Week of January 25, 2009 - January 31, 2009
Cuisine in times of crisis
I think it is time to trot out some old recipes that were popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s. However, as conditions have changed, so the recipes must be brought up to date with more modern ingredients.
The following is an old family favorite and was collected by my late grandmother.
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No fault decoupling
World economic growth is set to fall to just 0.5% this year, its lowest rate since World War II, warns the International Monetary Fund (IMF). BBC NewsThe most singular feature of the present recession is that it is universal... the entire world is experiencing recession simultaneously.
Caught in the whirring gears of tragedy
Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling away from his rivals in the race to become Israel's next prime minister, in a sign that the three-week war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has accelerated Israel's shift to the political right. Financial Times
Backing Bibi will be the Israeli lobby, the Evangelicals, the neocons and a Congress that could find only five members to oppose a resolution endorsing all the Israelis had done and were doing to the people of Gaza. Pat Buchanan
Prince Turki, a man who expresses himself with care and moderation, was recently the Saudi ambassador to the UK and the US and, before that, the long-serving chief of Saudi intelligence. He and his brother, foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, have represented the pro-US kingdom to the world for well over three decades. They are also part of the reforming wing of Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy and allies of King Abdullah. Prince Turki, citing equally forthright remarks by King Abdullah and Prince Saud, is now telling the new administration of Barack Obama it can either change course radically on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or forfeit the US "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia. The US, he warns, risks losing its leadership role in the Middle East. The Bush administration has not only left "a sickening legacy in the region", he says, but "contributed to the slaughter of innocents". Mr Obama should embrace the 2002 peace plan of King Abdullah, offering full Arab recognition of Israel for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land and the creation of a Palestinian state, with Arab east Jerusalem as its capital. Prince Turki reveals that Iran last week called on Saudi Arabia to lead a jihad against Israel. "So far, the kingdom has resisted these calls," he said, but "eventually, the kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel". Strong stuff. Editorial - Financial Times
The three quotes above lay out the parameters for an epoch making disaster.
Israel and what Barack Obama symbolizes
I fear the Israeli public is going to elect that maniac Binyamin Netanyahu on Feb. 10, and that will be the complete end of any 2-state solution, and we just have to live with a horrific Apartheid for decades, which will cause more conflict and further poison much of the world against the United States. Juan ColeThe election of Barack Obama is bound to have a powerful effect on the Middle East and especially on Israel, perhaps for what he does, but certainly for the message the voters are sending in his person or more precisely in what his person symbolizes.
So, just to recap: It's five to midnight and before the clock strikes 12 all we need to do is rebuild Fatah, merge it with Hamas, elect an Israeli government that can freeze settlements, court Syria and engage Iran -- while preventing it from going nuclear -- just so we can get the parties to start talking. Whoever lines up all the pieces of this diplomatic Rubik's Cube deserves two Nobel Prizes. Thomas Friedman - New York Times
We cannot yet know what America's voters have actually voted for, but we know what they think they have voted for and although they may not realize it, what they think they have voted for sends a powerful message to Israel. A message which conflicts with Israel's very foundations.
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