

Muslims, too, should follow the path of Muhammed, honestly and sincerely, in order to overcome their many crises and problems, including political tyranny, poverty, and disunity. Remember, Allah does not change the conditions of a people unless they change what is in themselves.

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Gulf of Oman: The New Battleground Between USA and Iran

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US military ship

On July 5, 2023, a Wednesday morning, two Iranian Navy ships approached US oil tankers in two separate incidents in the Gulf of Oman. One of the Iranian Navy ships fired its weapons at an oil tanker – escalating tensions in the region. The incident is marking another chapter in a string of incidents that have been occurring since 2019.

The Gulf of Oman Incident

According to commander Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet:

“The Iranian navy did make attempts to seize commercial tankers lawfully transiting international waters.”

At 01:00 AM local time, an Iranian Navy ship came near the oil tanker TRF Moss, which was flagged by the Marshall Islands. However, the Iranian Navy ship left the region when the US Navy destroyer USS McFaul arrived in the area.

Further, three hours later, at 4:00 AM, the US Navy received a distress call from the Bahamas-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager. According to the US Navy, the Bahamas-flagged oil tanker was more than 20 miles from the coast of Muscat, Oman, when another Iranian Navy ship came approaching the US oil tanker.

The Iranian Navy ship was signaling the oil tanker to stop when the same US Navy destroyer, USS McFaul, headed towards the oil tanker at full speed. 

US Military ship in the Gulf of Oman

The Iranian Navy fired its weapons before the US Navy destroyer USS McFaul arrived on the scene with a lot of bullets in a short period of time. According to the US Navy, the Iranian Navy fired with both small arms, such as pistols and rifles, and crew-served weapons, such as machine guns and cannons.

The bullets struck the side of the oil tanker near the crew’s living spaces, but no one was injured. However, The US Navy destroyer USS McFaul arrived on the scene, and the Iranian Navy ship left.

The Continual Attacks of Iran in the Gulf of Oman –

Iran has been continuously involved in multiple attacks on oil tankers since 2019 on a major shipping route for oil. According to the US Navy, Iran has either harassed or seized nearly 20 commercial ships that have been flagged by other countries since 2021.

Such attacks on major shipping routes for oil pose a clear threat to the security of shipping in the region and the global economy – according to the US Navy. The recent attack of July 2023 was not the first attempt by Iran; on June 14, 2019, Iran attempted to seize two US oil tankers by blast, which spiked the oil price significantly. However, the explosions raised concerns about a potential military conflict between Iran and the United States.

Earlier this year, Iran took control of two oil tankers in less than a week in the same region of the Strait of Hormuz, near the Gulf of Oman. Hence, knowing the importance and criticality of waterways for the global economy, such seizures prompted the US to send more ships and aircraft to patrol the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is working with individual countries in the region to deter threats to commercial shipping and prevent attacks on commercial ships.

In May 2023, Greece issued a serious notice and warned ship owners to stay away from Iranian waters because there was a risk of being attacked. However, the latest seizure of an oil tanker by Iran is part of a series of attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf of Oman that have been happening since 2019.

Why is Iran Constantly Attacking US Oil Tankers? 

According to the U.S. Navy, in the past two years, Iran has taken commercial vessels in at least five instances. Additionally, they have recorded more than a dozen instances of Iran bothering commercial vessels during the past two years. And many of the incidents have happened in the Strait of Hormuz or nearby regions, a major shipping route for oil, which accounts for about 20% of all crude oil. 

The constant attack of Iran on US oil tankers in waterways is considered retaliation for withdrawing Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers and restoring crippling sanctions by the US during the reign of President Trump. 

The Trump administration’s decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal and impose new sanctions on Iran has led to increased tensions between Iran and the United States. 

However, after the decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal, Iran has increased its nuclear activities within the country, which could be used to develop nuclear weapons. However, the United States and other countries in the world have worked together to prevent such practices by Iran. 

Nevertheless, Iran has denied such practice and says that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity. Further, Iran is providing Russia with armed drones that can be used in the war against Ukraine. This is further increasing tension among countries and is a serious concern for the international community. 

What will Happen Next?

The ongoing tension between Iran and the US serves as a stark reminder of the delicate balance that should be maintained in international waters. Iran’s repeated attack on the US and other countries’ oil tankers and commercial vessels shows the ever-complex geopolitical landscape in the middle-east region.

However, as countries work together to maintain maritime trade security, diplomatic efforts and international cooperation must be at the forefront of resolving these conflicts. 

The world is watching closely with the hope of a peaceful resolution – especially in times of current economic and diplomatic uncertainties. 

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