The Middle East solution by Dennis Pragar

Is there anyone in the West who isn't exhausted, fed up, and frustrated with the nearly seventy year old struggle going on between the Jews and Palestinians over a piece of land the size of the state of New Jersey?  Like most people without a dog in this hunt, I have sided with the Israelies over the years and what's more the more I read about the history of the Middle East and it many twists and turns, the more convinced I am that all 180 million of those angry Muslims that surround the 6 million Jews in Israel would do themselves a world of good, materially and spiritually, by putting down their arms and making peace with this tiny country.  Israel would welcome that and bend over backward to help the Palestinians build their own state and teach them how to make it work to the benefit of all the people over there.  In this 5-7minute video, Dennis Pragar provides a clear picture of what the issue is a path to the future success of this region.  Unfortunately this is not likely to happen as long as the Muslim faith remains unreformed to rid it of its decidedly intolerant and militant proclivities.  Go here for the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzvhvOcWEs&feature=player_embedded

Everything costs something

Is there's an observer on the socio-political scene with more useful insights than Theodore Dalrymple? In this brief column he dissects the problem with socialism/communism/fascism with a real life experience he had some 20 years ago while visiting North Korea.  It's inconceivable to us in the West that the kind of existence Dalrymple describes can be the case and yet we know it is throughout the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East.  And yet one senses that a version of this existence is where the Obama forces would eventually take us.  Freedom is a slippery slope and giving it up via Obamacare here, Cap and Trade there inevitably leads to dominance of the state and the enslavement of its populace who then become subjects.  Something, anything for nothing has a compelling appeal to many who would do well to remember that there really are no free lunches and that everything costs something even if its free.

Needless mistakes by Romney

So far Romney has run a disappointing campaign, not unlike McCain in '07.  He seems to provide the opposition with multiple unnecessary opportunities to attack him, and his message, by virtue of bad timing and sometimes awkwardly made points.  His criticism of the Obama administration for the conflagration in the Middle East, while correct, was too hastily rendered making him look like an opportunistic, garden variety politician instead of a thoughtful leader.  Today, at a fund raising event, he managed to describe the campaign in terms that the opposition was able to make the case that he really doesn't care about 47% of the Americans who are going to vote for Obama because they pay no taxes and are therefore dependent on the government.  This message, while perhaps true in the context of campaign strategy making sessions and as an explanation to the contributors to whom it was directed,is bound to be red meat for the opposition who can make the case that Romney doesn't care about 47% of the population.  It is a fact of political life that Republicans are up against a highly partisan, corrupt, press that is always looking for some controversial thought or idea with which to pillory them.  This is exactly what they have done with the Romney comment  "leaked" to them by someone who attended the fundraiser and video taped the remarks.  These seem liken unforced errors, and yet the candidate and his campaign keep repeating and making them over and over.  In just one week Romney's now given the opposition to big opportunities to force him off message while he defends himself.  

Michael Totten interview

Michael Totten has been a free-lance reporter operating in the Middle East for many years now.  He is acknowledged to be very well informed and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the ME, its history, religious strife, internecine warfare and Israeli/Arab conflict.  In addition Totten has no allegiance to any media organization and therefore has no overt political bias.  After a brief summary of his background, this 20 minute interview provides a clear picture of what has been going on in Lebannon, Syria, and Israel, and provides very valuable insights into the workings of Hebollah.  This is useful interview for anyone wanting to understand present day Middle Eastern affairs.