The 19th century struggle for dominance in Afghanistan was dubbed “The Great Game’.
The 21st century version is looking increasingly like ‘The Grotesque Game’; summed up neatly by an Afghan proverb: “While the butchers were arguing, the cow dropped dead.”… Read the rest
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
Nelson Mandela’s words on the day he was released from being the 20th century’s most famous political prisoner have been shredded by his successors.… Read the rest
“I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here.”
The ironic line by the corrupt policeman Louis as he accepts his winnings in ‘Casablanca’, echoes in denials that Israeli intelligence has access to information gathered by users of the Israeli-run NSO Group’s ‘Pegasus’ spyware.
Israel’s spies tap even the most mundane potential sources of intelligence.… Read the rest
Synonyms for maturing in the Merriam-Webster dictionary include: development, growth, maturation, and ripening.
Logically, then, adults should be measured not by what they started out as, but what they have become.
In practice, today’s yardstick is best summed up by the reply the harried editor in Evelyn Waugh’s “Scoop” used to counter his proprietor’s madcap ideas: “Up to a point, Lord Copper.”… Read the rest
Starving civilians as a weapon of warfare is prohibited under UN Security Council Resolution 2417, and is recognised as a war crime.
So, what is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who does just that?
And what are the governments who sell him weapons?… Read the rest
Normally, stories about corporate greed prompt me, and I suspect many other readers, to merely shrug and mumble: “So what else is new?”
But a report on CEOs getting 29 percent pay hikes in the time of Covid brought to mind a piece of sage advice I was offered many years ago, in the warehouse area of old Montreal where Leonard Cohen’s haunting “Suzanne” is set.… Read the rest
Military history is littered with examples of out-numbered and out-gunned, rag-tag forces outlasting well-trained, weapons-rich enemies.
Afghanistan is but the latest.… Read the rest
The most often quoted definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
So what’s the definition of “doing VARIATIONS of the same thing over and over…etc…” ?
Answer: “Israel versus Hamas”.… Read the rest
Confucius once wrote: “If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant…Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.”
Putting a 2,500-year-old Chinese sage and a television news legend in the same headline might seem like incongruous overload.… Read the rest
In a war zone, what you don’t understand is potentially as dangerous as bullets, bombs and shrapnel.
Body armour, common sense and luck will help keep you safe from the latter. But the only protection from the perils of ignorance or misreading of local culture is a smart, loyal interpreter.… Read the rest