Fairweather friends, and fleeting realities. Also, the 12 state solution

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jan 7, 2015 at 04:19

Hi, Waza

I still have trouble with the name, probably because I swap out my oys and ayes, etc. No matter. Yes, Mohammed Ullah actually is a name. The rest of it is all lamsy divey.

I agree with your analysis of the Middle East. I tried mapping out all the alliances; but first of all, many of the countries in the area aren't even countries -- they're collections of turfs for clans and warlords. Secondly, most countries in the area are in a state of disintegration, or on the verge of same. I ended up using solid colors for actual countries, such as Europe, Turkey, the GCC and NW Africa. For the other statoids, I used little color bubbles. Then I realized that some of the countries were playing both ends against the middle, and had to use bubbles within bubbles. There aren't any real countries from Alexandria to Gaberone, nor from Beirut to Xinjiang.

Concerning the "fair weather friends", you're spot on. Someone said that you can't have a two-state solution in Israel: If you want to give the Arabs their own state, you have to have at least a 12-state solution, to account for all the clans -- the only thing people are loyal ti in that whole part of the world. As for involvement of Allah, yes, all those fearless suicide bombers, etc. are being duped. The Pallies put their children on the rooftops as human shields, while their leaders live in style in Doha.

Maybe I'll see Sydney again before I die, and maybe not. When I was young planning a trip to Sydney seemed a tangible thing, whereas planning a trip to heaven seemed etherial. Now that I'm old, the two are reversed. Half my friends have already gone before me to the next world. Maybe there's a Sydney up there, a better one.

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