Thus far, I’ve used my “perch” to ponder and comment (OK, pontificate) on strife, conflict, suffering and human folly. Now it’s time for a break, to follow the dictum of “Desiderata”, the idealistic poem we ‘boomers’ taped on our bedroom wall: “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste…”.… Read the rest
In conventional warfare, cultural awareness ranks considerably lower than superior firepower. In unconventional conflicts, it’s the opposite side of the same coin. The U.S. military has ignored it three times in the last thirty years, with a variation of the same negative result each time.… Read the rest
Among the many remarkable inhabitants of the lake where the photo for this blog site was taken are weasels.
Resourceful, fast nocturnal hunters, weasels avoid humans. They also have the misfortune to be a synonym for cunning or deceit, which unjustly associates them with the kind of people trying to “weasel” their way out of their share of responsibility for what is happening in Afghanistan.… Read the rest
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”
Had Sir Winston Churchill coined his famous phrase with the Afghan debacle as a benchmark, he could have added that the learning process invariably includes tuition fees paid by those with no say in the curriculum.… Read the rest
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