Humble Opinions

On September 11, 2001, approximately 3,000 American citizens were murdered in an act of terror against the United States. This occurrence literally paralyzed the country in many respects, and as was repeatedly reported, “changed the world forever.” — or so we were told.

First of all, let me just say that 9/11 was absolutely awful in every way. It was sad, unfair, and shocking. Why did these people have to die, and why must their friends and families now suffer the rest of their lives with the absence of their loved ones? I believe every one of them were entitled to live a long, fulfilling life… which brings me to my main point. When will this madness end?!

Browsing through the news today, I saw these two articles:

• Iraq blasts kill at least 103 (more than 197 wounded)
• Twelve dead as car bomb targets Pakistan army

Here is a quote from the 2nd link: “…killing 12 people in the third attack in 24 hours…” Third attack in 24 hours? Are you kidding me? That’s unbelievable. What makes any of the 103 people in Baghdad or the 12 people in Pakistan different from the approximate 3,000 Americans?

My point is this: These bomb blasts occur so often. Wait a few days, or a number of weeks, and the death toll from bomb blasts like these will equal a brand new 9/11. Is the world “changing” every few weeks? Why does the world change only when Americans die? Does the starbucks coffee in their systems make them more valuable human beings?

The answer is this: Countries only act in favor of their interests, and unfortunately this includes even opposing or fighting terrorism. Russia’s interest in Iranian oil money has made them “open minded” to Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear aspirations, while North Korea’s own nuclear program has rendered them perfectly okay with Iran’s worldwide support for terror (a.k.a. mass murder).

What will it take for the world to finally stand up to terrorism? It seems like only massive terrorist attacks in every country on earth could stem the tide - but by then, the world will have lost. Why is it okay for thousands of Kassam rockets to fall on innocent Israeli citizens, but NOT okay for a subway to be bombed in London? Why is it okay for endless rape and bloodshed to occur daily in Darfur, or for Palestinian extremists to blow themselves up in crowded Israeli markets, but NOT okay for planes to be flown into the Twin Towers?

When will the world realize terrorism is terrorism, and terrorists are not to be “negotiated” with around a table, while everyone sips their hot drinks, all whilst their comrades are back at home building more explosive devices, and smuggling more weapons to all parts of the globe? I have some bad news: the world is losing in the war on terror.

Terrorist organizations now have their own “Foreign Ministers”, their own newspapers, and even give their own press conferences (of course their faces are covered because, well, they ARE wanted murderers)… but hey, let’s give them a chance - let’s see what they have to say! Could be important.

If people don’t start waking up, and realizing this is not a game, terror will continue spreading worldwide, with very little resistance against it. I leave you with the following video, entitled “A Former Terrorist Speak Out”

Tags: terrorism

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I was once told that computer programming is considered one of the ten most emotionally rewarding jobs. As an exceptional computer programmer myself, this made perfect sense. It’s a pretty amazing feeling to spend hours, days, weeks, or even months developing software, and then actually use it - or even better, to watch or hear about others using it. Recently, during one of my regular contemplations of the meaning of life, it finally struck me: Life == Programming!

The basic goal of software development is shockingly simple: make it possible for a human being to accomplish a task, or tasks, that they either could not or would not want to accomplish with the limitations of a human brain / human laziness. Example: say I had 500 pictures I wanted to shrink. Instead of resizing each of them inside a program like photoshop, I could write a program that shrinks pictures, and then just loop it through all 500 pictures, and wallah, I’ve just saved some precious guitar playing time. Very complicated software is this same idea multiplied, possibly with more intricate tasks.

So in short, one could say that the idea of programming is to expend effort upfront, to create reusable tools, and then to sit back and enjoy them. I actually believe this is the exact same concept of life, on a grand scale. Throughout the course of life, people develop several kinds of skills and tools: physical abilities, mental abilities, and the ability to gather and use information in many ways. I believe that after life, people are stripped of their physical selves, and are left with only the tools and information they developed and gathered in their lifetime… meaning, a person spends their life developing themselves, and in the after life, using the tools they’ve created, and being the person they developed themselves into with the information they gathered.

Sometimes programming is fun, interesting, and even exciting (yeah!!), but often times, it can become cumbersome, difficult, frustrating, and can reduce your supply of instant coffee drastically. The tough part is keeping your eye on the prize: a perfectly developed software application that can be used for the rest of eternity without any errors, and that can accomplish many tasks, well. So to, life can become extremely pressing and uncomfortable at times, but the goal remains: make yourself into the person you want to spend the rest of eternity being.

Who do you want to be for the next 15 billion years (and then some) ?

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Today, Israel and Jordan celebrate 15 years of official peace between them. I think analyzing the history, and circumstances of this peace reveals a lot of insight into the general situation in the Middle East, and also shows how overall peace in the region could be obtained. Also, this morning, Israel told the UN it would continue gathering intelligence in Lebanon as long as the Lebanese government was not in full control of its country, after the UN questioned Israel about potential wire tapping machinery discovered in Southern Lebanon the other day. I think these two things can be related in an interesting way. Let’s see how much smarter we can get:

On October 26, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed a peace treaty that ended almost 50 years of warring between the two countries. The main points of the treaty were that the two governments agreed on (1) Official borders between their two countries, (2) Normalization of relations (opening of embassies, granting of tourist visas), and (3) Respect of sovereignty and territories. What caused this, and what took so long?

Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan consistently subscribed to an anti-Israel policy, and participated in multiple attempts to destroy it. They did so especially in the Israeli War of Independence (1948), and Six Day War (1967), however the entire time the Jordanians controlled East Jerusalem (1948 - 1967), they made it exceeding difficult for Jews to live in Jerusalem. They would snipe at Jewish mothers shopping for their families, and would pour garbage onto those who came to worship at the Western Wall, among other things. So if Jordan was not down for having Jewish neighbors, then why the peace treaty?

I believe Jordan agreed to peace for a few reasons. The first is that their anti-Israel position was costing them bigtime. For starters, they kept losing wars. Particularly during the Six Day War, Israel sent a message to the Jordanian government on the morning the war broke out, and told them Israel would not attack them if they stayed out of the war. Instead, Jordan decided to try and capture West Jerusalem, and failed miserably. Israel not only stopped them, but was forced to take over East Jerusalem, causing many Jordanians to flee. This also gave Israel complete control over the Western Wall. Was that worth it?

Additionally, Israel consistently offered the possibilities of trade between the two countries, as well as other forms of economic development that the Jordanians simply refused to acknowledge. But things changed during the 70s and 80s. In 1970, Jordan waged the war of Black September against the PLO who were based in Jordan at the time. In response, Syrian troops entered Jordan to fight on behalf of the PLO. In an attempt to try and contain the situation, Israel flew fighter planes over Syrian airspace, to indicate they should stop - and they did. In the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Jordan did not participate in the joint surprise Egyptian-Syrian attack on Israel, perhaps indicating they had learned their lesson.

Eventually, Jordan caved. They realized they could not beat Israel militarily, and that they were losing out by not embracing a relationship with Israel where both countries could capitalize on economic opportunities, and could benefit from the sharing of certain intelligence. So what does this have to do with what Israel said about Lebanon?

Last week, the Lebanese military uncovered machinery buried underground in Southern Lebanon. Upon their discoveries, the machines were immediately blown up, seemingly remotely by Israel. The general theory is that during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel planted wire tapping devices in the ground, to keep a good eye on the Iranian backed terrorist organization, Hezbollah. When confronted about it by the UN, Israel did not confirm or deny it had planted anything in Lebanon, but told the UN it would continue gathering intelligence there while Hezbollah still controlled part of Lebanon.

The underlying theme, as it seems to me, is that Israel does what it needs to in order to ensure its own security and defense capabilities. As soon as it is no longer threatened by one of its enemies, Israel is more than happy to embrace a two-way relationship with them. Israel did not only not hold a grudge against Jordan for the previous 50 years, but also did not hesitate to sign a peace treaty with even Egypt, who tried MUCH harder than Jordan to destroy Israel. Meaning, if the Middle East would finally recognize a tiny Jewish state in their midst, and decided to work with them instead of against them, all countries would benefit. Perhaps the 21st century could finally be the one where the Jewish nation for the first time doesn’t have an attempt made for its complete destruction? Maybe? But then again, Iran’s nuclear program is probably for peaceful purposes.

P.S. If you think Israel is going to sit back and let Iran school the world while obtaining a nuclear weapon, you gotta be out your mind. Crack a history book.

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