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Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

bbc.com

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Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#131

Post by inglor_cz »

remarkEon wrote: post #72

This is one of those things where lots of people, though judging from the thread maybe not as many as I'd expected here, will applaud. A wealthy, successful, American company is "stepping up" in a humanitarian crisis caused by the United States' misguided (to put it mildly) aspirations for a country that ultimately had little interest in western-style governance. And so it goes, these Afghan refugees will enter into…

I was halfway through suggesting that your former terp moves to a different Muslim country, but the

"we let our girls go to school"

grievance would be too much for most Muslim countries too. There is no religious ban on education of girls in Islam. He can move mentally into the 21st century or, well, sod off back, Taliban warts and all.

This is a serious cultural gap. We would not be able to integrate our own ancestors coming directly from year, say, 600. We won't be able to integrate contemporary people coming with mindset fit for early Middle Ages, unless they are willing to shed it.

Which is unlikely in adults. I wouldn't be able to remake myself to become a good Taliban fighter either, and I wouldn't be willing to. If your former terp sees us as degenerate and godless, he will cling to his old ways bitterly.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#132

Post by fighterpilot »

distances wrote: post #127
fighterpilot wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had one idea. Invest $60-80 billion dollars a year in infrastructure and humanitarian projects inside Afghanistan from 2002-2020. That's about triple their total GDP and similar to the cost of war. That investment gradually leads to deradicalization, both because people become better educated and happier, but also because they start to see the US as a legitimate friend.

There were lots of infrastructure and state building projects. Not only by US, many European countries funded development projects too. It was hard due to the ongoing violence, sometimes a project was funded and outcome couldn't even be inspected in situ , but only from satellite images.

I was quite specific in my idea. $60-80 billion worth, without ousting the Taliban. That's different to the current state of affairs, which is a much smaller number than that, and which involved military intervention.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#133

Post by strogonoff »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #128
strogonoff wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does Airbnb offer free stays to refugees in Afghanistan, but not homeless in the US? First, Airbnb is very host-centered. The host can pick their guests, make changes to their reservations, etc. I think if they said “your house will host homeless, but don’t worry we will pay you anyway”, they’d lose 70% of US hosts regardless. The shelter is only part of the problem with homelessness, going hand in hand with at l…

The CEO is quoted saying "The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time." These refugees aren't in Kabul any more; airbnb is probably paying market rates, or close to them, though perhaps not in DC or SF.

Ah. Much of my argument doesn’t apply then, except that still locations in the US with high homeless population are probably significantly more expensive (large cities) relative to where refugees are resettling, and that mental health care would have to accompany shelter more so with the homeless than with refugees.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#134

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

kyawzazaw wrote: post #47
A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not fun when companies big and small grab headlines by cynical offers like these. Presumably, once the PR stunt part dies, someone else is going to pay for them? Who I wonder will be that generous donor.

it's temporary

Can you elaborate a little bit? I don't want to assume what you were trying to say or put words in you mouth.

Is the accommodation temporary? Is it the offer? Are refugees temporarily here? Where is 'here' from the previous sentence?

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#135

Post by rmsaksida »

fighterpilot wrote: post #124
rank0 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the way I see it, there no way we can tolerate the Taliban facilitating attacks on US soil. So after the initial invasion and defeat of Taliban forces, what is the correct move? Occupation didn’t work, but leaving after overthrowing the theocracy just allows the theocracy to reform. It seems to me that a more thorough elimination of the remaining Taliban is the only other option here. I am legitimately asking what…

I had one idea. Invest $60-80 billion dollars a year in infrastructure and humanitarian projects inside Afghanistan from 2002-2020. That's about triple their total GDP and similar to the cost of war. That investment gradually leads to deradicalization, both because people become better educated and happier, but also because they start to see the US as a legitimate friend.

I imagine that's what China is going to do. It's too good an opportunity to pass up.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#136

Post by Bayart »

MichaelGroves wrote: post #115
unmole wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> dunk on the middle east. So, the Middle East includes Afghanistan now? I swear the borders seem to advance every year.

The Middle East 'grew' in the early 00s, for the reasons you probably expect. The Bush administration needed a euphemism for Muslim nations. > The Greater Middle East, is a geo-political term, introduced in March 2004 in a paper by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as part of the U.S. administration's preparatory work for the G8 summit of June 2004, denoting a vaguely defined region that includes the Ara…

I had an argument the other day with a guy refering to Morocco as part of the Middle East. It seemed mind-boggling to me you'd put a country West of Portugal in that category. I then discovered it had become common parlance in the US for anything that spoke Arabic or Persian.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#137

Post by Bayart »

Trias11 wrote: post #95
junon wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that the US has rights over Afghanistan?

No just implying that importing 20000 foreigners from totally different culture into US is not a good idea

That's a drop in the bucket for a country that's already full of people from all over the world and constantly bragging about its diversity (despite looking very monocultural from the outside looking in).

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#138

Post by shadowgovt »

rmsaksida wrote: post #135
fighterpilot wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had one idea. Invest $60-80 billion dollars a year in infrastructure and humanitarian projects inside Afghanistan from 2002-2020. That's about triple their total GDP and similar to the cost of war. That investment gradually leads to deradicalization, both because people become better educated and happier, but also because they start to see the US as a legitimate friend.

I imagine that's what China is going to do. It's too good an opportunity to pass up.

I haven't seen China give any indication that it wants to touch the graveyard of empires for any reason.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#139

Post by TheGigaChad »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #76

This is nice marketing. I doubt he has lined up 20.000 properties yet who want to do this. So that will be fun distribution: 1 to Alaska. 3 in Portland, 1 in Colorado Springs. On a more serious note. this is not a promising idea, Nobody has any real idea who these people are. What sorts of trauma they may have experienced? What their medical, psychological, or sociological needs are. There is also the tragic issue th…

Racist Rat.

Re: Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20k Afghan refugees

#140

Post by junon »

hhsbz wrote: post #123
jdavis703 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least legally, the US had no “rights” over Afghanistan. Afghanistan was not a colony, territory or state of the US. The government was “free” to kick out the US whenever they wanted.

The president was a US-educated pawn. No chance he would've kicked out the US, which is why the US put him there.

That didn't afford the US any right to annexation.
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