Michael Oren is one of my favorite writers. A great historian, he manages to compile long and complicated histories in a fairly simple, and easily digestible way. Despite it having sat on my shelf for a number of years, I finally read “Six Days of War,” fairly recently. It is a history textbook, inundated with [...]
Archive for the ‘Middle East’ Category
Michael Oren – Thoughts
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Talks on April 22, 2009 | 2 Comments »
UN-Consistency
Posted in Israel, Middle East, Politics on April 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Israel has been criticized endlessly, both internally and externally, for countless alleged crimes. A popular accusation is of collective punishment. I do not wish to examine the facts of the matter here, but to raise a general question about the legality of such acts, particularly as seen by the United Nations.
Only a few short months [...]
A.B. Yehoshua – Thoughts
Posted in America, Israel, Language, Media, Middle East, Talks on April 20, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A conversation of sorts, took place tonight between A.B. Yehoshua and Leon Wieseltier, at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, D.C. Hearing him introduced as “A.B. Yehoshua” grated on my ears a bit. Even when reading his name in English, I always heard it in my head as “Aleph Bet Yehoshua.” I don’t [...]
Is a Boycott Just? Who Cares – Does it Work?
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
To Boycott or Not to Boycott, That Is the Question No it’s not. Stanley Fish, law professor, and NY Times blogger, appears reasonable in debating whether or not an academic boycott of Israel is a good idea. However reasonable, though, he does not come to a concrete conclusion about such a boycott until the very [...]
Cohen: Murder Leads to Peace
Posted in Elections, Media, Middle East, Politics, Stupidity on March 11, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Roger Cohen is either a racist, a fool, or suicidal. His utterly stupid column this week has been parsed by plenty of others, and I have no desire to rehash his drivel.
Cohen doubts that “Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel’s disappearance.” That must mean that the recent poll conducted in the P.A. shows [...]
The Times. Again.
Posted in America, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on March 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The NY Times came out today with yet another backwards analysis of the Middle East and what needs to be done. How has the West and the the Obama administration (and the NY Times is a fairly accurate representative of the administration) not yet learned that more often than not that the blind pursuit of [...]
Two State Solution – Fatahland and Hamastan?
Posted in Israel, Middle East, Politics on March 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
For years, the world seems to already have the answer to Israeli-Arab conflict. It’s called the “Two-State Solution.” Solution to what, however? What exactly will the formation of two states solve?
Allegedly, this is the answer to war – there will be peace. An honest belief that simply creating two states between the Mediterranean Sea and [...]
The Ethics of “The Ethicist”
Posted in Media, Middle East, Ridiculous on February 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As entertaining as the New York Times’ The Ethicist is, I find myself disagreeing with Randy Cohen’s conclusions rather often. I think the first question he answered in this week’s column is too complicated to be boiled down to a two paragraph response. However, that is not my real concern.
In writing about a parent’s dilemma [...]
Khaled Abu Toameh on “The Situation”
Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media, Middle East, Politics on February 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Michael Totten has long been required reading if one wants to keep up with international affairs, in my view. Recently he posted the transcript of a briefing with Khaled Abu Toameh. Of course, I don’t agree with Abu Toameh on everything, but his analysis is the best thing I’ve read in a while.
The West, either [...]
Martin HaMesaper
Posted in America, Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Politics on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Those of you who grew up in Israel, might remember a children’s TV show, Yosef HaMespaer, starring a bald, heavyset man who sat on lots of pillows, Alladin style, and told fairytales. I actually don’t remember much of the show itself, but reading Jeffrey Goldberg’s interview with Martin Indyk, I felt like I was reading [...]
