> "this means they can do a surprise inspection on our premises!"

Same is true with almost all of the proprietary licenses too. They can do a surprise inspection. So your customer would be terrified either

> As far as non-north-american countries go - the UAE is very progressive

Could you please tell me what do you mean by "Progressive" ? . Coz, I have been living in many countries of Middle East for years and this includes UAE also and they all are same more or less. Like other countries, UAE has the following,

-- Family dictatorships which have absolute control about every element of the society and economy.
-- No Democracy in any tangible meaning of that term
-- Absolutely no freedom of expression(UAE does not even allow the media to give true reports about the recession which has affected the country more than any other country in the world !)
-- Worst rules and laws which are inhumane to say the least.

Now unlike other countries in the region, UAE has the following,

-- Easier access to prostitution & alcohol

Is this one point is what you mean by being "Progressive" ? If something else, please let me know as I have not experienced anything else in my stay here. I do admit that specifically in the case of Saudi, things are even worse as women are not allowed to have their choice of dress or job. If there is any country in the region which has some elements of "progressiveness", its Iran whom we all love to bash.

> Every "election" that happens, candidates are screened for loyalty to that unelected guy and Islam, if found not loyal enough, they are barred. And democracy is not just about elections.

Then how come candidates like Mousavi came to election and won the second place ?

> Iran used to be a quasi-democracy, after the recent "election" (read coup) Khamenei gave a big fuck you to people and said we're not even going to bother counting votes anymore.

Show me solid evidence like international observers findings for the "coup" in election . Then I would believe you. Because frankly speaking, I have not seen anything other than reports about "protests"

> Iraq was technically a democracy as well. It's just that Saddam happened to get 100% of the vote every time.

Iran democracy is way better than Iraq(old) one. For e.g even now the candidates who are dead against president Nejad were allowed to contest. And as I said in previous post, other countries like Saudi have NO election at all ! They have even worse filtering of internet. I am typing this from Saudi where even some of google pages are blocked(like language tools). What is the point in selling everything to these countries and bitching against selling something to Iran ?

> "Democracy" isn't the first word to come to my head when describing Iran... the recent events have done nothing to suggest otherwise.

Thats because western media are showing a very biased story of the Iran issues. Were the western reporters and observers able to see any solid evidence of rigging the election ? I doubt. The reason Nejad won the election with such a huge margin is because of his popularity among rural mass. The so called "reformist's" influence is confined to Tehran and surrounding areas only.

Iran, regardless of all the shortcomings and issues IS a democracy. Most of the other countries in gulf region(Like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) are under family dictatorships and worse tyrannies. And US/EU governments and corporations sell everything including weapons to them. I think this is far worse than selling technology to Iran.

> My uncles keep joking we should get our land back when the US is done with Iraq. I am sure all of the Muslim world will be open to that idea, ha!

I absolutely agree with you that you should be given back your land in Iraq and be allowed to live as a perfect Jew. I am sure no real Muslim would oppose it too. But still, this is different from what Israel is doing. Israel is EXPANDING its borders by kicking out others from their land on a "whole sale" basis. There is a huge difference between these two.

> This would be a demographic disaster for Israel and the Israelis would never go for it

It would be a demographic disaster for Israel because they have been expanding their borders by occupying others land.

> It would be the equivalent of the United States having to absorb 150,000,000 new people

No its NOT. US has never occupied its neighbors land and expanded its borders. US has done many bad things. But it has not expanded its border by occupying other's land. So your comparison is absolutely wrong.

> No, it's really not [wikipedia.org] that simple. If it was that simple it would already be solved. The settlers aren't particularly popular in Israel and there'd be no point to the occupation if the Arabs weren't busy conducting terrorist attacks against Israel.

I still don't understand why is it not simple.And nowhere in your posts, you explain why is it not simple. If you have engaged in occupation, then there is no other solution than ending it completely. You can never ever live peacefully without doing that. Thats what we are seeing in the forms of rockets and suicide bombs. Whether settlers are popular in Israel or not is not relevant. What is important is Israel as a state engaged in settlement and occupation and they are not sleeping peacefully because of that.Though that doesnt mean that I agree with all the response it received for it's activity.

You have still not answered to the first one.

Regarding your evidence, one(in Israel) is official government activity and its EXPANDING its border by doing this(kicking out Palestines and settlement) where as in Arabs countries it was not official(though some acts from states have helped it) and Arabs are not expanding their border by doing this. But still, I absolutely condemn any mistreatment of Jews(or anyone) by anyone. That includes what seems to have happened these Arab countries.In many cases Zionist movement was the catalyst for the exodus(from your link only). But in not a single case of Palestine displacement was caused by any such movement. To sump up, I repeat very first argument in this thread. The solution is simple if Israel is willing to roll back complete settlement and illegal occupation and ask the Arab/neighboring countries to give a written UN mediated assurance for peace in return.