MIDDLE EAST
THE SUN ALSO RISES
Only four years ago, a friend echoed a common sentiment as the stock market plummeted. “We’ll never see the Dow back at fourteen thousand in our lifetimes.” On May 7, the Dow closed at 15,056. Yesterday it closed at 15,233. I’m not touting the stock market, although my portfolio—conservative at this stage in my life—maintains…
Read MoreTHE “C” WORD
Words can offend. One starts with “C.” But we need to talk more about it because given the nature of the world we live in it’s more relevant than ever. Compromise gets some people riled up. The word suggests a lack of integrity and morality. These folks believe they’re always right and opposing views are…
Read MoreTIME TO HIDE?
This could be my last post for a while. I may have to go into hiding. Because powerful forces are seeking to hunt down and destroy those of us who satirize them. Witness Wednesday’s report in “The Daily Currant” (dailycurrant.com) of Egypt’s arrest order for Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.” Well, maybe that’s a…
Read MoreBLACK IS WHITE—AND BLACK
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Big Brother, the symbol of tyranny, declares that “Black is white, and white is black.” This marks just one example of “doublethink,” which twists truth and falsehood. But doublespeak is more than fiction, as we learned in Gaza last week. On Saturday, Palestinians celebrated Hamas’ twenty-fifth anniversary marked by the…
Read MoreSAHARA DRY
When it comes to humor, there’s dry and there’s Sahara dry. A writer can craft a piece so tongue-in-cheek it flies over readers’ heads. I plead—maybe—guilty. Several readers thought “An Affront to Humanity” (November 23) concerned a real woman’s real experience on a San Francisco Muni bus. Nope. As I wrote in a postscript last…
Read MoreAN AFFRONT TO HUMANITY
I was waiting for a bus the other morning when a woman I know slightly approached. A sling encased her left arm. “What happened?” I asked. She proceeded to tell me about an experience that left her confused—and me, as well. Two days earlier she took the bus home from work. Standing room only. A…
Read MoreHUMILITY
San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey just won the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. (The Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera won the AL MVP.) I hope neither tells the world, “I’m humbled.” Baseball players often say that, given the game’s roots in small-town America where seemingly no one can be humble enough. But I’m rankled by…
Read MoreSNAKE EYES
Following last Monday’s presidential debate on foreign policy, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders offered sage advice. “Foreign policy is an oxymoron. When U.S. presidents deal with countries like Libya, Syria or Iran, whatever they do is a roll of the dice.” The Middle East is a complex place. We must navigate it carefully.…
Read MoreFLASH AND MALALA
As a kid, the televised run of the 1936 Flash Gordon sci-fi serial with Buster Crabbe fascinated me—particularly the contrast of technology (rocket ships, two-way TV) and medieval environments. Today’s world maintains that contrast—including here in America. When I was growing up, the U.S. had TV, satellites, manned space flights and, yes, hydrogen bombs. At…
Read MoreMR. MORSI
Egypt as a nation predates the United States by millennia. But when Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi lectures the U.S., he conveniently forgets that Egypt as a democracy is an infant. A week ago, Morsi told The New York Times that the U.S. should show greater respect for Arab values. “If you want to judge the…
Read MoreA MISLEADING QUESTION
Yesterday’s Opinion Pages in The New York Times asked, “Can the United States stay engaged with modern democratic Middle Eastern countries that have sizable anti-Western populations?” The answers by the chosen debaters were reasonable. The question was misleading. Modern democratic Middle Eastern countries don’t exist—with the exception of Israel. Now let’s be clear: Millions of…
Read MoreINSULT TO HUMANITY
David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, offers fascinating insights into the workings of the human mind in his book, The Social Animal. Brooks points to how we often judge people in milliseconds based on stimuli recognized only the subconscious. I had that experienced with a recent photo in the San Francisco Chronicle. I immediately…
Read MoreIRRELEVANCE
In Slick! Russia’s ambassador to the Persian-Gulf sultanate of Moq’tar points out to Bobby Gatling that while Moq’tar is 3,700 kilometers from Moscow it is 11,000 kilometers distant from Washington. The message: Russia, too, has legitimate geopolitical interests. But today, those interests seem to matter very little. And Russia’s demise as a world power offers…
Read MoreO JERUSALEM!
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand wither… —Psalms 137:5 Jerusalem’s place in the Jewish heart has been established for nearly three thousand years. So stating that modern-day Israel can and should live without part of Jerusalem is not easy. But it’s necessary. The Palestinians have long demanded that East Jerusalem—in…
Read MoreCHANGE
I just spent four weeks out of the country, most of the time in Israel plus three days in Jordan and a long weekend in London. Based on that, I offer a few observations about this week’s Egyptian presidential first-round election, which produced two finalists—Mohamed Morsi of the Islamic Brotherhood and former Air Force General…
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