Diogenes Need Not Fear Unemployment

Hello? Are there any honest people out there? Honest people are usually counted on to be reasonable, trustworthy and honorable.



I've given up on asking if there are any adults out there? The connotation of the word "adult" that has to do with enough living experience to not go off half cocked has been offset by the obvious existence of more people than one wants to admit whose living experience results in their going off half cocked.


Here again is a link to the blog of Col. Pat Lang, US Army, Retired.


This particular link takes one to a specific post to his blog, one which asked for opinions about what routes Israel's planes might take to get to their targets in Iran. It's all about minimizing the risk of being shot down or being detected.


The responses to his request are revealing, no so much in their analysis, but in their willingness, if not eagerness, to participate, join in a discussion of how to pull off what could lead to a disaster of Armageddon-like consequences.


One of the commenters goes by the name, "Mad Dog".


To me the most important comment posted was by Pat Lang himself, in his comment to the commenters. Read it here. The clue to the real point of his opinion is, I believe, in his use of the the phrase "An Israel". It would be a mistake to conclude that Pat Lang expects and predicts that Israel will attack Iran. That he believes and expects Israel, under new hard line management, to try to manipulate Obama to attack Iran seems clear.


In his use of the phrase "An Israel" he seems to be saying that there might come a time when Israel, led by hard line hawks, throws caution to the winds and actually attacks Iran, or any of it's perceived enemies. An a concomitant to such a policy, Lang believes, would be the willingness of the hawkish leaders to use nuclear weapons in their attack. In other words, if Israel's leaders are so foolish as to attack Iran, their foolishness would include using nuclear weapons in that attack. It's not Israel he fears, it's those hard line militants, zealots, who might lead Israel over the cliff.


It's a particularly relevant observation right now, since genuine hard liners have come back into power in Israel; Netanyahu as Prime Minister and Lieberman as Foreign Minister and also Deputy Prime Minister. The folks at the Israel Policy Forum, sensible, reasonable Israel advocates, also observe that Ehud Barak, the leader of the so-called Labor Party, who has thrown in with Netanyahu to form a coalition government, is seen as someone who craves power and is willing to align himself with a political party in which he can be in a position of power, even though that party has traditionally been associated with a world view contrary to his own. In other words, Ehud Barack, by joining Netanyahu, has secured for himself a position of power and influence. As such he can't be counted on to be much of a moderating influence on Netanyahu, who will be pummeled by the Zealot Settlers, and Ultra Orthodox Jews and their Fundamentalist spiritual leaders, who claim, genuinely or conveniently, that God, once again, has led them, His Chosen People, out of exile and back to their Promised Land.


Pat Lang has won my admiration for his advocacy of diplomacy, discussion and negotiation. It is not lost on me that he came to that approach by way of his military career, on the ground, realistic appraisals, with experience in Intelligence in the Middle East, and if I recall accurately, in Israel proper. By virtue of that background and reputation he continues to be consulted on such matters, and apparently continues to have access to those who hold positions of power.


I pay attention to what he thinks, as expressed in what he writes for those of us in the general public.


I have become suspicious and cynical about what I read in the alleged Main Stream Media. But one needs to trust somebody on some things, if one hopes to maintain a reasonably healthy mental and emotional connection to life. Pat Lang is that Somebody on the Something, the Middle East, for me.



Leanderthal































Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic Magazine took great journalist liberties in his obvious wish to draw attention to his interview with "Bibi" by entitling his piece with this charged language, his, not Netanyahu's, "Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran--Or I will". To what end did Goldberg use his own words to portay Netanyahu as the in-your-face foreign leader to challenge Obama, as Joe Biden predicted months ago?







But I'm prone to be so cynical as to look for hidden agendas everywhere.(I no longer use the word "Conspiracy" because those who use it are so mocked as deranged that they are smeared and discredited to the point of being labelled and irrelevant.)