Arabia v. Iran

The American love-in with Saudi Arabia and hatred for Iran is insane. Arabia is a medieval despotism, which has never held an election, which has never allowed a free press, which does not allow women to do anything without the permission of a male relative, which beheads or imprisons dissidents and which uses petro-dollars to disseminate the most extreme form of Sunni Islam. Iran has a constitution which has functioned for nearly forty years and allows women to study and exercise professions; it holds regular elections and has a flourishing press, even though these are more controlled than in the West. Saudi Arabia considers Shia Muslims to be unpardonable heretics, and it has supported extreme Sunni movements across the Middle East. The majority of the 9/11 bombers were Saudi citizens. Iran is by far the biggest Shia-majority country in the world, and its foreign adventures have been limited to protecting Shia Muslims from Sunni persecution; they have even supported Assad's secular regime because it was menaced by Saudi-backed Sunni groups. Saudi derives unjustified influence in the Muslim world from its control of the two holy cities, Mecca and Medina, which they were able to seize when the British conquest of the Middle East left them unprotected. The Saudis have destroyed most of the historic character of Mecca with destruction of monuments and with boastful investments such as a gigantic clock tower looming over the sacred precinct. The latest abuse of Saudi power has been the refusal of visas to Palestinians wishing to perform the Pilgrimage. It seems clear that America's absurd policy imbalance is dictated by Israel, where successive governments have demonized Iran, the one country in the Middle East that still stands up for Palestinian rights. Ahmedinejad was a gift to Israeli propaganda, with his talk of 'wiping Iarael from the world map', and nobody in the West made the effort to ask the Iranians what they meant. They certainly did not mean dropping nuclear bombs all over the region, which would have killed as many Palestinians as Israelis. They were in fact talking about the 'one-state solution', which is the only just possibility, now that the two populations are so tangled up together.

Imperial nostalgia?!

It is often said that the people who voted to leave the EU were nostalgic for the Empire, but if so they forgot the best thing about our Empire - that it was a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural construction. A way to get the feel of it is to read Rudyard Kipling's Kim - a novel in which British, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs met and mingled. Certainly, it was not ideal; the constituent peoples were in very unequal positions, and missionaries pressed non-Christians to change religion, but it brought people together. That is what is great about being in the European Union. Outside it, I am afraid we shall shrivel down into a claustrophobic annex of the USA.

Computer insanity

I had nearly finished editing a document when I wanted to use the 'replace' function to replace a word beginning with 't'. I must have had the word 'Jack' still in the 'replace by' box, and my finger must have brushed against the 'replace all' box; suddenly more than 33,000 't's in the document had turned to 'Jack'. JusJack picJackure my frusJackraJackion! After a good giggle, I tried to restore the document, but it came out with 33,000 capital 'T's. In the end I just had to abandon a couple of hours of work and start again. Anyway, from now on I clear the 'replace by' box before I make any change.

Project Blitz and Values Voters

Project Blitz is a programme to put evangelical legislation on to state statute books. For example several states now require the words 'In God we Trust' to be prominently displayed in schools. In 1956 this motto replaced 'E pluribus unum', the motto adopted in 1782; the creeping desecularisation of the Republic! Values Voters are those who can be relied on to vote against abortion, contraception etc. They have almost completely taken over the Republican Party. We shall see in a few hours how successful the mobilisation of these voters has been in the mid-term elections.

Queen Wasps and Big Lies

Worker wasps are just looking for something to eat, and if they get trapped they soon die. Queen wasps are looking for somewhere to hide for the winter, and they may spend months concealed in clothes, bedding, shoes etc., so they have a much bigger likelihood of stinging people. It's like the difference between little everyday lies, which are soon forgotten, and huge lies which can last for years, like the one about sending £350 million a week to the EU.

Decriminalisation

For most forms of behaviour, criminalisation is ineffective or even counter-productive, encouraging people to reach for forbidden fruit. However, decriminalisation may be understood as meaning that a behaviour is harmless, which is often not the case. For example, the decriminalisation of cannabis in Canada has led to an upsurge in demand, scarcity and the revival of the black market. Cannabis is undoubtedly harmful to health, especially mental health, and should be discouraged by the sort of measures that have brought down smoking so dramatically. Another example is adultery, which is no longer criminal anywhere in Europe; in the permissive society it is widely seen as not mattering very much, yet it can destroy families and even lead to suicide. I have been led to think about this by reading the letters of Sylvia Plath. It seems clear that the adultery of Ted Hughes led directly to her suicide (and that of Assia Wevill, although he never married her). And yet society honoured him by making him Poet Laureate and a member of the Order of Merit. Poetic ability is just a knack with words, and somebody can be a brilliant poet and a horrible person.

Wisdom from Haaretz

Here are a few of the lessons we should learn... 1. Respect every Jew’s homeland. 2. Israel should stop interfering. 3. On-site security is only of limited use. 4. Xenophobia and violence will always end up harming Jews. 5. The responsibility is on every government, Anshel Pfeffer Haaretz Correspondent