My Final Question on the Middle East

I've been asked for my solution to problems in the Middle East.  Here they are; and nobody will agree with them!

--On Israel and the Palestinians.  To my mind there's only one solution.  They must live together in Israel.  The boundaries of Israel extend to the very end of the Egypt country.  Israel knows it controls every area in Palestine though for reasons for internal unity, it wants to give some other impression. 

Olmert is right:  the Palestinians must live in harmony with the Israelites.  Of course, the various organizations of the Palestinians must group together as one.  I can't stand Abbas or the PLO; but if the Hamas likes them, so be it.  But be sure, no be two states--no money; and would be the source of constant friction between Israelis and Muslims.

In Lebanon, the Hezbollah is critically divided.  In the end the faction supporting the Syrian dictatorship will lose out in favor of a stronger Lebanonese, nationalistic group.

At this point, one may wonder what I think of the State Department.  I think they're trying hard to do what is impossible.  Trying to get nations to agree with one another when State Department members don't even have security clearance is asking too much of them. They don't really know what's going on; it's an absurd position they're in.

--Now let's go to Syria.  At this juncture, there's no option but to remove Assad.  The Russian-Syria alliance is causing disruption in the Middle-East.  Putin is laughing at the fact that nobody will take him on--either in Russia, the Ukraine or Syria.  Iran is simply a pawn, weary of war and internal hankering--it is out of it.  I believe any major power ask of it what it wants; or pressure it with exorbitant demands.

--On to Egypt.  The military is a major force for peace in the country.  I've taken a lot of ideas from the Egyptian military--though the military does not appear to be respected here in the USA.  Bet they somehow have to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to be a major force in the new government.  I know the Egyptian government and military hate the Black Muslim Brotherhood but the latter must learn from the former!

--Onto Iran itself.  The country is struggling because of the sanctions.   However, due to current incredible support from other Muslim nations in the region, it is becoming the major power in the Middle East.  If the US wants to wedge into its power network, stand with it now!

--I've  named this item "the Final Question" because I must withdraw from any further discussion on  issues in the Middle East.  The Middle East is a well-worn topic.  I've got too many items, right now, I must deal with for world peace. Trust the US Military!

When Does Russia Run Away?

Currently, Russia is occupying the Crimea, Ukraine.  But what would it take for Russia to run away?

I recall that Russia was in Afghanistan--and doing some good there.  I recall some long distance conversations with Russians, when I had already returned to the US from having helped with their new Constitution.  I was begging them not to leave Afghanistan, because their leaving would cause havoc in the land.  I think they replied with stories about their problems: "You don't know what it means for the Soviet military to lose so many helicopters!"

Well, it's been years since then, but now the Russians are on the move---into the Ukraine.  They say the Ukrainian language is but one of many languages in the area; but the Russian language should be the dominant.  They say Crimeans are really Tartars--true Russians.  Russia is to be forever their homeland; and maybe that of all of the Ukraine, too.

Ah, these new ambitions cast in the backdrop of  historical fond remembrances occurring in a barroom where shots of vodka are consumed by those who are drunk with the thought of political power.  But the political issue is that the Russian Empire collapsed under its own weight of under-production and ethnic strife.  It became bankrupt, even as the Ukraine is today.  The political issue is that there were some courageous Russians who realized that this is not the day of Empire-building and sought to re-constitute an assemblage of industrial nexus that would produce goods and services for the good of what would now be a Federation of Independent States as well as to be exported to other geographic areas.  The fact of the matter is that there was low productivity among the factories and business groups because of ethnic divisions and in-fighting.  And this is what Russia is seeking to impose upon the its geographic region all over again.

So, what would cause Russia to run away from Crimea?  If possible, a dose of reality-checking.  What Russia offers to its people under the present regime is nothing but what has been tried and failed under the old Soviet Union. Be it noted that a place in the sun is to be awarded a nation by concrete figures and facts of enormous growth and productivity.  Promising, there is rising in Russia today a technocratic cadre who envision a new place, a prominent place for Russia in the world.  It has nothing to do with remembrances of well-worn historical themes, but constitutes a steadfast push to a new reality of technological advance that those so dedicated are boldly and aggressively  undertaking, though not in a barroom where memories are blurred by booze..

What would it take for Russia to run away from Crimea? A dose of reality as a curative from its hangover, to be sure..  And along with the cure, a forward-looking plodding toward some new vision of what Russia can offer to the world--but it won't include a harkening back to what has already been shown obsolete and outmoded as a Model T Ford, namely, the Russian Empire!















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Sanctions imposed on Russia should be effective!

I understand that Russia must make $70 a barrel in order to remain solvent.  Russia needs money!.

I understand, too, that there's a rumble among certain political factions such that, if Russia continues an aggressive policy, it will lead to an exodus of a significant number of Russians from Russia.  

I further understand that many several independent states in the Russian Federation are hostile to the expansion of the Russian state.

There is, after all, a vigorous fractious polity in the Russian Federation, today.