Looming crisis in the Korean Peninsula

North Korea defies the world, Iran keeping a close watch.


North Korea continues to defy the world by detonating a rather large Nuclear device and continuing to test ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear payloads. Other than some harsh rhetoric by Western leaders it is mostly unclear what is to happen now. Many expected a severe foreign policy test for President Obama in his first year. It looks like the test has arrived.

Obama has a few options to choose from. One option could be to completely isolate the North with a complete embargo and possible confiscation of its assets outside of Korea. That option would probably cause massive starvation for millions in the North and not undermine the regime to much.
Another option is a full military blockade of the North by Nato forces. This option is also problematic as this blockade is a clear act of war that would give the north a excuse to start another Korean War. A last option of course is to do nothing at all with all of its repercussions.

Iran is looking very carefully as to how the West will react to this latest outrage by North Korea. It is hoping that there will be major saber rattling and very little in terms of substance. They see the confrontation between the west and North Korea as a test case for themselves. .

President Obama is unlikely to do anything that might antagonize the north and cause a rekindling of the Korean War. The nuclear capability of the North certainly limits what steps can be taken by the west. Iran is betting that little will be done to confront North Korea in this new cold war crisis. It expects the same will happen if they manage to attain nuclear capability. The policy of the United States is to stop Irans quest for a bomb at all cost. The way this crisis is managed will go long way in showing Iran what the west has in store for it.

Did I mention Israel in all this?

The endless loop of the Middle East peace process

Its over, Netanyahu leaves Washington.


A lot has been said and written on what would happen when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President Barack Obama. Many predicted a serious diplomatic row others weren’t completely sure what to expect. But it turns out that the more things change the more they stay the same. The Arab Israeli conflict has perplexed so many for so long, easy solutions do not seem to be in the offing. President Obama may think that he will be able to easily solve this most impossible of problems. He is to introduce a new peace initiative on his upcoming trip to Cairo. This initiative will focus on Israel being fully recognized by moderate Arab countries even before Israel decides to go back to pre 1967 border lines. They will not do it. The President is wasting his time.

The so called Peace process is a non starter and doomed to failure. The funny part about this is that everyone really knows this and continues to play the game. It is completely inconceivable that any Prime Minister would ever agree to the minimalist demands on the Arab side. The peace process is a never ending loop of talks and wars.

The Arab side still has not recognized Israel’s right to exist. Israel is not going away and the hatred of Israel just seems to increase.

Its just the same old story.

Papal Visit to the Holy Land

The Pope has come and gone

Frankly its difficult to read the new head of the Catholic Church. For someone Jewish the son of a holocaust survivor its that much more difficult. The fact that the Pope is German and served in the German army during WWII just adds to the difficulty of dealing with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. To many Jews nothing that he could say would be right. His predecessor Pius during the WW2 did nothing and said nothing as millions were being slaughtered. What words could make up for that?
Nonetheless there were some things that were said that should not have been said. Certainly not from a German visiting Israel. He said that the Palestinians deserve their own state next to Israel. The he prayed for their statehood and how bad the wall was that was being built.

What he has done and said are more harmful then most people think. Very many Catholics in the world today are in great fear of Islam. They support Israel and are much more sympathetic towards Israel that to the Arab world. The ones who are fervently Catholic take the Popes word as Gospel and will certainly support the Palestinian cause.
This undoubtedly will re stir Catholic Jewish rifts that seem to have dissipated as Islam has attacked both the western Catholic/ Christian world as well as the Jewish one.. This is something that no one really needs. Beside all this a German Pope after what happened in WW2 should not be telling Israel what she should be doing. The Jewish People certainly deserve the complete support from Europe especially Germany on whatever it does. If the Jewish state is paranoid over its security it is the Germans fault.


His trip here was a failure

Israel’s new ambassador

Michael Oren has been appointed as the new ambassador of Israel to the United States. It is a bizarre appointment by the new/old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that many are raising eyebrows about. No one seems to really know what Mr Oren really thinks about some issues and how he can properly represent Israel in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu is thought to be against any two state solution while Mr Oren was quoted not to long ago as supporting that idea. He also has publicly said that he thinks the dismantling of settlements was a necessity that Israel will need to do at some point in the future. It’s important to remember that Mr. Netanyahu resigned the last government he was in because of a unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli government from the Gaza strip. Mr Oren has also publicly said that he thought the withdrawal was necessary and correct even as many who supported it have since backtracked. It is all to bizarre that someone with clear opinions that seem to go counter to the Prime Ministers could become the leading diplomat outside of Israel. Some in Israel have said that Mr. Netanyahu is planning on going against campaign promises on territorial compromise and will use Mr. Orens position to advance those positions. This theory has its holes as any compromise on territory will likely teeter the Netanyahu government. The probable reason for Orens appointment is the attempt to slowly erode the hard line policy that got Mr. Netanyahu elected in the first place. The deputy foreign minister has also said some statements that seem to go contrary to his own party’s platform. It is evidently clear that Mr. Netanyahu will not be able to withstand pressure from the American President Obama. Something will give. Mr. Netanyahu will use Oren to advance the compromises he promised he would not make,

It’s a bad move and a bad decision.

The World economic crisis and the looming pandemic.

The World economic crisis and the looming pandemic.

All things being equal things in the world do not seem to be going well. Let me tell you why. There has been a Economic turndown not seen since the great depression around the world. No one is really sure when that will rectify itself. When things seem to be slightly improving the world has been gripped by possible pandemic. As these words are written no one really knows the scope of this new mutant virus but many are plenty scared. There are those who will try to find existential reasons for what is happening they will be mocked. Here could be some cause and effect reasons for the world’s woes and the acute crisis in Mexico. (That’s where the swine flu has originated), The additional earthquake tacked on to the rest of Mexico’s problems also has been devastating.
There are so many destitute people on the face of the earth, so many with no clean water who face misery and tyranny every day. Nobody seems to really care about those people and fixates itself almost completely on Israel and the Palestinian issue. The Mexicans as a part of the third world countries are also to blame for this. But they have there own issues.
They are one of the most prolific producers and exporters of drugs in world and share a great responsibility of the misery that drug trafficking brings. They also engage in the most horrific sport of bull fighting which is just plain torture of animals. Many thousands of people revel in this sport and enjoy watching the bull (and sometimes the matador )get killed.
It is not politically correct to equate world tragedy with moral issues but leaders of the world and leaders of Latin American countries would do well to make some changes.

Because you know what? You just never know

The Durban Circus

The latest conference against Racism has turned into a circus. For some there is just one country that does wrong that is Israel. Those who think this way are mostly from totalitarian regimes who routinely oppress their own people. That’s not important from their perspective as Israel the only democracy in the Middle East is the ultimate evil. The opening remarks by the president of Iran were a spectacle in itself. As he spoke many European union members filed out.

The Jews among us are not surprised by the hate rather a bit surprised as to how many countries openly showed their disdain for the Iranian leader. The gentiles who support the Jews were disturbed at the openness of Jew hatred long after the holocaust. The gentiles who hate the Jews are thrilled that Jew hatred has become mainstream once again. They are hoping that Iran will develop nuclear weapons to use against Israel.

Against this backdrop the Jewish State is training to strike Iran sometime in the not so distant future.

The circus will lead to apocalypse

How many countries do the Arabs need anyway?

In the immediate area of Israel there are already two Palestinian states. I use Palestinian very loosely as by all reason logic and history there is no Palestinian people. They are a part of the Arab people who live in the middle east. This is not some right wing extremist view point. There was never a people that defined itself as Palestinian until the Jewish people began to come back to the land of Israel. There is no real difference culturally language or anything else between the present regular Arab countries and the two Palestinian ones. They all speak Arabic and are predominantly Muslim. Even those who except this Palestinian myth should console themselves with two Palestinian states. One is in Jordan where the vast majority of its citizens consider themselves to be Palestinian and the other is the Palestinian State of Gaza. Now we are asked to consider a third Palestinian state on the west bank of the Jordan. But wait that is not the end. There is a stong movement for a fourth Palestinian State in Israel itself with the movement of a “ country of all its citizens “

So are friends in Washington would have us cede the west bank to make room for a third state while we wait for demographics to make Israel the fourth state. This is of course complete lunacy and any responsible Israeli leader can never accept such a thing. There is ostensibly two peoples here in the middle east the Jewish People and the Arab People. The equation that takes 22 arab countries ( not final ) and tries to eliminate the only Jewish country will not work.

It is national Suicide to agree to a third Palestinian state and a 25th Arab State.
24 Arab states seem to be quite enough