-
A Christmas Carol
I wept in front of Al Jazeera television for much of the holiday. That is the long and the short of it. I still feel numb and shaken. The horror of what we have witnessed – are still witnessing – the evil of it, is beyond anything I had been able to fathom. I check…
-
A conversation
I recommend a conversation between 3 analysts about some objectives underlying the wars in Palestine and Ukraine. 1) John Mearsheimer is a prominent political scientist best known internationally for his theory of offensive realism, which describes the interaction between great powers as being primarily driven by the rational desire to achieve or maintain regional hegemony.…
-
On this day
It’s Christmas Eve. “Palestinian Christians refuse to celebrate Christmas.” “Churches in Bethlehem have cancelled activities.” Several churches and hospitals have been bombed. Faithful to my promise to not look away, I go to the news to see what is happening in Gaza: UPI, AP and Reuters tell us virtually nothing. And yet, there is a…
-
Post scriptum
I have wondered how Hamas could even consider carrying out the October 7 attack, knowing as they did, as did I, how viciously Israel would retaliate. I thought: The Gazans will cease to support Hamas, will hate Hamas for having subjected them to Israeli viciousness. How very wrong I was! According to Al Jazeera, support…
-
Gaza
Much has been said and written about the ongoing genocide. Many of us have described our sense of impotent rage and despair. Caitline Johnstone has done so particularly poignantly, I think, in an article titled I will not look away. Rather than waste your time on more of my rants, I urge you to read…
-
No!
No, Mr Biden and his lot do not believe that “all men [and women] are created equal”. I have no doubt he says he does, but nobody should ever take the word of a man (or woman) in his position. Mr Biden may, however, believe that all men [and women] are created equal, but that…
-
From bad to worse
A lof of what has happened these past two years has not surprised me. What has, however, astounded and shocked me has been 1) the silencing in the press of all criticism of the US and NATO’s handling of the war in Ukraine and 2) the US and UK crackdown on criticism of Israel post…
-
Frost
Most of the year I’ll be complaining about the weather. It’s never right, as it were. Too mild in winter, too wet or too dry in summer. “Climate change,” I’ll sigh, pointedly nodding towards the window. So now, I should rejoice and tell anybody who is willing to listen to me, that here where I…
-
Mary had a little lamb
I used to love The Guardian. You could find discussions about just about anything there, views right left and centre, philosophical musings, analyses of books, films and even a magnificent series in which Andras Schiff presented each and every one of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. It was a site that continued where school education left off,…
-
Transparency
A former president whom I dislike – I forget which of them it was, because I dislike them all – used to refer to presidents that he disliked as “mad dogs”. Now the difference between a human and a canine mad dog is that you can put the latter on a leash or out of…