By William Markiewicz
(As other short items may follow, I've decided to group them together.)
Why is Hamas so Dangerous for Israel? (12/28)
The solidarity of Gaza’s masses against Israel’s military might is hard to believe. Those people seem unaffected by the spectre of death. How long can it last on both sides? From Gaza’s side, we don’t know. We have seen how the power of one man can incite mass suicide (James Jones, Guyana). Will a similar phenomenon occur now in Gaza? What we know for certain is that Israel cannot continue its offensive over a long period. World opinion is more moved by the Gaza drama than by occasional rockets hitting Israel from the Gaza border. Can Israel make some drastic move to win quickly? Or is it impossible? The masses in Gaza are stimulated by the Muslim world plus many non-Muslims who may tire of constant carnage and join the Arab world in favour of Gaza. This kind of pressure can only turn against Israel sooner or later. To win, Israel must find a quick solution. Perhaps a giant buffer zone around Gaza, absent of Israelis, which would be the equivalent of a factual territorial loss for Israel. Perhaps a buffer zone on both sides – Israel and Gaza – can reduce the deluge of missiles from Gaza to Israel. Perhaps tight control of the air space could also augment Israel’s security in the south.
A Questionable Win (12/20)
The industrial powers joined to save their automobile industries. If we could observe the earth from a space station, we’d see a planet covered by a mass of canals, like veins, on which countless cars circulate, leaving poisonous trails in their wake. The industries gain, the planet loses. From all those trillions of dollars, pounds, euros, etc. spent to save the weakened automobile dragon, couldn’t something be used to develop non-toxic means of communication?
Who Is Harming Unity? (12/04)
Canada’s perhaps unprecedented toleration of its separatist movement permits the separatists to participate freely in Canadian life. The divergence between the separatists' ideology and their participation in Canadian life softens the separatist movement to the point that it is easy to almost forget or at least not notice who is or is not a separatist. This harmony has lasted for years. Now Harper’s current brutal reminder may shock and reinvigorate those in the party who forgot that separatists should behave as separatists. Revival of separatism may then be Harper's achievement, like the rejuvenation of aggressive Islam is certainly a response to the horrendous Western mistakes.
Ignatieff? (12/01)
"NDP -- Liberal plan would see Ignatieff as PM -- insiders" (National Post today)
Ignatieff has authoritarian tendencies as I wrote in Vagabond awhile ago. If that's who the Liberals choose, Harper might as well stay in power.
Attack in Mumbai (11/29)
It was not the usual terrorist act; it is almost a revolution. Only militant Islam can organize an action of such scope, aggressivity and sacrifice. Western aggression in Central Asia is contributing to the rejuvenation of extreme Islam. The West can offer one real contribution -- not to contribute at all; it only adds oil to the fire. Take away the Western presence and Islamic militants will stop attacking their giant neighbours who have mixed populations. Of course violence may occur but the neighbours who are used to living together -- Muslims, non-Muslims, seculars -- know how to defend themselves against extremists. The Romans said: If you want peace, prepare for war. To the Westerners fighting in Asia I would advise: If you want peace -- don't be there.
There will be no danger of a spectacular Islamic attack against the West; too difficult to accomplish and too rare to be effective. And I don't believe that the terrorists will do anything to expose their own populations to Western revenge. There may be some local trouble with the important Muslim populations here and there, but nothing to change history.
Closing the Guantanamo Prison (11/25)
We all knew about Guantanamo’s illegality, but Bush believed he was powerful enough to ignore legality. Now Bush goes down, his laws and pseudo-laws are going down too but he leaves a heritage. He reinforced the cult of power that preceded him and remains now as “the Holy Alliance” represented by Nato and its acolytes like the EU. Milosevic was buried in his “Guantanamo.” Who has heard anything recently about Seselj or Karadzic? Now they hunt for Mladic, to throw him into his “Guantanamo.” How will it end? I don’t see an end.
Obama - Saakashvili (11/18)
As news agencies report, President-Elect Barack Obama, in a telephone call to President Mikheil Saakashvili, assured him that Washington would continue its support of Georgia in retrieving the lost territories.
So, international law has to be respected even if it means the death of nations. But who cares about nations, especially when they are small and weak? The matter doesn’t directly concern Russia; now it is between Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia. But if Georgia, supported by the USA, attacks those two countries, Russia, which linked its honour and prestige to its tiny neighbours, cannot remain indifferent. Those who want a third world war are nearby.
Spiritual Panacea (11/06)
Most living creatures exist as predators, parasites, symbiotic partners . . . In the digestive systems of many, from mammals to insects, certain bacterial colonies form layers which digest the predigested food; without this help the hosts would not survive. Recently on YouTube I saw a video about Nick Vujicic handsome and brilliant but without limbs. At the beginning of the video we see only his face, a happy young man. As the camera moves back we see his true condition. In the video, he shares his serenity and apparently natural joy of life with an audience of young students, mostly girls. Seemingly healthy, beautiful, their eyes filled with tears. How could he have shown himself to the audience as an example of serenity and joy? He is deeply religious and the vision of God supports him like a life raft. Just as the digestive system serves as a habitat for symbiotic microbes that contribute to digestion, saving the life of the host, so, metaphorically, the brain may serve as the ground for "microbes of faith" that give the believer light and joy in life. As the layers of digesting microbes in digestive systems ensure survival, the metaphoric “sediment of faith” in the believer’s brain saves him by obliterating the real pain of life.
Will the New President Cultivate the Image of Empire? (11/05)
The vision of Empire is a joy for many Americans and a curse for the United States. "Empire" is the last thing the USA needs; all disgraces started with this notion. Pride at being the greatest world power, combined with paranoia about imaginary dangers, engendered a monster of real danger and tolerated the birth of the economic chaos that spills over the rest of the world. The USA, drawing the wrong conclusions, mixed paternalistically into external conflicts that had nothing to do with America’s real interests. When you can afford it, you become more capricious and irrational in your "verdicts." You believe you reign where you don't. This has resulted in a great number of American deaths and a hemmorhage for the economy. People usually change their minds when it's too late. Obama has arrived a little bit late; countless demagogues who know how to gratuitously use words like "honour," "pride," "superiority," will throw them like stones into Obama's path. In my view he will be obliged to promise and distribute opposite hopes to opposite crowds, a task that is next to impossible. Politicians, particularly the President, must know how to swim in those turbulent waters. We will see . . .
Catastrophic Mistakes (11/01)
Why do top experts confess their mistakes after leading the world as gurus of economy and finance?
As far as I remember only two domains of human thought never admit mistakes: religion and ideology. Dogmas dominate both with saints and gurus promising happiness to their flocks. As their recipes diverge, bloody, never ending conflicts arise. Less militant philosophies and science don't promise happiness but seek for applicable truths. Science, in particular, rejects dogmas in favor of incertitude -- Heisenberg's principle of incertitude, Schroedinger's cat ... Greenspan was a guru of certitude, which lasts as long as it lasts and then comes suddenly a catastrophe, like a Tsunami, an earth quake... For instance, how can anybody make a global prediction about what people will do with their money? This is the question. Gurus and politicians promise pie in the sky. Universal solutions are impossible; to be practical, they must be local and temporal, not leaning on theories. Big problems concerning industry, environment. must be in the hands of a new generation of economists, who, without losing sight of global problems, must resolve their own local problems, interchanging concessions and advantages.
"Who Cares" (11/01)
I received an email in which the correspondent used the title of my article, "How many Jews did Hitler Kill", adding his own comment - "Who cares!" As his text is unfit for publication I'll answer only his question.
Who cares? You would, anybody would, if the Jews had been armed and trained to fight as, for instance, the Normans and the Tartars were. Anti-Semitism would never have been born. Since the dawn of time, human groups, from tribes to nations, were punished not for their faults, but for their weakness. The Roman proverb says: "Si vis pacem para bellum."
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William Markiewicz