b. traven The Independent of Britain has a headline in today’s paper that we just couldn’t pass up: “Saudi Arabia offers Germany 200 mosques – one for every 100 refugees who arrived last weekend.” Reading that headline and the accompanying story generated a large guffaw, what today’s generation terms a LOL moment. We look forward…
Nicolas J.S. Davies We read in the news that a revolution in a foreign country has gained control of its capital and most of its territory. The country’s president is forced to flee, while his supporters fight on from their regional base, insisting that the new rulers have no legitimacy. How should the U.S. respond?…
b. traven There’s an old comedy routine by Abbott and Costello. Abbott tells Costello, “Who’s on first.” (It’s a baseball routine.) Costello, not getting that the player’s surname is “Who,” keeps demanding: “No, I want to know who’s on first?” It goes downhill from there as the two comedians talk past one another, each exasperating…
b. traven We’ve spent the last twenty-five years pulling Israel’s and Saudi Arabia’s chestnuts out of the fire in the Middle East. First with Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-91, then Iraq in 2003, and now Iraq redux. We’ve made such a hash of these military interventions that only a mixed metaphor will do…
b. traven In the run up to the Iraq war in 2002-03, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain worked so hard to get American approval that he was widely labelled as George W. Bush’s “poodle.” But who today yelps loudest when the kings of Saudi Arabia (that poor excuse for a nation) say “bark”?…
b. traven Israel is a big disappointment to many of us. Israel, once a David, is now a Goliath. A former Israeli leader, Ehud Barack, had this to say about Israel’s situation: “We live in a dangerous neighborhood.” So true. Israel is surrounded by generally hostile and tribal regimes. Nevertheless, that is where Jews chose to…
b. traven Knowledgeable Americans are concerned about the conflation of Israeli-Saudi foreign policies with our own. Today we are confronted with problems which both of these countries, ostensibly allies of the U.S., have foisted on the Middle East, the United States, and indeed the entire world. The Saudis with their continued support of the most…
b. traven With its interim Iranian nuclear deal, the Obama Administration has finally shown a measure of Chutzpah. But can they stand the heat? Those who’ve read my previous posts and comments may have noticed that I am no fan of Obama or his two Secretaries of State. Nevertheless, I must admit that the decision…
The Contrary Perspective 