Je suis fatigue. For some strange reason I am. Though I think it's due to the general lack of excitement or apprehension of anything. Just relaxing. Just floating.
I found this photo on IHT:
A historic moment alright, taken at the White house in 1979 after the Egypt-Israeli peace treaty. Sadat, Carter, Begin.The cameras, the flashes, the smiles. The smiles that lasted only as long as the reception, receding like the tide at the end of the day. The carpets kept and the crumpets swept away. Peace remains ever elusive.
Do I think the conflict can ever be solved?
Yes. No conflict is unsolvable. All it takes is a little political resolve. That will not come, however, with a new right-wing Likud govt under Netanyahu who doesn't favour a 2-state solution. The problem with Israeli politicians is that they are still stuck in Camp David. Americans, in 1967. A 2-state solution is no longer sufficient to keep the peace. New problems have cropped up. The world has changed and the dynamics of international relations - the balance of power in the region has been shifting slowly, and in fact it seems particularly unstable at this moment in history with a new American president and the biggest global economic slump since the great depression.
Hamas has to be part of the solution, but peace will not come until they resolve to recognise Israel. That, or destruction. Or continued persecution and turmoil to the citizens of Gaza, as per.
The Israelis and Americans have to stop living the past. Things aren't just going to be 'OKAY' just because everyone suddenly agrees to abide by the pre-1967 boundaries. Israeli settlements are not going to be reversed overnight. Political boundaries and sovereignty are just the beginning. The Palestinian Authority requires substantial aid in order for it to commence vital infrastructural projects, essential to the Palestinians, and especially so in order for the PA to regain it's credibility and authority. All we need is for America and its people, like George Soros, to stop pouring money into the deep end in Moscow, stop babying the Israelis, and say 'enough is enough, time to help the Palestinians, directly'.
Another problem hence, is the Israeli lobby in the US. That is an endemic problem, but they also have to realise that they are NOT the persecuted Jews of the past. Nukes, Iran may have, but any nuclear warfare in the region automatically puts the entire region at risk. Israelis don't like it, but I'm sure that their Arab neighbours feel pretty much the same as well.
As such, Iran is not just an American or Israeli problem. Stop victimising yourself and start doing proactive diplomacy with your neighbours. If there's anything needed to counter the threat posed by Iran, it's the entire Middle East working hand in hand. This means that it's time to stop 'divide and rule'.
Ultimately, to prevent a return of Bush energy policies and their vested interests in Middle East Oil, substantial funding MUST go into the usage of alternative energy sources in the US. This is the only way to break the oil spell. Oil Oligarchs should be ignored, their pet projects and peeves broken - and for this to happen, the current US administration needs to introduce harsh legislation. if this doesn't happen now during this crisis, it never will. It's time for it to stop being an endemic feature of US politics.
As for the Palestinian problem - stop looking back to history. Deal with the present. Acknowledge present realities and work with the current situation. Truth and Reconciliation is possible, but we got to start somewhere.
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And down in the outback...
I got this off the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7887561.stm. It's really tragic. Over a 100 ppl have died for nothing. Bushfires are common in Australia and yet it is only now that they are promising to remove bureaucratic hurdles that have prevented the creation of a nationwide fire alert system???? This is absolutely crazy. How can anybody live with that? It is irresponsibility at it's max.Somebody has also been arrested for arson, but that does little to reveal the inadequate measures that they have against a foe which they have been all but too familiar with. I'll like to call it Australia's Day of Infamy.
These kind of things should not be happening in a First World country. Maybe we just have inflated ideals about the 'first world'. Or maybe it's because we as human beings deserve so much more.
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And tomorrow will mark the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union pulling out of Afghanistan. Read more about it on the BBC!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/newsid_4160000/4160827.stm
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7888566.stm?lss
particularly the 2nd link...
Interestingly enough, tml also marks the day which Singapore is forced to surrender to the Japanese. Now, a day marked only as a footnote in sec2 history textbooks. The BBC notes that 'The British capitulation comes one week after Japanese forces invaded Singapore and only two weeks since their onslaught on the Malay Peninsula forced the British troops' withdrawal to the island.'
That is also the premise on which most of Singapore's state history is founded. The old tale which basically argues that self-reliance is therefore necessary because we cannot rely on any one else to defend our sovereignty.
They however forget to mention that we were nothing but a vassal. An important trading post rather, which only gained significance because we were the 'final frontier' against the Japanese.
Blame it on the British, not. Even that is taken forgranted in the national narrative today. The country has moved on from WW2 and the generation which lived through it is all but a step away from their graves. Nobody remembers. Nobody wants to. It doesn't concern them. The narrative is now about constant and steady progress. Slow and conservative, but nevertheless progressive. The past remains the past and the future is the now. The twain shall never meet.
I think that it is of the greatest ironies that success at peace breeds complacency and a general disbelief at the possibility of war. fantasy becomes reality and no one really understands war apart from what they see in the movies. Man spends so much of its time and effort PREVENTING war and devising ways and means of creating enduring peace. And yet in this tiny country, this speck in time, where peace has endured virtually since independence, a certain element of pomposity and complacency is bred.
Singapore is unreal.
Somalia is.
Sure. A particular mode of governance seems to have 'worked' in ensuring peace. Yet in a world where peace is the exception and not the norm, how long can it ensue? I can only wonder.
Food for thought.
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