Ready for Vacation, But Before I Go

I’m 54 years old and have been working as an expat for almost all of my last 22 years. From the years I worked in the United States I have managed to become eligible for a very minimal amount of social security. The bulk of my retirement is mine to create. Over these last few months I’ve seen my retirement investments decline at a disturbing pace. That’s why despite all the vital issues facing the world, I find myself reading and obsessing on the various economic crises rushing through the world.

Here’s a fairly gloomy article I read the other day from a writer at Forbes.

The Worst is Not Behind Us by Nouriel Roubini,
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/12/recession-global-economy-oped-cx_nr_1113roubini.html

Here are links to two blogs which offer essential information on the current situations.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/

The Bonddad blog is especially helpful in understanding the situation. He offers a lot of graphs but goes to great lengths to explain what the information is and what it means.

"The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein is a very good book to read about the recent past economic policies and the meaning of “disaster capitalism”,

One of the most important crises which is getting drowned out by the economic crises is that of Israel and Palestine. With Nazi-style Bibi Nethanyahu looking poised to become the new leader of Israel, the time has come for the world to understand that Israel is not going to fix this holocaust-like problem they’ve created in Palestine. In the end Israel will destroy itself through its actions towards the Palestinians. We can’t allow that to happen. The Nazi Holocaust was a vile and criminal attempt to destroy a people of historic proportions. For the children of the Holocaust and all other Jews, there must be a safe, peaceful homeland for them. Israel is that homeland. That they are electing bad governments, stealing other people’s land, imprisoning innocent people among other things is destroying their country.

The world is going to have to adopt the South African model to solve this crisis. I know how distasteful it is to even consider, but it’s something that must be done. The countries of the world have done everything necessary to acknowledge the atrocities done to Jews. We can’t go back and change it. It’s done. Now, the world leaders must find the courage to put the sanctions and boycotts on Israel necessary to end these crimes against humanity in Palestine and to save Israel from itself.

There is also a very insightful and eye-opening book written by an Israeli historian regarding the founding of the state of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the use of terrorism used to found the state of Israel. The book is called The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe. Read it because it’s an important tool for understanding this situation.

America, in a typically pandering and hypocritical fashion, considers itself a friend of Israel. It is not. It is an enabler. Friends shouldn’t let friends ethnic cleanse other people’s lands. Friends shouldn’t let friends barricade and embargo a small strip of overpopulated land creating hunger and disease on the ground. Friends shouldn’t let friends bomb and attack defenseless people. Below is the text of an article written by an Israeli journalist about this very point.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035415.html

Gideon Levy / Let's hope Obama won't be a 'friend of Israel' By Gideon Levy Tags: occupation, Israel News

The march of parochialism started right away. The tears of excitement invoked by U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's wonderful speech had not yet dried, and back here people were already delving into the only real question they could think to ask: Is this good or bad for Israel? One after another, the analysts and politicians got up - all of them representing one single school of thought, of course ¬ and began prophesizing.

They spoke with the caution that the situation required, gritting their teeth as though their mouths were full of pebbles, trying to soothe all the fears and concerns. They searched and found signs in Obama: The promising appointment of the Israeli ex-patriots' son, whose father belonged to the Irgun, and maybe also Dennis Ross and Dan Kurtzer and Martin Indyk, who may, God willing, be included in the new administration.

But in the background, a dark cloud hovered above. Careful, danger. The black man, who had associated with Palestinian expats, who speaks of human rights, who favors diplomacy over war, who even wants to engage Iran in dialogue, who will allocate more funding for America's social needs than to weapons exports. He may not be the sort of "friend of Israel" that we have come to love in Washington, the kind of friend we have grown accustomed to.

What's the panic all about? The truth needs to be said: At the base of all of these fears is the angst that this president will push Israel to end the occupation and move toward peace.

Well, maybe Obama will not be a "friend of Israel." May the great change he is promising not omit his country's Mideast policy. May Obama herald not only a new America, but also a new Middle East.

When we say that someone is a "friend of Israel" we mean a friend of the occupation, a believer in Israel's self-armament, a fan of its language of strength and a supporter of all its regional delusions. When we say someone is a "friend of Israel" we mean someone who will give Israel a carte blanche for any violent adventure it desires, for rejecting peace and for building in the territories.

Israel's greatest friend in the White House, outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, was someone like that. There is no other country where this man, who brought a string of disasters down upon his own nation and the world, would receive any degree of prestige and respect. Only in Israel.

Only in Israel does the prime minister place George Bush's portrait in his den, in his private home. Only in Israel does the prime minister travel to visit him in the White House.

That's because Bush was a friend of Israel. Israel's greatest friend. Bush let it embark on an unnecessary war in Lebanon. He did not prevent the construction of a single outpost. He may have encouraged Israel, in secret, to bomb Iran. He did not pressure Israel to move ahead with peace talks, he even held up negotiations with Syria, and he did not reproach Israel for its policy of targeted killings.

Bush also supported the siege on Gaza and participated in the boycott of Hamas, which was elected in a democratic election initiated by his own administration.

That's just how we like U.S. presidents. They give us a green light to do as we please. They fund, equip and arm us, and sit tight. Such is the classic friend of Israel, a friend who is an enemy, and enemy of peace and an enemy to Israel.

Let us now hope that Obama will not be like them. That he will reveal himself to be a true friend of Israel. That he will put his whole weight behind a deep American involvement in the Middle East, that he will try to solve the Iranian issue through negotiation - the only effective means. That he will help end the siege on Gaza and the boycott of Hamas, that he will push Israel and Syria to make peace, that he will spur Israel and the Palestinians to reach a settlement.

We should hope Obama will help Israel help itself, because that is how friendship is measured. That he will criticize its policy when he must, because that, too, is a test of true friendship.

Let him use his clout to end the occupation and dismantle the settlement project. Let him remember that human and civil rights also apply to the Palestinians, not only to black Americans. And apropos world peace, he needs to start with peace in the Middle East, home to the most dangerous of conflicts, which has been threatening the world for a century now, and is feeding international terrorism.

A true friend of Israel needs to remember that Israel may be "the only democracy in the Middle East," but not in its own backyard. That next to Sderot, which he visited, is Gaza. That "common values" must not include a cruel occupation. That friendship does not mean blind and automatic support.

Let him speak with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, as often as he can and with whomever is willing to talk. And let him do it before the next war, not after it. Let him remember that he has the power to do all that.

Changing the Middle East was in the power of each and every U.S. president, who could have pressured Israel and put an end to the occupation. Most of them kept their hands off as if it were a hot potato, all in the name of a wonderful friendship.

So bring us an American president who is not another dreadful "friend of Israel," an Obama who won't blindly follow the positions of the Jewish lobby and the Israeli government. You did promise change, did you not?


Now for something completely different. Despite the economic meltdown, Jack is taking a much needed vacation in early December. Below are the links to the Malaysian island where I’m going and the resort where I’m going to stay. I need the break.

http://www.langkawi-info.com/

http://www.langkawi-resorts.com/berjaya-langkawi/