Humble Opinions

There is a well known saying in the Jewish world - a quote from the book Ethics of The Fathers. The book is a collection of ethical teachings gathered from the greatest Jewish Rabbis that lived roughly around the 2^nd and 3^rd Centuries. The quote is:

איזהו חכם הרואה את הנולד” - פרקי אבות ב:טו”

“Who is wise? The one who sees the eventual outcome” - Ethics of The Fathers, 2:16

This saying comes to teach that someone who is truly wise is not someone that is careful; not someone who is prepared; not someone who has a lot of “life experience.” Rather, someone who considers the eventual outcome of his and others’ actions in life. I personally find this to be quite true, so they must have been onto something.

Lately, I find myself reading the news, and constantly shouting things like “Are you kidding me?” and “Are you serious?” Aside from the regular doses of difficult-to-digest crime reports, I am seeing a lot of two very troubling things: (1). An enormous military conflict is brewing, and (2). Most people don’t know it, and don’t care to know it.

Since we’re all obviously “out of the box” thinkers, let’s start with number 2 first. On the “individual” scope of the world, it seems to me like people are very preoccupied with two things. The financial crisis, and nonsense. A huge percentage of media reporting right now has to do with the worldwide financial crisis, how it is progressing / regressing, how it is affecting different industries, what major events in the crisis are happening or are about to happen. For me, I’m kind of bored at this point. Who is merging, who is cutting jobs, who is going bankrupt, what grand plans are being worked on and announced. I’ve been hearing the same stuff for months now, and the only thing that seems to remain constant is that the media, and their sources of information, clearly have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. They have been consistently wrong this entire time about their forecasts, the depths of the crisis, and about ways for a person to help their financial situation. So for me, I’m half opted-out of those stories.

And the nonsense? Well, let’s see. What is Michelle Obama going to wear tomorrow? What are the shortcuts to abs of steel? What are the summer’s hottest video games? When is the next Harry Potter out? Is 30 sexier than 25? You get my point. There isn’t too much I can say about this, other than that I try to stay as far away from it as possible. My brain already hurts enough.

So that covers what is seemingly preoccupying a large % of people (aside from the obviously main purposes in life: one’s job, and going on vacation). And about a large scale military conflict brewing? Well, let’s see:

Iran has been given a free pass by the world (and especially the US) to essentially continue building a nuclear weapon, undisturbed. This is happening parallel to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s constant rhetoric about “wiping Israel off the map”, about Iran being ready to defend itself against any (Western) enemy, about how awesome Iran is, and about how great Allah is.

Lucky for Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu was able to form a coalition in the Israeli Knesset, and is currently serving as Israeli Prime Minister during this difficult situation. I’ll note PM Netanyahu served in Sayeret Matkal, the #1 most elite task force in the Israeli army. He has seen some of the most serious war action in Israel’s history, and has not wasted any time since he took office. He has constantly brought up the Iranian nuclear crisis at every possible chance he gets. Last week, PM Netanyahu met with US President Obama for the first time. I was somewhat anticipating this meeting, however, shortly after it occurred, I found myself at great disease. I suddenly realized that the diplomatic route for the crisis is nearing its end. Everyone has laid their cards out, shared their opinions on the matter, possibly came to certain levels of agreement, and then everyone went back to their respective homes to prepare.

1. This past week, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) conducted war games where they practiced flying more than 900 miles, with mid-air refueling.
2. Iran sent 6 warships into International waters, to “display its ability to confront any foreign threats.”
3. Moscow announced it saw it vital to continue its ongoing relationship and contact with the Islamic terrorist group, Hamas (whom is supported by Iranian money and weapons). After all, what would a Middle Eastern war be if Russia wasn’t shadowing at least one participant?
4. Beginning May 31^st, Israel will conduct the largest war simulation in its history involving the entire country, which will work to prepare its citizens for serious wartime circumstances, and prepare the Israeli military and security forces for a large scale, multi-front war.

Okay, now before we get ahead of ourselves, does this automatically mean the end of the world is coming? Well, not until yesterday it didn’t… Yesterday, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon and 3 delivery missiles that resembled the size of the Atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945……..

Are you kidding me?

Even though President Obama was quick to save the day by publicly condemning the test in a speech, as well as in a written letter (wow, he must be pissed) - nevertheless, I don’t think we’re quite in the clear just yet. This comes after North Korea performed a nuclear test in 2006 that also gained worldwide condemnation, as well as economic sanctions placed against it. Yet, that doesn’t seem to have bothered N. Korea all that much. Can someone explain to me exactly what they have to do to get some kind of actual response in the world? Test 3 nuclear bombs at once? In my book, testing a nuclear weapon capable of killing a 6-figure number of people, as well as delivery missiles would basically mean the end of the rope. But maybe it’s better to sit back and see where they’re going with this… Maybe it’s for peaceful purposes, like Iran’s nuclear program.

I think former US representative to the UN, John Bolton, had a good start when he suggested the US “expel North Korea from the UN.” Who the hell let them into the UN in the first place? I thought the UN was about world peace, and preventing world wars.

Anyway, if this post wasn’t depressing enough, please don’t forget the Pakistani army has been ferociously battling the Taliban right outside of Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad. The Taliban are currently less than 100km away from controlling Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Why does Pakistan have a nuclear arsenal again?

Tags: iran, israel, netanyahu, north korea

Posted by admin under Financial Crisis & Opinions & israel | 1 Comment »

In Israel’s 60+ year history as a modern-day country, it has continuously bent over backwards regarding its relationship with its neighboring countries, and in how it treats its citizens (Jewish and especially non-Jewish). There are those in the world that believe Israel is an evil, racist, inhumane country, for reasons which I have yet to fully comprehend, but I would press those individuals to describe Israel’s evil agenda. With a very basic scanning of her history, it’s pretty clear (at least to me) that Israel has no aspirations of expanding through Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, or Jordan, and has no genocidal plot of exterminating a race or religion; nor does it seek global domination of any market or financial system whatsoever. It simply seeks peace for its citizens, and an equal opportunity to compete in the global markets - the same way many countries on earth do.

I remind my readers that Israel was established as a safe haven for Jews, after the previous 18 centuries had left them brutalized, murdered, and raped in every sense by a shockingly large number of world powers. It’s to everyone’s misfortune that Israel has been on high alert defense from her very first day of existence (literally), and has had a continual existential threat against her ever since, by greatly outnumbering enemies. I also remind my readers that all the land Israel has gained since the 1947 UN Partition Plan has been a result of the Arab world denying Israel’s right to exist, and Israel defending herself in wars waged against her.

Despite all this, Israel continues to bend over backward in the treatment of her non-Jewish citizens (whom make up roughly 20% of her population), and in her relations with her neighboring countries (even during wartimes). Here are a few examples:

1. It is pretty well understood that the relationship between the Jews and Arabs inside of Israel is a hairy one. Yet, Arabs are allowed to travel to & from Israeli neighborhoods and Arab neighborhoods inside of Israel, at worst case needing to stop at a checkpoint to ensure they’re not transporting any kind of explosives or weapons. Arabs are also allowed to work jobs in Israel, legally, as non-Israeli citizens. Israelis, on the other hand, are absolutely not allowed to enter Arab neighborhoods within Israel. This is because it is well known that a Jew walking around Ramallah, for example, will likely be kidnapped or killed fairly quickly. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. Around the very dangerous areas, IDF soldiers are stationed at all borders and forbid Israelis from passing for this very reason.
2. Israel has given its Arab citizens an opportunity to participate in its democratic government. Since the first election in Israel in 1949, Arabs have been allowed to run for seats in the Israeli Knesset. Currently, there are 13 Arab members of the Knesset, and 7 of the 120 seats belong to Arab parties. This fact alone is beyond shocking considering the ideologies of the Arab parties revolve around the creation of a Palestinian state, the nullification of Israel being a Jewish homeland, and pretty much everything that works against the goals and interests of the Israeli government. Yet, they are still allowed to run and be included on all voting ballads. The Arab parties in the Knesset are also allowed to run television ads on Israelis television, which they do in Arabic (without Hebrew sub-titles). I wonder what those ads are about…

   The Arab parties of the Israeli Knesset also constantly boycott everything Israeli, and protest everything in the interest of the security of Israelis. During Operating Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, the Arab parties in the Knesset were the only ones that boycotted every single Knesset meeting, and unilaterally opposed the operation - yet, made no protests whatsoever when hundreds of rockets were being shot into civilian, Israeli neighborhoods in Israel from Gaza, which was the primary cause for the war.

   Just yesterday, the Arab parties of the Knesset boycotted a senate session because it was “Jerusalem Day” in Israel - the day that commemorates Jerusalem being united under Israeli control in 1967. Sounds like they’re really looking out for the country whose government they are participating in.

3. One more thing regarding Operation Cast Lead… During the war, Israel had hospitalized members of Fatah, the “moderate” Arabs who helped Israel fight against Hamas (their sworn enemy) by way of providing locale intelligence. Let’s be clear about one thing: Fatah opposes Hamas in the inter-Arab struggle to be the leading group of Arabs that fight the “Israeli occupation” - however, Fatah opposes Israel incomparably more. The Fatah logo is a picture of Israel (from a map) with crossed swords over it, and a grenade underneath it. Shortly after the war, Fatah filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice against Israel for allegedly committing crimes against humanity. Thanks, Fatah. We hope your men enjoyed their stays in our hospitals.
4. As is well known, the peace that exists between Israel and Egypt is a cold peace - somewhat of a marriage of convenience. That being said, Israelis are free to travel to Egypt and spend as much tourist money as their hearts desire in the Sinai desert, and even in Cairo, Egypt’s capital city. On the contrary, Egyptians are forbidden to travel to Israel by the Egyptian government. Egypt does not want its citizen to in any way spend any money inside of Israel. In fact, Egyptians married to Israelis could even lose their Egyptian citizenship.

So, maybe someone can remind me what good has come to Israel from all this backward bending over? It doesn’t seem like it gets anything in return but animosity, opposition, and the continual desire for it to not exist.

I mean, how many countries that have been members of the UN for 60 years are still not recognized to exist by over 50 countries? The answer: 1. Israel.

Tags: israel

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This will be my 2^nd snapshot of history, in an attempt to compile the only reliable source of historical accounting of this period in time, replete with accurate, verifiable predictions of the future. To see how far the world has progressed since my last snapshot, please see Snapshot: 1st of December 2008.

1. Barack Obama is now more than 100 days in office, as the 44^th president of the United States. Here are the major things he has done, as I see them:

   (a). Introduced a drastically altered defense budget. This new budget will remove focus on the monstrous, advance weapons systems the US has been developing and maintaining for the past few decades, and will apply new focus on what is being called “Irregular warfare.” I believe America is starting to see that the world has realized it is impenetrable by way of conventional warfare, but is vulnerable to irregular warfare / terrorism. The reasons for this are obvious:

   • Terrorist organizations are not an official, identifiable group that can be fought against, like a regular military can.
   • Terrorists don’t play by anyone’s rules, and don’t care about losing their own men, including the civilians they pretend to be fighting for.
   • Terrorists dress like civilians, and many times live in irregular terrain.

   Once again, Israel is leading the way. Israel has been fighting unconventional wars its entire existence, and apparently has gotten ridiculously good at it. You can judge this by Operation Cast Lead, in which Israel successfully destroyed thousands of Hamas smuggling tunnels, weapons caches, and which resulted in over 1,300 Palestinians deaths (over 900 Hamas militants, according to Israel) - compared with the 13 Israelis who were killed, 4 from friendly fire.

   America is seeing more and more who they are up against in the world. This past weekend, there were a string of suicide bombings in Iraq that left over 150 people dead. These days, I feel like I’m reading about another suicide bomber in Iraq or Pakistan almost daily. For a complete list of terror attacks around the world related to Islamic fundamentalism, please see TheReligionOfPeace.com. In my mind, it is quite clear who America is up against in the world, however, some actions by the current US administration seem to contradict what would appear to be in their best interests, namely:

   (b). Barack Obama has chosen appeasement, engagement, and partial acceptance toward those that support terror in the world, in contrast to the position of the last 500 American presidents. The Obama administration has chosen to join the UN Human Rights council, which has a blatant imbalance that serves the interests of those who are actually the worst human rights violators on earth. Previous administrations made a point of not joining, and legitimizing this council.

   Barack Obama has also feverishly attempted to engage Iran regarding its nuclear program, without any preconditions for talks, all while seemingly ignoring the fact that Iran is an open supporter of Hamas, and Hizbollah (whom are officially labeled terrorist organizations by the US). So far, that has blown up in his face, being that while he has attempted to befriend the Iranian government, they have detained and convicted a US journalist of spying for America, and have continued to publicly slam American foreign policy, and blame it for being a source of the international problems in the world.

   (c). Barack Obama has also been quite clear that he will not continue the unwavering commitment and support toward Israel that the previous US administration had. This week, the US okayed an enormous arms sale to Lebanon by Turkey. The US also pledged just under $900 million to the Palestinians living in the Gaza strip, in an effort to help them rebuild the Gaza Strip after the recent Israeli offensive that took place there. Everyone knows Hamas is running the show in the Gaza strip, and that it would be incredibly difficult to keep that money out of Hamas hands (which we all know will be spent on hospitals, education for its civilians, and NOT on weapons, rockets, explosives, and terrorism). The US publicly stated the aid will go through “even if Hamas joins the PA unity government.”

   This is something I simply cannot wrap my head around. The Obama Administration has stated it will even grant aid directly to Hamas, so long as they (a). Recognize Israel  (b). Renounce violence, and  (c). Agree to follow past accords secured between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Either I’m totally missing something here, or the US is on crack. Let me quote you a few things from the official Hamas charter, and then you can draw your own conclusions as to the practicality of those conditions:

   “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

   “Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

   The Protocols of the Elders of Zion? Are you serious? Still? Wow. Anyway, moving on…

2. The worldwide economic crisis is clearly fleshing itself out. The overall government budget that the Obama administration has set fourth will bring the US deficit for this year alone to $1.7 trillion. That means the US is losing an average of $4.65 billion per day. Next year’s deficit is expected to be over $1 trillion as well.

   In my humble and correct opinion, I don’t see how it is possible for the US to patch this one up without an unprecedented, drastic change to US lifestyle, consumption, import/export ratios, or something. I’m no financial expert, just an ordinary genius, but still, it really is not looking great to me. Companies are continuing to announce major cuts in their workforces, and the stock market is still acting like a schizophrenic.

3. Benjamin Netanyahu finally took his seat as Israeli Prime Minister after several weeks of painful negotiations to form a coalition government. I am personally quite glad about this. Although historically, the Israeli governments that have made the most concessions to its Arab neighbors have been right-winged governments, I think Netanyahu is the right man for the job. Having served in Sayeret Matkal (the #1 most elite unit in the Israeli military), being a graduate of MIT, and having prior experience as Israeli prime minister, I think Netanyahu is clearly very qualified for this position. He speaks both Hebrew and English fluently. I also happen to agree with his stance on the overwhelming majority of issues. So far, nothing too crazy has happened since he has taken office, so we’ll have to sit tight and see who makes the first move (yes, that’s really how it is in the Middle East).

4. Iran has continued its dash toward the finish line of becoming a nuclear power, uninterrupted, as I have been clearly pointing out for almost a year already. At the same time, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not been shy about expressing his love for “the Zionist regime,” continuing his claims of Israel’s demise being imminent, and using the recent UN conference against racism (a.k.a. Durban II) as a staging ground to launch some of the nastiest charges against Israel in recent memory. An Iranian official even shouted ‘Zionazi’ at famed Jewish peace activist Elie Weisel, who has won a nobel peace prize, and who is a survivor of the Nazi holocaust that Ahmadinejad denies happened.

   The same country that beheads and hangs people on a regular basis, and who makes constant threats to Israel and the US, is enriching uranium at full speed. It has ignored all requests for a halt, endured economic sanctions waged against it, and has not allowed any inspections of its facilities to occur. I think the best move would be to sit around and do nothing, and let Iran figure out a solution that’s best for the world (note the bitter sarcasm).

5. Mexico was plagued this week what is being called “Swine Flu,” a pig-related illness that is traveling through the air, and has already killed 149 people, and injured well over 1,000. It has essentially shut down Mexico City, and has put many countries around the world on very high alert. If that isn’t enough, Mexico was also hit with a 6.0 earthquake this week. (That’s 6.0 on the Richter scale, not the all-new version 6).

On a personal note, I’ve been Israeli for 4 months. Yeah, we rule! My Hebrew is improving, and my taste buds are adapting to the awesomeness that is Middle Eastern food.

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