chaos and honey

this should serve as an overview for the last year and a half......
lets begin shall we?

jerusalem zp 22:28 GMT May 31, 2004
pip pirate, may i ask what the average perception of robert mugabe is in south africa of their northern neighbor? seems to me the world has pretty much turned a blind eye to this nut for the past twenty years. stories starting to come out of zimbabwe that the country is going to face a serious food shortage and risk the lives of a couple of million people. rumors have it that he wants to control food distribution to buys votes in elections to come.

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT May 30, 2004
nh, as i have been trying to make the point for a while now, one of the greatest threats to life from the likes of the extremists are to the arabs themselves. if saudi arabia doesnt pursue a major crackdown against the likes of the movements attacking these compounds they will certainly wish they had soon enough when they have only the choice of becoming followers of 'the blind' or being put to death for allowing the infidel onto the holy soil of arabian land.
anyone see the massive riot out the brit embassy in iran yesterday?
i feel like i reliving the 70's again.
i was reminded of the munich massacre this weekend in saudi arabia rightly or wrongly. and i was reminded of the american embassy falling to the students in tehran.
world seems to be walking on a tinderbox.
also want to add that the brits foreign policy which they have become champions of during the 20th century in the middle east of acting, reacting, and then trying to disappear seems like it may come to fruit again.




jerusalem zp 14:07 GMT May 28, 2004
can someone please explain the following to me. magellen fund manager of fidelity is saying that he made mistakes in judging the market over the last year. his fund had a return of 30% last year, benchmark was 35%, while i understand he was 5% under benchmark, isnt 30% quite good?
understand that the preceeding years may have been difficult during the market's bear turn but it seems to me that it shows priorities out of whack.
since when are people who invest in mutual funds looking for speculative type of returns - the type we find trading fx or physicals or individual stocks?
i understand too that fidelity takes a penalty in management fees that are not collected but again, is that the concern of the investors in fidelity?
what dont i get? there seems to be an air of entitlement that i just cant stand.......

http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/28/funds/fidelity_magellan.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

jerusalem zp 15:54 GMT May 27, 2004
flip, i appreciate your perspective..........
what i meant about you losing the womens vote was meant as a joke, and by that i was referring to the point that though afghanistan will now have to be dealt with regarding their cultivation of poppies and exporting opium and heroin, that perhaps it is better to see an ever increasing amount of people, particularly the women of afghanistan have the ability to lead more productive lives now that they dont have the taliban by and large to order them around.


jerusalem zp 15:17 GMT May 27, 2004
flip, which great politician in your view can effectively manage world affairs as they stand?
maybe kerry? is it red baiting to show the photo of kerry as a newly elected senator with another newly elected senator harkin from iowa in nicaragua shaking hands with daniel ortega? no it isnt. why? because kerry if elected will have one of the greatest net worths financially of any elected u.s. president ever. what the photo shows is kerry's bad judgement...........

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1100821/posts


jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT May 27, 2004
flip, interesting that gore doesnt mention what his ideas are on trying to deal with international situation, noteworthy that he doesnt mention he served as vice president for eight years when fundamentalists in large measure started to carry out attacks and went unpunished. perhaps gore is showing what he has always been much to his own desire, a robot like politician trying to score points while the world goes to pot around him.

jerusalem zp 19:07 GMT May 22, 2004
qip, i take it that you were asking me if the mcdonalds here in israel are kosher, most are NOT and cheeseburgers are widely available within. but if you ask for a bacon cheeseburger this as far as i know is pretty much still impossible, though there is a real good stand near haifa on a beach which serves them.

jerusalem zp 06:28 GMT May 21, 2004
the following it was sent to me by one of my better friends who is a terribly perplexed liberal, i did think it was funny so i have included it even though i dont agree with it.....

Official Announcement:
The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.

lastly, can someone please explain why mcdonalds continue to be targets of the mentally disturbed. thk goodness there were no injuries in the instanbul blast, but the thing that really amazed me was that the idiots who placed the bombs in rome were stupid enough to put anti-war notes near the bombs found in rome yesterday.....yeah, that makes a lot of sense. sounds to me like our friendly nurse has many a patient lined up for the future.

have a good weekend everyone i am headed to the kibbutz for the next couple of days.




jerusalem zp 13:13 GMT May 20, 2004
haifa, i am willing to venture the following: in fifteen years time marwan barghouti will be the head of the palestinian govt - elected leader - serving as its president and it wont be from a jail cell.

jerusalem zp 17:14 GMT May 19, 2004
safire article in ny times today highly worth the time, dealing with sarin and the four no's.........

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/opinion/19SAFI.html?hp

nh, seems to me bush is trying his best to keep a lid on things until the election is over. perhaps i am misreading it, perhaps i see things clear, doesnt mean that bush is right by any stretch. imo, we are definitely getting into the summer election season, it is a long way to home no doubt about it, but it is the election result bush is clearly aiming for. not to say it is the correct path, but it is a path, and i believe bush is going to try his damnest to maintain it.
we shall see just how much the american public is willing to let bush and his cohorts sway.
in the end, i still suspect we are looking at an election result based on the over under of the stock market and economic news.
3 dollar a gallon gas prices will certainly not help george jr.

jerusalem zp 19:00 GMT May 18, 2004
haifa, your football team just got thrashed.......

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/429122.html

congrats to the underdog.........

jerusalem zp 19:24 GMT May 15, 2004
athens, welcome to the world of being under the microscope frpm the assorted clowns within the world of media..... i suspect their nonsense within your home town is only beginning.

jerusalem zp 05:55 GMT May 13, 2004
oil man, re: 4.57, extremely important post, thank you. only problem is that small minorities have historically been able to wreck large swaths of carnage.........this list includes the bolsheviks & nazis. real problems incur when these type of groups gain plenty of favor in times which suddenly seem to fulfill their sense of manifest destiny. who knows, maybe nesara will work like this............;^)

jerusalem zp 12:49 GMT May 12, 2004
jp, let me also say that should america truly face defeat, that would mean millions of people in the middle east would also be facing defeat and death from fanatics and i am not including israel in this thought. i speak of the people of egypt, saudi arabia, iraq, jordan, etc. who would face almost certain civil wars if the fanatics were to reign.

jerusalem zp 12:08 GMT May 12, 2004
jp, happily you are able to ask that question and hopefully will never have to face the answer, true defeat in this war.........and it is a war, would mean millions of american & its assorted friends deaths which no doubt its enemys would not mind seeing. perhaps you dont believe that......

jerusalem zp 11:29 GMT May 12, 2004
flip, is that the american broadcast of cnbc or the european broadcast that made that comment? just wondering, didnt see it. in my mind what we have here is a propagandist's delight. both sides have additional fuel for their fires now.....the iraqi resistence has it pictures of torture victims and the americans and its allies have a decapitation. lovely all the way around..........what ever happened to good old fashioned war where thousands would face off on a battle field and just kill their enemies all day long, and then take holidays off to play a good game of football between their two warring sides.....


jerusalem zp 10:53 GMT May 12, 2004
haifa, perhaps not a clash of civilization, perhaps just a need to cut off young jewish heads............nick berg & daniel pearl.

jerusalem zp 10:13 GMT May 11, 2004
irish, here is the best one i have heard in a long time......from my dublin friends.......

For his birthday Little Patrick asked for a 10-speed bicycle.
His father said,"Son, we'd give you one, but the mortgage on this house is $80,000 and your mother just lost her job. .... There's no way we can afford it."
The next day the father saw Little Patrick heading out the front door with a suitcase. So he asked, "Son, where are you going? Little Patrick told him,"I was walking past your room last night and heard you tell mum you were pulling out.
Then I heard her tell you to wait because she was coming too. And I'll be damned if I'm staying here by myself with an $80,000 mortgage and no stinkin' bike!"


jerusalem zp 17:26 GMT May 10, 2004
nh, i have always appreciated arizona's straight talking politicians - McCain certainly being one of them......pity the administration if McCain gets wind that he is being lied to. i dont think you are going to get your 'real' 3rd party candidate quite yet (nader doesnt count yet).......i would one day like to see McCain become president of the states, but i dont think enough people would be able to handle the truth......and this includes the public and his political handlers and backers.

jerusalem zp 17:22 GMT May 10, 2004
this sounds like a saturday night live skit............but

Security forces foil suicide bombing set for Tel Aviv
By Arnon Regular and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Itim
Israeli security forces thwarted a suicide bombing planned for Tel Aviv when they arrested a Palestinian hermaphrodite armed with a 15-kilogram bomb in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said.

........... equal opportunity for all the unfortunates.......the poor, the adulteresses, and now the perplexed it seems.




jerusalem zp 03:19 GMT May 9, 2004
nh, i am starting to think my new daughter has the only real plan, wake as soon as daylight starts to crack, make sure that all attention is focused, and proceed to play with stuffed animals until falling back asleep.

jerusalem zp 14:04 GMT May 6, 2004
nh, if so, it gives bush the opportunity to switch around his cabinet before the election which might not be such a bad thing. always good to clean the house every so often. who stands next in line for this job? do you think that rice is a contender? will be interesting to see where the chips fall.


In Jerusalem, a journalist heard about an very
old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a long, long time.
So she went to check. She went to the Western Wall and there he was! She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.
"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"
"For about 60 years."
"60 years! Amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the
Muslims. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our
children to grow up in safety and friendship."
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a friggin wall."

jerusalem zp 07:18 GMT May 5, 2004
jp, btw, it is called humor, do you really think any politicians are going to jail for 20 years, particularly after they 'solve' all things...........where is the logic exactly? i shouldnt have to explain myself to you, but you should understand that i was merely having a go at the current leadership (particularly the israeli politicians) of whom i am not so in love with.

jerusalem zp 16:45 GMT May 4, 2004
dolphin, entire gaza affair is more complicated than anyone can imagine, just read the following from ha'aretz on mk michael ratzon for further proof.........if you havent already today.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/423224.html

we live in an absurd age and i agree with you that it was quite idiotic to even allow for voting within the likud party as if it really meant anything but a speakeasy.
on the other hand, and just as frustrating, we have peres who you have spoken fondly of saying that a small minority should not be allowed to make decisions for the country. but correct if i am wrong, seems to me labor is even a smaller minority these days......
and then we have the 'great' in his own mind, tommy lapid, who says one thing and does exactly the other time and time again.
one day when we solve all of these problems between the israelis and the palestinians both of our peoples should put all the politicians and religious fanatics in the same prison together for a twenty year term without visiting rights.

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT May 4, 2004
nh, perhaps you are correct, but i suspect that the swing voters are those who will be more interested in the state of the economy.
i believe that those who have made up their minds up about the military action - war - have done so already and not many will switch sides because of this. unless of course there is a real fiasco that comes about or sudden victory bringing world peace and harmony.
seems to me that we have seen the old fears about vietnam raise their ugly heads once again. bush administration must be steadfast in its message to americans (and the world).

jerusalem zp 14:56 GMT May 4, 2004
nh, but americans also love baseball and thus if they understand the game they are willing to sit through the whole nine innings and sometime extra innings to see who wins. my point, americans have patience too. bush administration must keep a straight face and play out the first half of the game (not baseball i know). most assume that following the election the second half will soon begin. doenst mean that bush has to spend his time tickling people with a feather just yet, he can still hit some over the head with a bat when needed........it is baseball afterall.

jerusalem zp 14:49 GMT May 4, 2004
another war in africa and another million dead.
i suspect most in the media just wouldnt be comfortable with the accomodations in these places, thus it just doesnt get much coverage.......... http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/international/africa/04DARF.html

jerusalem zp 14:38 GMT May 4, 2004
nh, though i agree with you, i do believe we are entering the smiling portion of the election entertainment. that is to say that the candidates - particulary president bush - will look into the camera repeatedly and say, " i am not a crook", aaaaaaaaah wait, i mean he will say, " all is going well and we are on the right path".
he just has to make sure enough of the voters in the big states prefer his nonsense to that of kerry's. i suspect - end of day - more people will vote against kerry than will those who come out to vote against bush.

jerusalem zp 14:08 GMT May 4, 2004
th, good question and it is true that they have the same scowl and complexion (though i only play a dermatologist on tv and cant say medically). perhaps sharon's ancestors and the kruschev's came from nearby villages where the milk was always spoiled. saw a photo of sharon sitting on a bench yesterday in ma'ariv, i was astounded to see that he has seemingly gained even more weight lately. i dont think the 'shoe man' ate as well as the fat man..............

jerusalem zp 14:03 GMT May 4, 2004
nh, would also like to point out it is now early may and as of yet u.s. troops have undertaken no 'new' military action and it is likely to stay that way until after the election. bush - unless he has started drinking again - is surely feeling the pressures of the voting season. seems to me he is going to stay the path and try his best not to stray from it in any way.
extremely serious issues will await the winner of the u.s. presidential election on the international scene. my money is still on gwb.

jerusalem zp 13:39 GMT May 4, 2004
nh, seems to be a certain amount of folk in the states like the rest of the world who still feel that the current world situation should be blamed on america's support of israel. apparently approximately 50 or so ex-u.s. diplomats taking a cue from their british brethren have warned president bush that it is his unyielding support for israel that puts america in harms way. letter is led in spirit by the likes of andrew killgore an ex-ambass. to the u.a.e who has a long history of 'tough love' towards israel.
of course this doesnt exactly explain how israel is to blame for radical islam taking over iran in the late 70's, vast poverty in egypt, syria, yemen, and the like, and wide spread corruption & lack of any rights of self determination for large segments of the populations - which has no doubt left many of the down trodden to seek another way - revolution.
what people dont quite get that radical islam in many respects is like any other revolution that proves to be dangerous in the end.
the sheer fact that someone is seeking change is enough to get people on the bandwagon, rapture quickly sets in, followed by obeying the new rules, until those who jumped on the bandwagon get fed up with 'new regime' when the party ends and it is time to clean up.
the whole issue is about responsibility amongst the leaders of the middle east and this certainly includes israel. time for everyone to look in the mirror and see themselves clearly. but of course, that is not about to happen for sure.


jerusalem zp 06:33 GMT May 4, 2004
my kind of woman.........
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/science/04FILM.html?8hpib

jerusalem zp 18:40 GMT May 2, 2004
lastly, just would like to say that i look forward to the day (if it ever comes) when israel can compete against the likes of saudi arabia, egypt, iran, etc........on the playing field instead of in u.n councils and international public opinion.

jerusalem zp 18:36 GMT May 2, 2004
here is the china grain article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/international/asia/02farm.html

jerusalem zp 18:33 GMT May 2, 2004
ny times had this rather interesting article on the weather in the western states today..........not particularly good news if you are a lake powell boater i suspect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/national/02DROU.html?hp

also the ny times today had a very good article on china's grain situtation as it stands and the uphill battle farmers there face because industries are taking land and - yet - the farmers are being asked to squeeze more yield from less acres/dunams.
unless it is some kind of propaganda piece planted in the ny times for political reasons seems to me china is going to face the 'burden' of relying on the u.s. and south america for grain more than they would like to.

jerusalem zp 20:31 GMT May 1, 2004
haifa, though it may not be a membership in the eu -
maccabi tel aviv 118 - skipper bologna 74 taste pretty good.

jerusalem zp 12:33 GMT April 29, 2004
irish, you are right about this, but the reality is that nobody - at least not yet - has shown that they are quite ready to level a town. i am willing to bet out of political correctness that we dont see this. as has been pointed out here by many of us - the real war is yet to arrive.

jerusalem zp 12:25 GMT April 29, 2004
nh, since the days of 'seven pillars of wisdom' by t.e lawrence the enclave of fallujah has been a problem. the brits had many a day of chaos there during their late colonial days, and ever since then the place has been a hot spot - including trouble for hussein. this has not been a place that has swallowed anyones rule easily. thus speaking with the tribal leaders of the city might not be such a bad thing, doesnt mean one has to make nice nice with them, but it probably wouldnt be a bad thing to talk about how things 'will' be run. changing a thousand years of culture will not be a six month event.

jerusalem zp 09:29 GMT April 29, 2004
dont know if anyone recalls the dj who prank called castro, apparently he has been fined 4k for the deed. i think he should prank call the fcc now.......
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/04/28/castro.prank.reut/index.html

jerusalem zp 12:23 GMT April 28, 2004
revdax, typically terrorist go after what must be construed as soft targets. if they find an opening in 'the system' they will try to take advantage of the situation until it exist no more. it is up to each country combating the fanatics to coordinate all info, data, and protect their citizens and infrastructure.
also should be remembered that effective offensive actions by the countries at risk are worthwhile measures too.


jerusalem zp 10:48 GMT April 28, 2004
dolphin, thks for the note, independence day went as planned yesterday. the argentine contingent in my family prayed around the 'asado' and we ate far too much. just now beginning to feel like i can move properly again. as for the pale ones arriving to the red sea area, i hope they cleaned up after themselves before they left last night.

nh, i have been reading through your posts on the financial side regarding interest rates. seems with the additional news yesterday of a rising consumer confidence in the states too that if we should receive additional 'good' employment news this month that the fed is going to have to act soon. but interest rates are low in the states - as you say a rising interest rate typically effects the markets in a negative way - but with the rates being so low currently it seems that they have room to go up a bit - a couple of points - before it really causes anyone to re-think strategy. thoughts?

jerusalem zp 20:16 GMT April 27, 2004
there are reports coming out that there have been fierce gun fights and several explosions in damascus today. in the late 70's and early 80's the assad took on the 'muslim brotherhead' in a rather brutal way. appears that syria will now be joining the list that includes egypt and saudi arabia underneath the heading - you reap what you sow.........
the governments of these countries have busy days ahead of them. and unfortunately jordan might also become a party to this particular list - though the amman govt has been more forthcoming about what it feels it is up against.

jerusalem zp 22:38 GMT April 26, 2004
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
It's time to reevaluate our involvement!
Every day there are news reports about more deaths. Every night on TV there are photos of death and destruction. Why are we still there?
We occupied this land, which we had to take by force, but it causes us nothing but trouble. Why are we still there?
Many of our children go there and never come back. Why are we still there?
Their government is unstable, and they have sloppy leadership. Why are we still there?
Many of their people are uncivilized. Why are we still there?
The place is subject to natural disasters, which we are supposed to bail them out of. Why are we still there?
There are more than 1000 religious sects, which we do not understand. Why are we still there?
Their folkways, foods and fads are unfathomable to ordinary Americans. Why are we still there?
We can't even secure the borders. Why are we still there?
They are billions of dollars in debt and it will cost billions more to rebuild, which we can't afford. Why are we still there?
It is becoming clear...
we must pull out of California.

jerusalem zp 12:48 GMT April 26, 2004
nh, i understand your points, but allow me to say that i dont think america will do this. i just dont see it happening. i just dont think america will stick out her neck this far. it kind of goes back to our old arguement about what would happen after the iraq war. i believe i said to you that america would not enter syria or pick a fight with the hizbullah because it didnt have the heart to do so even though it probably should be done. i am no longer sure of this as much as i am sure that bush will not want to commit to any such type of hard core actions until after the election.
lastly, the one thing that could change this would be if america was attacked one more time in a huge way. just like the palestinians misjudged the israelis in thinking somehow the withdrawal from lebanon could indicate what would happen if they choose to start another intifada in gaza and the west bank - i dont think the fanatics quite understand the american mentality either. and that is, typically they are good natured, look the other way and mind their own business, but kick them in the mouth and they will come at you with everything. i believe the fanatics somehow think if they can hit america again this will get the americans to back down - which i think would be their greatest miscalculation of all time. america has yet to wake up completely regarding this whole mess, i believe that day will soon arrive and i hope it does before she takes another hit.

jerusalem zp 12:26 GMT April 26, 2004
nh, sad if true, but i am not so sure. in many respects we saw the same thing happen here in israel when our latest intifada broke out. many, including myself, took the first opinion that we could talk and work things out. over a period of time, almost a year and half things became self evident that in fact the other side was not willing to compromise and was intent on fighting a war. only then did many in the camp of trying to work things out wake up. suffice it to say that it will take something to wake the generals up, to make them realize that they are not in iraq to be a police force but to actually make sure the combatants on the other side are forced to surrender or are killed. seems to me we are really now only waking up to the fact that we are only beginning this war, that the real battles are actually yet to be fought. seems to me bush will do everything he can to avoid massive war before the election. this being said, i believe fallujah and other places militia strongholds are about to see major bloodshed.

jerusalem zp 12:02 GMT April 26, 2004
nh, this is either a softening of the public by making them understand that all other facets of negotiation have been attempted or as you offer idiocy. i suspect that the military must make it clear that all avenues have been tried before these battles begin - which surely they will.

jerusalem zp 18:47 GMT April 21, 2004
imo the world gets yet another notice nailed to its door today. we had bombings in iraq and saudi arabia. most of the vicitims of these murderous acts were no doubt arab children, women, and men.
today i read that hosni mubarek has been quoted in a le monde (french newspaper) that no american or israeli 'interest' in the world will be safe after the assasination of yassin & rantisi and america's actions in the middle east.
ok, yes, maybe mr. mubarek, but it seems to me the interest of israel and the u.s. are just as much your interest as theirs. why?
because - case in point - these fanatics/ nationalists that america and israel fight are the same ones that the saudis, egyptians, and other arab countries must fight too.
while it might be nice to think of this as all being the fault of israel and the u.s. for some - equally it should be taken into account that countries like saudi arabia and egypt must take responsibility for not making their countries more open and with greater opportunity for all - thus stopping some of the homegrown fanatics/ nationalists that have grown within their midst too.
final point, this is not only the u.s and israels problem - anyone who wants to believe that will have it continuously shown to them. the murderers kill many more of their own nationals then anyone else. the war is not against america and israel, the arab world must admit this out loud.

jerusalem zp 11:37 GMT April 20, 2004
here's safire on the united nations oil for food scandal. obviously the u.n. is the place to work if you want to make real money and do nothing in earnest (except misdeeds) for it..........
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/19/opinion/19SAFI.html

jerusalem zp 08:51 GMT April 20, 2004
speaking about football, here is one outcome i am happy to have not seen happen........
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/417473.html

jerusalem zp 18:41 GMT April 18, 2004
jp, it is a war, hamas has said they seek none other than the destruction of israel. hamas is free to try and kill israelis and they shall continue, and it is the job of the israeli govt to protect its citizens. if a provern murderer says he intends on killing your family just how do you deal with that person. arafat and some of his ilk and particularly hamas wanted a war, they have gotten a war, they are losing the war and all of their assoiciates shall too.
as i said about two years ago now i suspect, the day arafat walked away from the camp david talks and bet on winning more concessions through his intifada was yet another dark day in palestinian history when they once again could not compromise and instead choose to wage war, and eventually have proven always to lessen their bargaining power.
we jews in israel arent like the jews from the slaughtering bowels of europe, we shall be nomads no more. are stomachs can deal with this fight and we shall for as long as it takes.
smart money on the palestinian side is waiting in the shadows for the day arafat dies. hamas wants nothing more than dead jews, thats fine but we shall kill them as long as they seek their stated goal. shed all the tears you want for the great rantisi or yassin. but dead cant dance.

jerusalem zp 14:41 GMT April 16, 2004
revdax, havent you heard the news? a group of israelis and palestinians business people have purchased the country of france. they plan on sending all the misfits from both sides to paris. most in france do not know of the deal yet, but sometime in the summer after all things are worked out the arrangement will be announced. problem for the israel and palestine business people is that it is feared that france will in fact become civilized after the culprits are sent there much like oz after the brits sent all of their dregs there. we are a jealous people and thus we fear that the french falafel will be better than the middle eastern version soon after.

jerusalem zp 17:56 GMT April 14, 2004
nh, definitely a problem of mine......i will work on it.
as for bush and a possible bootleg play, i wish bush would consider as part of his playbood the old dallas cowboy screen play in which they would just role over any and all who got in the way. as bill walsh used to do, a good list of plays to open the game is not a bad way to go, be it h.e.l.l or highwater.

jerusalem zp 16:48 GMT April 14, 2004
further into the murk, seems to me that a similar post world war two solution must be used, one in which iraqi coalition rules govt decisions, but its military is under the auspice of the u.s. led coalition. makes for two universes in one sphere which is not a good thing, but what are the alternatives?

jerusalem zp 16:44 GMT April 14, 2004
can someone please let me know if any rules of engagement have been set up for the upcoming handover of power to the iraqi coalition? by this i mean have any dictates been written on how the u.s armed forces and other coalition members will take and commence any orders given? what is the chain of command? will u.s. still have the ability to carry out offensive missions without iraqi coalition approval? etc, etc.
seems to me these details had better be worked out quickly and will undoubtably lead to anger within the iraqi coalition and u.s. govt very soon. case in point will occur when the iraqi coalition sees fit to negotiate with militias that the u.s feels shouldnt even exist.
its going to be quite a hornets nest.

jerusalem zp 14:59 GMT April 14, 2004
irish, i learned a long time ago that one cannot help the deluded unless the deluded want to be helped, of course, strong drugs help them sometimes. so i do hope the nurse stays around just to keep things sane when she can muster up a visit.
while in the states a good friend was drinking bailey's while i drank gin, i recalled then a drink an uncle of mine used to make with bailey's and a shot of vodka mixed. i suggested to my friend that he start having these and i would follow suit, needless to say when we left the bar a few hours later we felt pretty good.

jerusalem zp 19:34 GMT April 13, 2004
dolphin, i have been back from my trip to the states for a couple of weeks now. as for traveling with the 'fat man', no need to fly with him, he consults me before he leaves....

jerusalem zp 18:12 GMT April 13, 2004
btw, i understand mel brooks will make a movie about nesara after its rise and fall much like his lampoon of the nazis with the movie and now play called 'the producers' it is rumored that he is going to call it 'the pigeons' and base the central theme around a poor bird keeper who keeps wishing for his lowly birds to turn into doves.

jerusalem zp 12:07 GMT April 13, 2004
nh, one other note, mc cain scared me this weekend when he let the rumors circulate that he would consider taking a v.p. nomination from kerry. not that it ever made much sense or has much of anything plausible related but i am certain mc cain let it serve notice to those in the republican party that he has his own following and that he should be listened too and respected. for a moment i thought we were going to see one of your predictions come true albiet in a most strange way.

jerusalem zp 11:49 GMT April 13, 2004
nh, what about placing bets regarding on when someone from the cia or fbi is going to get completely irritated with the way tim roemer asks questions and tries to punch him? anyone but me feel that roemer never gave rice a chance to finish her answers to his questions and that he was more interested in his own self image?

jerusalem zp 12:08 GMT April 12, 2004
dan, re your early 00:39 post of this morning and your writings to me, please note: organized religions and i do not get along so well. maybe your words are for others - ok, because personally i care NOT to discuss formal religion here.

jerusalem zp 17:32 GMT April 9, 2004
nh, sorry about the delay in getting back to you, was off visiting stone in some of the more unsavory spots in the land of chaos today.
regarding bush and my opinion regarding his reelection. i believe that bush must stay the route he has taken, he is allowed to veer right and left every now and then but having said that he has always said the u.s. is fighting a war. the problem is making the u.s public and media understand that. from the right he will hear that he must be tougher, from the left more diplomatic, but in the end he needs to make sure he sticks to policy and does not get stuck in a politically correct quaqmire arguing about what is right and wrong in conflict. let the public at large discuss that, but he should stick to his 'guns' and pursue the enemy. one huge stumbling block is how his administration handles the shi'itse & sunni militias offensive currently, if he makes too little of it he will come off looking like an idiot. (i sure jp, jv, and some others might say that is not a far trip)....... he must make sure that what is happening is perceived as only a battle in a war, and sometimes battles do not go the way they are intended. simple really he must continue his tough stance, let rumsfield talk war policy, let powell (the smuck - talk diplomacy).
in the end it is important, it is not about propaganda, it is about making sure that policy in acted upon. if the u.s were to walk away, or negotiate with the enemy then it will be a large political mistake and historically a poor day for the world.

having said all that, end of day it is still about the economy in the states with u.s. voters by and large, no body is going to change sides war hawks and doves at this point, those who will change sides are those whose pocket books are effected. thus my money remains strongly on bush.

btw, i thought rice handled herself well yesterday. not an easy task for her but she came out alive and intact.

jerusalem zp 14:38 GMT April 8, 2004
nh or irish, can one of you please tell me the mood of the people around you in the states regarding what is taking place in iraq regarding 'the revolt'. i can read news accounts all day long, but what i am interested in knowing is if the american people are taking the events seriously or see it as merely something that is occuring across the ocean. tia.

jerusalem zp 17:38 GMT April 7, 2004
qip, further into the marsh........
my wife could be described as an universal optimist who in the end believes all things will turn to crapolla (though she seldom admits to the result or final thought).
i can be described as i have said before as a cynical optimist, i believe it is all crapolla but will somehow turn out good in the end.

jerusalem zp 17:34 GMT April 7, 2004
qip, my wife agrees with very little of my political & economic leanings and philosophy. safe to say that her vote nullifys mine much of the time. but just because she disagrees doesnt make her right - nor me for that matter. you may call it a freudian vs. chaos theory clash if you want

jerusalem zp 15:43 GMT April 7, 2004
why not just surrender to al-Sadr now? this way everyone can be lined up and killed by his followers without causing more disturbances for the populace........:

18:32 Iraqi Governing Council discusses proposal not to prosecute rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for murder if he halts uprising (Reuters).

jerusalem zp 14:26 GMT April 7, 2004
imo, ten or twenty years from now we will either compare what has happened in iraq the past week to the Tet offensive in vietnam or the week in which the u.s realized that it can not win a war on propaganda alone against a combatant with lots of time on its side.

jerusalem zp 12:16 GMT April 7, 2004
and for anyone disagreeing to my proposal of tactics, this is why i offer them as a solution. if the u.s. does not make the shi'ite militias and the sunni militias surrender, they will face an 'iranization' of iraq. that is radical elements from the shi'ites will be more than willing to fill any power vacuum. if that were to take place we could expect a long and bloody civil war in that country. there cannot be much room for openings here for either group, they both must be disarmed completely.

jerusalem zp 12:09 GMT April 7, 2004
nh, welcome to the modern politically correct warfare that has been going on in israel for the past three years. not that it is the correct way to fight but it is the way paved with the least amount of critics from afar. not that you should care, or the states should care, but i suspect what you are seeing is a response that is on one hand eager to decapitate the enemy and on the other trying hard not to look vulgar while doing it. it is obviously the wrong way to fight and one day when the world wakes up to it and realizes that they pussyfooted around with fanatics it will mean that tactics will change. the marines and the rest of the different armed branches and units in iraq can pull this off via the ground but it will take some time to get the experience to fight per each house, block, neighborhood. i dont wish that on any soldier but if that is the task, may they learn it quickly and do it effectively. simple rule of thumb for u.s army in iraq should be this, anyone with an unauthorized weapon in their possession should be forced to surrender it and if they do not do so upon being told to lay the weapon down they should be killed. war isnt meant to be nice.

jerusalem zp 18:14 GMT April 2, 2004
nh, you could always vote for nader ;^)
all kidding aside, companies on a whole have been whispering for sometime now that their quarterly reports are looking promising. as we know economics are often cyclical and it seems unlikely that kerry will get 'lucky' and get any news that is going to help him, certainly not from mid year biz results i feel.
as for taking strong action in iraq, since bush has stated a policy of mandating change in iraq he is within his 'right' to get tough there and not cause much harm to his political cause. thus your call for bullets just might get answered quite soon.

jerusalem zp 17:55 GMT April 2, 2004
nh, as i said before bush only needs to keep this vehicle on the same path and he will beat kerry badly. he will take no actions before the election that stray from policy already created. after the election look for iran to come into focus regarding its failure to come clean regarding their nuclear program. kerry will not be getting much sleep tonight or in the days to come...........for weeks he was speaking about jobs, and now he needs to find a new subject, how about that fact that he was seperated at birth w/ gomer pyle? anyone else see the photos?

jerusalem zp 12:58 GMT April 2, 2004
what happened? i thought the terrorists would be placated now that the old govt was voted out. these terrorists are not nice people...........

cnn: An explosive device has been found along a high-speed railway line near the Spanish city of Toledo, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said.

jerusalem zp 16:41 GMT March 31, 2004
nh, i would just like to note that i believe the stock markets have reacted in a very positive way the last two weeks. seems to me they have taken in the negative news regarding the chaos around us and have withstood it and are braced now to go higher or at least consolidate. still on this train.

jerusalem zp 16:31 GMT March 31, 2004
here's an interesting non-political story from israel regarding a wire tap in a bank's dealing room.......might be of interest for traders to read.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/410974.html

jerusalem zp 09:38 GMT March 31, 2004
jv, thks for writing, but it is not character assasination when the person you speak about, richard clarke, is clearly heard on tape, recording during a back room information press conference saying that the bush administration was doing everything it could to combat terror and had done its job better than the previous administration. dont argue with me, argue with richard clarke who said it in his own words. note the only grievence i have heard about this tape being aired was that it was a back room information session, thing about it though was that clarke never said it was 'off the record', which means it is on the record. i will repeat it for you, clarke is nothing more than a lier and looking to win some votes for the democrats.

jerusalem zp 22:41 GMT March 30, 2004
nh, comedy is one sure way to make insanity sane.
you forgot to mention that richard clarke is quoted on tape one and a half years ago saying exactly the oppositte of what he has written in his book regarding his thoughts on how bush has battled the terrorists. i dont doubt that he is a patriot, but could it be that he has taken a dislike to bush simply because he got passed over for a promotion and has decided to cash in on an election year?

jerusalem zp 08:43 GMT March 30, 2004
A man arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv with two large bags. The customs agent opens the first bag and finds it full with money in different currencies. The agent asks the passenger, "How did you get this money?"
The man says, "You will not believe it, but I traveled all over Europe, went into public restrooms, each time I saw a man pee, I grabbed his penis and said, "donate money to Israel or I will cut your balls off..."
The customs agent said, "well... it's a very interesting story... whatdo you have in the other bag?"
The man said, "You would not believe how many people in Europe do notsupport Israel..."

jerusalem zp 08:46 GMT March 20, 2004
the following story should be an indication of how stupid random violence by any murdering terrorist group is. the poor guy that got killed last night while he was jogging on 'french hill' of whom the al-aqsa brigade was so keen to take credit for the killing of - turns out to be one of the top arab students attending hebrew university......
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/406705.html

jerusalem zp 08:31 GMT March 20, 2004
haifa, but...........apparently there is a possibility that pakistan has created a media circus due to colin powell having been there earlier this week, wanting to show him and the states that they are squarely on u.s. side after being found out as being the major source of nuclear technology & gear ..........n. korea, libya, iran (if you are wondering)...
and this morning one of your favorite sites has this to say...

DEBKAfile Reports Exclusively: Pakistan red-faced on discovering “high value” terrorist target its troops surrounded in Waziristan was not bin Laden’s No. 2 Zuwahiri but chief of Pushtun Ahmadi tribal federation. DEBKA sources estimate that any harm to Pushtun chief would spark wholesale tribal war offensive against Pakistan.

so as i asked a couple of days ago, what are the chances?
pakistan has not yet produced anything, dont count on it to do so. remember who you are dealing with in pakistan, that is a military govt. whose main concern is making sure they stay in power, thus a regime ready to be corrupt for a price. one poor step and they could find themselves looking in at a hardline islamic party taking over or the likes of the bhutto family holding the reins again.

lastly, it is interesting to me that cnn has been caught into this fray. in their desire to be the first on the block to announce the capture of zuwahiri, they continue to cover this story but seem to know that they have been caught in a media trap but know of no way out except to continue its 'story' that has not quite developed yet.

jerusalem zp 18:20 GMT March 18, 2004
what are the chances?
BREAKING NEWS: Pakistani president tells CNN he believes troops have surrounded al Qaeda fighters protecting "high-value target." Details soon.

jerusalem zp 15:24 GMT March 18, 2004
dolphin, i have a biz dealing with physical commodities - stone (construction type) & other assorted anxiety driven goods.

jerusalem zp 14:11 GMT March 18, 2004
nh, i dont know exactly what it says about america but any country willing to let william hung sing to his heart's content on national t.v. and do it so poorly is amazing. my wife who is a much kinder soul than i thought the poor guy had downs syndrome. when i convinced her that he was just very bad she looked at me in disbelief as if there was something about the story that was missing. unfortunately it seems to me a case of laughing at someone, not with them, even though he may think so.

jerusalem zp 12:49 GMT March 18, 2004
nh, is it me or is spain's 'new prime minister' helping bush with his comments in the states regarding his approval for kerry? seems to me that it is the type of thing that will win few friends but make lots of people angry.........

jerusalem zp 12:43 GMT March 18, 2004
here's an interesting statistical site for war dead from assorted conflicts around our paradise earth during the 20th century, please note the statistics for israel and compare them to other places..........our little ditty here is a stroll in the park compared to 99% of the other insanity.
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm

jerusalem zp 12:28 GMT March 18, 2004
qip & nh, i wonder whose map is going to be used next?
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_balkans.html

jerusalem zp 22:41 GMT March 16, 2004
nh, for me the surprise and happy ending will be when i can get out of the movie house alive w/o people knowing that i am an israeli from jerusalem........maybe i'll go get some pork ribs after the movie to blend in even more. must be going now, i am being bekoned by the milk wagon.......

jerusalem zp 22:16 GMT March 16, 2004
nh, while we are NOT on the subject, have you seen the 'passion of christ' yet? i will be seeing it next week i hope while traveling in the states on biz. i have heard wsj is projecting almost 400 mil for gibson in profits for this project now. not bad for a film nobody would go see....;^)

jerusalem zp 21:24 GMT March 16, 2004
so, hmmmm, it seems france is getting threats from islamic fanatics too........why is that? france was against having anything to do with iraq. dont those terrorists read the frigging newspapers? gee, maybe it has nothing to do with iraq afterall, unless of course this is some secular muslim group that is mad france didnt go.........;^)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/03/16/france.threats/index.html

jerusalem zp 21:18 GMT March 16, 2004
i found it myself, this is what i was speaking about......
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28556-2004Mar3.html

jerusalem zp 21:10 GMT March 16, 2004
excuse me for a moment, but i just recalled that a couple of weeks ago in the press there was a story about an unknown group who was threatening to blow up 'french' rail road tracks if a ransom was not paid. seems unlikely, but in this screwed up little world of ours what is the chance that this was some how connected to what happened in spain? just asking...tia

jerusalem zp 15:44 GMT March 16, 2004
syrians seem to have there hands filled these days, pity......
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/404906.html

jerusalem zp 15:27 GMT March 16, 2004
a poet and i didnt know it........guess he's part of the dead poet society now........
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/03/15/alqaeda.death/index.html

jerusalem zp 09:44 GMT March 16, 2004
here's an interesting opinion piece:
http://www.reason.com/links/links122403.shtml

jerusalem zp 19:37 GMT March 15, 2004
th, good points, and actually i agree with you, i never said that we need to invade countries to win this thing. what we need to do is go after the root, where it grows, and kill it. using whatever means that are needed. different days will call for different methods. sometimes that means all out war, sometimes that means selective operations.
as for you arafat question, answer is simple, israel doesnt have enough political power to eliminate the poker player and get away with it. israel would pay heavily for such a 'violation', particulary within europe. we cannot afford that price tag quite yet.
that being said, the attack in ashdod yesterday was meant to hit the fuel/chemical compound yesterday. it failed and we were 'lucky' to only have 11 people murdered instead of half the city of ashdod. which brings me to the point, arafat's band of gypsies were one of the groups that participated yesterday. on friday in the east jerusalem, mullahs spewed out more filth than they have in the past three years.....comparing jews to donkeys, monkeys and pigs (who knows perhaps they are correct), but the point is that once again because israel has gotten closer to coordinating a solution regarding gaza with the gaza leadership (dahlan and associates), the egyptians, and the americans, arafat has lost his temper once again.

jerusalem zp 19:05 GMT March 15, 2004
th, do you really think you would hear anything about appeasement coming out of anyones mouth in europe? when chamberlin told the english and the world that all had been settled with hitler there were not many voices warning against him, except for churchill.
qip, i do not have a crystal ball into the future but i see what happened yesterday as a way of showing the terrorists that their actions have direct and positive effects. as nh pointed out the popular party was ahead in the polls until saturday when all things became obvious. perhaps the popular party committed a mortal sin if they lied and knew that it was al-qaida that had attacked but nevertheless it is not a reason for the victim to blame themselves or their govt for being attacked. as i pointed out yesterday attacks have occured nearly every where soft targets have existed.
what i see is the following:
italy possibly going left in the next election,
germany turning right but staying neutral,
france possibly going left, but no matter what staying above the fray as they see it.
great britain continuing it path but with a large amount of voices that say they should talk this problem out.......
and therein lies the problem, this cannot be talked out. it must be dealt with. europe is not united except in their ability to hide from what is coming.
this will become a war of attrition and it may take one hundred years to play out because of the need to be politically correct in europe, the desire to please everybody is going to backfire very badly.
europe will find itself fighting a war for its soul........
it could take another 10 to 20 years before the fanatics control saudi arabia but so be it. it could take another 20 or 40 years for them to control turkey but so be it.
only thing that can save the world is one unified policy of stoping fanatics and extremists at the roots. but this is not going to happen, we dont want to upset anyone.
i really dont want to go into the depth of this long term struggle, but i will say that madrid is not the final stop in this terrorism parade.
i am quite certain spain signed the death sentence of many people yesterday, i hope i am wrong.

jerusalem zp 17:15 GMT March 15, 2004
imo outcome of the spanish vote will be a day we can mark down in history as one of the key moments when europe started to break its relationship with the states. europe seems quite ready to begin yet another ill fated period of appeasement. it will prove a disaster.



jerusalem zp 19:04 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, btw, you are the one all day long who has brought israel up in some underhanded way. you have implied twice today that their exist a wish to make israel's problem the sole problem here. this is in your head, why not just say it is a jewish conspiracy or a kabal or some zionists plot? let me also point out that you were the one to mention the bombings in ashdod tonight, not anyone else, you. so who is it that want to speak about israel all the time?

jerusalem zp 18:51 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, i know it is sunday so perhaps i am interupting your ouzo break, but when somebody - you - writes that they dont care about israel's survival, i believe i have a right to say anything i want. as you once pointed out, this is a political forum, i thought the way it works is that we can feed off eachs others thoughts. if you want to carry on a personal conversation with someone do it by email.

jerusalem zp 18:48 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, obviously you are angry at yourself because you are watching your own illusions come crumbling down upon yourself. israel sits here on the front line, and as jack nicholsen told tom cruise in a the movie a few good men,
"you cannot handle the truth",
and you know what? it isnt my problem, it yours.

jerusalem zp 18:38 GMT March 14, 2004
btw, i suppose greece and the balkans would rest very easy at night if it had a radicalized muslim country named turkey next door.

jerusalem zp 18:34 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, thank you for your honesty - good to know.

nh, take it from me that if the day ever arrives that if israel believes it as a state is in danger of existing, that we will carry out on our own any attack that is needed. as athens just kindly pointed out, not many in europe could give a rats arse about our ultimate survival here. when i read such things it warms my heart because in the end i know that what it means is that israel can only count on itself in this world and perhaps the united states. we took out iraq's nuclear power plant in the early 80's and if faced with such a crisis again and the knowledge that it is only ourselves we can count on we will do as much as we need to. if the rest of the world continues to wish for utopia i wish them god speed and an easy death.

jerusalem zp 14:25 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, your point is a good one about my usage of western countries and one that i thought about changing, perhaps there is no country that is safe from this insanity.

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, thks, and i respect your posts too.
further to my point about the madrid bombings having nothing to do with its participation in iraq, i offer the following:
the recent bombings in turkey,
the massacre in bali,
the truck bombing in tunisia,
the bombings in morocco,
the bombing of a hotel in kenya and the attempted missile fired at an airplane,
the many bombings in saudi arabia.
this does not count the attacks which have been stopped by a world wide security effort which have included planned attacks using jetliners and the destruction of the vatican.
spain is unfortunately just another line on the list.
who is next? which western govt is not a target of the fanatics?

jerusalem zp 08:52 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, thk you, but i disagree with you assertion that the attack in spain happened because it supported the effort in iraq. no matter what al-qaida says it only a ruse and excuse to kill innocent people in what they see as their cause to kill the infidels and bring its fanatical islamic interpetation to reign, they will certainly strike again and have yet more excuses for murdering - of this i am sure. i have been a witness unfortunately to the excuses of terrorists for many years now, not one attack yet in my estimation has ever been justified. we are speaking about terrorists who have no interest in compromise or democracy. i dont want to seem callous when i speak about what has taken place in spain, i merely want to point out that the situation must be dealt with not from the standpoint of the victim feeling somehow guilty for what has happened to them. please remember that i have a household that speaks spanish, my wife is from argentina and we have many friends and associates in spain. there has been nothing but a profound amount of sympathy in our house for the people of spain.

jerusalem zp 08:22 GMT March 14, 2004
athens, seems to me that it is within spain's national interest and its duty to their citizens as a govt. to know what they are up against and why. wishing away the pain has nothing to do with dealing with the reasons why it exist. lastly, if in fact this attack was coordinated by al-qaida it isnt merely spain that has to deal with the events but europe as a whole.

jerusalem zp 06:05 GMT March 14, 2004
cab, in my opinion that the popular party made the correct decision to back the united states and britain within iraq. unfortunately i have come to learn that no matter what the excuse for a terrorism act such as you witnessed last week, there will always be a reason given and it will always be an excuse. imo if the socialist govt in your country is elected you will merely be giving into the terrorists ambitions and they will gain strenght from such a reaction. if in fact this was al-qaida that carried out the attack it was not because of spain's participation in iraq, it was because it was the easiest target. that might not make you feel good, but it is probably the closest to the truth. terrorists kill the innocent because they are the easiest to kill, they go after the softest targets because they are the easiest to hit.
imo the govt's of the world must take a stand and fight them to the death where ever the fight takes us. it will not be easy, many of us will occasionally suffer, but i for one have no ambition to live under the decrees and rules and insanity from fear that the likes of al-qaida bring forth.
as i said before to qip in a post to him yesterday, the world has many negative reactions for every positive reaction, we must accept this and continue to strive for what we know is right.


jerusalem zp 21:30 GMT March 13, 2004
btw, i want to clarify that when i said the re-election of aznar was important, i meant his Popular Party’s bid for re-election and Mariano Rajoy victory. i believe Rajoy would be replacing aznar if they should win - this because aznar must retire.


jerusalem zp 21:15 GMT March 13, 2004
athens, in your 17:19 post you said "........For me, hitting this and leaving that makes no sense. It is an ALL OUT WAR."
when you wrote that, did you have a particular enemy in mind?

jerusalem zp 21:06 GMT March 13, 2004
nh, true, you are correct......however, europe has a poor history in the last one hundred years of shutting their eyes to evil just around the corner and not doing anything until it is almost too late.

jerusalem zp 20:55 GMT March 13, 2004
athens, isn't it a bit too 'politically correct' at this point to ask who the enemy is?

jerusalem zp 20:53 GMT March 13, 2004
nh, your statement, "........never underestimate the ability of the "leaders" to avoid a fight......" worries me more than anything because it is true. though not an old man i tend to be a long term investor. i am not looking for short term profits or that worried about things that shall pass, but i am inclined to bet on the side that i think will win.
what do i mean? i shall watch the spanish election with keen interest and hope for an aznar victory, one that tells me that people will not give into their fears and desire for easy solutions that will only lead to failure. i also tend to think that the spanish election will be a tell tale sign regarding where the american election results will go. (no america and spain are not joined at the hip in nearly anyway, but the tendency for the public to back a leader who has taken their country through turbulent days is a comparable thing).
btw, israeli market will be interesting to watch tmrw.

jerusalem zp 20:19 GMT March 13, 2004
nh, saw your market comments on the forex side and i must tell you that for the first time in just over a year i am a bit worried about the equities side. i believe the market will have to prove it can take the punch on monday and tuesday. i am more concerned about the market psyche than the long term economic outlook, but as we know it is all part of the same soup sometimes.

jerusalem zp 20:09 GMT March 13, 2004
all i can say, if true and muslim extremists were involved in this bombing is that spain and europe should not make the mistake of blaming themselves, in other words somehow mistakenly believing that this attack only occured because of their participation in the iraq war. that would be collective suicide and merely closing their eyes to the reality of what they (and we - the world) face.

jerusalem zp 20:01 GMT March 13, 2004
i stand corrected...........

jerusalem zp 16:18 GMT March 13, 2004
qip, could it be just like in physics, that in the sphere of human history that there is a negative reaction for every positive reaction? why is it that every great age also seems to have conversely it own tragedy? the words "it was the best of times and the worst of times" was written almost two hundred years ago by dickens.
before that the renaissanse had a majestic age in architecture, sculpture, fresco, and painting and saw some of the greatest scientific break through the world has known yet had nothing but the instability of constant city-state-nation war breaking out constantly and corruption on a massive scale. and before that we have the examples of the great roman and greeks examples of achievement and failure.
and may i add before that great egyptian, persian, assyrian, judaic, sino, india, and other asian cultures.
in other words i tend to look at all of this from the perspective that as humans we always exalt within our great cultures, commerce, and science and believe we have catapulted somehow above all other civilisations before us until we are somehow brought down to earth by our great fallacies caving in on our heads.
we go forward, we go backwards, not much new under the sun.


jerusalem zp 20:31 GMT March 12, 2004
bearing in mind that i still believe this was an eta action i have heard that exactly 911 days had passed before this act of terror yesterday since the world trade center murders..........a bit strange........

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT March 12, 2004
cab, my sympathy to you and your family and friends, stay strong and always know that better days will come.

jerusalem zp 07:45 GMT March 12, 2004
imo, people should not be hysterical (saddened and angry yes) regarding yesterday's bombing. their is conflicting evidence regarding who is involved. it should be remembered that eta has carried out massive bombings before and has killed high numbers before up to 30 in one explosion in the 80's. and there is substansial evidence the past couple of weeks alone that they wanted to carry out a mega attack.
obviously if it was al-qaida that has done the deed, it means that europe has been now brought into the focus of the extremists - but everyone has been warning that this was bound to happen and that the european 'innocence' would not last long.
either way, it is murder on a mass scale. now it is time to go after the murderers.
imo, we must deal harshly with the vermin who ever they are and go on with our lives while remembering what we are up against.

jerusalem zp 20:20 GMT March 11, 2004
irish, trust me, i read all of your posts, and i understand your concerns. thing is i am watching tve (spanish station based in madrid) (we get the channel via cable). spanish tv is reporting that the chemical make up of bombs is very similar to explosives used before by eta. it is possible in my mind that eta had a break away renegade unit amongst their ranks, like the ira has had problems with, but lets remember to that war imitates. what was done today was imitation of coordinated attacks carried out in places like iraq. THAT DOES NOT mean muslims were behind the attacks today, i highly and strongly doubt it, NO, what i believe is that the basque terribly miscalculated. these guys have killed before, maybe never this number, but they have killed innocents before. what makes it so hard for everyone to believe that they can take a bigger step and become ruthless murderers in mass and not merely three or four?
these bloody vermin are not interested in the way you or i think. they have other motives, and really, does it matter if we even take the time to try and understand them?
what spain should do is find proof it is eta (or whomever) and then decimate them, kill them, and leave no stone unturned in finishing them off.
one final point, spanish general election was supposed to be held in three days time, it is highly likely eta was looking for a statement before the election.
i will continue to maintain that it is a basque terrorist group that carried this out. it is only hysteria which would cause anyone to think it is someone or something different.

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT March 11, 2004
irish, i suspect that the basque are quite surprised by the magnitude of their disgusting act today and are now having second thoughts knowing they might have just signed their own death sentence for their movement. just last week spanish authorities found a bomb on a train put their by basque eta group.
such is the cowardice of these vermin after they kill the innocent.

jerusalem zp 13:23 GMT March 11, 2004
sorry about the typos, i am very angry........

jerusalem zp 13:21 GMT March 11, 2004
first of my condolences to anyone who is connected the tragedy in spain this morning. nothing less than disgusting the actions of these terrorists........i wish spain the best in bringing this beasts to justice.

the bbc continues to show just how insane and wrong headed their journalism is, one of their broadcasters just asked an english 'spain expert' on the bbc world new broadcast, "if it wouldnt just be easier to grant the basque movement their demands?" this kind of stupidity makes my blood boil.

jerusalem zp 07:08 GMT March 11, 2004
08:59 Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom`s plane lands in Cairo prior to talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (Haaretz).

my question about the headline is this, was the plane only expected after silvan shalom had spoken to hosni mubarak?

jerusalem zp 11:18 GMT March 10, 2004
qip, re 14:00 & your last post, i agree with you. it is something that my wife and i used to argue about many times over until i actually somehow seemed to have made a point....and that is though humans may evolve per darwin's theory, it is a slow slow process and we constantly return to our 'favorite theories and fears' from yesteryear.
imo, we are no better than our illustriousious ancestors who made there way through generations ago.

jerusalem zp 11:14 GMT March 10, 2004
culled from the hollywood reporter/ & drudge, here is a breakdown on mel gibson's mega dollar profit machine:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/grove_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000458215

jerusalem zp 20:16 GMT March 9, 2004
qip, re: 14:00, if you want an example of the point - look to the jayson blair episode taking place in the states now. this guy tarnished one of the great newspapers in the world, now he has written a book on the subject - his fabricating of the news - and he fails to apologize for it. he merely sells books and makes a million or so by doing it. he is appearing all over television - nbc on the today (morning news, magazine show) and now with larry king on cnn.
this too should tell us about our values gone wrong.

jerusalem zp 20:06 GMT March 9, 2004
21:48 Abu Abbas, mastermind of 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, dies of natural causes in U.S. custody in Iraq, says source (Reuters).

this is the smuck who had leon klinghoffer, an old man who was stricken to a whell chair, thrown off the cruise ship. may mr. abbas rot with satan - please.

jerusalem zp 19:56 GMT March 9, 2004
snp, quite recently here in israel there has been a rather large stink because the school boards want to eliminate - certain mathematical questions from the standard exams - this to increase scores and make it look like the teachers are actually accomplishing something special.
and isnt this what it comes down to, we want the students and teachers to both look good, one so the students grades are attractive enough for university and perhaps schools overseas. and two, so the teachers can feel that they have a reason to go on strike at least once a year in order to hold the educational system hostage to their ransom demands because who else could do as good a job as them while educating our children?

th, you hit the nail on the head, we live in a world where looking good even if it is all cosmetics is the most important thing.

jerusalem zp 19:21 GMT March 9, 2004
i wonder if he took care of my parking tickets?

20:50 19-year-old Ashdod (Israeli) resident arrested on suspicion of hacking into Pennsylvania police computer system (Haaretz).

jerusalem zp 19:15 GMT March 8, 2004
i would like to congratulate Hugo Chavez in Venezuela for his public death wish he made last night sub-conciously. here's to hoping the u.s grants him his wish and has him eliminated quickly.

jerusalem zp 16:41 GMT March 8, 2004
sent to me by a friend from dublin:

Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside with only his pet dog for company. One day the dog died, and Muldoon went to the parish priest and asked, "Father, me dog is dead. Could ya' be saying' a mass for the poor creature?"
Father Patrick replied, "I'm afraid not me lad; we cannot have
services for an animal in the church. But there are some Baptists down the lane, and there's no tellin' what they believe. Maybe they'll do something for the creature."
Muldoon said, "I'll go right away Father. Do ya' think $5,000 is
enough to donate to them for the service?"
Father Patrick exclaimed, "Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus! me lad; Why didn't ya' tell me the dog was CATHOLIC?"

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT March 7, 2004
sorry.....that should be ongoing war..........not ungoing war.....though that could be argued too i suppose ;^)

jerusalem zp 16:24 GMT March 7, 2004
nh & qip, imo one of bush's key pillars during this campaign will be discussing america's ungoing war with terrorism. but the great question that will be answered not by bush but the american people is whether that is true or not? do most americans feel like the country is really fighting a war that is so important that it cannot risk changing the leadership of the nation?
the economy while vital can be tied up into enough rhetoric that people will take heed of their own circumstance including employment security, what they have in the bank, and what their post retirement income is looking like. seems to me that enough confusion within this area still exists that bush will not be able to be harmed with the current economic news. while not many jobs have been created as of late, an unemployment rate of 5.9% is not the end of the world.
thus imo it will come down to the issue that i started this post out with and come down to some serious factional silliness like the gay marriage nonsense, liberal and conservative monikers being thrown about....etc.

nh, thks. remember too that gibson's movie is sure to pack them in well into the easter holiday. gibson has himself a blockbuster with this movie. it will be interesting to see how he will use his ever increasing power in the coming years. smart guy.

jerusalem zp 19:44 GMT March 3, 2004
qip, read an article (opinion) on the drudgereport today from some law professor @ nyu saying that he thought kerry should name BILL CLINTON as his running mate. he puts forth a fairly convincing arguement that it is perfectly allowable under the constitution to do so. interesting piece of fantasy to read, my first thoughts after doing so were for the sanity of tg in san fran who i thought might wreck his car if he heard about such an idea over the radio while driving.........
yes, it is highly unlikely (it definitely will not happen) but is a strange enough thought to upset some stomachs, that is for certain.

jerusalem zp 19:05 GMT March 2, 2004
haifa, so does today go down as a 'super tuesday' for the suicide bombers in iraq & pakastan?

jerusalem zp 09:49 GMT March 1, 2004
nh, my wife got mad at me when i told her i was going to see 'the passion' on my next biz trip to the states, NOT because she doesnt want me to see, BUT because she wants to see it with me here in israel when it arrives.....so count me in for at least two veiwings i suspect.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/29/box.office.reut/index.html

up to an estimated 117mil in ticket sales, not bad for a 'foreign language' film.........

jerusalem zp 14:15 GMT February 29, 2004
much like rushdie can thank the iranian govt for his millions of sales for 'satanic verses', gibson is going to be able to thk alot of jewish groups for condemning his movie. i even got an email from a cousin in the states telling me i should boycott all mel gibson movies now. completely ridiculous and i told her so, institutions and peole just dont get it, they completely feed the machine that they want to stop so badly time after time. can you say tipper gore?
a shas representative in the knesset has asked israel to ban 'the passion', which is a laughable thought too.
besides making movies that he can be proud of, i am certain gibson is going to be able to laugh all the way to the bank.


jerusalem zp 14:06 GMT February 29, 2004
nh, i hope you have a stop loss order on your short for 'the passion'. it looks like it will gross over 60mil by this weekend, which means by end of next week it will probably approach 100mil. never under estimate hysteria....see you at the movie.

jerusalem zp 13:21 GMT February 29, 2004
snp, i suspect you are very much correct regarding your thoughts, but too i know that money in someones pocket is often not turned down. finding the correct pocket to influence is one way in order to go about the task. influencing the leaders and changing their stance will go some way in this effort, not 100% the solution but it can be effective.

btw, just read an excellent book called 'michelangelo and the pope's ceiling'. interesting not only because it discusses in some detail the way in which michelangelo had to work within the sistine chapel but also because it discusses in detail how pope julius II worked. a very good read.

jerusalem zp 13:20 GMT February 29, 2004
snp, i suspect you are very much correct regarding your thoughts, but too i know that money in someones pocket is often not turned down. finding the correct pocket to influence is one way in order to go about the task. influencing the leaders and changing their stance will go some way in this effort, not 100% the solution but it can be effective.

btw, just read an excellent book called 'micheangelo and the pope's ceiling'. interesting not only because it discusses in some detail the way in which micheangelo had to work within the sistine chapel but also because it discusses in detail how pope julius II worked. a very good read.

jerusalem zp 19:42 GMT February 24, 2004
snp, this is one stone biz that i am not a part of, had not even heard about this. do know however that ramat gan diamond bourse has extensive business ties nowadays with the indian diamond trade. from what i understand most industrial diamonds are being cut in india nowadays while the more precious stones get cut here or in new york & belgium. definitely one of the more interesting businesses in the world and one largely where a hand shake and the right family name or backing can get you a long way. here's to hoping that india and israel develop many more businesses together.

jerusalem zp 19:21 GMT February 24, 2004
snp, i am not so worried, i am one of 'those jews' who can sit amongst the gentiles with out being found out.....;^)

nh, seems to me u.s. election year has really gotten under way the past weekend. we have had the official entrance of mr. ego (nader), we have had bush lambast kerry as a 'liberal' the past two days, and to top it all off we have what is surely going to be the great 'issue' of the campaign being publically called out be bush today - gay marraige (which in no small way reminds me how the republicans managed to make the flag issue the great debate during the bush - dukakis election campaign in the 80's. what it spells out is a victory for gwb in the end. not one of these listed things may be of any importance but they will be the keys for this coming election and sure to wreck kerry.........

jerusalem zp 12:33 GMT February 24, 2004
nh, i am willing to go out on a line and say 'passion' makes more money than the biggest indie of all time 'my big fat greek wedding'.........

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/movies/oscars/24BERN.html

how many times in this forum have we discussed a movie as much as this the past three years?

jerusalem zp 12:15 GMT February 24, 2004
one last point about 'the passion', it has everything going for it........directed by gibson, story about jesus, lots of controversy, and from what i understand a profound amount of violence that would make scarface fans happy.....
i will go see it upon my next biz trip to the states in a few weeks time.

jerusalem zp 12:10 GMT February 24, 2004
nh, but sometimes people love buying what they dont understand, just in order to say that they have read, seen, or dont it......
case in point, the book a 'a brief history of time' by hawkins, what was the percentage of people buying the book that actually read it the whole way? and more.....whats the percent of people that understood it?
this movie will makes lots of money, i am going long gibson here....

jerusalem zp 11:11 GMT February 24, 2004
interesting article on looted art, always interesting to me when museums are caught with their hand in the jar and start trying to talk their way out of things.....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0402230195feb23,1,6447751.story?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl

jerusalem zp 18:37 GMT February 21, 2004
athens, i was not and am not looking to argue with you. i am sorry if you feel that i took your words to mean something else. i didnt not say that i even disagreed with you.
please dont take what i say the wrong way either. in your 13:00 post you refered to and i paraphrase.......fanatics going against almost the majority of those in the society.
i took that too mean a reference that you believed the majority of those in the societies that suffered the holocaust -both victims and the guilty as somehow participating in something in which it was only a few lunatics who made policy and somehow carried out the acts without the knowledge of the general population.
it is probably best for me to leave this subject alone, it is the proverbial powder keg.
athens i was not accusing you of anything, i trust your instincts to investigate your line of questioning, i know you meant no harm.
as i said in my first post after you said your daughter had the film shown to her apparently without your knowledge or her knowledge - IT WAS WRONG NOT TO MAKE YOU AND HER AWARE of this. people have the right to become a witness and the have the right to do other things.

jerusalem zp 16:39 GMT February 21, 2004
haifa, shall we build a wall around them before they build a wall around us?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/396682.html

jerusalem zp 14:42 GMT February 21, 2004
qip, thks, if politicians and their camp followers are allowed such outstanding ways of insuring outcomes, i see no reason why my previously stated jail sentence for all retiring politicians is such a bad idea and not introduced to a public that i believe will be happy to enact such trevails for the super egos amongst us.

jerusalem zp 14:33 GMT February 21, 2004
athens, re your question @ 23:00 last night, i tend to go along with the thoughts of nh on this. i tend to think people in general will always tend to look for some one to dislike, blame, scapegoat and use when things are not going easy. while i disagree with the idea of playing the victim all day long regarding the 'shoah' (holocaust) i do not for a second think that it happened because there were only a few fanatics that got hold of the govt. that is a whitewash of history. the fact is that whole populations believed (perhaps like in other periods of history regarding american natives, armenians, etc ) that the people they choose for death were less than human - that they were no more than or perhaps even less than pigs. unless people really want to study what took place and look at the cause and effect, the same story is bound to play out. perhaps it will not be jews that perish next, perhaps it will be another scapegoated population......i dont know. but it is the responsibility of civilization to understand its own prejudices. unfortunately that is probably asking too much. as i used to sing to friends of mine on the kibbutz.....'the world s.u.c.k.s, and i am part of the world'.......

jerusalem zp 22:41 GMT February 20, 2004
athens, my view on the holocaust is a bit like my view on sex - it has always been around, always been there, but until i was old enough to understand the way both worked they meant nothing to me - just stories, just grist. where do babies come from the stork - of course. where did the dead jews come from - good people went bad.
life just isnt so simple. they should have warned you that your daughter was going to be shown such things and asked your permission about her going - that would be fair the the right thing to do. i am not looking to foist anything upon people that dont have an interest or dont have the stomach for such things. having said that, some of us do have a need to know history and we have a need to understand it.

jerusalem zp 22:11 GMT February 20, 2004
nh, that is fine and correct, but i am well within my right to protect myself from the 'outside' when called upon to do so. and - no doubt - to tell my new daughter to stay away from men until she is 25 ;^)..........her green eyes are going to be trouble.

jerusalem zp 21:51 GMT February 20, 2004
nh & th, may i say something about this. it is one thing when school kids are fighting amongst each other and calling each other names and beating the bee-gees out of each other. it is another thing when jews are equated with out right slander and demonization only because they are jewish. maybe a rabbi getting beaten, a grave yard vandalized, a synagouge get torched isnt the end of the world but it is an act that most within most jews causes them to remember a not so glorious past of treatment.
and before i am accused of bring up old wounds to make everyone feel guilty to shut off any arguement from the other side, please allow me to say that there is a time and place to be critical of people, cultures, and nations........
thing is jews as a people do know that they have been historically scapegoated for various reasons and various groups. as jews we need to say when in fact we believe that what is happening is not correct, out of proportion, and sometimes outright hatred. perhaps as a people we are a tad paranoid, but after 1700 years (look it up and read about it - start with constantine's sword by james carroll) we may have some cause to be.
again, kids with spray paint are one thing, beating people and their institutions simply because they happen to be on the block is another.


jerusalem zp 21:15 GMT February 20, 2004
nh, i have read that r. nader is actually contemplating running again, he will make his announcement tmrw concerning his decision. if he chooses to run i will suspect that not only is he a foolish and egotistical moron but that someone in the republican ranks is paying him large sums of money to do and he doesnt even know it. how stupid can one person be?

nh, question to you, if the stock market - the dow industrials -is above 10,500 on the day before election day 2004 - how does bush not get the job back? if it is below 8900 how does he keep the job? my point is simple, americans - including my many friends - will vote with their pocketbooks.........as many people who may be disgruntled because they are unemployed may be nulifyed by those who are happy with their mutual fund returns - and vica versa.
i believe bush is still on target to win..........where is that third party candidate of whom you spoke about last spring going to arise from? nadar if he is ego driven enough to run again can only hurt the democrats again, the republicans will not allow for a third party candidate to arise from their heap.
they of course would have them eliminated if there was a hint of that.........;^) and rightfully so.

jerusalem zp 10:03 GMT February 19, 2004
th, best to my knowledge, though i have heard of the 'law' too, i have never ever heard or read of a modern case in which it was carried out. to say that i am NOT an expert in this would be an understatement. perhaps haifa might be able to offer some more insight. at one time centuries ago this 'law' made sense and acted as an insurance policy so a women would not become destitute and thus - if agreed to by the participants a useful means to carry on.

jerusalem zp 09:44 GMT February 19, 2004
athens, what do you think about being allowed to marry a dead person?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/international/europe/19WIDO.html

jerusalem zp 11:36 GMT February 18, 2004
athens, as you know the answer is yes. i agree with you on this point more than you will ever know. but now that the system of corruption is entrenched, it - the corruption - and bad leadership is what must be dealt with. what 'western europe', the church, and others must do is make fundamental changes in how they approach the problem. too much of the money that gets thrown at these places winds up being spent on vacations for leaders and dispersed to fight yet another war for diamond, gold, agricultural fields of plenty....
there has to be a better way.


jerusalem zp 11:15 GMT February 18, 2004
i do not agree with the cardinal. instead of 'asking' the nations of western europe to spend another 50 billion euro on failed nation states, perhaps the cardinal wants to look into the cause of failed nation/states. NO DOUBT poverty and hunger are terrible, but the so called failed nation states would not be labeled as such if it were not for rampant corruption which exists in their own countries. most failed nations states have failed economic policies, bad leadership, etc. throwing money at these failed enterprises is as good as flushing it down the toilet.
what these nations and the so called 'western nations' need to do is help them set up infrastructure, educate, and help the people of these nations set up fiscally sound political systems.
the african continent is one of the richest continents in pure commodities that the world knows, if anything it is greed which has led to its demise time and time again. this from within and from outside.
latin america has a history filled with corrupt leadership and bad fiscal policy.
the revolution must come from within in order to really change what is happening inside of these and other hampered spheres.

jerusalem zp 10:31 GMT February 18, 2004
interesting to me that the catholic church, one of the richest institutions in the world - which includes real estate hodings, collections of art, and even some banking interest can come out and lecture the world about the plague of poverty. if they are so concerned let them sell off some of their valuables and help out.

jerusalem zp 14:00 GMT February 17, 2004
athens, as a note, kissenger served as secretary of state for nixon and perhaps for gerald ford (dont remember exactly), but i can tell you that he was certainly a republican.

as for the economy in israel growing, my biz was good last year with a partner, recently i have decided to go out on my own 100%. let the people say what they want about benjamin netanyahu as a prime minister but as the minister in charge of finance he is really trying to change some things. israel is still only an emerging market country at best, we still suffer the plague of unions who shut down biz and govts with too much ease and not enough reason, we have corruption within biz & govt, and needless waste.......that being said i am optimistic about the future (smile nh). there are many positives about the economy here and the level of production and education of the population are good. i try to take one step forward a day without getting punched.

jerusalem zp 11:14 GMT February 17, 2004
the following is a very interesting piece from the ny times about various arab groups raising money for the re-election of george w. bush - yes, that is correct.
reminds me a bit of some peoples assumptions that the latin american vote in the united states is only democratic party affiliated - one only has to visit the voters within the cuban population which has fled castro to find strong republican support. come out of the closet one and all.........
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/politics/campaign/17MONE.html?hp

17:42 Heavy snow prevents Syrians from staging their annual protest against Israel`s 1981 annexation of Golan Heights. (AP)

.........do you get a rain check at this kind of event?

jerusalem zp 14:01 GMT February 14, 2004
athens, maybe the iraqi insurgents were upset with tg's communist/socialist govt in san fran ;^)

this from debka.....In early Saturday raid, some 70 Iraqi guerrillas shot up two Fallujah sites with automatic weapons and rockets, killing up to 20 Iraqis killed – 14 policemen, injuring 30. Shouting “Allah is great”, they then petrol-bombed injured victims and stormed police station, lobbing grenades into rooms and freeing some 100 detainees. Four assailants believed killed in gun battle. Mayoral compound hit by mortars, rockets, mortar fire.

jerusalem zp 13:39 GMT February 14, 2004
nh & athens, so much for global warming, a snow storm has started within jerusalem this past hour, looks like it might make for a nice accumulation of 15cm/ half a foot by tmrw morning. not joking about this.


jerusalem zp 07:18 GMT February 14, 2004
nh, i knew you would find that amusing, notice however i didnt say it would work out - i will wait to see if it does.

athens, i understand all too well the concept about speaking to someone and not knowing if it is the person who actually makes the decision. i am speaking about what takes place between israel and palestine.

but more to the point and a tip for anyone who must sell something in life, always make sure you are selling to the person who makes the decision to buy. sounds naive but i have seen guys waste their time taking people to dinner, calling them once every couple of days, etc. only to watch them find out that in the end they still must deal with someone else regarding crucial details as terms, delivery, etc.
one of thus simple rules in life that goes a long ways.

jerusalem zp 21:07 GMT February 13, 2004
athens, thks for the bbc link, pretty much like the n.y times, and the reports i am hearing on the radio thegeneral mood seems to be positive about resolving the issues to go forward and get a deal worked out. if it works out it will be a much needed feather in the cap of the u.n.
i for one think that the only way to peace for this island and other enclaves that have 'ethnic' tensions is to insure the place peace and prosperity with the like of a large guardian govt structure such as the european union. it will be important to make sure that this compromise is not merely cosmetic thus causing it to fizzure at a moment of weakness or stress of which there are sure to be some.
and this is why i brought up the example of israel and palestine, i only mention it in a broader sense regarding the condition of people of whom there is historical memory, distrust, and even out right lies about the other community nearby.
i know full well that what a slippery slope exists and the complexity of the mass. it would be good to see greece and turkey resolve this issue, good news for the world..........we shall see.

jerusalem zp 18:04 GMT February 13, 2004
athens, i would like your take on the talks between greece and turkey and the annoucement that the cyprus issue might find resolution, what do you think of it?
in your estimation is it workable, do both sides really want to work together, and lastly can you compare the conflict between greece and turkey in some way to the crisis between israel and palestine? seems to me if greece and turkey can really work out their differences politically (if it actually happens) that it will be an outline for others to follow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/13/international/europe/13CND-NATI.html?hp

jerusalem zp 14:45 GMT February 12, 2004
irish, could prove a valuable way to make money for one of our member's here....here's to the criminality of all utopias.

jerusalem zp 14:06 GMT February 12, 2004
here's an interesting article on charity possibly going bad. have you seen these green boxes around irish?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0402120028feb12,1,981851.story?coll=chi-homepagepromo451-fea

jerusalem zp 13:51 GMT February 12, 2004
qip, i read the times article this morning, it is interesting no doubt. throughout history we have these type of situations unfold. plain truth is no body wants to be the messenger of bad news to an ill tempered king.

jerusalem zp 15:21 GMT February 11, 2004
nh, by your estimates we are looking at nearly half a billion u.s.d being spent on the upcoming election. so much for john mc cain's campaign reform agenda a few years back. it really is an amazing amount of money to spend on such a thing.

jerusalem zp 15:15 GMT February 11, 2004
nh, you said, "you are too optimistic about the Pres - he can't play defense - he has to set the agenda, any weakness or pullback or compromise will be disastrous"

all i can say is true to form i remain a cynical optimist, i think the president continues his current game and doesnt start another until the election is over.....we shall see.


jerusalem zp 14:14 GMT February 11, 2004
nh, one thing is 100% for sure, both bush and kerry have the funds to spend to make this an enormously loud and long campaign. i would like to see the data because i suspect that these two are about the richest candidates to run against each other ever. this if you count kerry's wife's money. it will be interesting and tiring before it is all over.

jerusalem zp 14:09 GMT February 11, 2004
nh, allow me to suggest that if the republicans believe that the national guard questions about bush are coming from an organized democratic initiative that the republicans will be quick to pull out kerry's anti war stance after coming home in the early 70's. i still disagree that about some expanded foreign policy war footing before the election - IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. possibly after he is re-elected bush might go this way but not before. no, what bush needs to do is make sure there are no loses but he continues his brisk approach and doesnt back down foreign policy wise without any growing entanglements until election is over. other than that he must keep domestic issues under control and master the art of economic spin doctoring for public consumption. i still see bush beating kerry and doing so by hammering away at kerry's senate record - true or not - kerry is about to be lambasted as a liberal poster boy a la dukakis.

jerusalem zp 13:32 GMT February 11, 2004
and this breaking new just in from israeli army radio.....
14:54 Police arrest 17-year-old youth for stealing goat from Holon agricultural school; told officers he `loves animals`. (Army Radio)

one would think with unilateral withdrawal from gaza (a bit like heroin addiction trying to kick if you ask me),
no confidence votes in the knesset taking place,
city services on strike, no trash being collected,
israeli army going after militants this morning in gaza operation,
and of course the incident regarding the husband locking his wife in a room yesterday and not allowing her to wear shoes that army radio would have other things to worry about. but then again a goat produces cheese and eats aluminum cans thus helping the enviornment so maybe i am wrong.


jerusalem zp 09:41 GMT February 11, 2004
snp & athens, please note that my dog, a true caananite, started barking like mad about ten minutes before the earthquake and wouldn't calm down until it passed. i shall keep him.
everyone is fine here, though we are jewish and wondering what comes next........

jerusalem zp 08:32 GMT February 11, 2004
we just had a minor earthquake in jerusalem

jerusalem zp 20:17 GMT February 10, 2004
i am sure she needed more shoes.........or drinks to forget about the absurdity of her life........
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/392855.html

jerusalem zp 16:42 GMT February 10, 2004
this breaking news just in....

18:05 Ramat Hasharon resident arrested after wife complains he locked her in a room and forbid her to wear shoes. (Haaretz)

jerusalem zp 07:18 GMT February 10, 2004
jp, possibly a safer bet on things going badly - word is Eurotunnel might be on the way to insolvency....

http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1075982393688.html

jerusalem zp 18:04 GMT February 5, 2004
jv, regarding 16:38 - last time i checked it didnt particulary mattered what anyone in canada particularly thought about who should be president in the states. nor does it matter now, question is who the people of the united states think should be president.

jerusalem zp 06:41 GMT February 4, 2004
should be........'western' candidate might NOT help....

jerusalem zp 06:40 GMT February 4, 2004
nh, kerry/edwards ticket? or as we spoke about last week does edwards decide not to join ticket because it may cast him as a second fiddle which does not fit his ego? interesting weeks coming up as kerry now has to consolidate party and show his ability to focus as bush's rival. it will be interesting to watch kerry and edwards and their interaction in the coming weeks, edwards would clearly help kerry get some votes down south but are they enough to counter bush's weight there already? does kerry then decide that the votes edwards would bring in wouldnt be enough anyhow and decide to go for a 'western' running mate? problem is bringing in a 'western' running mate might now help kerry so much unless he has support already within those voting, this because western states and voters are more independent minded - tend to go their own way - more often then the eastern and southern states. as you said last week, interesting things are coming up and worth paying attention to.
bush imo has to really maintain his image and not get bogged down answering questions which are sure to hamper him - wmd's ? budget deficits ? its going to be an interesting nine months, i still believe bush will win the election.
lastly, lieberman and dean should really consider getting out of the race now - it will be interesting to see where their egos take them and how they accept failure. clark might think he has another few weeks left as we predicted because of results but his days are numbered too.

jerusalem zp 22:02 GMT February 3, 2004
has anyone else here read the book 'moneyball' by michael lewis, same guy who wrote 'liars poker'? moneyball is one of the best books i have read all year.

jerusalem zp 21:50 GMT February 3, 2004
haifa, do you think the party heads of the pa and hamas will move into the likes of kfar darom and the other 16 or places in gaza or will they be bulldozed over so nobody else can enjoy the california lifestyles created in that chaotic and tortured enclave of paradise in h.e.l.l ? or is just a campaign speech/ ploy by our elderly statesman?

jerusalem zp 12:07 GMT February 1, 2004
An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation ensues:
"I am 92 years old Father, I have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times."
Priest: "Are you sorry for your sins?"
Man: "What sins?"
Priest: "What kind of a Catholic are you?"
Man: "I'm Jewish."
Priest: "Why are you telling me all this?"
Man: "I'm telling everybody."

jerusalem zp 21:11 GMT January 30, 2004
i suspect ibiza & oil man have good perspectives on jordan as well and i would like to see them.
also, i would like to wish both ibiza & oil man a good holiday.

jerusalem zp 21:09 GMT January 30, 2004
nh, i believe jordan is stable as long as israel is stable. obviously that is relative, yesterday having spent the morning dodging ambulances reminds me of this. jordan maintains a strong shall we say security presence amongst its population. i would call it a benevolant rule that the people have there. having said that over half of its population is 'palestinian'. in the early 70's king huessin dealt quite strongly with the plo. for the time being the palestinians seem content their to be jordanians when allowed to be.
the current jordanian leadership is quite leery of any problems within the palestinian /israeli camps because it effects them first hand. having said this i would say jordan is safely within the same camp that turkey maintains here in the middle east. the people in the leadership and a large segment of the populations in both countries are looking to improve their lifes through economic prosperity, not through blind hatred. thus, i would say jordan is stable and can be counted upon in many ways to provide a bridge to other countries in the future as a show of co-existence for both the states and israel.
having said that it is not enough to pay lip service to any population in the world for too long, at some point tangible proof must be given that there is a reason for certain tasks and actions.

jerusalem zp 20:44 GMT January 30, 2004
read a comment in the herald tribune this morning that was reprinted from a london newspaper pretty saying that while america and britain are rightly concerned about iraq and afghanistan that it would be highly wise to pay attention to what is taking place in saudi arabia. now i have been personally reading this sort of thing for about twenty years now, but it seems to me that recent problem in the 'kingdom' with attacks from al-qaada represent a growing threat and a clear sign that the general population is weary of being led by this particular family. article went onto imply that saudi arabia is a barrel waiting to explode. just imagine the fun worldwide if snp's post about pakistan proves true and the saudis too face major unrest. the party has just begun....hold on everyone.

jerusalem zp 20:34 GMT January 30, 2004
This is truly a heart-warming story about the bond formed between a little girl and some builders. This makes you want to believe in the goodness of people and that there is hope for the human race. A young family moved into a house next door to an empty plot. One day a construction crew turned up to start building a house there.
The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door and started talking with the workers. She hung around and eventually the construction crew, all of them rough diamond types, more or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot.
They chatted with her, let her sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important. At the end of the first week they even presented her with a pay envelope containing $5. The little girl took this home to her mother who said all the appropriate words of admiration and suggested that they take the money she had received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.
When they got to the bank the clerk was equally impressed with the story and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own wage packet at such a young age.
The little girl proudly replied, "I worked all last week with a crew building a house." "My goodness gracious," said the clerk, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?" The little girl replied, "I will if those useless c*nts at B & Q ever bring us the f*cking plasterboard !!!



jerusalem zp 18:38 GMT January 30, 2004
ny, thks, i noticed that you had posted the brazilian/american anedote.

as a note, i fly all the time. before becoming a father a couple of weeks ago, i had noticed one important thing.......the parents of crying infants are typically to blame for the way their baby is acting on a plane. most of the problems occur when the baby is feeling the change of pressure which effects them more than adults. a simple way to stop a lot of this is to give the baby a bottle (or a breast) this in order to allow the child to swallow and decrease the air pressure.

having said this and being the 'new and great' expert that i am, my daughter is now full throttle crying, this as i await a biz guest for dinner. i wonder if he will throw the chianti in my face before the evening is done?

jerusalem zp 18:18 GMT January 30, 2004
i really appreciate that we are now debating the merits of infants and their behavior here. i will promptly read all pertinant posts to my daughter and make sure she is aware of all thoughts and concerns. thks once again......

jerusalem zp 08:22 GMT January 29, 2004
haifa, did they think it was tuesday?

jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT January 28, 2004
yes, btw, i know edwards and hillary are in the same party. i simply mean that i expect edwards and clinton to be the top two dogs in the party next time around who will battle it out for the nomination.

jerusalem zp 14:18 GMT January 28, 2004
nh - 13:39, i agree with you, i think liebermen definitely drops out middle of next week. as for clark he might do a little better next week taking a second or a couple of thirds and convince himself he still has a shot somehow for another few days. as you said, dean is now viewed as a wounded candidate and he is probably going to have his lunch handed to him next week - maybe he can win new mexico - the home of the x-file people, but he is done and certainly has no hope of being asked to be a v.p candidate either.
which leaves us with two interesting guys - kerry and edwards. this is kerry's last shot probably to run for president successfully. edwards is a young guy, that he is doing so well must be quite a heady thing for him, but he needs to put himself in a well managed place in order to look good while continuously coming in second, this to build for his political future which seems bright. america has a thing for youngish politicians who have a bit of charisma - jfk, clinton. does edwards fit that bill? he should win south carolina, if he doesnt he is out and must wait for another chance. but if he does take that one state he must pull off two more victories to make it a horse race, otherwise kerry should pull way ahead.
having said all that, i am wondering about a kerry-edwards ticket, but suspect edwards will not be willing or foolish enough to take 2nd seat, when this good run is making a name for him nationally and setting him up for a real run against hillary in four years to become presiden.

jerusalem zp 08:17 GMT January 28, 2004
haifa, does the haiku (5-7-5) indicate why i had such a strong involvement in the past with japanese? is it written in stone unknowingly to me?

jerusalem zp 08:12 GMT January 28, 2004
nh, i have seen the results in new hampshire, next tuesday is make or break day within these primarys. edwards is doing well and it will be interesting to see if he gains momentum in the south. kerry looks strong to me and sedate and thus far not capable of beating bush.......
BUT what i found very interesting while reading this morning is that Hillary Rodham Clinton received (Write-in) 54 votes.
no, no, i do not think she is going to run for president this year, but it shows me that she has an interested democratic party waiting for her in 2008.

jerusalem zp 23:05 GMT January 27, 2004
gentlemen, i must go to sleep - or at least try to sleep, we shall see what the night brings....ciao.

jerusalem zp 23:00 GMT January 27, 2004
nh, gv should be quite happy with that since it will increase the hits to this site by some ten million then. remember, no such thing as bad publicity........
also, nh, i will go on a limb and say kerry in fact will win the new hampshire primary this evening - your time - and go on to become the solid walter mondale type candidate (who lost badly to reagan) for the democrats when he has to face bush this coming fall.


jerusalem zp 22:48 GMT January 27, 2004
before anyone goes off spouting my middle finger info to friends at the water cooler.........i made it up.....(of course i could be saying that i made it up, this because there are certain misfirts here who shouldnt know such things and should walk around feeling unsure).

jerusalem zp 22:42 GMT January 27, 2004
little known fact of the day, the middle fingers can not be used to show anger during a nuclear attack by the person launching the weapons. this because they are the fingers which simultaneously must trigger the two buttons to launch silo base nuclear warheads - this after the proper keys have been turned. middle fingers have the most pure balance in the hand and the greatest strenght, thus they are the most sure when used for this purpose.

jerusalem zp 22:28 GMT January 27, 2004
may i suggest that if this nuclear party is going to be held that another area instead of the middle east get rented out and used for such festivities. all those seeking to attend the party will be allowed in......any suggestions for areas to hold the get together (not counting france which is to obvious a choice).

jerusalem zp 21:51 GMT January 27, 2004
jp, dont worry, i am going to build a bunker made from my daughter's diapers, i figure anything that lands in my area will simply bounce off ;^)

jerusalem zp 21:09 GMT January 27, 2004
tg, take it from me, it is not worth it....you gotta chill just a bit....end of the day some good will prevail.....dont burn yourself out quite yet.......there is a long way to go before any of this ends. i hesitate to think about the number of folks i have known who are no more for no other reason than they were in the wrong place at the wrong time during the past three years. we go on.

jerusalem zp 15:53 GMT January 27, 2004
dan, if you have not noticed my english is pretty good. i got your packaging meaning and marked it down. but your description can also mean conspiracy too (which you failed to note just now).............i am not a great believer in such things. i do not need a dictionary or the like to partake in this forum, thks.
as for terrorism/war - yes they are effected by economic conditions, what of it? what is your point? israel isnt the first country nor the last to be inflicted by such trevail.


jerusalem zp 15:36 GMT January 27, 2004
dan, you do not know me, do not moralize to me, this is a political/forex forum. for the life of me i dont get it, but then frankly i do not care too much either. tell me what you want to discuss and i assure you that my scope of the world is not so narrow. we are discussing business/ economics and there is no shame in saying that trade has made the world what it is today in large measure........this includes learning, arts, language, leisure. you have mentioned the word packaging several times, my training could suggest many a reason why you keep bringing up that word. do you have package envy?

jerusalem zp 15:29 GMT January 27, 2004
dan, i also invite you to then go out into our blue sphere and try to do biz in most places in africa, former soviet republics, old dictatorial regimes/socialistic sores including many a country in the middle east and south america and tell me how it feels. the grass is always greener....

jerusalem zp 15:24 GMT January 27, 2004
dan, please, i invite you, go to any listing of the least corrupt top 25-30 nations in the world.........please tell me who is on the list and has the most economic freedoms and the least amount of corruption that is known..........it speaks for itself.

jerusalem zp 15:15 GMT January 27, 2004
seems to me that perception can be both reality and illusion. one must try to know the difference and accept and then plan on how one goes along within the grand sweep of history. it is about being absorbed into a vision or conducting ones own that makes the difference. the beauty of capitalism is that it allows you to glimpse at a dream and gives you the freedom to pursue it. yes, there are taxes, vats, tolls - but these exists all over the world and in developing countries or third world countries it is much worse 9 out of 10 times.
one should ask themselves why corruption on massive scales happens particularly more in countries/societies where govt and institutions dictate or decree how one should live more so than in capitalistic/democratic lands. economic freedom to buy and own, sell and profit (or lose sometimes) is a pure freedom. hardly a perfect world, hardly any perfect society, but at last glance people still move - migrate - to places where they can make a better living much more frequently than those choosing to go back to the farms. perhaps it is all an illusion, but isnt most of life?

jerusalem zp 15:44 GMT January 26, 2004
nh, i dont believe in santa claus....and i certainly dont think i am about to see the day when this type of coordinated action takes place. what kind of time frame are you predicting?

jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT January 26, 2004
qip, it is not the size of their force, but the motion in their ocean.........;^)
hizbullah cannot be judged just in terms of size of uniformed soldiers, but much like hamas (in gaza and some parts of the west bank) within their hold on cultural and social levels within the towns and villiages of southern lebanon which are vasts

jerusalem zp 15:18 GMT January 26, 2004
nh, would you like to put some money on that? clinton thought that he could mark his presidentcy with an israeli - palestine agreement. arafat saw it differently and viewed clinton as a lame duck president and that a better deal could be worked out in another way - intifada (which he surely regrets now). but dear president bush would be mad to openly try for such a thing during the election year. he should decidely wait until he is re-elected and then work hard to get it done. why would he want to take the chance and deal with such impratical sides and forces as the israelis and palestinians. bush should remain steadfast in iraq and be vigilent and work (or pray for continued luck as the case may be) with u.s. economic news. if he can do this he gets re-elected.
things move at a different pace in regards to time in the middle east, politicians and people here look at things long term - i am speaking about one hundred year cycles. i am not joking about this at all. the kurds have had problems for centuries and will continue to have problems for centuries, they are a land locked people who has the misfortune to be surrounded by countries and large ethnic groups who view them as foe.
turkey and egypt are one thing - they are on the u.s. side (turkey more so than egypt certainly). israel has no argument with turkey and both countries have good relations with each other. did you know that one of the biggest tourists spots for israelis is a vacation in turkey?
turkey and saudi arabia will be essential ingredients in getting anything done in this area of the world. why? because turkey has military might and backing from the states. saudis can fund certain things to make things happen.
convoluted? yes.......but the area has only been a mess now for three thousand years.

jerusalem zp 14:55 GMT January 26, 2004
nh, and you always kid me for being the optimist here........first of all, the kurds have worse luck historically than even the jews. second, pa is in no position to crack down on hamas, they will and must deal with them on a political scale or risk civil war - first palestinians and israelis need to make a deal - we shall see how long that takes. i do not believe syrians will make a deal with israel until the palestinian issue is settled. i will go one step further, israel should make no deal until palestinian situation is settled. as for hizbullah being dealt with, whose combined forces exactly? before the outbreak of this most recent intifada, you could see israelis soldiers sitting side by side with armed palestinian security officers. when things broke down here they were quickly shooting at one another. it will be long day before syria, lebanon, and israel go after hizbullah together. as for syria and lebanon taking on the task by themselves, do they actually have the muscle to undertake this without taking on serious casualties? and lastly as i said a long time ago to you, i do not believe the u.s.a (as much as i love the country) has the will to get into this dog fight and risk their reputation even more. no, in the end hizbullah will have to be made to collapse from within.............just like hamas i must add. the likes of hamas and hizbullah make bin laden and his merry pranksters look like school girls within the realm of organization and grass roots support. this is an issue which is not going to be so easy to solve. it will have to be done through blood, diplomacy, and revdax's - economic garden ideas.

jerusalem zp 14:36 GMT January 26, 2004
nh, i dont agree with you. i think syria still needs and wants hizbullah to exist. syria uses hizbullah as an agent to continuiously censored at the skin of israel and will continue to let it do so until it - syria - has come to an agreement with israel or goes the route of all out war with israel (which is highly unlikely currently). syria's economic situation has been in tatters since the collapse of the soviet union, it is one of the most backward places on the planet and works within a vacuum. its people through the ages were famed merchants in trade and banking - including the likes of the safra family (jewish). syria may give lip service to speaking about curtailing hizbullah, but this band of terrrorists acts with their blessings and because syria allows them to. when the day comes that they are no longer needed by syria, it will not be beyond reason to suspect that they could be dealt with like bassar's father dealt with the islamic radicals operating in syria proper - killing 10,000 of them per week until they do not speak again.
this will end one day, but only with a lot of bloodshed.

jerusalem zp 14:23 GMT January 26, 2004
this from a canadian, national security listing on terrorist organizations........
Hizballah, meaning "Party of God", is an Islamist terrorist organization based in Lebanon. Hizballah seeks to restore Islam to a position of supremacy in the political, social, and economic life of the Muslim world. The objectives of Hizballah, as derived from its February 16, 1985 political manifesto, include removing all Western influences from Lebanon and from the Middle East, as well as destroying the state of Israel and liberating all Palestinian territories and Jerusalem from what it sees as Israeli occupation, with no option for any negotiated peace. Guided by these goals, Hizballah's ultimate objective is to establish a radical Shi'a Islamist theocracy in Lebanon. Hizballah has been responsible for car bombings, hijackings and kidnapping Western and Israeli/Jewish targets in Israel, Western Europe and South America. Hizballah operates principally in Lebanon, but has also been active in Europe, North and South America, and Africa.

nh, this all goes together with your comments about the stupidity of proportional response. this group operates just north of israel, our 'political correctness' has allowed this group to exist and operate on the other side of the fence for a long time now. it is literally like israel allowing a nazi organization to live as a neighbor. this groups main purpose in life is to wipe israel off the face of the earth and create an islamic state within its reign. as long as organizations such as hizbullah exist, israel and jew all over the world will not be safe. if you think i am too strong in opinion, ask the families, not of israelis, but of argentines who lost loved ones in the bombings in buenos aires.


jerusalem zp 13:58 GMT January 26, 2004
gentlemen, please note that the hizbullah is the best organized and best funded terrorist organization in the world. they are funded by iran and allowed to operate by syria. simple problem really, if you want to stope hizbullah you must stop syria and iran from operating with this organization. much easier to say than do...........

jerusalem zp 14:32 GMT January 25, 2004
nh, regarding sleep i have been doing fairly well, not as bad as many of my friends had warned me it would be - THOUGH i typically functioned on 5 hours of shut eye before and now find that even though i am getting the same amount - albeit with a break - i feel more tired - but that i knew would happen.

jerusalem zp 13:55 GMT January 25, 2004
nh, true to form i think what time mag is saying in the article is superficial and much too politically correct. they treat the sistani issue with 'kid' gloves, almost as if they dont want to upset their readers with bad news.

jerusalem zp 13:51 GMT January 25, 2004
nh, i dont know if you have seen the following yet from time magazine on sistani and his cohorts in iraq -

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,581270,00.html?cnn=yes

jerusalem zp 13:47 GMT January 25, 2004
nh, i just got off the phone with sharon and he says it had nothing to do with it...........;^)

jerusalem zp 15:09 GMT January 20, 2004
drudge report is fairly entertaining today with it photos of dean and the caption.........DEAN GOES NUTS....at least he will help the economies of all the states in that he is going to spend his treasure chest in while losing the nomination.

jerusalem zp 19:26 GMT January 19, 2004
if you want to see an interesting battle of underdog vs. dominant power developing read the following:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/19/offbeat.mike.rowe.soft.ap/index.html

then go to www.mikerowesoft.com

microsoft is making the mistake of causing this 'evil canadian' to become famous.....and garner fans. the kid - 17 year old - actually has an interesting self made site.

jerusalem zp 18:00 GMT January 19, 2004
under the heading of a lot of work still needs to be done and nobody had better yet put their head in the sand and make believe more violence and intrigue is on the way, i offer the following:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/19/international/middleeast/19CND-IRAQ.html

while the ny times published this just now, cnn has shown film from the protest....to say the crowd was large and organized would be a slight understatement.
just as in the instance when israel years back actually thought hamas may provide a counterweight to arafat and has come to acknowledge that they are a very deadly enemy, the states and its allies will come to realize in no uncertain terms as to why the states actually permited huessin to have power for so long.......IT WAS TO KEEP RADICAL ISLAM from growing too strong in the whole region. only when hussein became more a problem than was willing to be tolerated was he in effect eliminated. BUT now that he has been eliminated one must look closely at the protest crowd of shi'ites in iraq this morning and acknowledge that a powder keg is growing rapidly and will explode violently if not taken care of well. if one can look on this crowd without thinking about what took place in iran in the late 70's one is without historical info. while the shi'ites might not be able to take over the country it is not so hard to imagine their ilk, the sunni's, and the kurds having an all out power struggle that will be bloody and long. the u.s took the option of eliminating huessin, now it must prove that it is in it for the long whole and can deal with this impending problem - a proverbial black hole.

jerusalem zp 13:33 GMT January 19, 2004
athens, regarding your post to me thks, appreciated....utopia may be a nice place to visit but i wouldnt want to live there. i think it has something to do with my yearning for the 'kibbutz' of old mixed with a desire to study and know the 'nature of man' - a lifetime task to be sure. as i told jp a couple of weeks ago, i sometimes am quite amused by my own political viewpoints now when confronted with what i once believed. yet i have no regrets and look forward to all that comes.

jerusalem zp 09:49 GMT January 19, 2004
athens, your post regarding working from the inside to change things is an important point. going about this and trying to make that happen is obviously the hard point. no culture in the world wants to be lectured to from another and told that it is wrong.
the following is an interesting article from this morning's ha'aretz in which hamas suppposedly has said that women can now be suicide bombers - but they prefer that the women who undertake such missions to have dishonored their family previously in some way.....i would like to see the arabic translation exactly on this because it seems like it is an ill serving statement even by hamas standards (i am sure haifa will see it as a blatant fact about how such fanatics regard women, and if the statement is true than this is certainly a glaring example of such)........
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/384608.html

jerusalem zp 11:53 GMT January 16, 2004
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/383877.html

maybe what we need is a giant snow storm in the middle east.

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT January 16, 2004
bc, lee, ahe, to all of you thks. you are correct ahe i must continue to try and expand the economy even more now, i am looking forward to the challenge.

jerusalem zp 20:59 GMT January 15, 2004
i must be going, they who must be obeyed have left me rather wiped out......later.

jerusalem zp 20:55 GMT January 15, 2004
irish, i am very open to my daughter learning gaelic, considering my firm belief that you lads are definitely 'the lost tribe'. ;^)
on sunday we will commence with celebratory drinking in this house for a day or two, you are welcome to make your way over and enjoy.

jerusalem zp 20:02 GMT January 15, 2004
qip, thks, appreciated..........really a great experience and yes, my wife and daughter are doing well and resting.

jerusalem zp 19:41 GMT January 15, 2004
snp, th, nh, thks very much, it is appreciated. as far as looking like me, i am with you on that snp ;^)
and as far as being outnumbered by females, i have been outnumbered by them my whole life, it wasnt about to change now.

jerusalem zp 19:08 GMT January 15, 2004
hello everybody, i hope all of you are well. i want to tell all of you that my wife gave birth to a very healthy baby girl yesterday morning weighing in at 3.9 kilos/ 8 lbs 6oz. i hope to be back and participating next week with all of you.

jerusalem zp 15:28 GMT January 10, 2004
jp, you want further evidence on the warm hearted dr. assad in syria. lets take a look at the statements he has said in the past week while visiting syria and quoted world wide..........
i will paraphrase to keep this focused...
from the leader of syria...
he said syria - because of israel's weapons - had a right to arm itself any way it could with biological and chemical weapons....
he said syria had the capability of fighting back with weapons that could severely harm israel......and should have that right.
he said that getting these weapons was easy - all one had to do was buy them from another source........

if we were to look at those statements and consider his profile and his country's history it is a short trip to the premise that is being put forth WHICH is quite possible that syria made a deal with iraq before the collapse of hussein's regime and helped take the weapons and hide them.

does he really have them? we will eventually find out one way or the other. i am willing to wager that it is true. i will go one step further and say that the united nations and some countries belonging to europe will do everything in there power to help syria cover this up.
syria and iran are the two 'great' countries now standing in the way of going forward.........we will go forward.

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT January 10, 2004
jp, you asked for it you got it, ha'aretz - today - reporting that the syrian source of news is starting to be looked into.........and by whom? apparently by c. rice and team.....
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/381440.html

jerusalem zp 07:56 GMT January 10, 2004
ct, perhaps not credible, maybe even disinformation.........time will tell.... the following from debka.

A senior Syrian journalist reports Iraq’s WMD located in three Syrian sites.
January 8, 2004, 8:57 PM (GMT+02:00)Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf,” that he knows the three sites where Iraq’s WMD are kept. The storage places are:
1. Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels.
2. The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian airforce camp. Vital parts of Iraq’s WMD are stored there.
3. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs.
Najoef writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Hussein’s Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat , Bashar Assad’s cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family.
In February 2003, a month before America’s invasion in Iraq, DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly were the only media to report the movement of Iraqi WMD, the efforts to bring them from Iraq to Syria, and the personal involvement of Bashar Assad and his family in the operation.
Najoef, who has won prizes for journalistic integrity, says he wrote his letter because he has terminal cancer.

jerusalem zp 07:29 GMT January 9, 2004
lee, thks for the note, but unfortunately one of my friend's who thinks she works for the 'top secret' international internet police just sent me this disheartening info:

Whereas this is a hoax, the name has been changed it seems:
http://www.snopes.com/risque/caught/pumpkin.htm

jerusalem zp 13:20 GMT January 8, 2004
Police arrested Patrick Lawrence, a 22-year-old white male,
resident of Dacula, GA, in a pumpkin patch at 11:38 p.m. Friday. Lawrence will be charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, public indecency, and public intoxication at the Gwinnett County courthouse on Monday.
The suspect allegedly stated that as he was passing a pumpkin patch, he decided to stop. "You know, a pumpkin is soft and squishy inside, and there was no one around here for miles. At least I thought there wasn't," he stated in a phone interview from the jail.
Lawrence went on to state that he pulled over to the side of the road,picked out a pumpkin that he felt was appropriate to his purposes, cut a hole in it, and proceeded to satisfy his alleged "need." "I guess I was just really into it, you know?" he commented with evident embarrassment.
In the process, Lawrence apparently failed to notice the Gwinnett County police car approaching and was unaware of his audience until officer Brenda Taylor approached him. "It was an unusual situation, that's for sure," said officer Taylor. "I walked up to (Lawrence) and he's just working away at this pumpkin."
Taylor went on to describe what happened when she approached Lawrence."I just went up and said, 'Excuse me sir, but do you realize that you are screwing a pumpkin?' He got real surprised, as you'd expect, and then looked me straight in the face and said, "A pumpkin? censored, is it midnight already?"

jerusalem zp 09:05 GMT January 8, 2004
noonen on dean and what he should expect the rest of the way......i am starting to think dean will not win the nomination. seems to me too many people are pointing out his weaknesses of which the dems and their supporters arent foolish enough to ignore.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110004522

jerusalem zp 19:36 GMT January 7, 2004
ibiza, did you see this? i just hope they make the jews and arabs eat together, then i will believe that it is serving a greater purpose.....
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/380633.html


jerusalem zp 14:11 GMT January 7, 2004
bc, appreciate the comments as always...

jerusalem zp 13:37 GMT January 7, 2004
jp, i happen to know that thks, what i meant and still mean is that even if an adr is trading on nyse or nasdaq - that the 'real' reports (and business) are being done in a language i dont know - mandarin for example. while there might be some very good translations done on the company.....i tend to believe that i am not getting the whole story....particularly if i cannot see the brand and examine it, or speak with management in their own tongue.

jerusalem zp 13:24 GMT January 7, 2004
jp, of course it doesnt mean that i will sometimes get off the train if i feel the path is too dangerous - meaning too fast, too this, too that....lately i have been getting just a bit nervous.

jerusalem zp 13:09 GMT January 7, 2004
jp, it has now been a bull market for almost one year now and i am a ticketed passenger, i dont have the patience to wait for a dip when i think the train is pretty much going one way.
having said that, i do not go out of my way to buy stocks of companies in which the 'real' reporting is done in a language i do not understand and in a biz that has many hidden disadvantages. having said that i will trust a bit of my money to folks of certain clothing such as the templeton management crews......and will once in a while pick and choose a particular stock when i know and understand that it is 'funny' money that is being wagered........having said all this i remain a bull on the chinese market and suspect i will remain this way for the next twenty years at least.

jerusalem zp 11:00 GMT January 7, 2004
interesting article from the ny times on banking in china .....on bailouts and bad loans and what is being said and done about it....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/business/worldbusiness/07bank.html

jerusalem zp 20:18 GMT January 6, 2004
anywhere i can place a bet on the u.s. rover robot which is now exploring mars and sending back color photos on what is the exact date that it will take a photo of the beagle 2 stuck in a mars type of parliment debating if it should go left or right?

jerusalem zp 20:12 GMT January 6, 2004
tg, you forgot Franco too, btw, he is still dead....

jerusalem zp 19:55 GMT January 6, 2004
.........blue blood DOCTOR........sorry about that, didnt mean to upset the lawyers amongst us...

jerusalem zp 19:51 GMT January 6, 2004
nh, bill was a good basketball player for the knicks, as a politician he has always been a bit too much of an idealist....perhaps this is why he has lined up with dean.
it will be interesting to watch how 'deanie' controls his temper when it starts getting pointed out everyday that he is nothing but a proper 'new york city blue blood lawyer from park av.' who had to move to a state with a tiny weeny population in order to make a name for himself and escape the shadow of his wife............eventually his make up is going to smear something bad........he'll look worse than phylis diller...

jerusalem zp 19:31 GMT January 6, 2004
nh, that's part of the reason i like the name, these are truly straight thinking maniacs - if you're gonna be a nut might as well be good at ..........

jerusalem zp 19:19 GMT January 6, 2004
Informal Anarchist Federation - now that my friends is an interesting name, supposedly the name of the italian group sending letter bombs to various eu members.......

jerusalem zp 13:49 GMT January 6, 2004
tg, your gov. gives his state of the state speech soon doesnt he? it should get ratings unheard of for such things. i am sure that we will be able to see coverage on it through out the world.......it should prove interesting.

jerusalem zp 13:38 GMT January 6, 2004
btw, perhaps interesting - perhaps not, israel is one of the countries in which people traveling to the states without u.s. passports will have to undergo the fingerprinting.....


jerusalem zp 09:20 GMT January 6, 2004
folks, fingerprints will soon be a thing of the past and replaced in large measure by scanning the retina.....simple as that.

jerusalem zp 19:29 GMT January 5, 2004
jp, in a word........life, quite pleased where i am for the time being, and looking forward to the days and hopefully years ahead.

jerusalem zp 17:13 GMT January 5, 2004
jp, another thing, i think i used to be much closer to you in political thought about ten years ago. i think the times have made me into an ideologue, one that sometimes i am even surprised to see looking me back in the mirror.

jerusalem zp 17:08 GMT January 5, 2004
jp, you are entitled (as i trust you know) to your positions and i enjoy reading your thoughts, nothing wrong with the desire to question authority and the rules and others beliefs. i may not agree with you on a lot of things but i do like your arguements and the way you present them....

jerusalem zp 15:26 GMT January 5, 2004
jp, regarding 'where's the beef' just another case of buyer beware in canadians eyes?

jerusalem zp 10:31 GMT January 5, 2004
now that the holidays are about over why not get back to throwing some oil on some of our fires, we in israel are going to help as much as possible.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/379406.html
on top of the fact that supposedly the supreme court is going to issue a statement allowing for some illegal outposts to be dismantled......the labor party led by peres formulated a statement saying all gaza settlements should be dismantled.
israel has quietly been using other internal issues as a means of avoiding some of these troubles lately - namely a work slowdown/strike that has been going on for over 100 days inside of some govt offices - namely the VAT.
supposedly this issue regarding the strikes and pension reform is due to be solved sometime this week or next. after that sharon will have little in the way to keep him from dealing with this greater issue of making a settlement. yet he will continue to find some way to not deal with it i am sure. we will continue this folly until sharon and arafat are gone. sharon still dreams of one million americans moving to israel. this year only 20,000 people decided to move to israel the smallest number in 15 years. could it be that questions concerning security and economic well being are an issue for them? could it be that we are dreaming and must learn to rely on ourselves at some point in the middle east?
we have a long way to go here, and unfortunatey probably a long time to get there. it will be interesting to see what pressure bush puts on sharon and anyone on the palestinian side who is able to listen and do while bush gets his election machine in order.

jerusalem zp 19:22 GMT January 4, 2004
nh, you bring up a good point, our own human faults. i am in your club and even though i have many years experience with the israeli security and other lesser trained folk around the world i still find myself losing my temper once in a while and that my one major flaw - a complete lack of patience is not of any help in those situations. i dont know if you remember my story about having to take off my shoes and not having on socks and then being made to show the bottoms of my feet from this summer at jfk.........if i would have had a bat at that time i would have been fairly dangerous. so i agree with you, we put up with it because we need to. i am with you regarding the codes and releasing of info and hope that states and their partners realize the games that can be played. i must trust that they do...........if not i will not be able to participate in the world.......'failure is not an option'.

jerusalem zp 16:24 GMT January 4, 2004
nh, one day at a time......

jerusalem zp 15:17 GMT January 4, 2004
jp, those 'dumb' americans just landed and are operating a robotic explorer on mars this morning......and it is actually working properly. how is the beagle 2 doing this morning?

jerusalem zp 09:16 GMT January 4, 2004
nh, why do you feel that the security in the states is being made to look foolish? isnt it possible that what they have done this past week end is to stop a coordinated attack? how do you know? if they have delayed, canceled, intercepted planes isnt it better to check everything.......ok, it takes time, and the public is made to wonder because the intelligence communities are not going to announce what the specifics were - if they are smart - because that only upsets people more and makes them more paranoid.
i would rather wait two hours additionally, have a plane canceled, and be absolutely sure that i am not stepping into a land mine.
lastly, the plane that crashed into the red sea this weekend is either highly suspicious or very coincidental timing. NOTE, because it has not been reported extensively on - that tony blair and mubarak were scheduled to meet yesterday in the egyptian resort......blair is vacationing there with his family.

in my book it is better safe than sorry.

jerusalem zp 13:37 GMT December 31, 2003
qip, meant all in good fun, take care.....

jerusalem zp 12:47 GMT December 31, 2003
qip, why deny it? sounds like eating the lucky notes off of other people might be the best part (as long as certain hygenic rules are followed)........okay enough, basta, ;^)
have a great new year's celebration (with or without your clothes on!)

jerusalem zp 12:32 GMT December 31, 2003
i hope they serve scorpions and snakes at them too....

jerusalem zp 12:25 GMT December 31, 2003
qip, how do i get invited to one of these naked slapping cake on everyones back and getting drunk new year's eve parties?

jerusalem zp 08:49 GMT December 31, 2003
snp, i have a sneaking suspicion that she who must be obeyed in my house will not be particularly happy with scorpions or snakes mangling about either dead or within key chains.

nh, nice photos, i think they should call him 'spot'.

jerusalem zp 12:43 GMT December 30, 2003
ahe, i have no idea wha type of snake i ate while eating in china - name wise -all i can tell you was that i let my hosts pick out the snake which was presented to our table most every time alive....and then served fresh shall we say to cook. the food that i have eaten in china, taiwan, hong kong has always ranked very high for me - nothing but good memories of being with my friends and assoiciates there. the food and drink are just as important to the chinese it seems to me as it is for the jews. our two peoples have many things in common....

jerusalem zp 12:37 GMT December 30, 2003
ahe, fried scorpions? there's something i never knew. i will have to make it a point to try them if possible someday. i imagine it cant be much different than eating a shrimp....;^)

folks, is oswald next?
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/12/30/corgi.mystery/index.html

jerusalem zp 12:11 GMT December 30, 2003
ahe, i am not amongst the many, they are definitely Not considered kosher.....
if you must know, i found the snake in china much better to eat. nothing like dropping a piece in some hot oil and eating it over rice.

jerusalem zp 11:45 GMT December 30, 2003
ahe, capturing scorpians was never particularly hard, you just have to know where to look and be quick in covering them with a jar......the small pale yellow/white ones were always top of the line hunting, this because they are the most deadly. typically the bigger and more colorful scorpians arent as poisonous.....what was good about hunting them and capturing them was that you could keep the whole thing as a trophy. as for the snakes, i didnt dare try to keep the whole body, it would have been too obvious to my mom. i simply cut the head off and frooze that.......once in a while we would eat the snake after cooking it a bit (my friends and i/ not my mom).
i have probably told you too much.
thks for your thoughts and wishes, the baby is due in a couple of weeks now.....my wife and i are pretty excited.

jerusalem zp 11:23 GMT December 30, 2003
ahe, thks, i handle nature fairly well, but i dont know how i would have reacted to the beetle. though i have had a couple of interesting instances of creatures making themselves known in surprising ways too. when i was a kid i used to keep various snakes and other keep sakes like scorpions frozen in our family freezer in water jars. my mother was not particularly keen on this and would throw out the items when she realized what the were.
i wish you all the best in this coming year.

jerusalem zp 10:21 GMT December 30, 2003
beware of the snake that hides in the grass....particularly this one.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/12/29/offbeat.giant.snake.ap/index.html

jerusalem zp 13:20 GMT December 29, 2003
jp, and un-cause it? ;^)

jerusalem zp 13:00 GMT December 29, 2003
jp, what exactly is it that you do to cause this.......?

jerusalem zp 10:12 GMT December 29, 2003
dolphin, a little long address wise, but a good article on what argentina and brazil are thinking about the cattle.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/27/international/americas/27BRAZ.html?ex=1073192400&en=e8e4b45a954d5c93&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

jerusalem zp 09:54 GMT December 29, 2003
dolphin, i was thinking more along the cities of rome and los angeles for the restaurant endeavor. perhaps i could have some nice green eyed italian girls dressed some short mini skirts & nun like too....
as for your cattle thoughts on the forex side, seems to me that argentina might get some additional biz, they like the dollar there, and the peso is relatively cheap still.....

jerusalem zp 08:35 GMT December 29, 2003
snp, you and i should open a restaurant and call it 'Sinner's Delight'.....;^)

jerusalem zp 13:39 GMT December 28, 2003
jp, here is a site regarding your kangaroo leather

http://www.motostrano-store.com/kasklein.html

is it just me or is the kangaroo in the photo looking all too human?


jerusalem zp 13:01 GMT December 28, 2003
if a beagle screams in out of space does anyone hear it?

jerusalem zp 12:28 GMT December 28, 2003
jp, too cold to play golf in canada this time of the year i guess, kangaroo leather is thinner than most and quite strong.

jerusalem zp 11:27 GMT December 28, 2003
haifa, glad to see you have successfully made it to space.

jerusalem zp 16:50 GMT December 27, 2003
blame canada...........sing a long now.........

NEWS ALERT - U.S. Department of Agriculture says Washington state milk cow infected with mad cow disease likely entered the U.S. from Canada in 2001.

jerusalem zp 12:29 GMT December 26, 2003
Back in the olden days when Samurai were important, there was a powerful Japanese Emperor who needed a new Chief Samurai. So he sent out a declaration throughout the entire known world of that time that he was searching for a CHIEF. A year passed, but only 3 people applied for the very demanding position:

1. a Japanese Samurai
2. a Chinese Samurai
3. a Jewish Samurai

The emperor asked the Japanese Samurai to come in and demonstrate why he should be the chief Samurai. The Japanese Samurai opened a match box, and out popped a bumblebee. Whoosh! went his sword, and the bumble bee dropped dead on the ground. The emperor exclaimed "That is very impressive!"

The emperor then issued the same challenge to the Chinese Samurai, to come in and demonstrate why he should be chosen. The Chinese samurai also opened a match box and out buzzed a fly. Whoosh, Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! and the fly dropped dead on the ground in four small pieces. The emperor exclaimed: "That is VERY impressive !"

Now the emperor turned to the Jewish Samurai, and asked him to demonstrate why he should be the Chief Samurai. The Jewish Samurai also opened a match box, and out flew a gnat. His flashing sword went Whoosh! But the gnat was still alive and flying around.

The emperor, obviously disappointed, said: "Very ambitious!, but why is that gnat not dead?"

The Jewish Samurai just smiled and said: "Circumcision is not meant to kill."



jerusalem zp 11:58 GMT December 25, 2003
the christmas day comes
and this jewish man knows not
what to do, but thinks
another new day for him
to work will appear

- a gift from me to you haifa in the form of an ancient tanka poem from japan.......happy chanukah....

jerusalem zp 15:47 GMT December 24, 2003
censored, censored censored ..........on lenny bruce pardon...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/nyregion/24BRUC.html

jerusalem zp 14:13 GMT December 24, 2003
jp, no i cannot read italian too well, my wife can ;^)

jerusalem zp 13:59 GMT December 24, 2003
jp, regarding m.p. and her 'autobiography', i dont know if you can read italian but the book is a bit of a pornographic tell all from a teenager, along the lines of the jim carroll 'basketball diaries' in some rather strange
way.....without the heroin.

regarding enron and parmalat, i dont know about you but i cant imagine a matress big enough (maybe the teen author m.p can) to hide the kind of cash these slobs managed to lose. really incredible and as my wife has pointed out, hardly no one will go to jail, and you can be sure someone somewhere is sitting on a nice island resort about now enjoying the fact that they have gotten away with the scheme unscathed. if you are going to be a criminal you might as well go all the way.

most importantly, no i didnt eat the chocolate that night, and it was a good thing i didnt. because the following night my wife while feeling bad for me went to her bag and pulled out the stuff and gave it to me. if it had not been there i would have been under house arrest just about now.

jp......have a great holiday and a fantastic new year.

jerusalem zp 10:03 GMT December 24, 2003
suspected parmalat fraud now up to 11 billion dollars, if you are going to do something, you should always do it very well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/business/worldbusiness/24PARM.html?hp

jerusalem zp 16:49 GMT December 23, 2003
the following from ha'aretz is not for the weak of heart or those who feel that reading something this disgusting will have their holiday spirits dulled....
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/375191.html

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT December 23, 2003
tg, btw, i hope to god the iran track does not run this particular way. here's to hoping that some good old fashioned leverage gets the job done by the u.s and the international community. it will be interesting....
last thing israel needs right now is to get involved in the iranian drama other than diplomatic statements. however, others here may know something i dont....

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT December 23, 2003
tg, your wish may be our command.....

jerusalem zp 09:17 GMT December 23, 2003
dan, is gwb comparable to hitler in your eyes?

jerusalem zp 09:16 GMT December 23, 2003
more evidence that the canadians are evil.....;^)
until now i didnt know that they had anything to do with the enron scandal....
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/business/23enron.html
btw, parmalat has announced that the missing 4 billion dollars will most likely turn into a missing 8 to 10 missing billion dollars....in order to achieve such a massive fraud one must really make a good effort, it will be interesting to see where the cow manure lands.....

jerusalem zp 10:30 GMT December 22, 2003
nobody has yet to confirm for me that president bush is responsible for this quite yet, i would think with all that were so keen to implicate him in some way to enron's nightmare would be happy to be given this chance again.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3339459.stm

jerusalem zp 09:21 GMT December 22, 2003
haifa, this being said, tmrw is tuesday....

jerusalem zp 08:45 GMT December 22, 2003
gold in the streets.....mixed with the occasional ak-47...

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/international/middleeast/22GOLD.html

jerusalem zp 14:49 GMT December 21, 2003
qip, i do not know the answer, but will continue to look...

jerusalem zp 12:57 GMT December 21, 2003
haifa, what's the matter with you? dont you believe Qaddafi could be doing this from the goodness of his heart?
the next months are going to be extremely interesting next up on the getting hit over the head list will be the same players: iran, syria, & israel it would seem to me. i include israel because i believe we will definitely asked to pay the toll for using this new express lane, and we should be prepared to do so.

nh, btw - it would appear the road map is a bit like the dead parrot skit from monty python.
"the road map is dead", says the customer.
"no, it isnt, its just sleeping," says the seller.
"look at it, it isnt moving, it is blue," says the customer.
"no, its perfectly healthy, merely having a rest. its blue because it is so happy with the clear sky up above." says the customer.
we shall see who is correct.


jerusalem zp 08:30 GMT December 21, 2003
the following is a speech given to the commonwealth club by michael crichton, it is extremely interesting and i urge you to read it in full if you get the chance. it deals with the issues of reality vs. fantasy, news vs. propaganda, modern religions and failure.....qip, i hope you get a chance to look at this particularly.

http:/www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote05.html

jerusalem zp 19:32 GMT December 20, 2003
nh,
if anything my posts here tonight should serve as proof that appeasement only leads to ruin........
take care

jerusalem zp 18:57 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, the post was strictly for caisa, lets not jump the gun completely here, DAN BROWN wrote a book called the DA VINCI CODE, which is a national best seller in your country. the post had nothing to do with you, only my best buddy here - caisa.

jerusalem zp 18:54 GMT December 20, 2003
in fact i am going to invite nh to our big holiday bash up on the red planet on x-mas day, we will welcome the beagle exporation unit from europe, melt a couple of continental ice drifts, and then make our way back to earth to make sure we can be around for the surrender of vortex 7.

jerusalem zp 18:48 GMT December 20, 2003
btw caisa, i once read a post from you saying that mary magdaglene was in fact married to jesus a couple of months or so ago, besides the fact that you probably read about this in the dan brown book - the da vinci code, how is it that you dare to speak when you know you are being watched and that nesara is being condemned to death because bush is being controled by we in the illuminati so well?

jerusalem zp 18:42 GMT December 20, 2003
caisa, as always thks for your kind words. happy holidays to you.

jerusalem zp 18:39 GMT December 20, 2003
nh, i am going to have to have a long conversation with my wife this evening, i assume that the events on mars will be of keen interest here too.......sometimes it doesnt pay to be a citizen of the world. ;^)
it is rare that i feel like i have no direction regarding what the blippity gooh i am speaking about but i feel like i have just encountered a patch.
look forward to discussing earthly matters asap.

jerusalem zp 18:33 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, soon as i wrote that sentence you quoted i knew it could be used exactly as you have expressed - and it is true. i for one am not prepared or wish to judge who is a better christian, or for that matter jew, muslim, hindu, etc.....
i will stick to the reality i know, it is my reality right or wrong, but i shall proceed...........much like you plan to i am sure.


jerusalem zp 18:21 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, before you even say it, i do realize i am judging you and perhaps that is wrong....lets just say i get a bit uptight when people start foisting the words "christian king" around me as if that is supposed to make me shudder or have some physical reaction or reverence.......again perhaps you were not trying to do this but old scars heal slowly.

jerusalem zp 18:14 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, thks for clarifying some of this for me.......yet, it does seem odd that you issue judgements for others about what they seem to be thinking when in fact you may actually not know.
the president of the u.s. is a christian himself are you a better christian than him - how do you know?
others here participating in this forum whether religious or not for the most part are not trying to teach others 'their god's (or gods as the case may be) word/s -
but are trying to engage the other in an effort to help us all understand our world a little better.
if you feel you must interject your religious beliefs to us that is your right, but i for one shall choose to decide what i believe and how i believe.

jerusalem zp 17:51 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, please enlighten me, you seem to know the answer, who is this king you speak about that was and has been rejected? you continue to speak in formula, perhaps it is only my opinion, but unless you have a reason to be afraid to name names and actually make an accusation - it is you who seem to be speaking within a fog. who is the voice that speaks?

nh, french foreign minister held a five minute press conference and announced france was please with the libyan developments and happy that they were now about to abide by international mandates...........
as for israel, yes you are correct, israel will come under more pressure now from the white house, no doubt.

jerusalem zp 16:21 GMT December 20, 2003
trust me dan i have ears and i can read in three languages fairly well. which church of america?

jerusalem zp 16:20 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, i do not mean the following sarcastically, what church of america are you speaking about? again you have only offered an abstract....please explain further.

jerusalem zp 16:16 GMT December 20, 2003
jp, is it a good news day when a thriving leader of a country who has been formally found guilty of blowing an airplane out of a sky above scotland, murdering innocent patrons in a night club in germany, and has acknowledged funding terrorism admits he has a wmd program and will submit to inspections and rid his country of the nonsense?
i noticed hans blix wasnt so happy on television about this news either today..........interesting.

jerusalem zp 16:03 GMT December 20, 2003
dan, you say a lot but what exactly are you saying? can you explain any of your last three posts? i get the feeling you somehow are involving religion in your writing without trying to openly confront someone but managing to frustrate most. i feel as if you are holding back........is there something you would like to say besides using abstract formulas all day and then straddling a fence? thks.
there are times in life when action must be decided upon.
btw, i had the gin and tonic last night and not the chocolate.

jerusalem zp 13:19 GMT December 20, 2003
so was this a lie? or did he simply not know?
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020906/2002090612.html

haifa, huge day and accomplishment for blair and bush....this should not be underrated.

jerusalem zp 12:56 GMT December 20, 2003
question, now that libya has actually come out and admitted that they had a wmd policy and facilities, and surprised the u.s. and britain with the amount of technology and actual weapons that they had, does anyone really want to come out and say that the information on iraq is not possible? one should go into the nti site and read through its claims about iraq and after that go into the site further and inspect the libyan information and claims which have not been updated but touch upon what was disclosed yesterday to the public. perhaps some of the information will ring true with some of the skeptics amongst us.

http://www.nti.org/e_research/e1_iraq_1.html

jerusalem zp 12:46 GMT December 20, 2003
how are we going to blame this on bush? hmmmmmmmmmm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/20/business/worldbusiness/20parma.html

jerusalem zp 07:52 GMT December 20, 2003
oil man, 20:51, what you are pointing out is a common flaw in the human psyche. the victim in many instances has the tendency to blame themself for getting attacked. a person who gets mugged on the street will often not blame the criminal but think to themself that they should have known better than to have taken the particular street. yet in the end, we know the victim is still the victim, we know that these feelings are a way to explain to themselves (the victims) and keep a rationale for a 'mad' world. no matter how many times an american stands up and tries to blame themselve for planes being crashed into buildings in new york city, the pentagon, and a field in pennsylvania - we are left with one gnawing truth - the killers of these innocent people were extremists from the middle east.

jerusalem zp 18:59 GMT December 19, 2003
i believe you gentlemen are correct, a gin and tonic will have to do........

jerusalem zp 18:44 GMT December 19, 2003
i would like some advice, my wife last week started preparing a bag for the hospital (no caisa i am not being commited quite yet) for the birth of our first child. today while grocery shopping my wife bought a few bars of rather tasty looking chocolate. tonight when i suggested that i can open one to snack on i was given 'the eye' and informed that the chocolate is for the hospital. my question, is it safe to eat the chocolate when she falls off to sleep tonight and replace it on sunday or monday?

jerusalem zp 18:29 GMT December 19, 2003
nh, you might like this essay pretty much expanding upon what we were saying about jimmy carter yesterday. for what ever reason i was reminded of carter's near public love for the likes of romania's couceascu today....because of this i did a google this evening and found this critique

http://jfednepa.org/mark%20silverberg/jimmycarter.html



jerusalem zp 17:45 GMT December 19, 2003
nh,
what exactly am i missing here? how is it that the governor of your home state n.j. just endorsed dean too? is it possible that these guys are getting bought off or do the democrats simply have a wish unconsiously to lose the race for the white house before it even gets started?
yours,
confused in jerusalem

jerusalem zp 17:32 GMT December 19, 2003
nh, stop putting down stone, it can be very sensitive..........particularly when you have to contact lebanese contacts through 3rd parties for fear that your potential biz partner might get thrown into jail for speaking with you.

jerusalem zp 15:18 GMT December 19, 2003
tg, dont forget about what russia is now undertaking in chechyna right now..........a vastly under-reported war. and why? because the russians dont let the media in for the most part.

jerusalem zp 11:11 GMT December 19, 2003
dan, sorry if i offended you, i shouldnt have been so sarcastic with you, i have found as of late that i disagree with many of your posts - take care.

jerusalem zp 20:16 GMT December 18, 2003
oil man, sorry about making you wait for a response but my wife has me running around like crazy getting prepared for the baby.....
as for what you wrote before, it depends on your perspective. i know that jews and arabs historically have gotten along much better than jews and christians in many circumstances. but lets not make believe that jews were allowed to be first class citizens in most of the arab countries. they were made to live in certain neighborhoods, not allowed to have certain jobs, etc, etc.
agreed that in turkey, jew and muslim got along very well for the most part, thus also allowing jews to negotiate with the ottomans on buying land in their little colony where i live now.
but to say that the problem is the european jew is wrong. no the problem is much more obtuse than that. there are many historical facts that you leave out or might not be aware of.
it is too long a saga to go into here, but allow me to say that i think much of the problem we face in this area of the world has to do with the problem of empire building which these lands have faced for what? ten thousand years at least, something like that.
my point is that somehow or another we should move beyond placing blame on one group or another and get on with our lives, business is a nice way of doing that.....
one day we will get on with things, i just hope i am not an old man before i see the day.

jerusalem zp 19:40 GMT December 18, 2003
oil man, i figured it wasnt you, i dont agree with you, but i suspect given time and a proper introduction we would find plenty to agree on..........life goes on.

jerusalem zp 16:30 GMT December 18, 2003
tg, maybe my english is failing me but i dont think nh was condemning the actions of the u.s. military.

dan, yes you are out, far out there.....

nh, i think you might want to see this, amnesty international has said that the photos of hussein are humiliating.....poor saddam, sniff, sniff.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/18/sprj.irq.saddam.photo/index.html

we live in a very funny and sick little world

jerusalem zp 15:12 GMT December 18, 2003
irish, i was just sent this interesting letter by one of my friends in dublin...some of it has not copied correctly because certain letters wanted to change into a hebrew font...nevertheless i think it is an interesting issue and shows what the eu is up against as it tries to create one union from a large pool of cultures....

A chairde agus a chomraidire,
Following the accession in May, the EU shall have 20 official
languages. Gaeilge (Irish) will not be included. Now whether you like the language or not, this is an insult to Ireland and an erosion of yet another part of our national identity.
Now this might seem like a trivial thing to you, but if they are willing to and get away with ignoring a member country's official language, what else will Ireland be rail-roaded into? It's up to you. Is it OK for us to be second class citizens in Europe???? Will that do us, like it did all the generations before us?? I encourage you all to sign and forward this petition. Who know's?? The longest journey begin with one step......
To: Dil ֹireann - Irish Parliament
Is r n-יileamh go ngairfear teanga oifigiתil oibre de chuid an
Aontais Eorpaigh den Ghaeilge.
Le meas,
Muid, a chuir r n-ainm le seo.
We demand that the Irish language be declared an official working language of the European Union.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?gaedhilg



jerusalem zp 14:54 GMT December 18, 2003
......and i apologize to all the peacocks....

jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT December 18, 2003
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/12/17/thurmond.paternity/index.html

jerusalem zp 14:44 GMT December 18, 2003
that joke in honor of the late strom thurmond....;^)

jerusalem zp 14:42 GMT December 18, 2003
An old man was sitting on a bench at the mall. A young
man walked up to the bench and sat down. He had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, blue, and yellow. The old man just stared. Every time the young man looked, the old man was staring. The young man finally said sarcastically, "What's the matter old-timer? Never done anything wild in your life?" Without batting an eye, the
old man replied, "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son."

jerusalem zp 14:21 GMT December 18, 2003
nh, i will go one better and say that it also shows why a president such as carter and if dean (god forbid) were elected are and would be such failures. carter refused to deal with the messes of the past and simply ignored them letting them grow into a rather large mess for future presidents. yet, too history was against him in some ways, america at that time wanted a weak president i believe after vietnam, watergate, and the legacy of political upheaval in the mid and late 60's and early 70's. if we look at the carter presidency closely we can see the earmarks of major issues starting to arise like iran, iraq, sandanista insurgence in central america, afghanistan.....

jerusalem zp 14:14 GMT December 18, 2003
nh, you will not get any arguement from me, history has a way of leveling all things off and showing that everyone is put in a position in which they have to act one way or another to guard the interests of their country. i am not judging, just stating some facts.

jerusalem zp 14:12 GMT December 18, 2003
tg, for a second i thought you were going french on us....;^)

jerusalem zp 14:09 GMT December 18, 2003
nh, you are correct......though republicans when in office have used military and other tough means of power too......ike - korea (continuing truman's work), nixon - south east asia (continuing jfk and lbj's work) & using certain means to change the face of chile, reagan - grenada (freeing the medical students) & central america, bush sr - panama and iraq, and now gwb.

jerusalem zp 13:49 GMT December 18, 2003
oil man, allow me to be the one to point out that in fact FDR was very much a democrat.......

jerusalem zp 11:10 GMT December 18, 2003
btw haifa, history gives us very good examples of this - the story of the romans and the jews is a shining example.

jerusalem zp 11:07 GMT December 18, 2003
haifa, may i ask a question? why mention slavery at all? what does it have to do with the here and now? does this provide some rationale for the possibility if need be to subjugate a people? better to provide an avenue for the concept of materialism and desire for freedom of expression in all its forms to the people and a place in the modern world. yes, spoils to the victors, but if the victors are smart they will not make the people an enemy but a friend.

jerusalem zp 06:40 GMT December 16, 2003
irish, i recommend you read this article from the nytimes, cheers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/business/16drink.html?pagewanted=2

jerusalem zp 09:52 GMT December 15, 2003
id1, you can call it ba'athland....

jerusalem zp 09:28 GMT December 15, 2003
there are some who are not so happy that saddam has been captured - besides caisa of course who told us in mid august that he had boarded a plane provided by the u.s to escape - but i digress....here are other view from some people living nearby:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/371883.html

jerusalem zp 16:18 GMT December 14, 2003
ahe, its pretty much an open secret that the best psychologists need plenty of therapy themselves. if not woody may i suggest fidel castro, though it might be hard for saddam to get a word in then.....

jerusalem zp 16:10 GMT December 14, 2003
ahe, i know of at least one psychologist that will turn down the job to help mr. hussein with his therapy (my wife is just a bit busy right now) ;^)
if anyone gets the job i think it should be woody allen.

jerusalem zp 15:40 GMT December 14, 2003
ahe, you might have been joking a bit, but the best jokes have a grain of truth in them. if we are permitted to glimpse hussein's personality and his recollections over the next few years it may teach all of us a thing or two. he seems to be a great candidate for some clinical psychology.

jerusalem zp 15:28 GMT December 14, 2003
ahe, good points and probably correct, thks.

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT December 14, 2003
ahe, thks, but note that during the nuremburg trials for the nazi leadership that they were actually allowed to use german attorneys. i suspect that hussein will get any attorney or team of attorneys that he wants - this as long as they are willing to work for him and the ba'ath party members and military wing that will face any tribunal.

jerusalem zp 14:52 GMT December 14, 2003
spotforex, you would have to ask the particular jew i imagine. ;^)
it will be more than interesting to watch the legal haggling and supervision that comes into play for hussein. if we think what has taken place in cuba with the prisoners made news, this will make that look like a picnic. i would imagine that the u.s. removes hussein to a "safe naval facility on the sea" until iraq is able to hold a trial....having said that it is only a hunch and probably wrong.

jerusalem zp 14:43 GMT December 14, 2003
haifa, have you noted the size of the volume on tase today...?

Dec.14,2003 Trading Phase: Continuous
TA100 Index 16:37 :523.46 +3.37%
TA25 Index 16:37: 495.88 +3.62%
TELTECH 15 Index 16:37 :363.57 +4.88%
TA75 Index 16:37: 561.84 +3.34%
TA-BANKING Index 16:37: 574.21 +3.80%
Turnover (NIS,000) 16:37 : 907,287

not a bad sunday in the land of milk and chaos....


jerusalem zp 14:38 GMT December 14, 2003
note for saddam: hire the best, get a jewish attorney....

jerusalem zp 13:04 GMT December 14, 2003
i would like to take the time to personally tell president chirac of france GFY, he has just been quoted as being delighted:

14:56 French President Chirac `delighted` at Saddam`s arrest, says will clear way for Iraqis to rule themselves (Reuters)

question begs, if he is so delighted why was he so against removing the bugger in the first place?

i personally have no feeling about the dollar/euro tmrw, this since i think the u.s govt has wanted a relatively weak dollar but the train ride on the stock exchanges looks set to continue in a nice direction....

jerusalem zp 11:09 GMT December 14, 2003
haifa, bin laden is on the phone, he wants to surrender to you.

jerusalem zp 10:18 GMT December 14, 2003
hhhhhh, might turn into an interesting day......this from cnn

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possibly captured in raid near Tikrit, U.S. officials say. Details soon.

jerusalem zp 10:02 GMT December 14, 2003
qip, oil man, and all who like to indulge in philosophical mathematics, interesting article from the ny times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/science/14MATH.html?hp

ahe, glad to see you around, i hope you are well.

jerusalem zp 09:51 GMT December 14, 2003
nh, in my earlier days i dated a ballet dancer, i learned to appreciate the complexity of her skills and eventually found that it was worthwhile to be in attendence....

jerusalem zp 14:45 GMT December 13, 2003
qip & nh, nice to see such a ballet discussion taking place.....cheers.

jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT December 11, 2003
th, can howard be blamed for this?
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/12/10/offbeat.tree.ap/index.html

jerusalem zp 14:19 GMT December 11, 2003
jp, this is one of those rare times when i agree with you your thinking almost in total. i dont know if i agree for the same reasons, but i think it is rather shortminded and the bad side of stupid which will let this type of thing to take place. its one thing to reprimand your kids in public, it is another to hit them in front of everybody.

jerusalem zp 11:44 GMT December 11, 2003
qip 11:35, i agree with this though completely, seems to me that most people tend to engage in what i would call a cafe (or worse yet falafel) society. we seem to be very good at building castles in the air on both sides of this land and in the end nothing ever gets done.....having said that please allow me to engage myself within illusions and drunken debates once in a while, without these and a sense of humor there would be no reason to go on.


jerusalem zp 11:37 GMT December 11, 2003
qip, i thought you might be speaking about the friedman article and went back and read through it again, you are Misquoting for some reason and leaving out an important word "meaningful" which he used in both of your out of context quotes. why did you do this? it changes the text and makes it sound as you pointed out - as a party line.....but in fact he (friedman) seems to only be making a statement of opinion. and to top it off i have no comment on it. i was merely asking haifa what he made of friedman's opinion that a fizzure is now showing on the side of the right and what he (haifa) makes of olmert's 'new found rationale'.

jerusalem zp 11:26 GMT December 11, 2003
qip, forgive me but i have no idea what you are commenting on.....?

jerusalem zp 10:37 GMT December 11, 2003
haifa, any response from you regarding the thomas friedman article this morning? something is definitely in the air, what it is i dont know.......

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/opinion/11FRIE.html

jerusalem zp 10:21 GMT December 11, 2003
an interesting article about the bush people preparing for dean:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/politics/campaigns/11REPU.html?hp

jerusalem zp 09:26 GMT December 11, 2003
snp 21:25, regarding the vandalism of the cemetary, it should tell you a couple of things......it is always easier to go after a symbol than a object which can physically interact and beat the crapoola out of you. cowards always attack soft targets, people who maim the memory of the deceased are for the most part either wretched and ignorant adults or alchohol emboldened youths....in the end the towns can either turn their collective heads and make believe none of these things are happening and let these cowards keep acting, or communities can take them on and show their faces when caught and let their neighbors know who these great cowards our when found.

jerusalem zp 11:56 GMT December 9, 2003
haifa, this train is NO laggard......to the moon, to the moon.

jerusalem zp 11:33 GMT December 9, 2003
qip, we are nearing t-minus one month, wife is fine, families will be put on stand by within a few weeks, baby is in ready position and i am trying to keep calm. one must remember to breathe i suppose.

jerusalem zp 10:56 GMT December 9, 2003
nh, jp and others, just a note before you comment on the dean/mcgoven comparison, i am aware of what ensued with nixon shortly after the election.......bush would do well not to repeat the same trick.

jerusalem zp 10:44 GMT December 9, 2003
haifa, however, you should not forget that one of the central themes of march of folly is about govt's and how they are swept up into missions that have no merit and how they relentlessly pursue endeavors which lead them into black holes........there is a fine line must tread, there is enough of reality which exists that allows for many interpretations.

nh, i have read that gore is getting ready to endorse dean as the presidential nominee for the democrats. seems a bit early to make this type of statement....also it seems like the democrats are doing a remarkable job of picking the wrong candidate for the times - unelectable - reminds me of the mondale and dukakis selections both guys from the get go had no chance. seems to me not only dean will have to eventually change his makeup person (i dont know if you noticed but he wears an incredible amount of the stuff) but also change his name to mcgovern.

jerusalem zp 09:37 GMT December 9, 2003
haifa, perhaps i am wrong, but isnt 'march of folly' by tuchman about the vietnam war?

jerusalem zp 08:59 GMT December 9, 2003
haifa, so far it is two for tuesday, will someone make it three?

jerusalem zp 09:26 GMT December 8, 2003
here's an interesting blurb from globes this morning, nice to see that different markets are being looked at........will that help i dont know, but it does make an interesting point that when people think in terms of reaching their 'global' markets that they know enough not to wear blinders in one direction.

Apax's Barkat: Israeli cos will go public in Hong-Kong within 5 years
Apax Partners Ventures partner Allan (Hanoch) Barkat at "Globes" conference: We must look eastward.
Guy Hadas 7 Dec 03 18:24
"We keep looking at the Nasdaq, and even Tel Aviv, but meanwhile the Hong-Kong capital market is flourishing. The market over there has grown and has a great deal of money. Within five years, Israeli companies will go public on the Hong-Kong exchange," Apax Partners Ventures partner Allan (Hanoch) Barkat said today at an Israel Business Conference panel on the future of Israeli high tech. Barkat further said that "Israeli high-tech companies will be traded where their customers live, and those customers will be in the East. The process will be similar to that which brought Israeli companies to issue on Nasdaq. It stemmed from the markets in which those companies operated".
Barkat believes that "We must look eastwards, not westwards. Salvation will come from the east". Barkat bases his claim on changes in the high tech world, where the balance of power is shifting from the US to Southeast Asian countries such as Korea, China and others.


jerusalem zp 16:29 GMT December 4, 2003
doesnt help either if trying to appease your 8 1/2 month pregnant wife after leaving on biz trip, particularly when she knows what's inside some of the better shops in rome and has expectations. ;^)

jerusalem zp 16:09 GMT December 4, 2003
nic, thks, exactly my point.....

jerusalem zp 14:11 GMT December 4, 2003
i have been looking at the dollar/euro peg which approx. leaves the dollar at a value of .825 per euro.
if you take this peg and times it by the value of crude oil @ 31.10 $ / & gold @ 402.40 $ - this would give you an approximate value in euros of 25.65 crude & 331.98 gold. which would be the prices of these commodities approximately a year ago or so in dollars.
this means in basic economic sense that the price really has not gone up what so ever for the eurozone for any commodities that they must import. and if it has not gone up why then have they suffered such a negative growth rate as compared to the states which is paying more for imports worldwide? comments?



jerusalem zp 12:00 GMT December 4, 2003
th, trust me i think if the u.s. has any problems with its own oil supplies that it will make it known quite quickly and follow up.....seems to me that russia is a fairly good back up for them. as for the kyoto agreement - i dont know if anyone has spoken about it here, but the u.s is being proved correct regarding this misguided attempt at controlling govts and pollution. russia has announced it will not sign and europe (true to form) has announced that it will not come nearly close enough in reducing their pollutants as promised........and the world goes on. i have heard that there is a car that has been developed in japan that runs on pure electric battery that goes a speed of 250 km's per hour. though these next twenty or thirty years may find us arguing about oil and its power, we will find i am certain that when the time comes to replace this stone age fuel for space age fuel that it will be done rapidly and without missing a beat.

jerusalem zp 11:28 GMT December 4, 2003
th, thks, no idea and i must say that i am not that concerned one way or the other. everything comes in cycles including economics and political leanings. as for oil being at the vanguard of any tides, i dont know. i do know the following though, in the mid 70's opec controlled about 60% of the world oil supply, today it only controls about 36% - and this includes the oil producers of nigeria and venezuela. oil is only one cog in the worlds machine, israel is merely one cog in the very complicated machine too. when the day comes that neither is needed to get things done both will know it and better have prepared for it. considering that the oil that opec sells is based on the u.s. dollar i would say that it is a good buy for the money and that within our grey world it is impossible to understand all ingredients in the soup - sometimes it is much easier to simply enjoy the meal (or complain about it as the case may be.)

jerusalem zp 11:05 GMT December 4, 2003
th, i was in rome for biz for a while and dont really know what has been going on inside our forum so i am not entirely clear on what you mean.

jerusalem zp 10:30 GMT December 4, 2003
since we are now publishing the protocals on this site.....i thought we might as well read this farewell column from a person who can no longer take it at that 'great' paper the guardian........

Good, bad and ugly

Julie Burchill
Saturday November 29, 2003
The Guardian

As you might have heard, I'm leaving the Guardian next
year for the Times, having finally been convinced that
my evil populist philistinism has no place in a
publication read by so many all-round, top-drawer
plaster saints. (Well, that and the massive wad
they've waved at me.) Once there, I will compose as
many love letters to the likes of Mr Murdoch and Pres
Bush as my black little heart desires, leaving those
who have always objected to my presence on such a fine
liberal newspaper as this to read only writers they
agree with, with no chance of spoiled digestion as the
muesli goes down the wrong way if I so much as murmur
about bringing back hanging. (Public.)
Not only do I admire the Guardian, I also find it fun
to read, which in a way is more of a compliment. But
if there is one issue that has made me feel less loyal
to my newspaper over the past year, it has been what
I, as a non-Jew, perceive to be a quite striking bias
against the state of Israel. Which, for all its
faults, is the only country in that barren region that
you or I, or any feminist, atheist, homosexual or
trade unionist, could bear to live under.

I find this hard to accept because, crucially, I don't
swallow the modern liberal line that anti-Zionism is
entirely different from anti-semitism; the first good,
the other bad. Judeophobia - as the brilliant
collection of essays A New Antisemitism? Debating
Judeophobia In 21st-Century Britain (axt.org.uk),
published this year, points out - is a shape-shifting
virus, as opposed to the straightforward stereotypical prejudice applied to other groups (Irish stupid, Japanese cruel, Germans humourless, etc). Jews historically have been blamed for everything we might disapprove of: they can be rabid revolutionaries, responsible for the might of the
late Soviet empire, and the greediest of fat cats, enslaving the planet to the demands of international high finance. They are insular, cliquey and clannish, yet they worm their way into the highest positions of power in their adopted countries, changing their names and marrying Gentile women. They collectively possess a huge, slippery wealth that
knows no boundaries - yet Israel is said to be an impoverished, lame-duck state, bleeding the west dry.

If you take into account the theory that Jews are
responsible for everything nasty in the history of the
world, and also the recent EU survey that found 60% of Europeans believe Israel is the biggest threat to peace in the world today (hmm, I must have missed all those rabbis telling their flocks to go out with bombs strapped to their bodies and blow up the nearest mosque), it's a short
jump to reckoning that it was obviously a bloody good thing that the Nazis got rid of six million of the buggers. Perhaps this is why sales of Mein Kampf are so buoyant, from the Middle Eastern bazaars unto the Edgware Road, and why The Protocols of The Elders of Zion could be foundfor sale at the recent Anti-racism Congress in Durban.

The fact that many Gentiles and Arabs are rabidly
Judeophobic, while many others are as horrified by
Judeophobia as by any other type of racism, makes me
believe that anti-semitism/Zionism is not a political
position (otherwise the right and the left, the PLO
and the KKK, would not be able to unite so uniquely in
their hatred), but about how an individual feels about
himself. I can't help noticing that, over the years, a disproportionate number of attractive, kind, clever people are drawn to Jews; those who express hostility to them, however, from Hitler to Hamza, are often as not repulsive freaks.

Think of famous anti-Zionist windbags - Redgrave,
Highsmith, Galloway - and what dreary, dysfunctional,
po-faced vanity confronts us. When we consider famous Jew-lovers, on the other hand - Marilyn, Ava, Liz, Felicity Kendal, me - what a sumptuous banquet of radiant humanity we look upon! How fitting that it was Richard Ingrams - Victor Meldrew without the animal magnetism - who this
summer proclaimed in the Observer that he refuses to read letters from Jews about the Middle East, and that Jewish journalists should declare their racial origins when writing on this subject. Replying in another newspaper, Johann Hari suggested sarcastically that their bylines might be marked with a yellow star, and asked why Ingrams didn't want to know whether those writing on international conflicts were Muslim, Christian, Sikh or Hindu. The answer is obvious to me: poor Ingrams is a miserable, bitter, hypocritical cuckold, whose much younger girlfriend has written at length in the public arena of the boredom, misery and alcoholism to
which living with him has led her, and whose trademark has long been a loathing for anyone who appears to get a kick out of life: the young, the prole, independent women. The Jews are in good company.

Judeophobia: where the political is personal, and the
personal pretends to be political, and those
swarthy/pallid/swotty/philistine/aggressive/
cowardly/comically bourgeois/filthy rich/delete-as-mood-takes-you bastards always get the girl. I'll return to this dirty little secret masquerading as a moral stance next week and, rest assured, it'll get much nastier. As the darling Jews them-selves would say (annoyingly, but then, nobody's perfect), enjoy!





jerusalem zp 14:25 GMT November 26, 2003
oil man, thks for the best laugh i have had in quite some time....hilarious

jerusalem zp 14:12 GMT November 26, 2003
on second thought, all you need to do is go to las vegas to watch this type of party in action....

jerusalem zp 14:05 GMT November 26, 2003
oil man, i think we should get all the barbie, bin laden, and hussein dolls together and see what kind of party breaks out.

jerusalem zp 14:01 GMT November 26, 2003
holy mossad, israel seizes bin laden and hussein - dolls....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Bin-Laden-Dolls.html

jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT November 26, 2003
th, apparently my last email is not true what so ever and i just got sucked into a joke being played by the carlsburg ad people of which one of my irish friends nailed me with. sorry about that....

jerusalem zp 13:23 GMT November 26, 2003
th, this just in......

It is alleged that one of the English rugby players failed a drugs test yesterday. If positive, under World Rugby Federation rules, para 6 sub section 2e, England will forfeit the rugby world cup and Australia will retain the crown.

undoubtably if this comes to pass the pubs will add to their already hefty profits in both england and australia this weekend due to the world cup.....


jerusalem zp 15:56 GMT November 24, 2003
tg, may i suggest to you that war isnt all it is cracked up to be. while it may have been quite the thing to see troops out and about and patroling bridges and civic buildings, i for one can say that i eagerly anticipate the day that i dont have to go through security apparatus to go food shopping or enjoy a coffee in the evening. per nh's comments, if the day comes that we have massive patrols taking place on the streets of america it clearly means something catastrophic has taken place and millions will be in peril. though i am willing to die for my country i can admit that i am sick of watching my friends do so, we do what it takes - but this is not something to smile about. i remember the posts that the guy bobby from limmasol used to put up here who is of serbian orgin - read through his old posts if you can - you can tell by his writing that he knows that the crapolla of death stinks on both sides. there is nothing enjoyable about this, we should kick the arse of the enemy, but we should remember that this is not some game, we dont get the people back of whom we lose along the way......

jerusalem zp 14:24 GMT November 24, 2003
haifa, btw - tmrw is tues.......

Al Qaeda: Countdown for “biggest operation yet inside America”.
Monday, November 24, Al Qaeda marked Eid al Fitr, the festival closing the Muslim festival of Ramadan, with a dramatic warning. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources reports that a message published over al Qaeda’s electronic channels and websites declared that the countdown has begun for the biggest operation ever carried out in the United States. “The big blow will fall very shortly. It will consist of a series of surprise attacks that will cut America off from communication with its armies in Muslim countries.” The reference is clearly to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The largest number, around 115,000 soldiers, is present in Iraq.
Muslims living in the United States are urged to “take advantage of the short time left” to escape the country and harm’s way.
Some of the messages say that a new Osama bin Laden videotape will soon be out. It will also carry statements by al Qaeda members who executed the last suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and adherents who died in clashes with Saudi security. They will be shown describing how they were prepared for action. Bin Laden will intersperse these cuts with comments explaining the selection of Saudi targets.

jerusalem zp 13:58 GMT November 24, 2003
haifa, allow me to be naive and ask what is the stop loss? i hope it is not a black hole.

jerusalem zp 13:00 GMT November 24, 2003
nh, all i can say is that i hope you and my well placed friend are incorrect.

jerusalem zp 12:50 GMT November 24, 2003
haifa, i had an interesting conversation with a fairly well placed republican this weekend. he tells me there is a groundswell within powell's state department which is filled with moderate republicans on trying to convince bush to pull out most of the troops in iraq by early june and declare victory and go home. there is a feeling that doing this will be the cure all for the upcoming election. they will point to body counts, change of govt, and ability to place a few bases with tactical units stationed there as insurance.........solomente. when and if greater force is needed they will threaten to use it when applicable. in the meantime, they will issue victorious sound bites and run for cover.


jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT November 23, 2003
here is a very interesting piece in the nyt's about a new futures contract which is being thought of and tinkered with in order to make reality dealing with the entertainment industry. i believe i touched upon this a few months ago too, it just may stand as one of the ultimate pieces of evidence of our modern culture and society.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/business/yourmoney/23bets.html



jerusalem zp 11:20 GMT November 23, 2003
bc, thks for this commentary, it is appreciated.

jerusalem zp 16:52 GMT November 20, 2003
haifa, re: your comment........Those terrorists are murdering INNOCENT ARABS and they think this promotes their cause.

the turks are not arab......just in case you forgot.

jerusalem zp 16:28 GMT November 20, 2003
haifa, dont be so jewish, why do you have to ask me a question after i ask you a question? why? ;^)

jerusalem zp 16:28 GMT November 20, 2003
haifa, dont be so jewish, why do you have to ask me a question after i ask you a question? why?

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT November 20, 2003
news flash.....

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT November 20, 2003
new flash for al-qaida, world still exists details @ 9:00.

jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT November 20, 2003
may i ask what exactly the extremists were thinking when planning these attacks today? this when blair and bush were supposed to meet in london and come under the glearing heat of questions posed concerning iraq and 'the supposed war on terror' and the mass of demonstrators. why would extremists attack on this day when all they have done is give blair and bush more fuel for their fire and make the demonstrators look ignorant like the pacifists from the second world war? instead of facing a gaunlet of tough questions about why they are being so heavy handed in iraq, now the questions will become why arent they being more heavy handed in 'the war on terror'? if anything today will mark the day when the extremists gave their enemy the ammunition to strenghthen their resolve and the ability to call on the 'muslim' country of turkey in full to help them destroy the extremists.

jerusalem zp 10:34 GMT November 20, 2003
oil man, yes, the united nations should pass another resolution today demanding that india, israel, & u.s.a stop these suicide bombing attacks right now......
how exactly does it feel to live within the big lie?

jerusalem zp 09:51 GMT November 20, 2003
wysiwyg, how does it feel to be proven such a complete idiot so quickly? will you mourn for the dead of istanbul?

jerusalem zp 19:13 GMT November 19, 2003
oil man, no, actually michael was caught listening to mariah carey........

jerusalem zp 17:14 GMT November 19, 2003
nh, not a bad idea, it would help the tourist industry too when all those kiddies have to visit mom and dad at the old age homes in the foreign locales......

jerusalem zp 14:41 GMT November 19, 2003
when in rome......

jerusalem zp 14:00 GMT November 19, 2003
and meanwhile between israel and iraq........one stone at a time.

Camel Grinding Wheels exporting $500,000 in cutting wheels to Iraq:
The exports to Iraq are indirect, through a US company via Jordan.
Hadas Manor 19 Nov 03 13:38
Camel Grinding Wheels (CGW) has contracted to export metal and stone cutting wheels and abrasives to Iraq. The agreement is worth an initial $500,000.
CGW, owned by Kibbutz Saird, manufactures abrasives and vitrified and resin cutting wheels for the metal and stonecutting industries. The company's CEO is former Israel Export Institute director general Israel Shotland, who told "Globes" the exports to Iraq were indirect, through a US company via Jordan.
The contract is with a company managing reconstruction projects in Iraq in collaboration with local companies. Under the contract, CGW will deliver 250,000 wheels a month over a 12-month period. The first delivery is now underway.




jerusalem zp 15:59 GMT November 18, 2003
haifa, ......tase was just short of a bullet train today, i see lots of passengers getting on.

jerusalem zp 18:23 GMT November 17, 2003
while the train seems to be slowing down here, i thought i might at least offer someone's idea of utopia.......

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/technology/17utopia.html?8hpib

jerusalem zp 10:39 GMT November 16, 2003
revdax, maybe it is news in hong kong, but mariah carey's reign as a queen of pop ended sometime in the mid 90's. her problems in her personal life have overtaken her professional life much in the same way they have with whitney houston. if you are going to be a fan of such music my personal advice is too look in a new direction perhaps with some of the lovely divas from south america, spain, or italy.

jerusalem zp 10:16 GMT November 16, 2003
revdax, we really need to help you with your musical tastes.....here is a posting board on mariah carey i have lifted from the internet, some of the comment are hilarious......

http://www.dogbomb.co.uk/board/arc/topic/3487.html

jerusalem zp 12:27 GMT November 14, 2003
snp, re 19:57 from yesterday, thks for the note, i would enjoy the chance to visit such a place. having said that, in my humble opinion the area that i am lucky enough to live in just may be the most breath taking place on the planet.....not much better than the hills around jerusalem after a rain storm with the sun shining bright, i kid you not.

jerusalem zp 14:40 GMT November 13, 2003
bc, you are correct, bbc radio aired a program on growing human trade - for work slaves & sex market - in moldova speaking about the growing biz and saying that it was largely due to it being the poorest country in europe. not to be outdone, the ny times today has an article on the human trade from albania - also claiming that they are the poorest country in europe........all of this not counting the endless shows which present romania as part of this european club.
africa, asia, europe, the middle east, and the americas all have places that have some form of human suffering. i have traveled to many a place in this world and have not seen utopia yet.

jerusalem zp 13:16 GMT November 13, 2003
got milk?

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/11/12/fiji.cannibal/index.html

jerusalem zp 11:57 GMT November 13, 2003
my thought of the day in homage to nh, we hear the term 'roadmap' as frequently now as we hear the phrase 'new economy'.........very very seldom.

jerusalem zp 11:33 GMT November 13, 2003
oil man & haifa, if we marry your thoughts we will eventually find reality.......carry on gentlemen......

jerusalem zp 08:47 GMT November 13, 2003
Abie and Moishe had a religious goods store on Delancey Street. The neighborhood was changing. The Jews were moving to Westchester and the Puerto Ricans were moving in. "Abie, we have to move to Westchester," said Moishe.
"We can't. This neighborhood is our life. We've been here for 33 years. Maybe we can start stocking Catholic articles too."
"What? Catholic articles? Bistu in gantzen meshuggeh? We're Jews. No Catholic articles!!!"
A month passed and they sold nothing but two tallesim, three mezzuzahs and one set of tefillin. Now was the time to fish or cut bait. Moishe agreed that they had to stock Catholic articles, so he said to Abie, "OK, call that Catholic supply house on Park Avenue and get us some inventory."
Abie: "Hello, Catholic supply house on Park Avenue? This is 'Abie and Moishe's' on Delancey Street. We want 100 autographed pictures of the Pope, 200 of those beads ­ what you call them, Rosaries? ­ and 500 crucifixes...and we need all of these things here tomorrow."
"OK, Sir. I got your order. Let me read it back. 100 autographed pictures of the Pope, 200 sets of Rosaries and 500 crucifixes But tomorrow we don't deliver ... it's Shabbos!"


jerusalem zp 15:21 GMT November 12, 2003
oil man,
we began to see a rise in stock index's starting mid winter - well at least some of the ones i like to watch - u.s., israel, argentina.......
"its a bull market." and i am not getting off the train quite yet...
as for the dollar, i will let the 'grey men' make their decisions and watch....

jerusalem zp 14:05 GMT November 12, 2003
nh, one of the very fine things about the States is that it allows for speeches and printed opinion that may not always be the most thought out or mature.......soros can say anything he wants, but he is not as famous as jennifer lopez and has about as much impact on the way the american public thinks about its politicians as brittney spears. he may be a tremendous speculator - sorry mr. soros 'investor' - but try as he might, his philosophical flings have always left something to be desired and a bit convoluted.......it isnt often that i call a multi-billionaire that i admire in some ways a gnat but that is about the jist of it. scratch this itch, it will go away.

jerusalem zp 13:16 GMT November 12, 2003
haifa, maybe it just flew away by itself.......

Steadicopter's prototype pilotless helicopter stolen -
The helicopter was stolen a few days after the completion of its test program and final test flights.
Dror Marom 10 Nov 03 12:30
Sources inform “Globes” that Steadicopter's pilotless helicopter prototype was stolen on Saturday-Sunday night. Unknown parties broke into Steadicopter's Kfar Maccabi plant, and stole the helicopter, but not its computer software or the money in the office.
Steadicopter is collaborating with Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) on the project. Steadicopter claims its pilotless helicopter is the first of its kind in the world.
Steadicopter business development director Amir Rochman told "Globes" that the helicopter was stolen a few days after the completion of its test program and final test flights, during which it flew automatically and reached its targets using the global positioning system (GPS).
Rochman said, "We invested NIS 5 million in the project in the past three years, and today the police came to the factory to investigate and lift fingerprints."




jerusalem zp 10:22 GMT November 11, 2003
haifa, you are getting caught up in the hysteria, 3 children have died NOT 13.

jerusalem zp 21:37 GMT November 10, 2003
nh, as an outsider looking in i would say that your prediction might be a few general elections away from this taking place. i dont believe the fizzures 'you feel' will move quite so strongly yet. its going to take a while for people to get so boiled over, too you should hope there isnt reason for it to happen because in the current scenerio i can see that only taking place if there is another major attack that happens on american soil and the economy goes south at the same time. until then i believe you will be dealing with democrats and republicans. mccain while speaking his mind is still a armed forces guy who knows how to take one for the team, he is young enough to still be a force in the next 12 years. i suspect he will take a perverse pleasure in ripping wesley 'wuss' clark for the republicans in this coming election.

jerusalem zp 21:11 GMT November 10, 2003
nh, i agree that crisis creates change but do you really think a civil war is about to break out in the states.......? ;^)

jerusalem zp 21:09 GMT November 10, 2003
snp, all i will say is that it is well known that many places in india now post menus, directions, etc, in hindi, english, and hebrew......and many of the shopkeepers there now speak a bit of hebrew.
if you ever make it to israel you will be shocked with the amount of india based themes on the television here including everything from a popular commercial for the internet, to occasional movies about treking, getting high, arrested, spiritual & laid while visiting your homeland.

jerusalem zp 21:00 GMT November 10, 2003
nh, regarding 20:16, you do realize that is highly unlikely, any career politician in the states knows that a third party is not viable. why would dems and republicans leave their respective parties and not only face the wrath of their former parties of which would be hard to rejoin even with a tail between their legs but also a fairly mature voting public which would probably not be in a forgiving mood for screwing with the dictates of having elected them under another platform? remember john anderson, ross perot, ralph nader, forbes? they are all considered clowns to a certain extent by the majority of american voters.

jerusalem zp 12:59 GMT November 10, 2003
snp, is there another name we should call you by considering that you are writing to us after a lethal case of food poisoning? do you remember the reincarnation process and can you please share the details? tia ;^)

jerusalem zp 19:36 GMT November 9, 2003
nh, i have always liked mccain, having said this i think he is to smart to challenge an incumbant within his own party. i think he would only do this if he thought he could win, which he knows would be nearly impossible as a third party candidate and also hand the election to the democrats which he will not do. my money is against this, in 2008 well yes by god.

haifa, please note if you care to read your own posts, that within the 'against' category i counted at least two egyptian males against the practice. not that i really care all that much but do you have any statistics on the percentage of women that are having this done to them........i imagine the percentage is low..........

jerusalem zp 16:26 GMT November 6, 2003
and this from paris on the marriage of lingerie and the modern women.......what doe ms. lopez wear?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/international/europe/06PARI.html?8hpib

jerusalem zp 14:53 GMT November 6, 2003
the politically correct way of saying jennifer lopez has a nice tush......

http://msnbc.com/news/988110.asp?

jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT November 6, 2003
oil man, an update on my ramadan saga, i have stopped eating lunch, having given up on my own ability to make something worthwhile in the five minutes i have in the morning to prepare such a thing while racing from the house. (you may recall that my wife is pregnant so i am not at liberty to bother her with this). since i dont eat breakfast to begin with, i now find myself actually fasting with my muslim workers and eating the evening meal with them. my question, am i entitled to visit mecca during the haj?

jerusalem zp 13:03 GMT November 6, 2003
qip, imo there typically is one universal truth which several groups interpret per their own biases, the scale shifts depending on the weight of the opinions not necessarily the truth......seems to me that it is still quite important regarding who serves as the mouthpiece for those opinions and has the best sound system. in most cases within democracies the scale is built in a way which doesnt allow it to tip over. though i dont believe it is about to tip over for the republicans, i tend to think that it will remain firmly on their side. quite possible that this is merely my own bias interpreting the universal truth, sometimes we must allow for chaos to work as gravity for our own beliefs, thus causing us to remain sane and not take on the qualities of gods.

jerusalem zp 12:11 GMT November 6, 2003
nh, time can be the enemy, but time can also be a friend. we will see just how much the white house has prepared for the long haul within the next few month. i suspect that we will begin to hear whispering about cabinet shuffles and resignations which is the norm when an adminstration starts preparing the public for its second go around. between the 'triangle of war' with rice, rumsfield, and powell i expect the most interesting developments.......bush will need them to get their collective act together at least for stage presentations.

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT November 6, 2003
nh & sf, i agree with your thoughts, but my central theme and belief is that bush will win if the economic news remains strong and he doesnt become foolish to start changing his message to the public. it doesnt mean for a second that all the economic news and messages regarding the 'war' are correct....but this is about politics not about the 'truth'. it looks to me like bush has a better grasp of the politics involved for this long haul political campaign then the 10 little dwarfs trying to be all things to everyone on the other side.

jerusalem zp 09:18 GMT November 6, 2003
nh, i have read your comments regarding bush and the upcoming election and i believe you are looking at things a bit skewed because of where you live. this because bush is bound to win california if the economy continues to improve, he will take texas no matter what, and he is bound to take the south. bush doesnt need new jersey or new york to win the presidential election. as long as he continues to get 'good' economic news and doesnt falter with his messages (such as dean has done in the past two weeks getting involved in this confederate flag debate) he - bush - is going to win. this doesnt even include the fact that the democrats dont have one candidate that can unite a large group of people under 'one tent'.

jerusalem zp 15:05 GMT November 3, 2003
this just posted on debka.com

Al Qaeda again threatens New York, Washington and Los Angeles
Monday, November 3, 2003
A new message was posted in the last few hours by the Jeddah-based al-Qaeda-linked Al-Islah (Reform) society calling on Muslims to flee New York, Washington and Los Angeles in advance of major al Qaeda attacks in those cities. This is revealed by DEBKAfile.
The message accuses the United States of predetermining its end (doom) by its policies. “The Jews rule the Pentagon by remote control and (are the cause) of Muslims being killed in every corner of the world. The United States should therefore expect more blows.”
The message is signed on behalf of the al Bayan (The Threat) movement by “your warrior brother, Abul Hassan al Khadrami”.
Our Muslim expert identifies the name of the signatory as belonging to a Yemeni from Hadhrameuth, the Bin Ladens’ place of origin where Osama enjoys substantial tribal support.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources stress that warnings appearing on these forums are taken both very seriously and with caution by the intelligence services keeping track of the terrorist network’s electronic traffic.
Last November, Jeddah-based fundamentalist forums addressed a message to an Al Qaeda member, saying whoever understands – understands; whoever knows, knows, but we are marching towards an operation that will take us to Paradise. Three days later, the Mombasa Paradise hotel was blown up killing 12 Kenyans and 3 Israelis and a failed shoulder-launched Strela anti-air missile missed an Israeli airliner at Mombasa airport.



jerusalem zp 14:07 GMT November 3, 2003
should read..........leaders - since there are many scoundrals amongst them.

jerusalem zp 14:04 GMT November 3, 2003
qip, i dont own any shares.......no conflict of interest....standard & poors decreased its rating on teva after the announcement saying they would have a hard time buying any other companies in the near future because of the amount of debt they have now taken on. this is bad news, because i was kind of hoping teva would buy the israeli labor union leader - of the 'histradut' - take them out to sea on a old Carnival cruise liner - another Israeli company if you must know - and sink the thing.

jerusalem zp 08:29 GMT November 3, 2003
th, re: 20:44, i am at my office this morning and will continue to be here, the strike in large measure has now been delayed until thursday it appears, though there was a 4 hour warning strike this morning. this work stoppage has all the earmarks of a society that believes it own nonsense. it supposedly is over pension reforms for govt employees and workers of state owned structures. in a word it is shortsighted. it figures to crush any economic gains the country has been making the past few months and sets us well into the 'french' sphere for illusionary thinking regarding how to run a modern economy when people think they have a birthright to retire when they are 55 or god forbid 60 years old.

in brighter news Teva - a truly remarkable israeli pharmaceutical company which has an international market with its generic drugs - has apparently finalized a deal to buy Sicor, another drug company. it does show that deals can be done and some people actually function in a professional manner here every so often.

jerusalem zp 15:33 GMT November 2, 2003
seems to me that one should not mix the issues of legal age of sexual consent which is probably around 16 in canada and many 'western countries' - if not younger - and the ability to make the decision to enter into sex as a business which in any culture is only done under a large amount of duress of various causes. we shouldnt try to trick ourselves into thinking that a woman of any age who has to function within any capacity as an 'escort' enjoys the work. seems to me that instead of trying to outlaw prostitution that it should be always legal and that the rights of the women should always be protected as much as possible and that govt should provide them with protection against pimps and provide proper health care services including therapy and avenues to other ways to make money. as for men, the consumers, cash - not credit - is always good idea.....and if we get out of line a night or a lifetime in jail as the case may warrant is not such a bad idea.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb993-e.htm

jerusalem zp 07:45 GMT November 2, 2003
report on rabin memorial last night in tel aviv, huge crowd.....and a lot of frustration.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/356063.html

jerusalem zp 15:58 GMT October 30, 2003
revdax, here's a brief excerpt from the nyt's regarding yukos...
Russian judicial authorities seized control of oil giant YUKOS Thursday in a dramatic escalation of a confrontation between the Kremlin and big business.
YUKOS has been the target since early July of legal action by the Russian justice authorities. Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint over the weekend and charged with seven counts of tax evasion and massive fraud.
Impounding shares in a top private Russian company appeared to be almost without precedent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
"I can confirm that a controlling stake of 61 percent of shares has been seized, although these shares still retain voting and dividend rights," YUKOS spokesman Alexander Shadrin said. The Russian prosecutors' office confirmed the seizure.



jerusalem zp 15:48 GMT October 30, 2003
revdax, in a nut shell the russian govt has announced that it is taking over 61% of the yukos shares.......you can go into cnn, they are starting to report on it too.

jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT October 30, 2003
oil man, this is a serious escalation......what's next?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/30/international/europe/30WIRE-RUSS.html?hp

jerusalem zp 11:23 GMT October 30, 2003
oil man, thks, ;^)
from the sounds of it, you were initiated into the rather tenacious negotiating tactics that take place within the stone industry.....good entertainment, food, pleasant conversation, and then a sudden twist of the face as if you are asking for the sacrifice of a first born son when speaking about money. we are in general nice guys with lousy tempers when done wrong. cheers.

jerusalem zp 11:16 GMT October 30, 2003
revdax, i wrote the follwoing to oil man in august:

jerusalem zp 19:45 GMT August 24, 2003

".........in effect i would give the duty of running the check points and security alerts for bombs and the random suicide bombers should they appear to iraqi security (police, ex army, ex go-go dancers). this so the service could be carried out more in a more pleasant atmosphere.......i am not saying it would be full proof or welcome by all.....but it would be better than the invaders doing the job. it doesnt have to be done in a brutal way, maybe they can hand out jasmine flowers when it is taking place and invite people standing in lines to smoke from the nargilla......"

jerusalem zp 10:16 GMT October 30, 2003
oil man, very interesting op-ed piece, thks. i tend to compare this all through the historical lessons we have from the 'robber barons' decades in the u.s.a late 1800's - early 1900's. this will all play out and we might see some type of monopoly busting by the russian govt.

jerusalem zp 10:06 GMT October 30, 2003
oil man, first and importantly i am already looking forward to ramadan ending, this because for the past four days i have eaten very poor lunch meals - which are my own very bad creations. this due to the fact that none of our workers are eating and i am the only one doing so, thus i have sent the cook home for the holiday and i am suffering ;^)

as for putin, he as you point out, is nobody's dummy. it will be interesting to see how this plays out. from a foreign perspective it appears to hurt investment for russia, but maybe this will only be short term and all will be forgotten within six months.

jerusalem zp 09:48 GMT October 30, 2003
oil man, thks very much for that site, appreciated. as for putin, currently he seems invulnerable but i believe he is making a large mistake going after this gentlemani in such a manner.

jerusalem zp 08:59 GMT October 30, 2003
after you do your google, then go to 'ucla technologies for licensing' and have a look around. there are some amongst who feel that nanotechnology is the next mammoth scientific endeavor for humankind.....

jerusalem zp 08:55 GMT October 30, 2003
opps, apparently i wasnt supposed to put that web site up for public consumption......you will probably not be able to get in via this route......you must go to a google search engine and type in 'nanotechnology research ucla'

jerusalem zp 08:52 GMT October 30, 2003
if anyone out there is interested in nanotechnology you might want to go look at this general site from ucla...

http://patron.ucop.edu/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe

jerusalem zp 15:05 GMT October 29, 2003
qip, you have a very good point, one that i have considered, but we shall see.......eu will expand quite a bit within the next twenty years. at some point things will diverge, which direction can only be guessed. but lets say the eu continues to try and put together its own army which in fact starts parting in philosophy with nato - when do those two units seperate completely and become seperate and even disagree on function? perhaps israel never joins the eu, perhaps it stays within the u.s. satellite sphere completely. pehaps i am speaking out of my arse?

jerusalem zp 14:46 GMT October 29, 2003
qip, i agree that it could be a trial ballon, but that doesnt mean that it still isnt implausible. could be that someone in nato said that all the jews should be transfered out of israel, this would not surprise me, i am hoping they send me to ireland personally. but if you think that the states would allow egypt and iraq into nato without inviting israel and perhaps jordan too than that is fairly funny. although we do live in a funny world and i have seen stranger things take place, i think it will be a cold day in satans workshop before we see this. we are many many years aways before this scenario plays out. the eu will have as member states turkey, lebanon, jordan, israel, egypt, tunisa, algeria before we see the nato accord......i will be a grandfather before this takes place. and maybe the cubs will have won a world series by then too.....

jerusalem zp 13:57 GMT October 29, 2003
here is the article......
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=650

jerusalem zp 13:38 GMT October 29, 2003
this morning i read about as far a fetched article as i ever have on debka.com concerning 'euro-natos' secret policy on eliminating israel. it spoke about the eventual inclusion of iraq and egypt into nato and its forcing israel to accept international peacekeepers who are in fact egyptian and iraqi because the u.s. would be too busy with troops in other places around the world. i almost spit out my coffee in laughter over this one. the boys at debka.com must be running out of material to print something like this.


jerusalem zp 13:05 GMT October 29, 2003
jp, thks, but you do realize that those desires dont mesh? a fine example with a similar polarity is what is occuring in italy and france currently with their increasing problems within their govt pension funds.........people want to work less hours and retire at an earlier age, they also are having less children........do you want to take a guess as to what is happening with their prospective economies and may i also add their immigration policies? can you say a bit out of sync...

jerusalem zp 12:52 GMT October 29, 2003
revdax, agree with you but that does not change reality, if you want to change reality (particularly wage exploitation) you will have a lifetime of work ahead of you.

jerusalem zp 12:38 GMT October 29, 2003
jp, does it bother you that there is a good chance that half the products in your house are made in places that pay less than adequate wages? if you are willing to spend 25-40% more for everything in your life i salute you, but this is not the way the world works.

jerusalem zp 12:10 GMT October 29, 2003
jp, do you really think the u.s wants to stop cheap labor from entering? the ag. biz in california would go bust within three years.

jerusalem zp 11:11 GMT October 29, 2003
some interesting technology news from israel:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/355181.html

jerusalem zp 15:38 GMT October 28, 2003
athens, ..... civil war is the aim.....

jerusalem zp 15:34 GMT October 28, 2003
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

jerusalem zp 11:01 GMT October 28, 2003
hello, price of builiding a home or any other structure is obviously dependent on the costs of the commodities and workers it takes in order to build it. price of lumber around the world has risen though markets do exists in which lumber is being sold at rates below standard market costs, namely from africa and south america and i believe too from certain large islands in indonesia currently. stone costs have alway been fairly high and like most commodity based markets mimics the world around it within its pricing structures. like everything else we are talking about supply and demand (not to mention styles dictated by designer & other assorted gurus). price of wood is astronomical here in israel as there are no natural forests to farm. the wooden crates in which the stones are packed are very cost prohibitive and leads to sloppy handling of goods for some companies here. climate here doesnt make it ideal for future lumber industry either. perhaps if lebanon ever becomes stable enough it can develop a strong lumber market. that being said if i had my preference i would build a house made out of both wood and stone in different combinations. fires such as we are seeing in southern california are probably hot enough to destroy almost any building product. fire and water can destroy nearly anything when given the means.

jerusalem zp 09:58 GMT October 28, 2003
athens, i will give you a discount.......

jerusalem zp 09:57 GMT October 28, 2003
gentlemen, when you are ready to build your stone homes please contact me.....

jerusalem zp 22:08 GMT October 27, 2003
interesting forum all day........thks.

jerusalem zp 16:56 GMT October 27, 2003
nh, i will try not to annoy you so much in the future with my optimism, it is a by product of being a chicago cubs fan and living in israel, two things which should not be tried in any other emotional state except drunk perhaps.....thks.

jerusalem zp 12:13 GMT October 27, 2003
revdax, have you ever tried to prove a negative? why dont you ask oil man to prove his allegation, trust me, he wont be able to.

jerusalem zp 12:11 GMT October 27, 2003
oil man, please again, i ask, show me a legitimate source for these claims? show me something at least from an international source such as the united nations who surely could and would prove this. what you are spewing about mass rapes is a blatant fabrication. thank you for saying it though, because it lets me know just how much you have been taken in by 'the big lie'. again show me proof.....tia

jerusalem zp 10:50 GMT October 27, 2003
ib, i agree with you on the time span of conflicts and the way in which they play out, except this conflict has been going on now here for at least eighty years......so maybe it is time for things to be settled.

jerusalem zp 10:37 GMT October 27, 2003
ib, the idea of 'gaza first' has always been put forth by people in israel particularly the left, but also by some of the more moderate on the right. the only reason besides the settlers there for staying is a security reason, this to try and slow the amount of weapons being smuggled in from the egyptian border and via sea and trying to stop attacks which are being intiated from the area.
haifa will disagree with me on this, but there is no reason for israel other than this to stay. it is my belief we stay there because once we do something like hand over gaza and say its all yours and becomes the first part of the palestinian state it sets a precedent some in israel might find discomforting. but we must begin to deal with reality and show some good faith on our side too as hard as this might be.
having said that, and not really answering your question yet perhaps, i believe we are in the final death throes of our problems here. people on both sides have had just about enough with their leadership. we are at a very delicate stage, sharon and arafat will not be in power within a year and a half. they have played out their political lives and are about to begin hitting walls for different reasons, age, corruption, and most importantly new ideas.
nh will find this funny, but i remain optimistic, there is evidence on the streets both within israel and the palestinian areas that we have had enough.

jerusalem zp 10:14 GMT October 27, 2003
haifa, no, giving gaza back first will not lead to our defeat.....

jerusalem zp 10:07 GMT October 27, 2003
having said all the rest this morning allow me to offer this editorial from ha'aretz: GET OUT OF GAZA

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/354032.html

jerusalem zp 09:54 GMT October 27, 2003
revdax, there are several things which point to syria being the benefactor of the iraqi billions. in fact, syria offered to hand over a few billion to the united states, but the u.s has refused because it claims the amount of money transfered (stolen) was much greater. we shall see how all of this plays out....

jerusalem zp 09:44 GMT October 27, 2003
lee, i would like to quote you,

"it's obvious the Jewish state isn't going anywhere..why continue the fight." - lee

i wish it were true but it is not so obvious to some. history shows that nations come and go, there are some in our region who prefer to take the long term view. israel's existence is not as stable as you may think. if the u.s.s.r and the berlin wall can crumble, if the viet cong & ho chi min can defeat the u.s.a, surely israel can be defeated too.



jerusalem zp 09:30 GMT October 27, 2003
oil man, can you please post a legitimate link showing that the israeli army has been raping palestinian women? please show us one legitimate site. i would like to see it so i can learn something.

jerusalem zp 09:28 GMT October 27, 2003
oil man, why think for yourself when you can simply spew the party line? i guess you dont have enough time due to your business keeping you so busy.

jerusalem zp 09:26 GMT October 27, 2003
a united nations building had been blown up in iraq previously, now a red cross center using an ambulance, also the health ministry was targeted this morning. what does this say about those carrying out the attacks other than that they want to cause chaos on a massive physical and emotional scale for the citizens trying to get back to normal?

jerusalem zp 09:10 GMT October 27, 2003
revdax, withdraw your comments? where are you going to put them when you get them back? you must burn all the ships so your troops can only think about going forward, there is no going home.

jerusalem zp 07:21 GMT October 27, 2003
here's an investors perspective of the recent developments in russia regarding 'the arrest' via the nyt's:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/27/business/worldbusiness/27russia.html

jerusalem zp 16:22 GMT October 26, 2003
athens, qip, ib, can any of you tell me what you know about the Transnational Radical Party. i stumbled into their italian web site today, they appear to have an interesting platform. is this a serious political entity in europe or percieved as a bunch of 'flakes'? i would appreciate any facts and opinions you may have.......tia

jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT October 26, 2003
irish, nice game vs. the pumas - brutal as always........congrats on the win.


jerusalem zp 11:27 GMT October 26, 2003
qip, check out this search engine euraisa for russian news in both english and russian...

http://www.eurasia-research.com/erc/Russian%20News%20Page.htm

until then qip, see you at the next oligarchs party.

jerusalem zp 10:36 GMT October 26, 2003
haifa, to the best of your knowledge, does either ibiza or oil man have anything to do with this nonsense? am i not allowed to wish someone a good holiday now? within your new middle east of which you gloat, you had better make room in your day for dealings with your neighbors, if not you will be isolated and live in a perpetual ghetto.

jerusalem zp 09:48 GMT October 26, 2003
ibiza & oil man, i want to wish the two of you a very good Ramadan.

jerusalem zp 09:41 GMT October 25, 2003
.....let me clarify that just a bit so it isnt misinterpreted, when i say skin i mean that you feel that his characters are alive and going through rigors that seep through the entire body.

jerusalem zp 09:38 GMT October 25, 2003
ahe, athens, and snp - interesting posts this morning.....thks.

athens, regarding Nikos Kazantzakis, i have alway felt that his book zorba the greek doesnt get as much merit because the movie has overtaken the story told by Kazantzakis, he is an upper tier writer......he captures (for me) the emotions that are not discerned by the head first but by the skin.

jerusalem zp 22:04 GMT October 24, 2003
Back in the cowboy days, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on food. No other humans had been seen for days... and then they saw an old Jewish Rabbi, sitting beneath a tree. The leader rushed to him and said ,"We're lost and running out of food. Is there someplace ahead where we can get food?"
"Vell, I tink so," the old man said, "But I vouldn't go up dat hill, und down de udder side. Somevun tole me you'd run inta big bacon tree."
"A bacon tree?" asked the wagon train leader.
"Yah, ah bacon tree. Vould I lie? ... Trust me, I vouldn't go dere."
The leader goes back and tells his people what the Rabbi said.
"So why did he say not to go there?" some pioneers asked.
"Oh, you know those Jewish people--they don't eat bacon."
So the wagon train goes up the hill and down the other side.
Suddenly, Indians are attacking from everywhere and they massacre all except the leader, who manages to escape back to the old Jewish Rabbi.
The near-dead man starts shouting, "You fool! You sent us to our deaths! We followed your instructions, but there was no bacon tree. Just hundreds of Indians, who killed everyone but me."
The old Jewish man holds up his hand and says, "Oy.....vait a minute."
He then gets out an English-Yiddish dictionary, and begins thumbing through.
"Oy,Gevalt, I made myself such ah big mishtake! It vuzn't a bacon tree. It vuz a ham bush."



jerusalem zp 22:30 GMT October 23, 2003
tg, hello, one question i would like to ask you, where does corruption factor into your equation when speaking about all the ism's that you seemingly find so vile? isnt corruption really the source of evil within all these cocktails including our golden capitalistic ideals? corruption is the one thing that binds all these groups and make them all the same in the end if and when its bacteria hits........and it is capable of hitting anyplace anywhere anytime. it is the one thing that i think most of us within this forum would eventually agree to nearly in unison, that is unless of course there is a underlying motive.....yes, corruption.

jerusalem zp 22:07 GMT October 23, 2003
caisa, you have just proved yourself a complete paranoid congratulations........dont forget, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the illuminati aren't out to get you.
that about does it for you and me once again casia, i have entertained myself enough baiting you......puff, you are gone again.

jerusalem zp 21:46 GMT October 23, 2003
snp, glad to see you liked the humor......perhaps we can pool our earnings together and buy some new anti psychotic drugs for that special someone in our forum.......unless of course everyone here is donating to the 'new iraq' via the madrid conference.....or losing their money in the live cattle pits.....

jerusalem zp 20:02 GMT October 23, 2003
caisa, as i said i am inside one, so i dont need one anymore but thks for trying to understand, i know it is hard on you since you are such a novice but i admire your effort. best part of the day is that they let me walk the dog a few times and water the plants.........also the illuminati come to my place for all meetings......after we are done speaking about canines and flora we then mull over our little web. did i tell you the one about citibank......

jerusalem zp 19:42 GMT October 23, 2003
caisa, true, my wife does a good job, she lets me work, and then i simply sign in at night and wait to be released in the morning to do it all again.....constant therapy is a plus & the argentine asados arent half bad.......what's your excuse oh great one?

jerusalem zp 19:29 GMT October 23, 2003
caisa, as always thks for your kind words.....looking forward to meeting you after you are sent to the asylum. thks.

jerusalem zp 15:59 GMT October 23, 2003
Best Rooster Zebediah was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers, called pullets, and eight or ten roosters, whose job was to fertilize the eggs. Zeb kept records, and any rooster that didn't perform well went into
the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of Zeb's time; so, Zeb got a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so that Zeb could tell, from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
Zeb's favorite rooster was old Brewster. A very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning, Zeb noticed that Brewster's bell had not rung at all!! Zeb went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells a-ringing! The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. BUT, to Zeb's amazement,Brewster had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. Zeb was so proud of Brewster that he entered him in the county fair. Brewster was an overnight sensation. The judges not only awarded him the No Bell Piece Prize but also the Pulletsurprise.



jerusalem zp 15:32 GMT October 23, 2003
irish, any predictions on the pumas and emerald isle this weekend, besides much blood......

jerusalem zp 14:58 GMT October 23, 2003
tg, please allow me to point out that i agree with you on many of your points here on this forum, if it seems that i have been aiming some criticism at you it is because i think you have gone a tad overboard with your labeling technique......at the end of the day most everyone needs money for good & services, the need for trade will always prevail.

jerusalem zp 14:48 GMT October 23, 2003
may i offer well spoken words from a canadian.....

http://www.christian-sauve.com/texts/being-canadian.htm

jerusalem zp 14:36 GMT October 23, 2003
tg, as part of my chaos theory on life i suggest that if you were to link your posts that it would make them more alluring....just a friendly note from a former young socialist turned capitalist pig......;^)

jerusalem zp 13:42 GMT October 23, 2003
m2smith, my wife, since you are new here and might not know, is a clinical psychologist....lets just say that if i were to give an explanation as to why caisa believes what she does i might have to bill someone .

jerusalem zp 13:17 GMT October 23, 2003
on loose mental construct binding, dissociative state phenomena & LSD........
bc, perhaps you will have to open your 'cafe' for us to quantify all of this data....

http://www.egodeath.com/dissociativephenom.htm

jerusalem zp 13:03 GMT October 23, 2003
here is a rather funny thread from a physics forum on walking through walls.......

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5543

jerusalem zp 12:38 GMT October 23, 2003
bc, i was thinking the exact same thing, beware of those who walk through walls........(wisdom that any grandparent would second i am sure).

jerusalem zp 09:26 GMT October 23, 2003
below is a brief excerpt from a biography on dos passos, he is a writer that is only now beginning to receive the attention that he should as one of the great 20th century novelists. for a long time he was put up on the book shelves and allowed to collect dust because he had irritated so many because of his political view points being critical of the right and then eventually the left. he stands amongst the greats....imo


John Dos Passos began as a left-wing radical but moved to the right as he aged. Dos Passos wrote realistically, in line with the doctrine of socialist realism. His best work achieves a scientific objectivism and almost documentary effect. Dos Passos developed an experimental collage technique for his masterwork U.S.A., consisting of The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). This sprawling collection covers the social history of the United States from 1900 to 1930 and exposes the moral corruption of materialistic American society through the lives of its characters.


jerusalem zp 07:44 GMT October 23, 2003
haifa and tg, btw, dos passos was both a fabulous writer and a noted socialist...... ;^)

jerusalem zp 16:42 GMT October 22, 2003
ib, i thought you were merely comparing the euro to the dollar. ;^)
i think my proposal for placing all politicians in jail after they are done serving still is the most valid idea around for dealing with these worldwide pests.

jerusalem zp 16:38 GMT October 22, 2003
jp, are you aware, however, that you are mortal? personally i am still having problems with mortality myself. in addition to that i dont live in the best of places when trying to deny it.....

jerusalem zp 16:07 GMT October 22, 2003
ib, ...or you could follow those 'warm and fuzzy' little guys from south park and 'blame canada'.......or maybe not.

jerusalem zp 15:14 GMT October 22, 2003
athens, thks.....

and now without further ado.......a peace plan with a foundation that is so ludicrous that it will probably work...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=352725&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

but who will play who when the movie is made?

jerusalem zp 14:52 GMT October 22, 2003
jp, are you trying to tell us you are a Grammartician?

jerusalem zp 14:44 GMT October 22, 2003
ib, ......that should be penfolds - not penrods - i apologize.

jerusalem zp 14:42 GMT October 22, 2003
ib, what if keating actually enjoys these things and feels that he has earned them sort to speak even if he is an idiot? whats so bad about some nice antiques, a good suit, and a swig of wine - penrods? - if he really is having a good time. as for the chamber music, well nothing i suppose we can really do about that except to send him some ac/dc music and hope for the best. nothing like listening to led zepellin in a well stocked room with a well stocked 'friend'......but i digress.

jerusalem zp 14:32 GMT October 22, 2003
athens, i didnt say you blamed the u.s., from what i read within your 9:07 it looked like you blamed the 'great depression' of 1929 and that was the only thing i was addressing.

jerusalem zp 14:15 GMT October 22, 2003
ib, please let us know, does he like 'men at work', inxs, david bowie, or is he listening to the lovely natalie imbruligo (sp?)
;^)

jerusalem zp 14:01 GMT October 22, 2003
tg, is it possible that jp is most importanly jp? why do you need to label with tags, what difference does it make at the end of the day? during my studies i was always told that only marxists look at everything from a perspective that all things are derived from economics. as a self-pronounced capitalist you should be more willing to look at other components within our world. thks.

jerusalem zp 13:30 GMT October 22, 2003
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/war_end_06.shtml

jerusalem zp 13:25 GMT October 22, 2003
athens, re: 9:07, are you serious? have you read anything about the world war one victor terms that were put forth by great britain & france and which the u.s tried to talk them out of? do you recall that hype-inflation was striking the german govt well before 1929 and was in fact the bell for whom the international economies was tolling long before other economies collasped. world war two and the rise of facism as a means to deal with the economic quagmire which hit her were the direct result of a very unwise deal but forth by britain and france. i believe it was called the versailles treaty. this deal was so bad that when hitler had the french sign a treaty with him upon his capturing most of the country that he in fact had the french sign the deal in nearly the same place on nearly the same type of train car.

jerusalem zp 19:15 GMT October 21, 2003
cc, thks for the info - appreciated, any and all articles on soros are of interest to me.

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT October 21, 2003
krugman from the nyt's, interesting as always.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/opinion/21KRUG.html

jerusalem zp 22:59 GMT October 17, 2003
jp, regarding your 12:05 from today, am i missing something? when did prisoners at camp x-ray start getting executed? please show me proof of this, you did ask in that post about lethal injection which insinuated that it was taking place there. am i misunderstanding something from that particular line? please show me evidence that people are being executed at camp x-ray.....please.
in case, however, you want to know the last time things like that have taken place in a similar manner why not just look into the criminal rights / human right record of saudi arabia of the present?
ooooh yes, lets start telling me about israel's absurd record with certain prisoners. ok agreed, it is not glorious but lets try to remember that from where many of these enemy combatants now detained at camp x-ray, their 'homelands' have far worse and systematic ways of dealing with 'terrorists'.....want one example? read the following from a favorite left wing rag of many here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,11599,706200,00.html


jerusalem zp 07:08 GMT October 17, 2003
08:30Malaysian FM Syed Hamid: The only problem with the Jews is when the State of Israel was created (Reuters)

haifa, you just DONT GET it, we are the problem, if we would go back to germany, russia, the pale, the north african countries, etc. all would be fine. if we just let 'them' kill another six million or so of us this would bring our numbers back down to a managable amount and we wouldnt get in anyones way.

anyway, i must go now to the bank and purchase a couple of chinese mutual funds, not joking, i will allow bc, revdax, and ahe be the guideposts for some of my asia investing. thks.

jerusalem zp 15:38 GMT October 16, 2003
th, m. has been making absurd comments like this not only about jews, but many things for the past twenty years....lets not forget his run in with mr. soros too.
in more important news, how do you see the rugby world cup playing out......yes, i know italy and argentina got their collective arses kicked by the men from down under, no surprise.....but dear old england has been looking tough....do they have any chance? i see that the french have played well too, i will be watching this weekend via fox sports, tia.

jerusalem zp 10:47 GMT October 16, 2003
on the dangers of interpretation.....

A teacher asks her class, "If there are 5 birds sitting on a fence and you shoot one of them, how many will be left?" She calls on little Tony. He replies, "None, they will all fly away with the first gunshot." The teacher replies, "The correct answer is 4, but I like your thinking."
Then little Tony says, "I have a question for you. There are 3 women sitting on a bench having ice cream: One is delicately licking the sides of the triple scoop of ice cream. The second is gobbling down the top and sucking the cone. The third is biting off the top of the ice cream. Which one is married?" The teacher, blushing a great deal, replied, "Well, I suppose the one that's gobbled down the top and sucked the cone."
To which Little Tony replied, "The correct answer is 'the one with the wedding ring on', but I like your thinking."


jerusalem zp 10:22 GMT October 16, 2003
folks, the following is quoted from the speech from the head of malaysia - mahathir - made last night to the islamic conference against jews and israel.....this fellow mahathir, has always been a crack pot, last night he surpassed himself and ventured into new insanity. i must take this time to congratulate the farmers of nuts like these, how they are able to grow so many is amazing time and time again.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/10/16/oic.mahathir/index.html



jerusalem zp 19:20 GMT October 14, 2003
folks, a case of man bites dog:
21:11
80-year-old man from Netanya in serious condition after being hit by 7-year-old cyclist (Haaretz)

tg, riots are half the fun at european football games, the fires in the stands are just about the other half......

jerusalem zp 13:45 GMT October 14, 2003
th, i prefered the following story linked within your site:
Fijian ancestors to apologise for eating missionary
The inhabitants of a remote Fiji mountain village, whose ancestors killed and ate an English missionary 136 years ago, are to offer a traditional apology to his descendants.
Reverend Thomas Baker, of the London Missionary Society, was killed by the people of Navatusila in 1867, after he took a comb out of a chief's hair.
It was and still is forbidden to touch the head of a chief.
He was subsequently cooked and eaten. One of the villagers, who took part in the feast, was quoted in contemporary accounts as saying "we ate everything but his boots".
The Pacific Islands News Association reports the district chief has invited Reverend Baker's descendants to the ceremony.
The tribe believes they have been cursed for what their forefathers did.

..........and i thought i was mis-behaving last week for eating horse meat in verona........hmmmmm.



jerusalem zp 12:59 GMT October 14, 2003
sfx, good question, funny but i think one of the biggest movies from this era was 'Titanic' - haifa, what could that mean? ;^)

jerusalem zp 12:01 GMT October 14, 2003
sfx, kill bill is now the number one movie in the states, it is a quentin tarentino movie - from the guy who made reservoir dogs, pulp fiction, and jackie brown........it is definitely within the realm of escape and blood hungry genre.

jerusalem zp 11:01 GMT October 14, 2003
jp & nh, here is a story - i believe an excerpt from forbes by msn - on intel inc.'s thoughts by their head chief pretty much discussing our points yesterday regarding the u.s. and immigration, future competition with asia, and what needs to be done to keep going strong.....
http://money.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P63142.asp


jerusalem zp 10:51 GMT October 14, 2003
snp, hello, take it from me that knowing how sales of men's shoes are doing will be able to keep your wife happy in the future. what do i mean? men's shoes & book sales are a very early indicator of the economy and where it is headed. men typically will hold off on purchasing shoes when times are thought to be tight financially and unlike women do not care if they are wearing out of date styles. thus, when men feel more comfortable about the economy and their income status they are more apt to buy shoes for themselves. book sales work in much the same way - in other words discretionary buying is a key factor when looking for early signs of growth - but remember men's shoes are a legitimate prime indicator.........we are more apt to make are girlies happy before we make ourselves happy to insure harmony, when they feel comfortable and we feel comfortable all things are possible. now go out and buy a pair of shoes for yourself, i know you want to. ;^)

jerusalem zp 09:50 GMT October 14, 2003
haifa, sssssssssssssshhhh, please do not speak so loudly, the ny times apparently is paying attention to you......here is an article today on the upward trend of high end luxuary items.
now if i can only get positive data on the sales of mens shoes i will know that this train is going to continue.....not joking about this btw.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/business/14PLAC.html



jerusalem zp 13:11 GMT October 13, 2003
nh, you might be correct, but that is short term, economic neccesity can change things dont you think? unless of course, america simply plans on being happy as a country which only makes a 2 or 3 percent annual return. isolation political/ philosophy is frequently invoked after major wars, it will be interesting to see what takes place short term and what is to follow that.

jerusalem zp 13:07 GMT October 13, 2003
haifa, btw, i dont think i ever saw a reply from you regarding just how the kent state situation from the early 70's was a 'good thing'. can you please explain this? my recollection of this incident was that it was no less than a demonstration in which the national guard completely over reacted and killed innocent people some of whom who had the misfortune of merely trying to get to a class and got shot instead because they had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

jerusalem zp 12:59 GMT October 13, 2003
jp, thks, seems to me that the states will have to find a way to increase their 'legal' population by about 50 million people of whom are educated and can help the country remain dynamic. perhaps we are going to see a massive call for immigration within a certain age range in the next ten, fifteen years.
i do know that places like italy and japan face many of the same obstacles because of the aging of their populations and low birth rates.

jerusalem zp 12:03 GMT October 13, 2003
nh, do not give paving stones such a bad name.....they are my livelihood ;^)

jerusalem zp 10:38 GMT October 13, 2003
athens, i suspect it would be wise for all to hold onto their gas masks for the time being......though it may be more for helping us out when the occasional chemical fire ignites at a plant like it did this morning in the haifa area. unfortunately we live in a rather unstable neighborhood & world which can have 'normal life' sucked into a vacuum and vanish within a moments notice. i would love to believe it is all a charade, a grand dance, that we perform to make our actions acceptable for the rest of the world, yet something always tells me to be prepared and fear the yellow sky. i once had a dream four years ago about cnn suddenly coming on with a breaking news, the newscaster was saying "its the end of the ......", suddenly i looked out of my window and saw a huge yellow void exploding........i told my wife about it at the time, she laughed it off and said something about it being my death instinct, now i tend to think it was merely a subconcious way of interpreting what i saw as very negative political developments.
i would very much like to forget what has taken place here the past three years and live happily ever after, but fairy tales often turn into horror.
i hope one day we will be able to recycle all the masks sitting in closets and make shiny new tires with them for our cars, until then may they simply collect dust.

jerusalem zp 09:51 GMT October 13, 2003
folks, here is an extremely interesting article regarding employment in the next five to ten years within the states. it is about the baby boom generation in the states reaching retirement age and what is ahead regarding trends in employment in the states.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/business/yourmoney/12seni.html

jerusalem zp 11:14 GMT October 12, 2003
qip, sorry but nicotine and caffine count as drugs, merely legal in most cases......so you are in with all the rest of us.

jerusalem zp 09:04 GMT October 12, 2003
athens, are you foresaking us? ;^) remember, we are a bit like the godfather movies, just when you think you are able to leave you are pulled back in.

as for peace in the middle east, the chicago cubs are on the verge of making it to the world series - if this can happen anything is possible. go cubs.....

jerusalem zp 23:05 GMT October 11, 2003
must be going, she who must be obeyed beckons.....

jerusalem zp 23:04 GMT October 11, 2003
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan

sorry about the previous link, that was an article which pointed out in some odd ways what the world was facing in 1998 and unfortunately came true.......it was reading that i was doing while trying to find 'dirt' on jp's canada.

jp, btw, that bbc show in my opinion which i saw in italy in early july was about as biased as one could get. i dont think what upset israel was disclosure of an arms program, everyone knows that. what angered israel so much was that it was blatently one sided.

jerusalem zp 22:49 GMT October 11, 2003
athens, haifa doesnt drink...i think hash would work best with him - we will have to decide on the various medications for all of us when the day comes that all of us meet. i do ask that ibiza, qip, and i are allowed to dj though. i must go now, it is getting late and i have to be at work within about six hours. take care.

jerusalem zp 22:33 GMT October 11, 2003
athens, the two of us should be drinking to have this discussion. i am going to post a map of the 1947 un mandate, which, no i would not agree to go back to. lets kindly note that upon that un mandate, which was accepted by israel, it was invaded and captured land in the ensuing war. more of the same happened in 67. i would agree to pretty much what was offered at camp david and was turned down by arafat with barak and clinton though. in the end, what will be agreed to is beyond me at this point.

http://www.sfu.ca/~dann/Backissues/nn5-2_6.htm

let me give you an idea of what is going on here. my family is made of heavily of what you would term old labor zionists except for me. i voted for shinui (a very anti religious party) in the last election. this afternoon during a family asado (argentine), someone tried to pass out information from a group trying to get israelis and palestinians to sign in an effort to get the peace process going again. i didnt know enough about it and refused. its web site is:
www.mifkad.org.il
having said this, i personally have watched six people i have known get buried in the past 30 days or so because of the nonsense here. between being blinded by rage i try to find spots to navigate the madness with my family and teach myself each day to continue on and build. we are traveling in mud and going no where quick, not until both sides get good and tired of this nonsense is anything going to come of it. both sides i believe have found to their amazement that the other is not going to give in. what will change that? we shall see.

jerusalem zp 22:07 GMT October 11, 2003
athens, are you drinking? what is inconsistent about those two posts? you are mad, angry but lets try to be rational. just because you clearly dont understand the concept of what it means to be a zionist you go shooting off your like a wayward sheriff. let me be clear for you now that you are completely irritating me.....
I AM AGAINST THE SETTLEMENTS, ISRAEL MUST EVENTUALLY CLEAR THE SETTLEMENTS AND MAKE A JUST POLITICAL AGREEMENT WITH THE PALESTINIANS......
is that clear enough. it has nothing to do with being a zionist. just because you have been fed a line of crappola is not my problem. you clearly have not read your history not understand it. most zionists in israels early days were heavily left wing, some not most were right wing.......nowadays it is about a sixty/forty tilt in favor of the left leaning zionists.
most israelis still favor peace, most israelis think there should be a palestinian state if it agrees to live peacefully by israel as a neighbor under good terms. MOST ISRAELIS ARE ZIONISTS, this is not a contradiction. best way to look at this is to think of zionists and israelis as one and the same word. within this broad definition there exists many many political viewpoints, why you dont seem to get this athens i do not know. you can be a zionists and believe in peace, rabin was one of them, i hope to god i will always be one of them. take care and thks.

jerusalem zp 21:22 GMT October 11, 2003
jp, since you seem to be so interested in israel's nuclear arsenal, i thought it only fair to show canada's 'illustrious' history within this showcase too.....
http://www.ccnr.org/myth_1.html

athens, i have never claimed not to be a zionist, i'm proud of it too. the fact that your own 'study & analysis' doesnt allow you to see an inconsistency within your thinking is something that perhaps only time will prove to you. good luck. btw, this doesnt mean that i agree with haifa regarding all of his diatribes either. i will stand by my posts - nothing more, nothing less.

jerusalem zp 16:27 GMT October 11, 2003
athens, whether you know it or not, your discounting of the zionist movement in essense means that it is a short trip to the theory that jews do not have any right to a homeland. you can say all you want that israel has a right to exist, but what does that mean exactly when you continue to slam the modern day movement that helped create israel? 95% of the people who live in israel would say that they are zionist to one extent, does this mean they agree on all things, does this mean they agree on anything as a whole? no. you profoundly miss the mark and are misinterpreting one of the most successful political movements of the past 150 years.


jerusalem zp 17:29 GMT October 10, 2003
haifa, and can i now take issue w/ you? can you please tell me how exactly that the following - quoted from your 9:13 - was good, somehow i have never seen it this way:

This is like sending the National guard to Kent State!

jerusalem zp 17:26 GMT October 10, 2003
haifa 9:13, actually i said - one million dollars worth of contracts in the last month..........i expect company to have 30% growth for year.......thks.

jerusalem zp 16:40 GMT October 9, 2003
jp, yes quite possibly bush will notice that image helped arnold win, but this should make him feel pretty darn good considering no one in the demo prez camp has natural charisma.

jerusalem zp 16:36 GMT October 9, 2003
irish, before i forget, your 'health news' last night caused quite a stir in my household.....hilarious.

jerusalem zp 16:32 GMT October 9, 2003
jp, i like your handicapper statement and agree, i suppose thats why they give us a few horses to choose from. as for bush and arnold, i have no idea, i do know that they are scheduled to make an appearance together soon. they dont have to like each other merely smile at one another to do the job.

jerusalem zp 16:20 GMT October 9, 2003
nh, so are you telling me that the market doesnt know these tricks? what happens if this train doesnt stop? what happens if the market keeps going right through the elections next year? seems to me that bush just won the state of california due to arnold's success there. this is one charge i am not willing to stand in front of.....climbing on perhaps is another option.

jerusalem zp 16:07 GMT October 9, 2003
nh, dont sell kabul short.....the four seasons are beautiful there. ;^)

jerusalem zp 16:05 GMT October 9, 2003
jp, yes i know, it depends on which market we are speaking about.....tia

jerusalem zp 16:04 GMT October 9, 2003
jp - re: 15:45, i dont know whose spin you are believing exactly, but market forces seem to disagree with you.

jerusalem zp 10:24 GMT October 8, 2003
here is a rather interesting take (yes, a jewish source) on anti-semetism and anti-zionism........

http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/features/campaigns/antizionism.shtml

jerusalem zp 10:06 GMT October 8, 2003
athens, [ ]



jerusalem zp 09:58 GMT October 8, 2003
athens, obviously what i say is for public consumption here but what i say should not be used for another purpose. if you choose to do so that is your choice but i will call you on it particularly when i feel you are using what i say to argue with someone else of which i had nothing to do with.

qip, unfortunately at this time, i need a bit more in the way of a mindless escape compared to something that will actually stimulate thought. agree with your critique of clash - their music will endure quite a while - much better than soundgarden overall.

jerusalem zp 09:38 GMT October 8, 2003
qip, i saw your question concerning the clash upon my return from burying the dead late last night........i am thinking more along the lines of soundgardens - black hole sun ........for the moment.

jerusalem zp 09:34 GMT October 8, 2003
athens, dont insult my intelligence, show me some one else this morning who mentioned turkey, egypt, and kuwait in the same post. AGAIN keep me out of your arguement. all i reported was a fact, one that can not even be debated.

jerusalem zp 09:18 GMT October 8, 2003
athens, do not include me in on your arguements ..... AND do not put words into my mouth......please show me when and where i bashed anyone but fanatics. please show me now....tia

jerusalem zp 08:56 GMT October 8, 2003
haifa, you forgot to mention that turkey has agreed to send troops to iraq, and that egyptian and kuwaiti firms have just been awarded large construction contracts in iraq too.

jerusalem zp 10:13 GMT October 7, 2003
dead can't dance....

jerusalem zp 14:30 GMT September 29, 2003
athens, sorry about that, i just couldnt resist.....

jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT September 29, 2003
shang = prostitute ;^)

jerusalem zp 14:54 GMT September 25, 2003
irish, it appears i will be going to a place called Moycullen within Co. Galway quite soon for a house warming party....i have been told to bring boots and couple of bottles for refreshment.....i have been told that the area will remind me of a kibbutz i mis-spent time on.......
any suggestions?

jerusalem zp 12:07 GMT September 25, 2003
athens, agreed 100%, any excuse i can find for biz to visit is usually good enough, i will be there next week for about 4 days....

jerusalem zp 11:50 GMT September 25, 2003
athens, i imagine prodi's 'friend' berlosconni is delighted by these troubles....

jerusalem zp 11:03 GMT September 25, 2003
ib, you did the right thing last night......

jerusalem zp 10:54 GMT September 25, 2003
apparently this awful judgement against the nigerian woman has finally been nullifyed........

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/09/25/nigeria.stoning/index.html

jerusalem zp 08:58 GMT September 25, 2003
qip, ....but sometimes you tire of the buffet and simply prefer a fine delicacy......a good bottle of wine doesnt hurt either ;^)

jerusalem zp 08:51 GMT September 25, 2003
oil man, is this one of the first cracks in the armour of which you have been speaking?

http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/business/FT1059480100851.html

jerusalem zp 08:47 GMT September 25, 2003
i'd like to take this time to wish anyone celebrating the Jewish holidays a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year from Jerusalem.......

jerusalem zp 15:14 GMT September 24, 2003
and wouldnt you know it, there is now a web site that will let us know supposedly......

http://www.truthorfiction.com/

jerusalem zp 14:28 GMT September 24, 2003
ib,you are correct the poor writer may not be able to be held accountable, but the 'publisher' certainly can be....if nothing a publisher and server can be shut down besides getting sued for damages.

jerusalem zp 14:25 GMT September 24, 2003
may i offer the following to back up what i just said......

http://web.gosanangelo.com/archive/01/april/2/8.html

jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT September 24, 2003
another thing while we are on this subject, corporations in the states have recently sucessfully sued some internet sites to OUT the seemingly annonymous folks who are writing libelous letters to sites saying libelous things about their corporations. the people who have been outed have been held accountable for their actions......

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT September 24, 2003
jp, i dont have to define libel, the courts will do that. nevertheless people should take responisibility for what they write.......and sites should take responsibility for whom they allow to write, particularly when certain people have made false statements before and it is known. for instance, if a caller to the larry king show says something that is false and it is aired live, larry king and cnn is not responsible for slander. BUT if cnn repeats the show and allows a knowingly false statement (slander) to be repeated they may very well be liable. there are lawyers afoot who are now watching over chat rooms, new sites, etc, for those who allow people who are insistently writing libelous things........it will change the internet. so be it.......

qip, ;^)

jerusalem zp 13:27 GMT September 24, 2003
folks, i think some of you may be missing my point, this is my fault, i am not being clear.....what i think is important is that we are in an era within the internet where anything pretty much still goes, no one has to take responsibility for anything they write, post, send........this seems to be changing and we are now apparently about to start seeing the first integrated actions taken against people/organizations which allow libelous material to continuously be published. i am not against freedom of speech, but with that i believe comes a respsonsibility to not say things that are knowingly false and malicious....obviously it is a fine line. i am not a judge, but as one supreme court justice once said - i know it when i see it (he was speaking about pornography).
my simple point is this, we are responsible for what we write.

the following link is some old info on what people thought about libel and the internet about seven years ago, it is developing and is bound to change......it will be a bit like cigarette smoking lawsuits........only takes one verdict to change the way we view this.....why should we allow for libel?

http://law.buffalo.edu/Academics/courses/629/computer_law_policy_articles/CompLawPapers/holland.htm

jerusalem zp 13:05 GMT September 24, 2003
gentlemen, the word is libel, simple as that.....lets not lose the plot........

jerusalem zp 11:39 GMT September 24, 2003
ib, isnt it possible that the best developments come from a combination of competition and collective thought? humans tend to do no job the same, thus the reason for the utopian ideal of communism failing time after time.... people watch the others work around them and either tend to follow suit in some relaxed mode or decide to out do the other and thus try to garner some greater reward, if no reward is forthcoming the system (work environment) typically goes to rot.

jp, regarding your post to ac and the great unwashed belonging to this new era of the internet. lawyers are not so stupid (a bit carnivorous perhaps though), they arent going to go after the millions within the chat rooms, they are going to go after those who publish the material and allow libel to take place.....some one must watch for the hate mongers....when we allow for anarchy of thought, we achieve anarchy....is that what we want?

jerusalem zp 09:35 GMT September 24, 2003
haifa, the words libel and internet will soon become interchangable and lawsuits are going to start flying....

jerusalem zp 05:29 GMT September 24, 2003
http://www.ehendrick.org/healthy/001021.htm

jerusalem zp 13:08 GMT September 23, 2003
jp, canada should stop screwing with everyone's electrical supply......haven't they had enough fun yet?

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/23/sweden.denmark.power/index.html

jerusalem zp 08:22 GMT September 23, 2003
haifa, i would like your thoughts on the schekel? for a country that is supposedly suffering a crisis, the schekel appears to be resilient......

jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT September 22, 2003
oil man, you are correct, but i am allowed to dream still....at least quietly....

jerusalem zp 13:22 GMT September 22, 2003
oil man, if she works at the fed please let me know.....tia

jerusalem zp 12:40 GMT September 22, 2003
that should be.......leakey family......

jerusalem zp 12:35 GMT September 22, 2003
jp, what if the searchers are still looking in the wrong areas? isnt it possible that a guy like hussein who killed a 100,000 or so political dissidents and had them buried in the desert had the ability to hide lets say five or six science projects in various places too? it could be a very good archaeology mission within the coming years, perhaps the leaky family will find the missing link, perhaps no......

jerusalem zp 07:32 GMT September 22, 2003
haifa, re: 6:31, note that when i met with an israeli cpa in jerusalem recently he told me that he thought it would be best to incorporate a new company in of all places the palestinian authority - he was not joking - and he works for one of the big 3 worldwide accounting firms.

jerusalem zp 14:05 GMT September 21, 2003
......lastly, only one.....

jerusalem zp 14:03 GMT September 21, 2003
jp, regarding halliburton, you should take a closer look. i believe the stock is trading @ about 24/25 $ per share, this is up for the year no doubt but down substansially from its high a few years ago which was around 50 or so if i am not mistaken. thus only those who would have bought in over the last 12 months would have made profits - paper profits - at that unless they sold correctly.
point, long term investors - people probably like cheney and his gang have not yet reaped any kind of significant profit buy owning share here.....(well maybe).......if they have been holding on for five or ten years they are simpley good (or bad) long term investors like everyone else.
lastly, one one making money off this stock right now is the short term player who decided to go long the war......its move has mirrored the index, nothing more, nothing less.

jerusalem zp 12:32 GMT September 21, 2003
revdax, on second thought.....i think it was north korea, they simply disguised themselves as people of middle eastern blood......a bit like the last james bond movie......now if only i can find their diamond factory...

jerusalem zp 12:29 GMT September 21, 2003
revdax, dont you read caisa's post.......hasnt she told you what you need to know?

jerusalem zp 12:23 GMT September 21, 2003
sfx, you have stumbled upon israel and india's secret plan.....that is to control the central middle east in order to build a direct trade route for the sub continent to the eastern med.........this of course will add to india's production of their new Rover car line......and give young israeli tourists just finishing army service the ultimate hitch hiking route.....yet again, another victory for the illuminati......

jerusalem zp 12:06 GMT September 21, 2003
jp, i wouldnt count on the u.s. taking over iran..........but it would make for an easier time driving from israel to pakistan eventually ;^)


jerusalem zp 10:24 GMT September 21, 2003
revdax, trust me, if the white house knew it had wmd's in its hand it would certainly tell the world. america owes to much to tony blair to let him sit out under a glaring public which is more than angry about no wmd's as of yet. last night labor lost an election they would typically have won easily in the london area, losing a seat to the liberal party which opposed the war.
this is one rabbit bush would pull out of the hat as soon as he knew it was there. until then, for many, it will sound like he is speaking out of his arse.

jerusalem zp 09:43 GMT September 21, 2003
and lastly for your reading enjoyment, this article - also - from the ny times......for those amongst us who feel they are running out of time.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/business/yourmoney/21OLDY.html

jerusalem zp 09:35 GMT September 21, 2003
heres a ny times article on the u.s. army chaplin and west point graduate who is now facing an investigation....

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/national/21CHAP.html?hp

jerusalem zp 08:43 GMT September 21, 2003
th, you should not be shocked about any demonstration for peace in israel. you must remember that more than 60% of the country still wants to make peace with the palestinians. the big question is how this takes place? do we simply walk out while a gun is held to our head? or do we negotiate and make sure we are dealing with a govt./authority of whom has an infrastructue to work effectively?
watch what happens this week when some of the most important politicos from the 70s 80s 90s come to israel to help celebrate Shimon Peres 80th birthday this week.
it may be unwise for me to sound like some idealistic fool, but th if you were to come to tel aviv and walk around the city, it cafes, shops, clubs you would never guess that just 45 kilometres away lurks another world. the bikini clad girls would take your mind off of most of your problems.
we live on a civilization fault line. there is a deep divide over how the situation should be dealt with in israel, for the time being i believe most people want peace, want to see a palestinian nation next door, but it must be a nation that is comitted to the existence of israel and wants to work as a partner. (yes, ibiza, yes, israel must be comitted to the same things for the palestinians).


jerusalem zp 08:06 GMT September 21, 2003
bc, can you tell me about the infrastructure for transportation within the interior of china. by this i mean, what type of mechanisms exists and what degree of sophistication is there for trucking, trains, shipping within the interior? it wasnt until the united states was able to provide a sophisticated network to move goods from the west to the east and then visa-versa that it could truly booast of a modern economy. from my experience, i imagine china has quite a blue print and understands the importance of this issue quite well.
as an aside, it seems to me that china will use the upcoming 2008 olympics as a spring board in order to say to the world that we are right with you and can lead......much like the u.s did when hosting the world expo from chicago in the late 1800's.

jerusalem zp 07:58 GMT September 21, 2003
and these tasty tidbits from debka.com this morning.....two things that if true, will be quite interesting to watch developments on.......though i tend to believe that the saddam rumor could be disinformation - this until i see something for myself.....

Saddam in Talks with US? Saddam Hussein reported in secret negotiation with US forces for safe passage to former Soviet Belarus republic in exchange for information of WMD and his bank accounts. Report carried in London Sunday Mirror adds Bush adviser Rice is coordinating talks led by US Gen. Rick Sanchez. No comment from US sources.

US army chaplain working with Guantanamo Bay detainees has been arrested on suspicion of espionage. West Point graduate Capt. Yousef Lee of Chinese-American descent converted to Islam ten years ago and spent four years in Syria.



jerusalem zp 17:12 GMT September 20, 2003
oil man, no i am not there, i am here....where ever here is....

jerusalem zp 19:58 GMT September 18, 2003
th, actually you may have found the reason for hatred of both jew and arab, circumsision. maybe the world has circumsision envy.......maybe this was henry ford's problem, nice guy that he was......


jerusalem zp 19:53 GMT September 18, 2003
th, i once told one of my mormon friends that the religous jews put the foreskin that is saved inside the seams of their kippas (skullcaps) and wear it up on their heads the rest of their lives. he believed me regarding this lie for quite some time. so if you ever meet a mormon who tells you religious jews do this you will know where the story came from....;^)

jerusalem zp 19:46 GMT September 18, 2003
th, both jews and muslim men are circumsized.......our joint father was abraham remember.

jerusalem zp 13:50 GMT September 18, 2003
we are now entering the final week (unless someone in nigera comes to their senses), regarding the saga of Amina Lawal, the nigerian woman who has been sentenced to death by stoning.
the world continues to find ways to irk me.......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2202111.stm

jerusalem zp 12:03 GMT September 18, 2003
thomas friedman on america's war with france.......
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/18/opinion/18FRIE.html

interesting views..........possibly correct.....

jerusalem zp 11:35 GMT September 18, 2003
just a note wishing everyone on the u.s. east coast a safe couple of days with the approaching hurricane......take care of yourselves....

anyone know what dick grasso is going to do with himself the next couple of years? maybe he will buy long island....

jerusalem zp 07:47 GMT September 18, 2003
looking towards the future......
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/18/nyregion/18BLOC.html?hp

jerusalem zp 14:53 GMT September 17, 2003
ib, i think this poem has been posted here at least twice before in the last few months, i am going to personally come for the next person who post it........;^)

jerusalem zp 14:29 GMT September 17, 2003
nh, one way for the democratics to get out the votes would be to have clark and clinton on the same ticket.....wesley and hillary could promise the american public that they will have an affair with each other in the white house (she after all has shown affection to men from little rock before). this would get the demos out their in force to back up the pair who say that what goes on in the bedroom has nothing to do with the way politics are conducted and it would get out the independents who typically would only be voting for the likes of nadar - because what is more independent than having an affair?


jerusalem zp 13:59 GMT September 17, 2003
nh, rather funny that the democrats can only put up characters that are so completely one dimensional in the personality department - lieberman, kerry, gebhart, dean, and clark are all so straight faced and earnest that it is painful to watch them.......i would like to see someone break out into a natural unplanned smile, until one of them is capable of doing this they will have no chance of beating bush. keeping in mind that most people vote against somebody - not for somebody in most cases.......these soul less bastards will lose too many votes just because of body language. can any of these guys dance?

jerusalem zp 21:01 GMT September 16, 2003
look who's suddenly showing up for dinner in all the right places.......hmmm, first the arab league summit and now opec, why its as if the iraqis were really being allowed to get organizing.........must be another american-zionist lie.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3113856.stm

jerusalem zp 20:51 GMT September 16, 2003
oil man, i hope you are staying away from those 'spanish lottery' tickets in dubai.......
also, while we're not on the subject, seem like crude is nearing an interesting low within its range......do i hear $26,25,24 a barrel coming up?

jerusalem zp 11:55 GMT September 16, 2003
jp, must the u.s. growers send their crops to canada to make your people happy? ;^)

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/09/16/canada.marijuana.ap/index.html

jerusalem zp 20:28 GMT September 15, 2003
i guess someone must have paid barak, because here it is:

http://www.virtualpalestine.org/

jerusalem zp 20:16 GMT September 15, 2003
just in case anyone wants to write to president arafat, here is his official web site.........not joking.......
http://www.p-p-o.net/

jerusalem zp 16:31 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, trust me, i might be an idiot, but i know this isnt peace. trust me, i would enjoy nothing more than the chance to do nothing but worry about my family, biz, and art all day long.

jerusalem zp 16:29 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, what personally bothered me about burg's writing was that somehow during it all he doesnt seem to calculate why things have become this way. he doesnt seem to calculate the effects of perpetual war, the perpetual hatred.....he seems to be someone who is looking to himself for explanations and only finds fault in himself. while that may be admirable, i find it doubtful that jews are soley to blame for this quagmire we now have.
btw, i still believe things will work out in the end.

nh, yes, i am still optimistic........no other choice.

jerusalem zp 16:20 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, i will have to ask my wife about this mama's boy syndrome but actually i think your comment speaks volumes.....why? well the fact that we are willing to punch someone in the mouth after we get punched really must bother you. the fact that israelis didnt lie down in the street to take a bullet in the head like sheep must comfound you. sorry, but it doesnt make me lose sleep. for all the little dimwitted rabbis you name, for all the self hating (i am ashamed to be jewish because they are so weak and tragic chomsky nonsense) i must tell you - TOUGH. the world is a cruel place, jews have been guided by their beliefs for centuries, the fact that we have survived the nonsense is what aggravates those who hate us. the fact that we wouldnt become one of the many who have disappeared into history is what bothers many. tell me, where are the romans who took my family from israel to italy two thousand years ago? tell me where the great egyptians are? vanquished, gone, dust.......what many cant stand is that the jews never gave up......one last note, we never will.

jerusalem zp 16:06 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, why does it bother you so much that we, israelis, are just not going to take the worlds crapoola? you can spew forth any twisted quote taken out of context and make it look very unsympathetic but the simple fact is that we have a right to be here ib and nobody is going to change that.
why did your folks leave italy and head to oz, who gave them the right? what about the poor native people of oz? has your family given them a cash reward for having the chutpah to move and live on another soil so far away? please, and while that surely makes you think i am avoiding the issue - this has nothing to do what the world owes us, it has nothing to do with the holocaust, israel and the zionists movement classically started in the early 1800's. ever hear of napoleon? and note, that jews for centuries have continued to live in israel, israel has never been without a jew, we never gave her up, and we never will. if you dont like that, if you cant except that then we have nothing to speak about. i am all for having the palestinians live by my side, but as your posts fail to note the palestinians walked away from a u.n mandate which actually gave them a country in the late 40's, what they did instead was choose to invade israel. was israel ready for that? yes we were. good for us. just one of many poor decisions by the palestinian leadership through the years. again it has nothing to do with victim hood, it has to do with a strong jew image that seems to bother you for some reason.

jerusalem zp 15:53 GMT September 15, 2003
nh, i would welcome gate crashers to the party just to clear the air in here tonight.........

jerusalem zp 15:49 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, i dont want you to feel left out of this arguement, but i think while you posts these lovely tidbits it might do you some good to read up on the history of the area about two thousand and five hundred years worth should cover it.

jerusalem zp 15:36 GMT September 15, 2003
we should now officially change the name of this place to the rhetoric forum.......

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, this is a members only party........so dont worry.

jerusalem zp 15:05 GMT September 15, 2003
nh, please see my 'what happens to simple' post to jp about a hour or so ago....

jerusalem zp 14:42 GMT September 15, 2003
haifa, last year you said at this time arafat didnt matter, but in less than a week israel has made him a hero/scapegoat for the masses rightly or wrongly. wouldnt it have been better to completely ignore him and marginalize him into oblivion? every utterance israel makes about arafat officially only makes him stronger and keeps him from giving in to both illness and to a lackluster future. israel has commited the cardinal sin of speaking when angry i think.


jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT September 15, 2003
jp, on my side israel with a bunch of israeli arabs, on the other side palestine with a bunch of palestinian jews, and lastly a vast amount of super highways so i can drive my car from tel aviv to amman and then to damascus and then go to beirut for a little party over the weekend.........really pretty simple, and as we have all come to learn the more simple something is the more complicated it is to actually do.

jerusalem zp 14:13 GMT September 15, 2003
revdax, maybe this as green as our garden can get for a while here, a lot of weeds need to be first cleaned out, on both sides of the fence....until then i will keep cleaning the garden as much as possible by removing as many stones as i can. maybe when i and a few others have sold every stone here on both sides of the fence we will be able to plant things for real.....a silly answer with a lot of truth too. thks.

jerusalem zp 13:55 GMT September 15, 2003
revdax, maybe this will help - shag = make love (in a more polite setting).....

jerusalem zp 13:48 GMT September 15, 2003
revdax, and i dont quite get the joke between the palestinians and israelis and wonder if i ever will ;^)

jerusalem zp 13:40 GMT September 15, 2003
A guy walks into a bar with an octopus. He sits the octopus down on a stool and tells everyone in the bar that this is a very talented octopus. He can play any musical instrument in the world. Everyone in the bar laughs at the man, calling him an idiot. So he says that he will wager £50 to anyone who has an instrument that the octopus can't play. A customer walks up with a guitar and sets it beside the octopus. Immediately the octopus picks up the guitar and starts playing better than Jimmy Hendrix. The guitar owner pays up the £50. Another customer walks up with a trumpet. This time the octopus plays the trumpet better than Miles Davis. The trumpet-owner coughs up the £50. Then Jim, a Scotsman plonks some bagpipes on the table. The octopus fumbles with the bagpipes for a minute and then backs off
with a confused look. Ha!" the Scot says. "Can ye nae plae it?" The octopus looks up at him and says, "Play it? I'm going to shag it as soon as I figure out how to get the pyjamas off."

jerusalem zp 13:29 GMT September 15, 2003
from an official court report record......

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law somewhere.


jerusalem zp 09:16 GMT September 15, 2003
revdax, i shall disagree with you on this a bit, considering the current valuation on the rmb, i would say that farmers in china are actually getting their help through this.......

that being said farming is one of the least spoken about, yet most important businesses in the world.

jerusalem zp 08:52 GMT September 15, 2003
revdax, perhaps oz wasnt mentioned but you probably were not wrong to list them....
http://www.farmwide.com.au/

jerusalem zp 08:48 GMT September 15, 2003
th, i would venture to say w/o looking but based on some knowledge of how the biz works that it is the growers of grain in oz that are somehow being helped by the govt....

jerusalem zp 08:35 GMT September 15, 2003
oil man, thks for the follow up, now i understand......that is if it is possible to understand....

jerusalem zp 08:33 GMT September 15, 2003
oil man, thks, i guess i will have to get some clarification from a friend in riyadh.....

jerusalem zp 08:23 GMT September 15, 2003
oil man, perhaps 'the jewish' barbie doll spoke to her....btw, what is a jewish barbie doll? please explain if you have a clue, do muslim barbie dolls exist? what would Sartre have to say about all of this.....?

jerusalem zp 08:20 GMT September 15, 2003
ib, feel free to comment @ haifa, i will try to stay out of the way......i am too busy getting my gear ready for the bunker - tmrw is tuesday you know.......

jerusalem zp 08:03 GMT September 15, 2003
interesting that there are no comments here on the swedish voting no against the euro yesterday........

jerusalem zp 10:54 GMT September 13, 2003
jp, i can agree with you on the fact that discussing the future particulary goals and events 22 years from now is a bit like building castles in the air......yet i have seen people speaking about the demise of the united states since the early 70's as a giant whose time has come and will be brought down to everyone elses size. if people around the globe were given the choice in the mid 70's to express their views of spheres and which one would crumble first the soviets or the states and western europe, many would have predicted the fall of the states and western europe.
when we speak about the demise of the united states as an economic giant we should make sure we are not speaking because of envy first, and then we should study our history. america is a young giant, it is still very dynamic, young giants typically can survive many falls and injuries to fight yet again. greenspan is a mere insect and not that important, the machine that will propel the states is how it sells its story. as long as hundreds of thousands around the world still want to come to her shores every year it is a sure sign her beauty has not diminished. dont bet against her just because she is good looking.

jerusalem zp 10:17 GMT September 13, 2003
final sentence should read........unless europes changes its economic policies.

jerusalem zp 10:14 GMT September 13, 2003
bc, seems to me that you may be overreaching just a bit here. what seems far more likely is that europe is in fact the entity that is sinking and going to become a living museum but not exactly the motor of any new world economy in the coming decades......it is estimated that america will remain within it economic might as a nation that will account for 25% of the global economy in 2025, just as it does so today. greater china including taiwan it is estimated shall rise to nearly the same amount.......but europe which accounts for about 17% percent currently will decrease to about 11% even with a united face........
why? because europe's wage structure and lack of immigration cannot compete with china's low cost advantages and the united states immigration base and high technological achievements which continue to keep her up to pace.
wages in china are one fifth the wages in mexico.......cheap labor obviously thus translates into manufacturing jobs....but the united states long ago started manufacturing in both mexico and china.......europe still lags behind in this category in a major way, it may be just now waking up to this but it may be too late. it is not coinincidence that while the u.s economy has started to pick up that europe still slumbers within recession.
while i believe china is about to join the worlds economic giants, i believe that one sphere which could drop will actually be europe and not north america unless europe.

jerusalem zp 21:14 GMT September 12, 2003
qip, thks.....i will share this one with my wife in the morning....

jerusalem zp 21:06 GMT September 12, 2003
On a tour of Ireland, the Pope took a couple of days off his itinerary to visit the North coast on an impromptu sightseeing trip. His 4X4 Popemobile was driving along the golden sands when there was an enormous commotion heard just off the headland. They rushed to see what it was and upon approaching the scene the Pope noticed just outside the surf, a hapless man wearing an English football jersey, struggling frantically to free himself from the jaws of a twenty foot shark. At that moment a speedboat containing three men wearing Irish football tops roared into view from around the
point. Spontaneously,one of the men took aim and fired a harpoon into the shark's ribs, immobilizing it instantly. The other two reached out and pulled the Englishman from the water and then, using long clubs, beat the shark to death. They bundled the bleeding, semi conscious man into the speed boat along with the dead shark and then prepared for a hasty retreat,when they heard frantic shouting from the shore. It was of course the Pope, and he summoned them to the beach. Upon them reaching the shore the Pope
went into raptures about the rescue and said, "I give you my blessing for your brave actions. I had heard that there were some racist xenophobic people trying to divide Ireland and England, but, now I have seen with my own eyes this is not true. I can see that your society is a truly enlightened example of racial harmony and could serve as a model on
which other nations could follow." He blessed them all and drove off in a cloud of dust. As he departed, the harpoonist asked the others, "Who was that???!" "That," one answered, "was his Holiness the Pope. He is in direct contact with God and has access to all God's wisdom." "Well," the harpoonist replied, "he knows f--- all about shark hunting. How's that bait holding up or do we need to get another one?"


jerusalem zp 20:50 GMT September 12, 2003
qip, absolutely, and then i have a great pope joke sent to me by a friend in dublin this morning that i want to share. i am serious about this.......so go ahead.

jerusalem zp 20:49 GMT September 12, 2003
nh, if arafat could make a commercial for taco bell it actually might soften his image a bit..........having said that i think arafat afar is more dangerous than arafat close by. i am certain though that sharon and arafat are wondering what is in the others hand tonight. i think the next two to three months could be the last game they play together in their lifetimes. i have no idea what the outcome will be but i suspect it will be full of venom.

jerusalem zp 20:40 GMT September 12, 2003
nh, why? is their a taco bell opening in ramallah.....?

jerusalem zp 20:34 GMT September 12, 2003
ib, w/o trying to be too theatrical let me tell you this, israel has not fought this thing as if it were a war yet. i dont want to sound like a madman but let me tell you and anyone else for that matter that israel has tried to be patient for quite some time..........it may not appear that way to the rest of the world but if we are hit with one more attack i am willing to bet the farm that the palestinian authority is going to wish for the days they spent in tunis.

jerusalem zp 20:23 GMT September 12, 2003
ib, let me tell you, i dont know. everyone has been kind of enough not to ask questions regarding what happened here a few nights ago, all i will say is that you should hope you never have to imagine seeing what i saw and then have to spend two days going to funerals..........i know perfectly well that palestinians see carnage too but at some point when all these terrible things keep happening it is simply impossible to underscore the amount of distrust and hatred on both sides right now. all i can tell you is that the next two months are going to be very ugly here, is it the last spasm before we come to our senses......i would like to think so. but i have become biased over the last three years, as i wrote a couple of weeks ago when the jerusalem bus was blown up on the way from the western wall........i no longer believe. it is unfortunate but it is true.......things will take time here.....we are getting ready for a very big dance here and it will not be pretty.

jerusalem zp 20:13 GMT September 12, 2003
ib, one additional note, i actually believe that this low threshold balances out opinions quite well. what do i mean? if for instance someone with a majority takes a seat and no opposition is allowed to sit w/o a majority win........then what happens to the voice that disagrees. not only do you do away with by eliminating from a public forum but you smother the public that though in the minority needs a voice heard. for instance the arab/palestinian parties that are elected and serve in the israeli knesset. if it werent for the low thresholds they would not be sitting in the place, nor would people like meretz who are left of left........in other words the 1.5 in some strange way makes sure that everything gets questioned and answered here, not such a bad thing......

jerusalem zp 20:04 GMT September 12, 2003
ib, let me say you make an interesting point regarding the 1.5% threshold margin on gaining a seat in the knesset. i actually agree with you on this. i think that what we should have is a head to head race, per districts with people representing their parties, and let the one with the majority of votes head the district and go to the knesset under his/her party flag. this would make me happy and perhaps we could eliminate some of the maniacs that occasionally get into knesset.
now having said that and actually agreeing with you now that i have calmed down for a week, let me point out something, within all of these moronic coalitions which lead to an election once every two years or so lately here..........the coalitions have always - ALWAYS - been led by labor (and it predessor party maipai) and likud.......thus the israeli govt has pretty much always dealt with the same stable (good and bad) doctrine believes when dealing with arab/palestinian and world affairs.
what makes the coalitions so unnerving & wobbly is that there is frequent fallout not over the above which are very important, but alot of problems in the knesset due to disputes on how money should be spent on budgets and how deficits should be managed. HAVING said that, most govts around the world have the same problem.
lets remember that we have a voting public that is the size of paris for the most part. i - since i went to university in chicago - have always considered israeli politics on a par with the chicago machine politics. corruption and other assorted goodies are out there and in the newspapers and occasionally someone gets nailed........
thus, though you are correct about the 1.5% electoral rule in israel - i dont know about other places - this isnt why israel and palestine are such screwed up places. perhaps it doesnt help too much, but i truly dont think it hinders things too much. as i said before labor and likud predominantly guide policy, those joining the coalitions must buckle to doctrine. now if those doctrines change because of public opinion and the world around us, well this is democracy - our version of it.

jerusalem zp 12:53 GMT September 12, 2003
folks & particularly max if he is about, your brain is hard wired in such a way as to recognise potential matches to familiar objects, this is how optical illusions work......but did yiu konw taht aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.



jerusalem zp 09:27 GMT September 11, 2003
revdax, every person i know in biz around the world thinks stepping up exports to china is going to make them a millionaire, why should some stupid israeli govt. official be any different? having said this, if you are ready to set up an office selling my products there please let me know.



jerusalem zp 07:59 GMT September 11, 2003
folks, heres a very interesting article on the gold and metals market from the new york times/ & cbs market watch......actually quite in depth and with interesting links.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={2522A103-50A0-4F81-978E-0411332673E0}&siteid=NYT&dist=NYT

jerusalem zp 15:43 GMT September 10, 2003
dan, btw, thks very much for the flute story....hilarious.

jerusalem zp 15:30 GMT September 10, 2003
oil man, actually we didnt steal the gold, we are merely warehousing it for nesara after the illuminati tell us to distribute it........

anyone have a cup of coffee they can send me? i have been told i am not allowed to go out for one right now by she who must be obeyed.....

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT September 10, 2003
th, you are right, it also has other implications...... for years 'the egyptians' - that is the people who are dwelling in egypt now - have claimed that the jews had nothing to do with building the pyramids, now we are being accused of knowing somehow where the gold was within the pyramids, how could this be? also just who would the jews pay? who are the egyptians of the pharoah age? where exactly do they dwell now? it looks like passover this year will be more interesting than normal........

jerusalem zp 14:59 GMT September 10, 2003
we live in a silly little world, full of silly little people.......

17:35 Egyptian lawyer planning to sue world Jewry for `plundering` gold during the Exodus from Pharaonic Egypt (Reuters)

jerusalem zp 12:11 GMT September 10, 2003
and i thought i wasnt paying attention........

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Southwest/09/09/plane.stowaway/index.html

jerusalem zp 20:28 GMT September 9, 2003
http://www.israel-embassy.org.uk/web/pages/knesset.htm

if anyone here cares to read about israel's election process please read the above, if you have any questions please direct them to IB since he clearly considers himself an expert. thks.


jerusalem zp 20:20 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, take care......

jerusalem zp 20:09 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, why post haifas stuff and ask me to defend him? not only do you want to eliminate democracy just because you think to many people have representation but now you want me to speak for someone elses writing......interesting and extremely insulting.....but more than that actually quite sad because you are proving what an arse you are.

jerusalem zp 19:34 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, you are clearly adled today.....how exactly have i changed the subject? would you like me to post twenty pages of election info here so you can pour through it for some reason. YOU compared israels tactics to the nazis today. YOU asked why religious jews had those funny little curls of hair. please i am not here to defend your position. what is it that you want answered, am i supposed to answer nonsense? SHOW ME WHERE I HAVE EVER SAID EVERY STUPID THING THAT HAPPENS HERE IS ONLY THE PALESTINIANS FAULT. have i not pointed out sharon's idiocy for you, or do you not know how to read? you are wasting my time.

jerusalem zp 19:16 GMT September 9, 2003
snp, i think you are going to make a million with this type of idea.......hilarious.

jerusalem zp 18:56 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, one final thing, i know you are not french, but still you write as if france had nothing to do with the mess in vietnam or the middle east. you write as if america and perhaps israel and a few select others are responsible for the plight of the world's misery..........read your history.

jerusalem zp 18:52 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, good you know your history, vietnam won the war.....but i didnt say that they didnt what i said was that vietnam if you want to look at your definitions - communism certainly has not won - nationalism and market economy has won, not idealism, not utopia.

now as for israel, mind you it is a democratic nation. mind you we have elected arab parties who are pro palestinian in the knesset. please take a look at the make up of the current israeli govt and please tell me how many religious parties are members of the current coalition..........1.

i love when you throw at the garbage that i get offended when people arent on israels side......have you ever really read my posts? i am one of israel's strongest critics at times, so please spare me your morality play.

i am all with you for eliminating fanatics and the lunatic fringe but your arguement against israel somehow seems to be that we allow too many people to express their opinions, and have too many diverse people serve in govt. i suppose this should not surprise me when it comes from someone who some how felt bad that the one party iraq govt was overthrown after they had a totalitarian regime for the past twenty five years and were responsible for a million or so deaths.

you are an intelligent guy who prefers to stay within his cozy thoughts for some reason. yesterday for instance you posted a piece on the death of zionism by burg which longed for his misguided ethics, today you speak about zionism as if it is a monster. funniest thing about it all is that you have no idea what zionism is probably. can you define it without going to google and without help from the peanut gallery? i doubt it but would love to see a true attempt.



jerusalem zp 16:57 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, i havent really had time to write about your missives today but allow me to say that i think your comments are completely without merit......... interesting to me that you can spew forth nonsense for five or six posts and then not have a decent answer to back yourself up when asked a simple question.your posts regarding israeli govt and its elected officials was nothing less than rhetoric based on no real knowledge and near libel except for the fact that you have no clue obviously what you are speaking about so cant be held accountable - your ignorance is overwhelming.

also, take note, while the vietnamese might officially have some type of central govt. i think you may find it hard to argue that they are in fact practicing a market economy much more based on capitalism than communism. so who really won afterall?

jerusalem zp 16:49 GMT September 9, 2003
heres a rather amusing or disturbing article based on your reality concerning the great brain washed mass of north korea...
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/09/nkorea.cheerleaders/index.html

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT September 9, 2003
haifa, get back into your bunker until i tell you that you can come out......

jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT September 9, 2003
gentlemen, thk you.

jerusalem zp 13:51 GMT September 9, 2003
bc, when did gold become anything but a hedge against inflation? isnt it possible that what we are seeing is merely speculation and quite possibly a bubble in the gold price considering that we are actually looking at a very mild inflation (if not deflationary) period? or is gold where the smart money is going because they know there is going to be massive inflation? something does not make sense......

jerusalem zp 12:37 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, all this......is in the posts you have just put up, simple question really. do you believe what you have just posted?

jerusalem zp 12:30 GMT September 9, 2003
ib, you certain of all this?

jerusalem zp 09:57 GMT September 9, 2003
interesting document exhibit:
Palestinian Phase Plan, has this been rescinded or does it still breathe?

http://www.iris.org.il/plophase.htm

jerusalem zp 09:07 GMT September 9, 2003
biz and sports related, i seldom laugh when people lose money, BUT watching man. united's shares drop this morning is rather a thrill........if only they would start losing massively on the pitch too......

jerusalem zp 08:10 GMT September 9, 2003
ibiza, why not stop using rhetoric and actually try to say something......and why not show some facts?

jerusalem zp 08:03 GMT September 9, 2003
ibiza, please tell how it feels to live under an authortiarian dictatorship? can you please comment on that for us....here within this forum we see plenty of critical thought written by ha'aretz regarding its own country and institutions, where is the critical thought on your side? where is it aired exactly? who is going to stand up to the madness on your side? not to say that there isnt madness on mine, but until your side can actually say that they have made critical mistakes as well nothing is going to get done here. that is my conclusion. we can sing, eat together, work together, and speak of the future until we are blue in the face, but until someone with real authority can stand up on the palestinian side and speak the truth to his own people - your people - we are headed down a dead end.........figuratively and literally.

jerusalem zp 07:56 GMT September 9, 2003
ibiza, i dont recall saying you had to go anywhere.....please show me where i said this in the past two years.....please? seems to me the 'men' of hamas have ample ideas on where the israelis can go or am i wrong? funny that you should make this comment, if i didnt know any better i would say that it is an unconcious form of some related psychological desire. in the meantime maybe the palestinians can clean up some of there own mess which they have brought upon themselves.

jerusalem zp 07:44 GMT September 9, 2003
ibiza, tell me if this means anything to you.......
crocodile tears
pl. noun
An insincere display of grief; false tears.
[From the belief that crocodiles weep either to lure a victim or when eating one.]





jerusalem zp 07:38 GMT September 9, 2003
ibiza, how does it feel to play the role of the perpetual victim? academy awards arent given for this but maybe they should be?

jerusalem zp 06:56 GMT September 9, 2003
........are people speaking about stone here.......

jerusalem zp 16:07 GMT September 8, 2003
ahe, i may very well believe in ac's trend but must live my life. my wife and i went to a movie on saturday night, this after almost every single family member called us and told us to stay in.......i kid with haifa because i know he gets the joke too, though him and i dont agree on all things, we still face the same things......

jerusalem zp 16:01 GMT September 8, 2003
ib, just to be fair, i would like to point out that a sky news reporter (a station i believe that mr. murdoch owns) pretty much said that he thought donald rumsfield was on another planet last night regarding a speech rummy gave in afghanistan. dont recall the reporters name, though when he reported from israel the past couple of years he stood out as someone who was fair quite a bit of the time. this reporter went onto to say that rumsfield is either living on another planet or simply doesnt understand what is taking place in afghanistan at all. and that is..........that except for the kabul area that total chaos is now breaking out through out the country once again, and that although the u.s is claiming that it might be taliban troops regathering for a fight that it is in fact trouble being caused by a complete breakdown in the law which afghanistan has been famous for now almost a century or so.....that lack of attention and money promised to afghanistan is slowly but surely bringing it into a land of the warlords once again........
though you will not agree with my perspective that the u.s had a right to take care of business in afghanistan, i think perhaps you will agree with me that now that they have done one part of the job that they owe it to the people of the country to complete the task and deliver on what was promised.
having said that, let me continue and to say that if the u.s does not follow through and allows afghanistan to be a land of gangsters once again, that this whole 'war on terror' is in reality nothing but masturbation. when the 'leaders' of our screwed up little planet look in the mirror i hope they see their own guilt when faced with the fact that they didnt have the courage or determination to go the whole way and instead are going to rely on bs. and propaganda.

jerusalem zp 15:43 GMT September 8, 2003
haifa, since it is almost tuesday here in the middle east i want to ask you before you climb into your bunker about the upcoming date of 9-11, where is the trend?

jerusalem zp 08:33 GMT September 7, 2003
th, only problem is that abu mazzan is not yassir arafat, he is not the same card player. his chips have been burned and he will need a new backer in order to sit at this table again.
hold onto the straw but dont let yourself drown while wishing for mazzan to suddenly show up in a superman suit. i suspect that arafat's fate will be decided this week. if i had to place a bet i would say he will be on a plane to egypt or tunisa or some other land soon. i think israel is willing to bet that he will be less effective in pulling strings from afar then from up close, this perhaps is only wishful thinking by the israelis though. it is going to get messy, dont look for silver linings in the next two months here.....

jerusalem zp 23:03 GMT September 6, 2003
....won this game of poker with abbas.....

jerusalem zp 23:02 GMT September 6, 2003
snp, we are headed for a showdown here......next few months are going to be very interesting. it will be very interesting to watch the tel aviv market this week and the schekel. i suspect arafat thinks he has one this game of poker with abbas, but certainly he knows the cards are about to become much tougher. as i said before earlier in the evening before going to the movies tonight, arafat is going to face one very angry enemy soon in some fashion. we shall see where this all takes us soon........
i get the feeling that major events are going to take place soon, gut instinct is telling me this.

jerusalem zp 22:38 GMT September 6, 2003
snp, looks like sharon's visit to india will be delayed while all chaos looks like it is ready to swallow up time here for a while. i understand the airplane deal has been approved by the states in the last few days.......

jerusalem zp 15:53 GMT September 6, 2003
nh, thks for the post. an old friend of mine sent me russell's august newsletter. typically i stay away from 'truthsayers' and 'wisdom spooks', but since he was dealing with a topic dear to my hear, the price of gold, stock market, and bubble bursting - my friend thought he should let me have a look. it is the kind of information i try to stay away from because it can mess with the head.......and did so for a few hours this morning......
while i am not on the subject, welcome to all chaos is going to break out from this point on day......
for your consideration:
abbas has formerly resigned, arafat has accepted it.
hamas spiritual chief had a near death experience today.
iraq is lurching into international political/military action which will equal no enlightenment.
world has given mixed signals to all thus letting all of us interpret things the way we want to for good or bad.
point? israel and palestinian issue is about to explode again, i predict arafat is going to be the focus of something big by the israelis. and second and critical, after watching powell's speech yesterday and nearly blowing monkey biscuits, it is too easy to see the campaign crawling into the mess in iraq and making bush a person who is going to try and be all things to all people and is thus going back on policy........
in other words nh, you are about to be proven very correct regarding your predictions on the road map and iraq....
we are in for a lot more blood shed.

jerusalem zp 10:26 GMT September 6, 2003
i am posting part of an article from globes, the israeli biz daily, this because most of you would not be able to read it otherwise.......i only wish that all sides over here could look in the mirror and ask."what can i do to make things better here?"
but sanity, nor good manners are in good supply here.

Roots of disadvantage
The riots by Israeli Arabs in October 2000 are traceable to faulty strategy by the state.
Lior Greenbaum 3 Sep 03 17:38
The Or committee report published yesterday devoted an extensive chapter to discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens and the resulting frustration as a factor in the rioting of October 2000. Many people believe that in addition to the political and religious aspects of the riots, they were also an eruption of repressed emotions. The writing was always on the wall, but no one bothered to read it.
Nothing much seems to have changed in the Israeli-Arab community and in the Israeli establishment in the past three years. The best example is delay in implementing the "NIS 4 billion" development plan, as well as the cuts in the plan's budget. The country's leaders announced the plan to close the gap between Jews and Arabs a few weeks after the riots. As of now, Israeli Arabs still sit in the national backyard, including economically.
"The Arab community's economic condition is the result of the implementation of the economic policies of the current and previous governments," says Majd al-Krum Regional Council chairman and spokesman for the Higher Follow-up Committee on Arab Affairs Muhammad Kanaan. "Those who claim that economic weakness and the deteriorating socio-economic situation will weaken the Arab community's response to discrimination on various fronts are wrong."
Kanaan says the frustrations and burden created by economic weakness are affecting the daily lives of Israeli Arabs and adding fuel to the fire. "We've had confrontations, demonstrations, and various forms of violence. I think the economic situation is an inseparable part of this."
The economic numbers collated by Mossawa - the Advocacy Center for Arab Palestinian Citizens of Israel, are quite dismal: 41.3% of Israeli Arab families are defined as poor, compared with the national average of 17.7%; and 52% of Israeli Arab children are poor, compared with the national average of 26.9%. This means that 90,400 Israeli Arab families and 350,000 children are poor.
Mossawa estimates that implementing the current budget cuts plan, including cuts in child allowances, will severely harm the Arab community, driving 30,000 families and 80,000 children below the poverty line.
The distress is exacerbated by the fact that the vast majority of unemployment hubs are Arab towns. Unemployment in the Arab community is 15%, compared with the national average of 11%. All Israeli-Arab communities are in the lowest four socioeconomic ratings, and 52% are the lowest and second-lowest ratings.
For years, Arab community leaders have claimed that the Israeli establishment and governments have a culture of "not fulfilling agreements" when it comes to the Arab community. In the past decade, virtually no year goes by without sit-down strikes by the heads of Arab local councils across the street from the Prime Minister's Office, without any comprehensive solution being found for the distress of the 80 Arab and Druze local authorities that are on the verge of total collapse.


jerusalem zp 08:42 GMT September 6, 2003
oil man. re: 7:14, this factoid has been known for a long time, and it points out why israel MUST make an agreement with Palestine and for once and all end the hot war so we can enter a cold war and then eventually be able to look each other in the eyes without worrying that the other is plotting against them.......i hope all is well with you.

folks, can anyone tell me something about richard russell who writes the 'dow theory letters'........would like some long term opinion on this fellow.....tia.

jerusalem zp 13:17 GMT September 5, 2003
here is an opinion piece by paul krugman that is in todays ny times......regarding bush and his china policy.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/05/opinion/05KRUG.html

jerusalem zp 13:12 GMT September 5, 2003
th, thks very much, i hope nh can watch a bit of the world cup and tell us what he thinks afterwards......

irish, thks for you comments on the subject too.

jerusalem zp 13:34 GMT September 4, 2003
ib, did george bernard shaw say that too? ;^)

jerusalem zp 11:21 GMT September 4, 2003
snp, here's an update on sharon's visit to india:

14:02PM delays India trip by 24 hours, will set out for Delhi on Monday; says cancelled Taj Mahal visit for security reasons (Haaretz)

jerusalem zp 09:46 GMT September 4, 2003
gentlemen and ladies, maybe i am missing something, but oil is a rather straight forward business and nothing more,........opec is a cartel like any other, it sells its goods at what the market can bear, more profits the better - simple as that. opec knows full well that if it screws with prices too much that it only comes back to haunt them because if it has a global effect on production/ profit/ cost ratios it only screws up demand later on. also known is that there are enough suppliers outside of the middle eastern bloc within opec nowadays to even out most political moves. oil is not trading at 50 u.s.d a barrel, it is trading within a healthly trade range.....it is in opecs interest as much as anyone to keep it that way. also and last, as has been pointed out the american, british, and dutch oil companies have just as much interest in profits as the middle east oil bloc. EVERYONE involved in this business, like any other business wants to make sure that prices are not being undersold - dumped - into markets. most commodity based businesses all have the same fears and practices - including stone.


jerusalem zp 22:05 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, i recommend you to watch the upcoming rugby world cup and then tell me what you think. in the meantime you can do a bit of reading up on the all blacks......
http://www.rugby2003.com.au/the_teams/newzealand.asp

th, do you like rugby?

jerusalem zp 21:54 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, yes, maybe, but they tackle and get tackled in rugby - and again, i repeat NO PADS.

jerusalem zp 21:50 GMT September 3, 2003
jp, have you ever seen a hurling match? nh is correct, trust me.

jerusalem zp 21:50 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, i have watched alot of american football, many many hours, and many hours of rugby.......american football players need to take a nap once every 30 seconds and then they get to trade places with substitutes and to top it off play is stopped every five minutes or so for a commercial break. so please. if american football players had to go both ways and run up and down the field all day without breaks they would fold into two. granted even the aussies, all blacks, or the south africans are not quite as big as the american football players but the americans would collaspe sometime during the second half against these folks. the only nfl guys who could go the whole game would be running backs, some linebackers, receivers, and d-backs - could they endure it and take the beating - i dont think so.

jerusalem zp 21:37 GMT September 3, 2003
irish, not forgeting your ancestral sport of 'hurling', which i must say is absolutely the most unbelievable form of legalized murder that i have ever witnessed live.

jerusalem zp 21:29 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, as an aside, you may consider it some type of euro geek sport, but RUGBY is the real football. i'd like to see some of those big fat arse nfl players trying to play with the boys from down under and not being allowed off the field, not to mention pads are seriously frowned upon, brutal but so much fun......

jerusalem zp 21:13 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, i am willing to bet the biggest thing jr. regrets thus far in his term in the white house was declaring the 'end of the major conflict' in iraq. he opened the door for the critics on the left and the right. he opened the door for the media to keep a scorecard on how many have died since the 'end of the major conflict', etc. etc.
bush should have never made that particular speech and now he some how has to find a way out of it......

jerusalem zp 20:55 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, i hope the following makes sense, israel is like manchester united here, or the yankees if you prefer a baseball analogy. we are the one team in this league that everyone hates unless you happened to grow up in the neighborhood or are a front runner. we are not going to make many more enemies than we already have, this because most hate us for one reason or another already within our league. the important thing for us is to let every other competitor in this area know that we are never going to lose when the chips are down. not until we are accepted within the family of nations as an equal is anything going to change. now how does that happen? there are many scenerios, some violent, some peaceful......the one thing regarding israel that is key to remember is that we will always be blamed by our neighbors for all the bad things happening on the block. this is not exactly an inward looking crowd.

jerusalem zp 20:41 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, i prefer not to get into a discussion about global warming either, one of my best friend's in the world works for the u.s ag. dept in d.c. and he just might be the biggest naysayer regarding global warming on the planet, even wrote some book about it.........he and you have valid points, but until it starts cooling off i am going to watch the trend.

jerusalem zp 20:36 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, trust me on this, there are certain jobs the u.s. obviously does not want - arafat is one of them. i suspect another is iran and the hizbollah.........my country is waiting in line to be hand picked for these employment opportunities. in time my friend, in time.....

jerusalem zp 20:30 GMT September 3, 2003
nh, co2 can be likened to a diet that is unhealthly, you can keep eating anything you want but eventually bad habits catch up to you. i am not saying that all the world's problems are due to co2 but i think you have to take a look at the statistics and information at hand and admit that it is one of the dynamics for what we have come to know as global warming. NOW we can sit here all day and argue whether globlal warming has anything to do with the so called green house effect, but statistics bear out a certain trend occuring. i think that it wise to look at fundamentals and charts both in this instance, and when i do, there seem to be strong indications that this market is getting away from us.

jerusalem zp 15:51 GMT September 3, 2003
A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o'clock in the morning by A loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push. "Not a chance," says the husband, "it is three o'clock in the morning!" He slams the door and returns to bed. "Who was that?" asked his wife. "Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.
"Did you help him?" she asks.
"No, its three in the morning and it is pouring out!"
"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down and those two guys helped us?"
"I think you should help him, and should be ashamed of your self!" The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain. He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you still there?"
"Yes," comes back the answer.
"Do you still need a push?" calls out the husband. "Yes,
please!" comes the reply from the dark.
"Where are you?" asks the husband.
"Over here on the swing!" replies the drunk.

jerusalem zp 15:41 GMT September 3, 2003
revdax, the following article should intrigue you. it describes the president of israel conducting an interview with iranian radio listeners from an israeli broadcast that is beamed into iran in farsi. you are reading this correct.
and it should point out that things are not black and white here but heavily grey. the israeli broadcasts into iran are very popular with both iranian jews and muslim iranians as a source for news and entertainment. our land is a small one here we have many things we share with the cultures around us - and is why when we kill each other it shouldnt cause anything but shame in our peoples that we are failing.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/336466.html

jerusalem zp 12:20 GMT September 3, 2003
revdax, i have no idea about anyone who is an extremists - this goes for muslim, jew, christian, and all others......there life is not mine. i can say that any person who has been from iran that i have met and has identified themselves as persian has always been a pleasure. they happen to be some of the warmest, smart, funny people i know, they also happen to have an extremely well developed business culture. my only problem was the cold shoulder once given to me by one of the most beautiful woman i have ever seen from there........aaaaah, in my next life maybe.

jerusalem zp 12:00 GMT September 3, 2003
revdax, i dont personally view the iranian govt as barbaric, they do have a major rift between conservatives and liberals....the question is where do they go from here? after any revolution there are several steps all revolutions follow, the iranian revolution being no different.......from ecstacy to fervor and sometimes blind faith......i dont blame the iranian people (nor do you i suspect) but wonder how things can be improved without massive bedlam and bloodletting?

jerusalem zp 11:01 GMT September 3, 2003
thats..... www.revistainterforum.com........yes, it is a u.s govt based web site run in spanish and english.....but the facts it lists regarding the argentine bombings stand.....

jerusalem zp 10:56 GMT September 3, 2003
this from the revistainter.com web site.......

A History Lesson:

In Argentina, where Arabs comprise the third largest community after Italians and Spaniards, Islamic extremists bombed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, killing 29; and in 1994 a car bomb exploded at a Jewish cultural center, the Asociación Mutualista Israelita Argentina (AMIA), killing 84 and injuring 300. Imad Mugniyah, a leading member of Hezbollah living in Iran, has been the principle suspect in the AMIA tragedy. In fact, an Iranian intelligence officer who defected to Germany told Argentine prosecutors that Mugniyah helped plan the Buenos Aires bombing. (Telephone intercepts by Argentine intelligence officials of conversations of Iranian diplomats working with Hezbollah corrobate this.) Mugniyah is also considered to be the mastermind in the 1983 suicide bombing against the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. In 1996, the Venezuelan state of Anzoátegui and the Isla de Margarita, a prime tourist location, were linked to terrorist cells engineering false documents for agents operating throughout the region. In 1998, Paraguayan officials arrested Hezbollah member Sobhi Mahmoud Fayad as he was surveying the U.S. Embassy, possibly in anticipation of an attack. He subsequently has been cooperating with authorities and is considered a major asset in the fight against terrorism.


jerusalem zp 10:41 GMT September 3, 2003
out of sight out of mind, today britian has closed their embassy in iran - temporarily it would seem, this after shots were fired outside. tension between britain and iran have risen in the past few weeks because britain followed through on a request by the argentine govt to arrest a former iranian official who has been implicated in a terrorist attack on a jewish center in buenos aires almost ten years ago. for years iran was able to avoid being associated with this attack of which their is ample evidence they participated in - this because the argentine govt mostly under the auspices of menem allowed them to get away with it (remember there were two attacks actually in buenos aires over a relatively short period killing many people - most of whom were jewish) and quite possibly helped cover up the events. was menem paid a large sum of money to help in the cover up? there is evidence that suggests it is VERY possible.
now that kirchner is in charge of the argentine govt, he has opened many files and is letting heads roll. this is good for argentina which is finally taking action, maybe good for the jewish community there who can finally start to be told the whole truth, BAD for iran who is connected to both terrorists attacks in buenos aires.
but does anyone really care besides one very maimed jewish community in argentina.....and a couple of embarrassed and guilty govts who are now facing the music?


jerusalem zp 09:30 GMT September 3, 2003
ib, good to know we can agree on things once in a while...the co2 stance by the states is shortsighted and the proverbial 'penny wise and pound foolish' nonsense. a lot of times govts have the sense to work these issues out, seeing that this is not the case in the u.s regarding co2, one must hope that a biz comes up with a plan that shows the way through some type of technology that makes the whole practice very UNPROFITABLE. having said this, it doesnt mean that kyoto agreement was the greatest of all working texts, i seem to recall amendments which allowed developing nations the right to pollute more than others.....in the end does anyone really pay attention in any govt office to these dictates? i doubt it somehow, and venture to suspect that people try to get away with anything they can if it means an extra dollar in the state coffers........somewhere somehow biz and govts must get together on this issue and works things out. completely ridiculous that co2 can be talked about in such a stupid way by the states, it smacks of negligence, almost criminal.

jerusalem zp 20:16 GMT September 1, 2003
oil man, regarding your comment about iran per what happened to iraq, my only fear is that israel wont do it soon enough.........

jerusalem zp 18:05 GMT September 1, 2003
look everyone caisa as friend of the jews, except she fails to point out that arnold and his father's relationship was one that the son held his father in complete contempt......

jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT September 1, 2003
th, re:13:17, that would be a fair comment except the u.s foots the bill for a very large percentage of the u.n. costs to begin with. having said that dont believe for a second that any cooperation the u.n and the states agrees on will NOT come from anything but pressure from russia and france who want to revitalize any business interests of which communication has been temporarily stopped due to the war - this if the u.s opens the door for negotiation on how details will be worked out when shared.
does anyone here really think that any of the non-arab or non-muslim countries in the world care more about the rights of individual iraqis - be they shi'a, sun'ni, kurd then the u.s?
there are self interests all over the place, to deny them is to deny existence of reality.
i said a long time ago here that the real problem the u.s. would have is after the fighting was done.....welcome to the real problem. anyone care to suggest some real solutions ......anyone really have any?
the answer is within truths we really dont want to see.



jerusalem zp 06:15 GMT September 1, 2003
th, i am sure that some of saddam's old guards will be looking for work just about then, nothing like a career in collecting to start a new life......

jerusalem zp 05:42 GMT September 1, 2003
th, i promise to give them 120 days credit......

jerusalem zp 17:12 GMT August 31, 2003
revdax, 13:51, i have spoken many times of letting the extremists being allowed to wipe each other out on a field, it makes too much sense, would be too quick, and then all the moderates wouldnt really know how to go forward anyhow - because they never really counted on having to work with each other anyhow. a little bit like doctors at cancer research facilities who though searching for a cure really cannot be counted on finding one because they know their jobs would be elimanated.
thus we have war, not only in my little garden but in many other bedeviled places on earth. revdax, havent you noticed? war gives us all something to do. if there were something else to do with ourselves we would have discovered it long ago. even our computer games, films, books, etc. etc. live off of this fact, we as humans simply are too stupid to do anything else with our time.


jerusalem zp 13:11 GMT August 31, 2003
revdax, sounds good, pack your bags, write your plan, fly over, present plan, be prepared to die........and good luck.

jerusalem zp 12:43 GMT August 31, 2003
haifa, stop worrying about cupcake hamas and worry about the boys with the toys.......who can blow up an entire city or two.....or would you rather not pay attention to the trend, just like everyone else?

jerusalem zp 11:35 GMT August 31, 2003
oil man, thks very much, appreciated.....glad to see UBS, confirms things.....

jerusalem zp 10:19 GMT August 31, 2003
anyone have any comments regarding this.......sounds like something out of a tarentino film.......

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top13aug31,1,6223821.story?coll=chi-news-hed

jerusalem zp 09:09 GMT August 31, 2003
revdax, you may be right but i see the world sometimes as a place that puts out fires only after they have gotten burned badly a lot of the time. we want to close our eyes to what are the real problems and dangers, take care of the easy tasks and hope that everything works out. maybe this is the yin and yan out of balance........unfortunately.
what is taking place in the koreas now?
what is iran doing? why hasnt the u.s dealt with iran when they are a known quantity in international terrorism through their proxy the hezbollah?
the reason is that it is much easier to pick a fight with someone you know you can beat up. haifa's flea theory for north korea is being proven incorrect time and again, this country now has the worlds three biggest and proactive countries hanging on its every word - china, russia, the states. who will blink first?
iran is marching to its own drummer too, they know and have seen that a good stream of idle communication can hold off the states until it is too late - and give iran the chance to safely know it has the bomb. and then what are we left to do except acknowledge it and go on with our lives?
the same holds true for most nations, most people, most functions in life, we are zombies and not geared towards taking action when it is needed and thus the world becomes crapolla sometimes.
i offer the following exhibit, an article from ha'aretz dealing with a subject not many israelis want to face up to.....the issue of what is really going to happen with the settlers. sorry for the ill wind from my computer today but the world is a stupid place sometimes and it bothers me once and a while.....btw, just watch out for what is going to take place on the temple mount here in jerusalem within the next month or so, a flash point is beginning to get started there too......how nice.....how nice.....
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=334858&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


jerusalem zp 08:47 GMT August 31, 2003
8:32 should read.......there are still heavy regulations on foreign banks....

jerusalem zp 08:32 GMT August 31, 2003
revdax, we are still dealing with the dying gasps of a very entrenched socialistic govt here......our economny though geared towards competition is not yet what i would term completely free market. there are still have regulations for foreign banks to enter israel and the remnants of protectionalism, high taxes, bad union deals, and as i said before 'old' govt. workers slowing the flow. while we use the 'intifada' here as an excuse to modernize the economy fully what we are actually doing is using yet another excuse. our political system stills allows itself to get in the way of good business and and good fiscal policy, we have a ways to go. thus the phrase, emerging market.....i just hope we completely emerge before i die.

jerusalem zp 07:45 GMT August 31, 2003
bc & revdax, the chairman of teva (a large generic phamaceutical co. in israel & actually a very well run company worldwide) recently gave a speech at a biz meeting about the israeli beauracracy being one of the major reasons why the israeli economy cannot get up to first world standards. seems to me that though china and israel are on the opposite sides of the coin in population that economically we face some very similar challenges. a crucial task is changing the mind set of govt, like office workers, teaching them that they are there actually to perform functions which help the public instead of hindering them. also ridding them of their older austere backgrounds in which they were somehow made to feel that if they didnt agree with a certain reform that no matter how sane and needed the reform was that it simply bogged down. the old guard dies hard.....

jerusalem zp 07:33 GMT August 31, 2003
oil man, one of the great things that our cultures have in common is making fun of our mother in laws, i just spent the morning with some jordanian biz associates and the stories they shared were hysterical..........
i'd like to ask you which european bank (or banks) in your opinion is most respected in the emirates in order to conduct biz affairs internationally?

jerusalem zp 05:46 GMT August 31, 2003
max, some hebrew (yiddish) background for you, thks.....

http://www.stanford.edu/~sipma/duhebrew.html


jerusalem zp 12:13 GMT August 30, 2003
nh, i take it that you will only move out of the u.s. and into canada if hillary wins........but it is beginning to look like she is going to run........dear ol' me, the election looks like it is going to be wild if that happens. not to say she would win but it does raise some interesting questions....
does bill, as the first man, get any interns?
if he does get interns, does he 'get' any interns?
will i have to read another once again on whitewater?
and will hillary finally share her secrets of commodities trading which she score 'high grades' on considering her balance sheet thks to some folks over at tyson in arkansas?
last, will i now have to listen to stories about how well and adjusted chelsea is now that she is all grown up?
the implications are enough to make me glad i am many miles away most of the time.....

jerusalem zp 11:42 GMT August 30, 2003
oil man, agree with you about the belly dancers, absolutely amazing when they are well versed. i dont know what her name is but there is one particular woman always on turkish tv, she is probably in her early 30's and shall we say 'can hold the crowd'.
as for having time, my wife and mother in law are on the other side of the house watching argentine novellas on the tv and discussing various aspects of decorating.......thus giving me the chance to ruminate on various financials & news and questions i am troubled by regarding the future of belly dancing.

jerusalem zp 10:50 GMT August 30, 2003
i am very disappointed about this..........

No more belly dancing for foreign women in Egypt
Egypt has decided to ban foreign belly dancers from performing the ancient act in the North African country, according to a recent report.
The state-owned al-Gomhouriya newspaper reported that a ruling by the Labor and Immigration minister would preventnon-Egyptians from receiving belly dancing licenses as of the beginning of next year.
"Labor and Immigration Affairs Minister Ahmed Al Amawi has taken a decision to ban foreigners from working as oriental dancers and tourist guides," the paper said.
Egyptian belly dancers are believed to have pressed for the ruling to prevent foreign dancers from "taking their work."
Lately, there has been an influx into the country of foreign performers, especially from Russia and Eastern Europe, who have taken up the exotic oriental traditional dance.
Several foreign women have reportedly risen to fame with their special act and talent, including an Argentinean, Russian and French dancer. (Albawaba.com)



jerusalem zp 17:12 GMT August 29, 2003
question for all, when does the world exactly begin to look for a new direction when iran announces they have joined the nuclear club? or will iran be like israel and quietly and surely let all known dragons that they have the bomb just in case there is a rainy day? i think this adds a dimension that the u.s would rather make believe doesnt exist, we shall see.

oil man, thats an interesting short on bush, is there an options market available too - would like to get in also to cover my arse.

jerusalem zp 13:37 GMT August 28, 2003
oil man, 11:56, i will absolutely guarentee you that the u.s. troops are going to be in iraq for much longer than you expect. note that the troops might be dealing with some kind of u.n presence but the u.s. is not going anywhere. this at least until the presidential election next year and only if bush loses. you are selling the determination of the u.s. short, now having said that they just might cave in to political correctness and world pressure and give into letting the u.n run certain programs and issue edicts but lets do this one day a time. too many people in the states believe in what is taking place in iraq, if bush were to pull out he would kill his re-election bid in one swoop. not going to happen.

jerusalem zp 09:57 GMT August 28, 2003
th, thks, it is always good to know ones limits in life, once in a while i am lucky enough to know my own. therefore let me say that i did then understand the question you want me to ask my wife and let me tell you that i will not. three reasons for this at least that i can think of, one my wife is younger than i am. two my wife is from south america and shall we say may not take kindly to this question being expressed because it may indicate that i actually think there is some type of credence. three and most importantly my wife is pregnant right now - almost five months - and lets just say that no matter professional she is - she is still quite human and may consider killing me for all the reasons i just expressed and possibly rightfully so.


jerusalem zp 08:11 GMT August 28, 2003
th, i read your posts regarding that you want me to ask my wife something, but i am not clear on exactly what you want me to ask her........and if i am clear i am not sure i want to ask her - for which i will explain more - if you give me a concrete question to pursue with her.
as for your disappointment with my response regarding the u.n and the states thinking about turning over to them some sort of moral authority, well, you can be disappointed, but you should know from many of my posts before that i am not a fan of this particualar organization when they get involved in politics. they provide very good social services but their political solutions have been nothing to brag about, at least from my perspective.

jerusalem zp 21:31 GMT August 27, 2003
and thus the answer is you can always find an answer for something but hardly ever something that is really an answer


jerusalem zp 21:15 GMT August 27, 2003
and now for an opinion, it looks like nesara or somebody else is actually starting to win......
it appears that bush and his band of cohorts are now starting to cave into political pressure because of the election year coming up and budgetary concerns that are blowing many things out of the window. they can say whatever they want, but these things do not come out in the ny times w/o a reason. can you say test flight for ideas?
and thus i would like to say "hello black hole". if bush gives into his political fear and allows the u.n some high and mighty lecture stand in iraq, all is lost. we will be back to pardon the evil pun - ground zero and all bets are off.
this is going to turn into a half assed job and the only one who is going to be left exposed to the nonsense of it all is we shmucks in the middle east........welcome to another 25 years at least of instability and death. america has not learned and the price might be dear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/27/international/worldspecial/27CND-DIPL.html?hp

jerusalem zp 20:56 GMT August 27, 2003
tg, dow index finished @ 9.333.79
if do the following 9-3, 3 + 3, 7 + 9 and separate the 1 from the 6 and times it to make it whole you get 666 too.
just to let you know when rabin was shot - sort of an answer for you oil man for your last question - there were folks who claimed they could find his fate written in the torah when letters and their numerical value were put together.
and thus the answer is you can always find an answer for something but hardly ever something that is really an answer.

jerusalem zp 20:10 GMT August 27, 2003
for those who want to study a bit........

http://crl.ucsd.edu/~bates/papers/pdf/rapin1999.pdf

jerusalem zp 11:47 GMT August 26, 2003
revdax, so can i then ask if it is possible that it in fact is not liberation but merely some one elses ethnocentric version of it? are there other alternatives available, for example taking over the entire planet and making everyone to intermarry for the next seven generation under threat of execution? this to rid ourselves of ethnocentric thought and create a (yes, wildly pathetic) universal ethnocentric version - this to rival the aliens that are watching us from mars and waiting for us to show complete vulnerability to take us over.

btw, haifa, are people joining you in your cave on tuesdays yet, or is there still room to reserve?


jerusalem zp 11:18 GMT August 26, 2003
revdax, 11:06, question, shouldnt the amount of wives that one is allowed to have be part of any equation on your liberation index? this being said, the fact (or our belief) that oil man and some others may actually have the right to marry 3 to 4 women at a time may have to be thought about as having much more freedom than the rest of us........
even you seem to happy with the idea of being able to pursue such a quantity, oh sure, you would want to make some other cultural changes but we all have things within our cultures that we would want to change.
and while i am thinking about it, the ability of many people to be dirt poor and not owe incredible amounts of money on mortgages might be looked upon as a liberating theory in a few short years........
freedom is perception is reality


jerusalem zp 09:20 GMT August 26, 2003
ahe, i will try to be kind about this, israeli women, jew or muslims or christian can marry anyone they want. if they choose to be lesbians openly they can conduct themselves freely, if they choose to live with two men, or whomever they can do as they choose....the state cannot mandate their lives. having said this i find it bothersome and irritating that we have to answer a question about our lives here and do so when the other side can simply pretend that the question is not being asked or perhaps some room exists to go around the question. revdax may be being obsessive but he is actually asking a fair thing, what is the rule and why does it exist?
as for palestinians marrying israelis, they can live here when the correct paperwork is done, the issue and the law - ahe - is regarding the granting of citizenship. israel has decided not to issue citizenship in these case. again, shall i point out we are fighting a bizarro war? do i need to go into implications? please........lets stick to the issue. revdax, feel free to obsess.....

jerusalem zp 09:01 GMT August 26, 2003
bc, revdax, ahe, new york times has an interesting bunch of articles today on the yuan......seems as if those in need of making political points are putting the media on alert that important economic meetings are about to take place between china and the states.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/26/business/worldbusiness/26CHIN.html

jerusalem zp 22:09 GMT August 25, 2003
nh, if we are going to use classical history as the lesson you should then be prepared for some of its other attributes too - such as repopulating areas with unwanted populations from your own country, forced intermarriage of women, killing all males above the age of 13, and so on..........
current demographics and cultural attitudes even if forced by the victors do not show that this can be easily done, unless of coarse you really want to return to the days of classical history and make our lives a classroom.

jerusalem zp 21:48 GMT August 25, 2003
joke, its me, anyway, an all out war doesnt necessarily mean the complete destruction of the other side, it means being victorious and the other side accepted their plight and going on......but having said that, i am in agreement with qip, and thats because this isnt just about israelis and palestinians, we are a micro unit compared to what is really faced if we are strong enough to really gauge the situation......no there has to be better solutions..........someone, please, give me one.


jerusalem zp 21:38 GMT August 25, 2003
nh, answer is political costs, we jews still hold out the hope that in 5000 years we will be accepted as equals to you all.


jerusalem zp 21:33 GMT August 25, 2003
nh, are you really willing to pay the costs of having to destroy the enemy? and who by the way is the enemy, can the enemy be defined in a way that when the destruction takes place it can be verified? are you willing to say who the enemy is? is there another method to bring about the objective? and what is the objective? is destruction the objective or is it some higher level achieved only when there is no enemy left?

jerusalem zp 21:08 GMT August 25, 2003
jp, thank you for the province lesson, you forgot to tell me that b.c. stands for british columbia and that alberta is east to that, and that the yukon is not a province but in fact a terroritory........BUT (being in the wise arse mood that i am) you did not answer the question, how is it that ontario (excuse me, but isnt that the most populated province in the upper 51st) suffered from a black out that was caused by a company in ohio if there infrastructure was somehow not tied into the faulty grid? and what are canadians going to do to correct this to make sure they dont freeze during the winters should it happen again. and finally, why are you so concerned with the energy problems of the u.s., when you seem to have some of your own? ;^)

jerusalem zp 20:52 GMT August 25, 2003
oil man, so what area are you going to buy real estate in after the bubble burst, just to let you know, the swamp land they use to make fun of in florida turned out to be places like naples, st. pete, tampa bay, ft. myers, etc. - which has some of the best real estate 'value' these days......that is until all the european families living there in the winter can no longer afford to pay for their 3rd world servants........

jerusalem zp 20:39 GMT August 25, 2003
jp, correct me if i am wrong, but that blackout hit canada as well didnt it? seems canada might be suffering from the same type of infrastructure problems, or am i way off base here?


jerusalem zp 15:05 GMT August 25, 2003
oil man, now you owe me an answer.....what about casinos in dubai? i have heard conflicting stories.....btw, i think gvi should organize some kind of trip for everyone to meet in las vegas or something similar in europe or asia, this so we can all meet each other, shake hands, or spit upon one another as is needed.....

jerusalem zp 15:01 GMT August 25, 2003
oil man, conflicting isnt the word for it. my wife is a clinical psychologist as you probably know.....she has seen her share of people walk into her office that are so screwed up because of being half jew/half muslim or half israeli/half palestinian - particularly considering the times we are living in - that they are leading devastated lifes emotionally. i guess the best advice would be to move away from the families who drive each other crazy and find peace and quiet somewhere else.

jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT August 25, 2003
oil man, maybe you just met the wrong jewish girl, believe it or not intermarriage does exists here in israel between muslim and jews........particularly in haifa's city. and please take a look at the intermarriage rates amongst jews outside of israel, over 50% now are marrying non-jews....so please, next time you want to meet a jewish girl let me know.

jerusalem zp 14:40 GMT August 25, 2003
oil man, this is the first time i have read about this place. while against physical depravity of any sort conducted on humans, i can see the value in unfortunately not treating prisoners with 'kid gloves'. this is not about revenge, it is not about what the hizbullah would do to an israeli prisoner, but note that when we occasionally have the ability to conduct prisoner swaps, israel invaribly is getting back killed/dead prisoners while the likes of the hizbullah/islamic jihad/ whomever get back prisoners who are still alive. shall we talk about the treatment israeli soldiers can expect to receive if captured or kidnapped?
if men, women, or whomever get raped by israeli guards or whatever their functions are, those who commit these crimes should be punished to the full extent of the law. but too, lets have it proven that what we are reading is not fabricated or distorted.
having said that, i am not a choirboy, nor do i think i live in utopia, certain times call for certain measures in life that are not pleasant to say the least. lets not make believe that either side is going to get an award for treating the other side with some type of civility.
lets remember that we are fighting a war, this isnt a game of tennis. those living in comfortable places and not having to face the disgusting nature of such things are fortunate, buts lets not for a second forget that all sides during wars are prone to forget that the other side is human. shall we list all the countries that commit torture against prisoners? how many countries would come out clean? how many couldnt be proven complicit by giving a green light to others to let dirty work be done? lets all grow up, it is nice to be able to point yet another finger at israel and beat her up and tell us what evil bacteria we are, but please stand up and tell me who has not conducted themselves in evil ways during wars fought.
no excuses for brutality, still makes me want to vomit, but we become what we are exposed to in life.
lastly, this article was printed in israel by the leading israeli newspaper, i suspect that the reason for it being done is to try and bring some pressure against those running the facility, i hope it works and brings about some changes. i can only wish one day that places like these never ever need to exist again in my country.


jerusalem zp 12:22 GMT August 25, 2003
haifa, so much for the tuesday theory....today's blasts in india should serve notice that no day is particularly safe.

jerusalem zp 07:52 GMT August 25, 2003
here is an article from the chicago sun-times regarding soaring personal bankruptcys in the states.....my question does this indicate post bubble trouble or does it still point to an even worse bottom somewhere somehow? also, does anyone out there have any general info on the percent of 'doubful debt' being carried by american and european banks at this time? btw, where is nesara when you need it?

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bank24.html

jerusalem zp 19:45 GMT August 24, 2003
oil man, yes, i guess the welcoming party for young israelis in military gear in iraq would be quite the thing, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.......and lets hope against any invitations either mailed or anticipated shall we of this sort.
as for my point......notice i wrote...." why isnt the iraqi population - those working with the americans in the security apparatus - being used to stop vehicles in order to search randomly and at check points within cities and key areas? with better security......."
in effect i would give the duty of running the check points and security alerts for bombs and the random suicide bombers should they appear to iraqi security (police, ex army, ex go-go dancers). this so the service could be carried out more in a more pleasant atmosphere.......i am not saying it would be full proof or welcome by all.....but it would be better than the invaders doing the job. it doesnt have to be done in a brutal way, maybe they can hand out jasmine flowers when it is taking place and invite people standing in lines to smoke from the nargilla......


jerusalem zp 14:51 GMT August 24, 2003
and this for reading mavens too, a well written article from the chicago tribune on the talibans recent success in recruiting, it would make some college football teams proud i am sure.....
which before i go leads me to a question, maybe i have posed it here before. why dont we let all the extremists on both sides line up against one another in some field - do i hear meggido? - and let them off one another?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0308240422aug24,1,7746940.story?coll=chi-news-hed


jerusalem zp 14:18 GMT August 24, 2003
and here is my favorite news article thus far today, seems as if north korean reporters have some rather strong patriotic feelings.......either this or that they are completely brainwashed.....(in this day and age, couldnt be, could it?).

DAEGU, South Korea (AP) -- North Korean reporters traded punches with human rights activists Sunday as tension over the North's suspected nuclear development escalated into violence at the World University Games.
The fight erupted as the reporters tried to seize banners critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il from a dozen anti-North Korea protesters."Down with Kim Jong Il. Rescue our Northern brethren,'' one banner read.
More than 100 South Korean riot police were at the scene and helped break up the scuffle. Dozens of other uniformed and plain-clothed police officers also swarmed in as the skirmish moved from the sidewalk toward the University Games main media center.
Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor and human rights activist, was knocked to the ground in the melee. Riot police formed a cordon around him as he lay on the ground before he was carried by stretcher to an ambulance. Vollertsen was wearing a neck brace when he arrived at the protest. His condition was not known.
"Take that away immediately,'' shouted one North Korean reporter, angered at the banners.
Another reporter punched a South Korean activist who hunkered down with a banner tightly wrapped in his arms. At least two other North Koreans were involved in the scuffle, which lasted almost 10 minutes with a core of young activists among the dozen or so demonstrators.
"You communists! Come here!'' shouted young South Korean activists as security officials pulled the North Korean reporters into a nearby building and blocked the activists from entering.



jerusalem zp 13:29 GMT August 24, 2003
oil man, stupid question perhaps, but are there casinos in dubai? i am wondering because somewhere, somehow a bunch of good casinos will get set up in this area of the world and they will make billions of dollars. yes, the palestinians have a casino in jericho (though it is currently shall we say under refurbishment) and israel always threatens to open one in eilat. seems to me, dubai with its profound sense of open market economics including banking and other exchange is a prime spot and would meet with major success......


jerusalem zp 17:33 GMT November 16, 2001
livingston, though i agree with you that these guys arent with us. i remain very skeptical about what we will do collectively to get them. what? do we now start going after iran, syria, and infiltrating places like the bekka valley in lebanon. i dont think that is going to happen. certainly we in israel would love to get the green light to be able to take care of this problem for everyone, but that is not going to happen. iran provides these folk with tons of money, as do groups in saudi arabia and other countries. point is, the second phase of the war on terrorism is where things are going to get extremely dicey. we have been living with the threats here for some time.........but in order to really kill the type of cancer you just named you are going to have to stand the world on its head. i know the people of israel have the stomach for it but i dont know if the american allies such as britain - definitely not france - have the same gumption. it will be interesting, but as i have warned before, if it is not done 100% correct it will be a black hole.

jerusalem zp 06:49 GMT August 24, 2003
who will be the first to join us from tikrit?........
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) -- The U.S. Army opened the first unrestricted Internet access in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit on Saturday in a bid to convince skeptical Iraqis their occupation will bring tangible benefits.
"This Internet cafe we are inaugurating gives people in Tikrit for the first time total freedom of access to the Web," Major Troy Rader, in charge of the project, told Reuters.



jerusalem zp 21:57 GMT August 22, 2003
tg, nations have always tried to best their rivals, it not something new, been going on for at least five thousand years. long term thinking is one way of dealing with things, but whose long term? afghanistan is still no picnic, i dont know what you read but there is fighting going on, factional armies still hold sway and are financing themselves through the drug trade outside of the kabul central area command......innocent people are still getting picked off for no good reason there. is this better than having the taliban in power, no doubt about it, but unless america can convince many others to join this battle in bringing 'justice' to wayward nations it eventually will prove a tough battle to win alone. sad to say many are counting on america's own belief in freedom to be her eventual downfall, her achilles heel. what do i mean? it is easier to defeat powerful entities easier from within than from the outside. it is easier to lie and convince the enemy of what it wants badly to believe in and then when she is sleeping to cut off her head. as paris ib said, world is a very complicated place. real history cannot be judged in one year or five year intervals, these things take time. unfortunately i have grown convinced that what we are facing is much too stern for most of us to even want to consider. we are in denial from both the outside and the inside. what do i mean? the west denies from the outside that what it is up against is a philosophy, while those who live amongst those with the philosophy deny that they should take any responsibility too because they did not make the bed they have been told to sleep in. we live in a world of the quick fix, news alerts for truly unworthy events.......all because we want to and need to watch a march towards life and death everyday. we are no better than any civilization two thousand years ago. to the victors go the spoils. wish to live in a strong nation and if you do count your blessings, than wish for good trade.......anything more is a bonus.

jerusalem zp 20:20 GMT August 22, 2003
just as an additional note, british intel had something to do with getting the shah in too........

jerusalem zp 20:17 GMT August 22, 2003
tg, i would like you to take a look at this link which gives a brief description about a rather large mistake the cia made in historical hindsight.......it is about putting the shah of iran into power and the man he replaced and obviously the bitter harvest which a lot of people suffer from over here and around the world because of this to some degree.......

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471265179,descCd-reviews.html

jerusalem zp 20:04 GMT August 22, 2003
tg, please allow me to say that i like your posts quite a bit and agree with you on a lot of matters.......having said that do you really believe everything you are posting? seems to me clinton, though having failed, truly gave his best attempt at trying to put an end to the madness here israel/palestine - he got burned but he did try.
he may have been politically correct, he may have got suckered into swift waters which he should not have tread, but he never faced a head on attack the way bush did. he was able to be a politician when it was still easy to be a politician and hopefully will soon be again - i imagine tony blair is longing for those days just about now.
what would clinton's response to the world situation have been, i do not know. hindsight is a marvalous thing, but it is merely that.
please focus in defining whether the world is fighting a crusade or is completely confused on both sides (perhaps more) of the spectrum regarding what is a fanatic or extremist. focus on how we are supposed to get out of this mess with education, warfare, globalization while respecting others cultures.......take your choice, mix them, offer new ideas and continue to let me know.

jp, regarding your disapproval of politicians acting while blinded by anger, i agree with you on this one hundred percent...
not to say i would want them to come to your particular conclusions after they have tamed themselves.....but that is why their is chocalate and vanilla.
btw, as for lunatics and naming them, i wont do this, not worth the bother...


jerusalem zp 21:44 GMT August 20, 2003
snp, one thing that could stop a sharon trip to india of course is his own body weight, he might not be able to fit in the plane by then..........also you should warn any lingering family members to hide anything with curry on it, this guy likes spicy.

jerusalem zp 21:18 GMT August 20, 2003
snp, first regarding sharon, india and israel have better than average relations and i would be surprised if sharon couldnt visit because of this......we shall see....keep me informed.

secondly, if i delete the history from the browser, i will delete a lot of my wifes sites so she will have known something is up anyhow........its okay, my wife is south american a little jealous temper is fun once in a while....

jerusalem zp 15:28 GMT August 20, 2003
th, i know that i am not an unbiased observer - i wish i were sometimes.....allow me to use qip's post as a start too, please look through this. and then let me add that i have lived too many years to believe anything that comes out of the mouths of most people particularly extremists of any sort. in essence they not only lie to us, but must lie to themselves to convince themselves of the rightousness of their causes. i have watched too many innocents die, too many friends perish before their time to believe that they died for anything less than a bs reason. you see th, i believe there is justification to take action, storm buildings, pelt politicians with eggs (i like pies the best), but i have listened for the last time to anyone who sits on tv or speaks on the radio and tries to explain why such and such explosion was carried out on innocent children, mothers, and fathers.........not only do i not care, but i dont believe them, they always have another excuse. i do not believe anymore.


jerusalem zp 14:20 GMT August 20, 2003
th, i agree up to a point with you, but what exactly is the grievence? is it state rights? is it personal freedom? really what is the grievence? seems to me there is always another reason to kill. somewhere somebody is going to be brave enough to say basta - enough - and others will soon join. the only way the extremists are going to be really stopped is when their own communities dont permit the bugs to crawl anymore.

jerusalem zp 13:42 GMT August 20, 2003
good to see lunatics popping up from their holes the day after they somehow think that two bombs are going to change the way things work. better be getting off your computers soon because we are watching you and looking for your little rat filled holes.....

th, regarding your question on who gains from the u.n bombing. clearly no one gains, thing is terrorists do not know any better, they see it as a war against anyone who doesnt hold their views. they go after soft targets like the u.n and hotels and sky scrapers because they are too cowardly to march onto a field. they speak of martyrdom but do not send their own sons, only the poor who have been misguided most of the time. this is what the world does not get, after the jews, after the americans, who will they come after next? the u.n i am sure was surprised as anyone to find out they were a target yesterday, welcome to the big bad black hole i guess. most still do not understand what they are facing.

jerusalem zp 20:22 GMT August 19, 2003
haifa, since you posted this we have been hit by bombs on tuesdays.......unfortunately you were a bit too much on target, even though a bit off on all the facts - nevertheless we are faces with the following....
last week: rosh ha'ayin & ariel
today: jerusalem

Haifa ac 18:25 GMT August 10, 2003

Beware of TUESDAYS==Al Qaeda

jerusalem zp 18:21 GMT August 19, 2003
oooooh no, i hear ambulances coming........

jerusalem zp 17:58 GMT August 19, 2003
oil man, how do you know if it wasn't the u.s that blew up the u.n building? seems to me they have more reasons than the 'other side'..........

jerusalem zp 16:00 GMT August 19, 2003
th, the fact that my wife choose to marry me and thus deal with my rather odd sense of humor shows she not only has a great deal of sympathy for the masses but ability too.......
;^)

jerusalem zp 06:39 GMT August 18, 2003
haifa, dont know if you saw this editorial in ha'aretz today....i think it may surprise you.......on the question of return....if anything this editorial points out just how badly arafat and his confidants misjudged israeli resolve regarding certain issues when starting this intifida.....
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=330494&contrassID=2&subContrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

jerusalem zp 12:27 GMT August 17, 2003
here are some interesting factoids regarding the turd.....
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin

jerusalem zp 12:04 GMT August 17, 2003
revdax, just think for a second what kind of state dinner you could have thrown in the late 70's if you would have had the chance, you could have invited Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Shah of Iran, Pinochet of Chile, the Generals who comprised the 'Junta' of Argentina and a myriad of other assorted leaders and ex-leaders to liven up the evening. i wonder who would have had the balls to turn their back first?

jerusalem zp 11:48 GMT August 17, 2003
revdax, but what if your secretary was supposed to fall madly in love with the dentist and runaway to the sunnier port of san diego after her dental operation which was aborted by your herbal intervention into the fates? she may have healthy gums now, but she probably isnt married or at least having a profitable affair with the dentist......do you see now what kind of problems you might be causing?

while NOT on the subject, interesting to me that not one person has noted the death of the EX-president of uganda, king of scotland, dadda number one, el numero muy primero estupendos, y mucho locotito - the one and only butcher serving the spoils of his victims as desert and occasionally put the severed heads of the unlucky on the dinner plate too - IDI AMIN. now this was a nice guy.......

jerusalem zp 10:27 GMT August 17, 2003
oil man - 9:25, thks for the post, you give me hope for better tmrws here, makes me happy that we can speak with one another here.

th, regarding coke and pepsi, imagine their collective chagrin that these two companies which hate each other in a real sense must now do battle against a govt together. only problem with your proposal is that it is tough to sue or even reverse claims made by agencies of govts - when there are people behind the scenes manipulating offices and the public for unholy reasons. india is trying to protect their 'local' beverage companies.......coke and pepsi face the task of trying to take action against someone - something that is both judge and jury.

revdax- i was not joking about this diet book idea yesterday, you continue to submit your thesis here when you should be selling it at barnes & noble......

jerusalem zp 09:12 GMT August 17, 2003
th, interesting post regarding big biz having to face the same laws they would face in their 'home countries'......have you been following what has been taking place between coke and pepsi in india in the last half year? what happens when companies who have invested millions of dollars from 'abroad' face unwarranted accusations and outright lies by govts and their 'agencies' in their 'new' countries.....in case people are unfamilar with this.....the govt of india has been accusing coke and pepsi of making unheathly drinks which are contaminated with bad water. they also claim that both companies are destroying the envioronment in india by dumping chemical by products into the rivers and soil - chemical by products which by the way - DO NOT EXIST within either companies litany of work.

jerusalem zp 22:53 GMT August 13, 2003
i guess that should be james baker not jim baker who i believe had something to do with a strange sneer and his church thieving wife - tammy........
whhhhhhhoooa, who havent i insulted tonight?

jerusalem zp 22:51 GMT August 13, 2003
th, i count on you for such thoughts, but i do not agree, seems to me stopping these drecks and nailing their network of wanna be millionaires and martyrs is highly important. its tough enough for me to convince my wife to let me travel nowadays......if one plane got shot down it would not only kill my business, but it would kill companies around the world. no, stopping this is what counts.......
do you think bush will somehow now get the liberal jewish vote in new york? your guess is as good as mine. except to say that when bush won the election, israel was quite worried that he would be very pro-arab and do a jim baker on us......things turn out funny sometimes.....

jerusalem zp 22:41 GMT August 13, 2003
allow me to make a quick judgement here, not one major news outlet worldwide that i see is reporting thus far that one of the men, abraham yehuda, is an american jew. THE problem with this is that it is so politically correct not to list the religions of the folks involved. this as if what is taking place around the world doesnt have to do with anything and is merely a bunch of random acts. a bit like when the sniper in washington dc was caught and most news agencies put the 'silent treatment' on the fact that the guy was a black muslim. if we cant admit what we are up against, if we cant look ourselves in the eye and admit who the bad guys are - we are doomed...........every bunch has one rotten apple, we should say so publically, but we should also have the balls to say that there are bad trees growing around us as well.

jerusalem zp 22:28 GMT August 13, 2003
snp, actually i got your joke quite well, and thats why i shared my little ditty with you. completely agree with you regarding security at u.s airports, just becareful making jokes to the security guys and gals as you know, those idiots will have you in jail in no time......

jerusalem zp 22:11 GMT August 13, 2003
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/329224.html

this is the link for story on the identities of those involved who have been named thus far by ha'aretz.

jerusalem zp 22:07 GMT August 13, 2003
snp, i can verify that on my trip to l.a two weeks ago, we stopped in toronto and had to do an in air transit visa in order to continue to l.a - it wasnt even listed on the plane ticket that we would be stopping there as a stop over. BUT we did not have to pay anything for it. we got to use the rest rooms, eat some donuts, drink some coffee...........some young israeli jewish kids about 11 & 12 puts pillow masks on their heads - 4 of them, poked outs holes for eyes, and were playing some very funny game of shall we say cowboys and indians - canadian overseers didnt understand hebrew obviously and didnt quite get what the kids were saying, which was "okay you jews up against the wall, we are over taking this plane"......this all went on inside the lounge area and the israelis were pretty much laughing hysterically at the charades for about half an hour of fun.......the canadian overseers didnt quite know what was going on and it wasnt explained to them, i dont think they would have gotten the joke.......nobody mentioned anything about midgets packing their bags though, i am sure nobody would have liked this.


jerusalem zp 11:42 GMT August 13, 2003
jp, ........fyi, the conversation with the security flunky got worse from there. he started telling me that he was just doing his job, that he was sorry if i was in any way made to feel that i felt i was being unfairly treated.....and so on - the standard crapoola i am sure they are told to say when dealing with the irate. i, being my not-so-kind self in that type of situation and impatient (thank godness my wife was not with me to witness my facial reactions), said nothing, let him finish, and then walked away like the little arrogant arse i am - and then felt bad that i had treated the guy this way half an hour later while sitting at the gate and reading the paper. these folks do not make a whole lot of money, i am sure they are not enjoying themselves any more than the people being scrutinized. it is a fairly unsavory mess traveling nowadays and i should learn to deal with it better.

jerusalem zp 11:22 GMT August 13, 2003
th, maybe it is just me, but i prefer the idea of govts being proactive instead of reactive regarding terrorists. seems to me that if russian, britain, and the u.s. agents were working on this case together that somewhere down the line they must have found out that this weapons dealer was trying to sell something that is a bit more profound than selling a joint or sex from the street corner. as a frequent flyer i can say with confidence that i prefer govts using stings such as these instead of having a missile come through any airplane that someone may be on.

jerusalem zp 08:46 GMT August 13, 2003
revdax, i can find something to agree with you here but note that it is possible that 'tourists' could have given other infos to canadian embassy abroad....... having said that i will now support you in full when i say that customs and inspections that take place around the world are full of mcdonald type of employees who all would be best served with another helping of brain cells. while leaving jfk last week, i was asked to take off my shoes and walk through metal detector. the detector signal went off because of my watch. i was told to sit and wait to be further searched, that was ok, i am more than used to this coming from israel. BUT as i said before i had taken off my shoes, i was not wearing socks, i was barefoot, NEVERTHELESS, the inspector (security flunky) told me to raise my feet so he could see the bottoms. when i pointed out that i had no shoes and was barefoot he said it did not matter, when i asked him why he didnt make other people take off their socks and check everyones barefeet HE had NO answer. my point, do not expect deep philosphical discussion on the way of the world with these people. the closest they get to seeing the world is by standing in the airport terminals checking those who are doing the traveling.

jerusalem zp 08:25 GMT August 13, 2003
revdax, the question that begs though, is how many 'tourists from canada and the u.s. are looking to illegally emigrate to other parts of the world in which they are 'visiting'? not to say it doesnt take place, and not to say that customs officials throughout the world aren't idiots in a large degree, but the fact is that a larger percentage of chinese nationals are looking for a new home more often than some other 'tourists'.

jerusalem zp 19:41 GMT August 11, 2003
snp, question for you, can you please explain to me what the official reason davis is facing a recall besides having so many people sign a petition to get this process underway......what does the heading say, does it list some type of charges or negligence that can be documented? or is this guy being recalled because he had the bad luck to become governor during a faulty economy and inherited a bad budget? also what does it say for the political landscape in the future, when (god forbid) a republican runs a deficit and has the misfortune for the people within their state (or office) to simply become tired of looking at them? seems to me that this opens a can of worms, i do remember when ed mechem in arizona was recalled - now he was truly an idiot who deserved it - does davis deserve the same fate, cant the republicans just make his days a living nightmare within the legislature somehow? i really dont know, besides my natural disdain for all politicians davis seems like no bigger buffon than most......what has the guy done that was so incredibly bad?

jerusalem zp 18:23 GMT August 11, 2003
snp, you will get no arguement from me, clearly arnold s. as opposed to arnold the pig in green acres - has been grooming himself for the job quite a time......i venture to say that the possibilities must have crossed his mind when he married into the kennedy clan (now that revdax is marrying smart). should be quite interesting to see how mr. s runs california after he is elected, and even more interesting to see how he defines any further political goals afterwards if all goes well.....this because as we know he cant run for president.

ibiza, glad i can make you laugh, perhaps the world would be a safer place if we gave all tourists guns - certainly would help some folks in miami and new york once in a while......

jerusalem zp 14:58 GMT August 11, 2003
nh, not sure if you are asking me a question at this point, but suffice it to say that i dont envy mr. colin powell trying to dance around this issue because that is what will have to be done......one could make a case for self defense, ticking bombs, and only safe way to extract a wanted enemy....but for guy (and gals) that plan on serving in some elected political capacity in the states or elsewhere i would venture to say that they might be praying they dont have to deal with this issue at all. unless of course they are like john mc cain who says what he means and believes and lets the chips fall where they may.

jerusalem zp 14:28 GMT August 11, 2003
nh, thks. as for israel and the death penalty, it does allow for the death penalty BUT the only person i know to be sentenced to death in israel is mr. happy himself - adolph eichman after he was shall we say 'taken' from his villa hideout in argentina and brought to justice.
any yes - ibiza, oil man and others - if we want to count the executions - assasinations - that israel carrys out on wanted terrorists be my guests.....
a slippery slope i know.....

jerusalem zp 13:11 GMT August 11, 2003
i'd like to take this time and say that i find it extremely deplorable the way in which the european govts have handled the recent heat wave that is striking their countries and putting the lives of thousands of people at risk. these great countries should find a humanitarian way in which to placate the heat and make sure that a peaceful resolution can be found before it is too late. if nothing is done soon, the u.s. should invade and occupy these nations until the european govts prove they are capable of such responsibilities.

jerusalem zp 12:35 GMT August 11, 2003
ibiza, i dont know if you will like it but if you get a chance to listen to a band called 'the white stripes' you should do so....newest c.d. is called elephant is sounds like a cross between old rolling stones and nirvana.....interesting sound. i got a listen on my trip and bought the c.d. - good stuff.

jerusalem zp 12:13 GMT August 11, 2003
th, hello, i hope all is well, regarding the hijinks up north the both of us have been over this subject many times before. i still do not believe the u.s. will get actively involved against the hezbollah or lebanon because the way in which to really minimalize these foes is to deal with their two headed big brother - iran and syria.....as of yet i believe the states will do every thing possible to get something accomplished through political channels (which is probably a huge mistake unless done amazingly well and with full understanding of all spoken and written contexts).....it might solve the problem today by merely postponing it until next year or another decade or so.
the solution to all of the problems here can be summed up from the movie 'a few good men' with a little change of pace.....
"none of us over can handle the truth....."

jerusalem zp 10:11 GMT August 11, 2003
haifa, i want to assure you that i have nothing to do with the stones that are being thrown in basra currently.....perhaps they were supplied by my competition.

also please note that wednesday is prince spaggheti day in some parts of the u.s., you might want to know this after coming out of your bunker on tuesdays...

jerusalem zp 06:31 GMT August 11, 2003
th, thks for your note. regarding the stone - it is 99% cut to size....

jerusalem zp 20:30 GMT August 10, 2003
haifa, i wouldnt spend my time wondering about the tuesday scenerio, seems to me that many of the bombings here tend to happen on every other day too.......
what i would look into HOWEVER is the 'coincidence' that the hezbollah have decided to start shooting towards israel when syria has taken over the presidency of the security council for the month of august 2003...
perhaps that is too much in the way of conspiratorial thinking though.

jerusalem zp 10:00 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, though i do not agree with you on all things obviously, i do enjoy your posts and urge you to keep writing here.....
it does seem rather funny to me that iraqis are now screaming for their democratic rights to be upheld after living under tyranical regimes the past forty years or so. seems rather odd to me that people are now protesting against the u.s in shi'ia areas and proclaiming their right to worship and conduct their affairs freely after being subjugated for the same forty years.
seems rather peculiar that the world protests so much and does so little concerning their own problems in their own backyards.
and more comical and irksome is the whining of everyone that insists that all of the problems in the middle east get resolved in five minutes, five weeks, five months, or even five years when the problems were only let to grow for the past 1500 years or so........


jerusalem zp 06:20 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, you are correct of course, 'they' can always change the rules on you ....... i was once long heating oil and had the fortune of having a storage facility blow up in new jersey while holding the position.....only to have the new york criminals at the merc tell me that my sell couldnt be filled while the bedlam was breaking out......instead of making a mint we made only a nickel or two...... reality is illusion is whatever someone who has the authority tells you it is.

jerusalem zp 06:15 GMT August 10, 2003
ahe, as we know haifa has a way of overstating things once in a while......biz trip was okay, except that when i woke up this morning in my bed i thought i was somewhere else......as for the stone biz in iraq, i will let you know when something happens, the real stone biz that will be a boom for many will be when the iranians get their 'marbles' on the market.....not joking about this.

jerusalem zp 06:10 GMT August 10, 2003
actually come to think of it, i believe it was the financial times, too many airplane trips - and a lot of confusion....

jerusalem zp 06:08 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, ok, one thing quick, am i mistaken or did i read correctly that the tehran 'iranian' borse has issued a rule that the market is not allowed to go up there for a while and that stock can only be sold? what am i missing.....i know they have suffered with extremes and perhaps manipulations but whhhhhoooa that seems a bit much. i read it in the new york times, i think it was friday's edition.

jerusalem zp 06:05 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, thks for the listing.......it does look to be up about 30% percent doesnt it? not bad sentiment for the folks in dubai is it?
must get going now for a few hours or so, must go to my office and see what kind of chaos my people have for me due to my traveling.....i can only imagine the horror.


jerusalem zp 05:57 GMT August 10, 2003
interesting, within a country of one billion people it only took 60 years to find chemical weapons that were 'hidden'......i wonder why it is taking the americans so long to find anything in iraq? oh, wait, thats because they might have been moved to syria........couldnt be, the syrians are much to good to have done that.

jerusalem zp 05:52 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, as you know i am not a peaches and cream person, i tend to see the world within some of its grey tones.....what's done is done, lets get on with the show.....
can you do me a favor and tell me what the uae stock market has done since march of this year? i am not trying to be a hard arse with this but i am really wondering what percent it has risen? if it is anything less than 30% i will be surprised....

jerusalem zp 05:43 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, i may be wrong but i suspect 'the republican' arnold's marriage to shriver might actually hurt him in the long run with some republican voters.....but perhaps it will help him with some of the democrats voting and be a wash. on the face of it, it looks like arnold is going to be the next gov of california -that is unless of course tg wins which i am sure you would be quite ecstatic with.....

jerusalem zp 05:32 GMT August 10, 2003
oil man, is it possible that there is some other explanation regarding the 'resolution' that you and ib are discussing regarding the accountability of companies operating in iraq? is it possible this is a way to try and keep down the amount of lawsuits that will get filed because old contracts written by saddam's people have been nullifyed? i saw something last night that a british naval task force stopped a pirate oil tanker from leaving iraqi water loaded with crude.......is it possible that the u.s. and brits overseeing the commodity for a time being is actually going to help the general iraqi population more than the previous govt it has replaced?

jerusalem zp 05:25 GMT August 10, 2003
hello, everybody - recently returned from a biz trip, hope everyone is well. anyone here on the ballot for governor of california? while studying at university a fairly savy professor once pointed out that as goes california so goes the nation (u.s) .........if that is true does it mean that the folks in the u.s are showing just how much they disrespect the entire political process at this juncture or does it show just how much they hate the 'clown' davis? as of this morning, i read that 106 people have actually filed to run for the office including the likes as everyone knows of the 'terminator' but also some porn queen, porn king, and a very famous and short once upon a time child actor. i would really like to know what you folks in california think about the mess.....


jerusalem zp 15:29 GMT July 24, 2003
of course making that happen sometimes means being proactive in lobbying.....

jerusalem zp 15:28 GMT July 24, 2003
seems to me the best businessmen dont care who is really in charge of the govt as long as they are able to be left alone to work and have the sphere of influence they need within in each govt........bush and clinton are not nearly as important to the economy as sound fiscal policy and govt keeping themselves out of the way unless otherwise needed.

jerusalem zp 08:56 GMT July 24, 2003
oil man, the more interesting question is where exactly was arafat born?

jerusalem zp 17:14 GMT July 23, 2003
this from a friend in dublin a few moments ago.......

A man is lying in bed in a Irish Catholic Hospital with an oxygen
mask over his mouth. A young auxiliary nurse appears to sponge his face and hands. "Nurse," he mumbles from behind the mask, "Are my testicles black?" Embarrassed the young nurse replies, "I don't know Mr. I'm only here to wash your face and hands." He struggles again to ask, "Nurse, are my testicles black?" Again the nurse replies,"I can't tell. I'm only
here to wash your face and hands." The Ward Sister was passing and saw the man getting a little distraught so she marched over to inquire what was wrong. "Sister," he mumbled, "Are my testicles black ?" Being a nurse longstanding, the sister was undaunted. She whipped back the bedclothes, pulled down his pajama trousers, moved his penis out of the way, had a right good look, pulled up the pajamas, replaced the bed clothes and announced, "Nothing
wrong with them !!!" frustrated at this the man pulled off his
oxygen mask and asked again,
"Are my t e s t r e s u l t s b a c k ?



jerusalem zp 14:07 GMT July 23, 2003
oil man, never underestimate the world's desire for blood as long as it is only ours (yours & mine & not theirs).....having said that this entire parable will be played out according to the rules that the u.s. decides to play by - this includes all actions by israelis, palestinians, iraqis, syrians, iranians, and yes, perhaps, even the people of uae and whoever else is stupid enough to get involved......we are all wee little ones who participate within a play that the u.s directs - we are mere actors and will be shown what to do for good and bad, once in a while we will be sure to improvise (because we are a stubborn people) and it certainly will end with those who try being bruised.
if the u.s. is tough and follows through your small oil empire i imagine will be just as happy as my little land of chaos. we will all enjoy the comforts of u.s. security......if we must suffer the slings and arrows of occassional death here let me remind you that we have been witnessing that for a mere 100 or so years here since the ottomans kicked a lot of our arses and until their arse got kicked by the brits and arab irregulars and their own corrupt lifestyles. in other words what you are talking about isnt so new, it is actually the same show that has been playing for quite some time, the technology in which to view it has changed a bit granted but it has always been quite interactive when needed and we have always had enough actors to replace those who got tired of the story or died from violence or old age.......
what i am hoping is that we are nearing the final act sometime within the next ten years and then maybe we will be blessed with peace and tranquility instead of a bad sequel.
in the meantime oil man sit back and relax and be glad that for the most part we too get to watch instead of actually having to go outside and having to get dirty too - we let our kids do that for us.

jerusalem zp 12:13 GMT July 23, 2003
revdax, another reason to be careful when traveling......

A man staying at a hotel in London removed a card offering sexual services from a nearby phone box. Back at the hotel he phoned the number and a lady with a silky soft voice answered and asked if she could be of assistance. The guy said he wanted a Regular & Doggie, then some bondage and wanted to finish with a Pearl Necklace.
He then asked her "What do you think?"
The lady replied "That sounds really good, but if you press "9" first, you'll get an outside line."



jerusalem zp 11:26 GMT July 23, 2003
http://www.footballculture.net/players/profile_zidane.html

jerusalem zp 11:21 GMT July 23, 2003
ac, it could be a few things - it could be the worse case of mistaken identity since i was chased on a paris street because some kids thought i was zinadine zindaine and a group of people started ambushing me for autographs which proved disappointing for all involved (there were no women involved in this episode or i would have acted much better and perhaps even taken photos with people).
or it could show just how badly the regime has been damaged by the u.s. and the brits and other assorted allies and that the regime is now on the run a.k.a like we will be chased when sister number one takes over and nesara comes for us full force.

jerusalem zp 09:36 GMT July 23, 2003
oil man, actually and you should know this better than most and also understand it better than most it is not funny nor is it strange that hussein and iraq are targets. what we see happening is the settling of scores. right or wrong we are seeing a very strong country telling the rest of the world that it will prove unwise to screw with them too much. we have seen this through out history. we can sit here all day and put up nice politically correct posts about who was behind what and when but lets not kid ourselves. hussein was clearly against the states, he clearly was a sore on their arse they wanted to rid themselves of, slowly and methodically if they can accept collateral damage they will get the job done. if they are actually able to go the distance and do the whole job the world will be a better place for it. no one is weeping for hussein's sons except for close family members probably. i trust you know full well that bin laden has not been forgotten about either and will continue to be targeted.
in life you either kiss and make up or walk away from the people in yours lives on a personal level. countries have the same option, but war has been with us since the first days of mankind. lets not kid ourselves into thinking that this is nothing less than a war - one that had been simmering for years. it isnt the first battle nor will it be the last.

jerusalem zp 09:22 GMT July 23, 2003
oil man, you are correct, but nevertheless saddam is probably feeling the heat this morning. if it is within his capabilites of having a time share prepared for him in tripoli i suspect he is doing so now. saddam and bin laden can run all they want, but that is what they will spend the rest of their lives doing until caught or proven to be a waste of time going after because they have become benign. i trust you know better than i do the culture which the u.s has put itself up against........again as pointed out before it is important know your own weaknesses as much as you know your opponents. saddam has miscaculted and is probably coming to that realization about now however quietly. i wonder how many people who cheered the destruction of the world trade center realized that their own fates were being sealed on that day to when the dust settled? hussein unless he is an idiot which i highly doubt should be getting the message just about now.

jerusalem zp 07:52 GMT July 23, 2003
ac, seems to me last night was the biggest success thus far in the war. united states has now isolated saddam with the deaths of his son. if saddam should be unlucky enough to still be in iraq, i venture to say that his days are numbered unless he can make a swift exit somehow. who can he trust now? once again we have scene images confirming that the majority of the people in iraq are awaiting the complete destruction of saddam's regime. celebrations of gunfire occured through out iraq last night.
u.s. proved last night to the people of iraq that it seems prepared to go the distance, it has also probably caused some sense of fear to creep into old saddam's mind - good.

jerusalem zp 16:12 GMT July 22, 2003
proof once again of a strange little world not understood completely by me.
may i please ask what the *#%* was this guy thinking? is this some new collecters fad?

Poles search for tourist who stole door from concentration camp
By The Associated Press
WARSAW - Polish police launched a search Tuesday
for a 60-year-old German tourist who tried nearly
two weeks ago to make off with the crematorium
door from the former Nazi concentration camp of
Stutthof, claiming he thought it was scrap metal.
Police arrested the man, identified only as Jens H., on
July 12 after guards at the concentration camp's museum
accused him of trying to bribe them to let him cart the door
away from the camp in Sztutowo, 310 kilometers north of
Warsaw.
The German was charged with theft and police confiscated his passport, then released him from custody with orders to return for questioning the following week. He did not
show up and on Tuesday a nationwide search was launched. "The matter was not so serious from a criminal point of view," said prosecutor Waldemar Zduniak, adding that theft charges do not require detention pending a hearing.


jerusalem zp 15:57 GMT July 22, 2003
ahe, if the typhoon effects things maybe blair and his mrs. will have another baby in 9 months time.......


jerusalem zp 09:05 GMT July 22, 2003
oil man, try this out......
taking it one step further and out into conspiracy land.......lets say the u.s. went into the middle east for oil. why would it do this? it would do this to protect its own interest from a political and economical view too - including oil companies wanting to get their hands on some of the profit no doubt. BUT it would also help places like your homeland and the saudis because it means that while controlling an oil supply and thus letting the world rely on the crude oil commodity for its energy that other energy sources wouldnt be investigated (invented & discovered) as quickly or as efficiently either. thus if the u.s has gone into the middle east for oil it is not long hike to imagine that your homeland and the saudis and other oil producers are actually quite happy to have the u.s there in iraq to protect the general business interests of the oil community. infidels yes, but infidels who allow certain folk in the area to still make quite a bit of money...........
just a thought.

jerusalem zp 15:17 GMT July 21, 2003
maxxim, only thing i limit myself to is one wife......that is when i am not working for the dark side.....


jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT July 21, 2003
revdax, .......and thus the inherent problems of the gold market as we know it in modern terms.......thks :^|

jerusalem zp 14:10 GMT July 21, 2003
revdax & bc, points taken - as noted by the both of you and myself to degrees - perception is reality. thus the reason we have a commodity market in which people take a long side vs. people who take the short side..........
does manipulation = price - i am not sure, but perception frequently does. one way that this can be noted is the frequent disparity in prices between the commodity itself and company shares working within the commodity.

jerusalem zp 12:23 GMT July 21, 2003
revdax, gold like dollar bills are all about perception, while it is nice currently to have both in ones possession it doesnt mean that things cant change quickly. please note, and i am certain you know it already, that anything that can be bartered is in fact a currency of some sort. all items have value and the fact that gold seems to have a value put on it currently that has no logical explanation except to say that it looks good on leggies (actually that might explain a lot) and can be used for exchange of service rendered or bartered is not enough. after sister number one and her posse gets nesara passed i suspect the next big thing will be figs - just you watch.


jerusalem zp 11:58 GMT July 20, 2003
sofia, agree with you except to say politicians will never file disclaimers and that is largely why they find themselves in their prospective career paths.......they are frequently above the law because they are behind the law.

jerusalem zp 11:20 GMT July 20, 2003
sofia, thks, regarding your question about having a no fly zone put over gaza and having military hardware targeted in israel.........i dont want to sound to cocky, but i think the better question is how do you think those ordered to go after israeli military hardware would feel if they knew israel was going to be fighting against them?
we are a country that is made up of survivors, woe be to he who thinks that israel will allow its people and nation to be at risk.

jerusalem zp 10:53 GMT July 20, 2003
sofia, i am not looking for an arguement with you, let me point out that i said the debka site does anger me once in a while. i find that their info is skewed as i said before and if this means that i must seperate the truth from the nonsense so be it - isnt that part of the 'joy' when looking at any news report.
having read the ny times story - i can agree with you regarding your accessment (if i am reading your comments correctly).
u.s. was not planning on an all out war before 2001 and was looking for a way to knock out iraq's cabability of hitting allied aircraft........but too, it is clear from all things that led up to the war that last year in 2002 attacks were stepped up and started knocking out systems that went beyond getting rid of 'offensive systems' and looked to kill defensive mechanisms too.
i dont agree that this shows the old european powers 'weren't against getting rid of or hariming hussein'. the operation that the u.s. and brits undertook with their bombing raids via air fell under auspices 'if only within a grey area' of u.n resolutions regarding no fly zone rules. some of the old european guard probably didnt want to interpret what was taking place in order to protect their 'innocence' later on.
it should be clear that the u.s. and brits were readying themselves for this war since the early days after sept. 11th, anyone who doesnt admit that is lying or ignorant it would seem to me - whether they are in favor or against what took place in iraq.

jerusalem zp 10:08 GMT July 20, 2003
sofia, though the site some time gets me rather p'ed, it must be said that the folks at debka.com were reporting on the air assaults by the brits and americans all along and quite accurately.........this only seems to be news to those who didnt want to interpret the bombing runs as a war setting last year. time and time again the information on debka while sometimes skewed is often leading the pack regarding 'intelligence' reports.

jerusalem zp 08:32 GMT July 20, 2003
here is a funny (though cnn doesnt seem to quite know it) article on 'dismayed americans that are contemplating moving to canada'......

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/07/19/considering.canada.ap/index.html

interesting because it speaks to a few people who speak in moralistic tones about the difference of life possible in both places.....ok that i can accept a bit.
BUT at the end of the article it just happens to mention in the last paragraph or so that canadians moving to the states still out number by a large margin americans moving to canada and it has been this way for years - this is funny because it doesnt point out that the number is even greater when percentages are looked at regarding population sizes of both places.........also because it fails to ask canadians why are they doing so.
is it because they want to live in a 'more conservative country' ? maybe a few might answer yes.....who knows?
in other words this is typical cnn nonsense creating something where nothing exists..........
sartre would be happy i suppose.
btw, the guy contemplating moving from georgia to toronto should first spend a week or two there in january before he makes his move i suspect........but as a famous movie once said, "stupid is as stupid does......"

jerusalem zp 08:15 GMT July 20, 2003
jp, thks for the article - simply put.......in trading and in war it is always as important to know your own weaknesses as much as you know your opponents.

jerusalem zp 18:42 GMT July 19, 2003
here is an interesting article from the ny times regarding the situation in iraq...........by taking a look at t.e lawrence and his writing.
perhaps, more self amusing i have been reading 'the seven pillars of wisdom' all week (sfx i would read this book if i were you during your middle east reading endeavor)........

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/20/weekinreview/20KIFN.html?hp

what worries me more than anything is that the states still do not comprehend exactly what they have gotten themselves into.


jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT July 17, 2003
perhaps i should have said (one psychologist in bed) - sorry for disappointing you revdax.....

jerusalem zp 15:14 GMT July 17, 2003
jp, i suspect i understand, have no fear, i do not see psychologists either (except in bed) due to a lack of my life story not ending quite yet and my continued belief in the path i have chosen........

jerusalem zp 14:51 GMT July 17, 2003
th, my comment to jp was based on a question that he had for my wife regarding 'the number 13', since i answered in a hypothetical way and infered what i think my wife (a dangerous thing to do no doubt for anyman) would ask, it remains merely that - a friendly hypothetical situation - one free of charge. i just hope the 13 attempts were not regarding marriage - that i would expect from revdax. ;>)

jerusalem zp 14:23 GMT July 17, 2003
th, i dont exactly think that the u.s will be blamed all that much by the japanese if the nk situation 'goes pear shaped' (whatever that means) - this because the japanese have a rather illustrious history of hatred with korea as a whole - let me add that while it is bad to generalize it is also wise to look at history. the japanese i imagine will look to the states quite a bit if the nk brinkmanship hits the fan for some type of support.

bc, u.s knows what a war with korea is like from a long and painful experience, but is this current situation the fault of america? not that it has to be anyones fault but doesnt nk have something to do with whats going on? seems to me they are playing a hardcore game of extortion. should the u.s. leave them alone and turn their back completely?
really, i am not trying to be funny, i am open for suggestions, i understand the history of this area has been one of constant incursions. is there a solution? or should i just think of the koreas as a asian version of the nonsense that surrounds me?

jerusalem zp 08:37 GMT July 17, 2003
ahe, revdax, bc, sfx - can you please tell me your feelings and gut instincts about what is taking place in the koreas right now - this morning they exchanged live rounds in the dmz for the first time in a while.
my only knowledge of the place is what i have read and i do not have anything that allows me personally to understand the brinkmanship that is playing out there within this culture. what can be really done to change this situation? seems like things are getting out of control, or am i wrong and is it all in the name of good theater?
i fear that simplistic answers such as ac's response that north korea is a mere insect and not to be taken serious to be very much off the mark. seems to me that north korea fully understands the economic chaos they can cause for this area of the world and is quite prepared to extort a ransom by threatening to sink the golden economic ship that so many others enjoy in this area.
what to do and how?

jerusalem zp 05:30 GMT July 17, 2003
jp, regarding the 13 tries question, my wife is a clinical psychologist, i feel comfortable that she would look at you and say," you asked the question, what do you think about the question, why do you think you asked the question, how do you feel about this question?" she would then let you expand on this for about 40 to 45 minutes or end the conversation sooner when she feels you have reached the nadir of the topic, send you off and out to think about it on your own..........

jerusalem zp 20:12 GMT July 16, 2003
jp, as far as i can read the date it still looks to me like bush has at least 8 - 10 months to get the economy washed and scrubbed. anyone predicting his downfall at this juncture is practicing wishful thinking.......lots of time left, lots of highs and low to come, lots of money to waste on big politcal campaigns.......

jerusalem zp 18:58 GMT July 16, 2003
nh, why would the right take on bush when they can build their power source from inside already and appear to have some fairly solid positions within the current administration? you dont attack from the outside when you can do it from within? what the right, the moderates, and others within the bush team and republican wing should worry about is making people feel good about themselves a la reagan........yes, it is gloss sometimes and not much substance but it keeps you in power 4 years longer.

jerusalem zp 12:54 GMT July 16, 2003
ooooooopps:
Israel frees N. Irish journalist mistaken for Real IRA man
By Amos Harel and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents
Israel release Northern Irish journalist and
pro-Palestinian activist John Morgan on Wednesday,
four days after he was arrested near Ramallah in
the mistaken belief that he was a member of the
Real IRA who had travelled to the region to train
Palestinian militants in bomb-making.
A security source said John Morgan was expected to be
deported shortly. Witnesses said the police car carrying
him took him straight to Ben-Gurion airport with its
sirens wailing. Irish sources told Haaretz on Monday that the British security services had no up-to-date picture of
the suspected terrorist, so they identified him
only by name, and John Morgan is a common
name.
The Shin Bet security service, which has been
questioning Morgan, has ended its investigation
and he will apparently be released Wednesday.
It is not yet clear whether Morgan will be
deported from Israel for his connections to the
pro-Palestinian International Solidarity
Movement. Israel has deported a number of ISM
activists over the past months.
The Morgan believed to be a bomb specialist -
not the one held in Israel -is in his 40s,
lived in south Armagh, and is known to British
and Irish security services. An Irish police
source said this Morgan "disappeared three
years ago as if the earth swallowed him and we
began to suspect he was up to something."
But the Morgan arrested near Ramallah, also in
his 40s, is a known journalist and teacher who
lives in Belfast and works in promoting Gaelic
language and culture. He also uses his Gaelic
name, Sean O'Muireagain, not the approximate
English translation John Morgan.


jerusalem zp 14:44 GMT July 15, 2003
A lonely woman, aged 70, decided that it was time to get
married. She put an ad in the local paper that read:
"HUSBAND WANTED, MUST BE IN MY AGE GROUP (70's),
MUST NOT BEAT ME, MUST NOT RUN AROUND ON ME AND MUST STILL BE GOOD IN BED! ALL APPLICANTS PLEASE
APPLY IN PERSON."
On the second day she heard the doorbell. Much to her
dismay, she opened the door to see a balding gray-haired gentleman sitting in a wheel chair. He had no arms or legs.The woman said, "You're not really asking me to consider you, are you? Just look at you...you have no legs!" The old man smiled, "Therefore I cannot run around on you!" She snorted. "You don't have any hands either!" Again the old man smiled, "Nor can I beat you!" She raised an eyebrow and gazed intently. "Are you still good in bed?" With that, the old gentleman beamed a broad smile and said, "I rang the doorbell didn't I?"


jerusalem zp 08:52 GMT July 15, 2003
ac, happy to see that you and irish will be joining some of us in our re-education camp when nesara takes over, we should have the foundations to start a very good 'underground' trading company there - the illuminati will help us i am sure. i wonder if the conditions will be like the gulag archipeligo, we should try to find out where we are going to be sent by using one of 'our contacts' inside of nesara. i suspect we will get more members as the reign of nesara starts looking for suspects as its policies start hitting roadblocks after being initiated within a few years time. pray that we can all survive to see the day of the counter-revolution. we will make the kingdom of venice proud once more.

irish, i have a sneaking feeling that if i only had won a trip to orlando for disclosing such personal information that i would be upset too, if the hotel included was on International Drive there i would be even angrier. that being said i am certain of seeing this 'fine city' again soon and walking in its steam laden air while on my way to one of its fine restaurants like 'Friendly's' & 'TGIF'.

jerusalem zp 11:04 GMT July 14, 2003
NEW BUSINESS IDEAS:
seems to me if you are already spending your time running with the bulls that running from the bombs is not such a bad sport either........perhaps we should let bulls run perpetually in the streets of jerusalem, it might bring back the tourists. between the bulls and the 'revolutionary taxes' so one is 'not bombed' i see two profitable businesses, not to mention the extra business hospitals will pull in.....

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police have deactivated a powerful bomb in a Pamplona hotel they say was placed by the Basque separatist group ETA.

The hotel was filled with visitors attending the annual San Fermin Fiesta which includes the famed running of the bulls, authorities said. No one was injured.

Police evacuated the 138-room Hotel Maisonnave and nearby apartment buildings after receiving a phone call on Sunday warning them of the bomb. They found the 4 kilogram explosive device in a women's bathroom at the hotel, a government statement said.

The caller on Saturday said the hotel was targeted because it had not paid a "revolutionary tax," according to the government statement. Authorities say that "tax" refers to the ETA's extortion of businesses.


jerusalem zp 08:34 GMT July 14, 2003
jp, regarding your question about sharon and his 4 year plan.....both arafat and sharon will be lucky to be involved in the political chaos here within a year and halfs time from now due to their advancing age and mediocre health, in 4 years from now it can only be hoped that nesara has been implemented and the world is being run according to alien rule from above and that free energy is giving us the chance to spend our extra money on vacations in italy.
of coarse, i wont be able to witness any of this since i will be in a re-education camp with ahe, revdax, clinton, and gwb, which reminds me, i have to send them out some instructions on different card games to practice before our sojourn starts. until then jp i will continue with my illuminati work and hope for the best......... barring that i dont get killed first by an ira sniper here in jerusalem (should i start wearing a celtic football shirt? i am actually a fan.)

jerusalem zp 20:54 GMT July 13, 2003
here is a story that is not an ordinary info piece from ha'aretz, speaks a mile ......... and adds well to the confusion in this muddled place, please read the whole article in order to become filled with the comedy that is my home, with out further adeiu......
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/317447.html

jerusalem zp 20:30 GMT July 13, 2003
nh, you seem to be forgeting one of the golden rules of politics which i seem to recall you yourself pointed out sometime ago, people tend to vote against candidates not for one. the democrats up till now have been missing in action........anyone on the horizon who can make them want to vote against bush?

jerusalem zp 15:00 GMT July 13, 2003
nh, further into the fog.......carter is one of the supreme leaders of the black hole gang...
unsure of where we are going, unsure of what we are up against, unsure of any correct path.
he is one of the forefathers of the politically correct crowd that if not looked after would lead a nation into a quiet and sublime sunset this while vultures fly overhead.
colin powell seems to have studied well from his ilk somehow and unfortuanately.

jerusalem zp 09:30 GMT July 12, 2003
the world is filled with sad stories, here is another one.....
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/11/sars.chu/index.html

jerusalem zp 08:48 GMT July 11, 2003
http://www.crank.net/energy.html


jerusalem zp 22:33 GMT July 9, 2003
one last thought, instead of linking currencies to gold, maybe govt's should link their paper to marijhuana seeds.......


jerusalem zp 22:15 GMT July 9, 2003
jp,..........you are right, canadians are evil.......how else can you explain these high prices for seeds........this from your listed article:

A bag of 30 marijuana seeds will cost $20 for people licensed to cultivate the drug for medical purposes.

i used to throw the buggers out all the time, i should have saved them and made a fortune. i could have sold them to bc so he could cultivate his own growths for his once mentioned cafe.

jerusalem zp 22:00 GMT July 9, 2003
th & nh, lets not forget about the implications for homosexuals and lesbian genuises also..............she who must be obeyed is going to have a lot of questions to answer when she wakes up in six hours......

jerusalem zp 21:53 GMT July 9, 2003
th, you have a good point about the fighting, i remember too when i was a kid that one day a bunch of us organized some kind of match against some other neighborhood kids. the winners continued on fighting until there was a champion...........i have no recollection as to who 'won' the championship but i do remember going home still being best friends with everyone.


jerusalem zp 21:30 GMT July 9, 2003
th, i have just stumbled upon this rather strange news on cnn just now.......it must be summer again.......

CNN) -- Police in Virginia are investigating allegations that counselors at a 4-H summer camp arranged fights between campers, charged admission to the fights and took bets on who would win.

jerusalem zp 21:25 GMT July 9, 2003
th, i have read a couple of articles about this not so convincing arguement today.......my only question that remains - what does it all mean for the criminally genius?

jerusalem zp 20:41 GMT July 9, 2003
jp, interesting to me that the article concerning bush's visit to africa and his apparent mishandling of things such as aids DOESNT mention that the official government south african policy regarding aids is shall we say completely half arsed and not dealing with the reality of the situation they face.
what am i talking about? the current leader of south africa till this day still doesnt believe that a link exists between hiv and aids and denys this. the govt. also does little to convince men from wearing condoms because it is considered a slam against their own honor and might call into question them being infected somehow.
my point? 2000 people can march against bush, mandela can comment all he wants against bush (i wonder how mandela's friend fidel castro is doing tonight?) but the fact of the matter is africa pays for its own sins and need to face up to the fact that they too have some responsibilities in this world.

jerusalem zp 19:54 GMT July 8, 2003
th, you're right, this kind of story effects us all - at least some of it seems - because it reminds us that when we cut through all the nonsense in this world that we all remain human and vulnerable to the world. the fact that any of us are allowed to breathe on this green earth is a miracle and we should cherish it everyday............
yours, the sanctimonious twit

jerusalem zp 11:45 GMT July 8, 2003
sofia, thks, quite funny.......

sfx, sad story regarding the iranian twins who have passed away after the attempted surgical procedure to separate them. they were very brave women to try the operation.

jerusalem zp 10:20 GMT July 8, 2003
A woman takes a lover during the day, while her husband is at work. Her 9 year old son comes home unexpectedly, so she puts him in the closet and shuts the door. Her husband also comes home, so she puts her lover in the closet, with the little boy. The little boy says, "Dark in here...." The man says, "Yes, it is."
Boy - "I have a baseball." Man - "That's nice." Boy - "Want to buy it?" Man - "No, thanks." Boy - "My dad's outside." Man - "OK, how much?" Boy - "$175.00"
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the lover are in the closet together. Boy - "Dark in here......" Man - "Yes, it is." Boy - "I have a baseball mitt."
The lover remembering the last time asks the boy, "How much?" Boy - "$375.00" Man - "Fine."
A few days later, the father says to the boy, "Grab your glove. Let's go outside and toss the baseball." The boy says, "I can't, I sold them." The father asks, "How much did you sell them for?" Boy - "$550.00" The father says, "That's terrible to overcharge your friends like that, that is way more than those two things cost. I'm going to take you to church and make you confess."
They go to church and the father makes the little boy sit in the confession booth and he closes the door. The boy says, "Dark in here....." The priest says, "Don't start that crapolla again."


jerusalem zp 17:10 GMT July 7, 2003
nh, i think i should note further that the 'terrorists' that are being fought against today are only terrorists because they are on the 'other side'. this is not the red brigade, the symbonyese liberation army, or some other motley group made up of just a handful of looney tunes or professors. this is grass roots activism we are facing, this a family, a village, a city, a state who feel like they have been getting shafted for years who are waging battles against 'us' rightly or wrongly. we need to get it into our head that unless we are willing to kill everyone including innocents in wildly large numbers that in turn it can never be zero sum. what it must be is a war fought in many different facets and that includes appeasing those who can be and having them help turn the tide from within. it might sound like a cold bath but that is the reality. as i have warned before ( and though i was and still am for the action in iraq and elsewhere ) we are entering a black hole. let me lastly say this, i agree with you by and large that a game plan is needed and one that does not try to blow smoke up our arses........there is a lot of smoke in the air right now.

jerusalem zp 16:54 GMT July 7, 2003
nh, trust me i know the 'terrorists' must be dealt with, but it is my contention that israel will never eliminate the 'terrorists' problem- only the palestinians can if they so choose. note that the americans and russians will never get rid of all the 'terrorists' either.....again the real change can only come from within, in the meantime you have to protect yourself and there are various ways in which to do that....

jerusalem zp 16:22 GMT July 7, 2003
nh, it is not zero sum because the palestinians are not completely comprised of terrorists, be it as it may, they are mostly made up of pretty good people. thus the real trick is to get the good folk to either rid themselves of the bad folk or water them down to a mere germ. now if that cant be done then by all means lets really fight a war.
my point, okay, here it is, i am all for giving the palestinians a country, let them rules themselves. and then if they are able to run an effective nation may god bless them. if they are not able to run an effective nation and if they continue to make war with the israelis, and by that i mean any hostile act that takes place against israel by a sanctioned palestinian nation's group, then israel should fight back by all means and wash the area clean.
brutal but honest and fair.

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT July 7, 2003
nh, haifa in his own way is always much more optimistic than i am.....that being said, though i enjoy watching television once in a while i dont quite believe that everything is going to change during the coarse of a commercial break. it took western europe only 4000 years to become 'united' lets see how long it takes the middle east after being a feeding ground for the universe's deluge of good and evil up till now.
in order to work the 'road map' we are all going to have to travel it's road, i tend to believe a long haul vehicle will be needed. an even better reason to get some of those mongolian women riding horses here to help us travel along the way......

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT July 7, 2003
revdax, btw, how many han does that leave exactly?
one hundred million, two hundred million, three hundred.....
also, if you can arrange for some of the mongolian women to convert to the jewish faith and make aliyah (come up) to israel i would be quite pleased.
i had the pleasure of meeting a dynamic mongolian woman in sz. on one visit when still a single man, she had horse riding skills as well.

jerusalem zp 14:06 GMT July 7, 2003
revdax -
"I have just had the pleasure of acquainting myself with one. She is 175 cm tall, from Inner Mongolia, and good at riding horses... "
very happy to know you are so well endowed.......keep up the good work.


jerusalem zp 13:59 GMT July 7, 2003
sofia,
hello, i regret to inform you that anti-semitism has been around for thousands of years now. it is not something new. of this i am certain you know, but i emphasize it to show that though you count on your one hand hardships within the balkans, i count on my two hands the hardships of jews faced throughout the world simply because of what they choose to believe and the way in which they live there lives not only because of a geographic problem. and i speak about not just a century or two or three but a collective history which amounts to a tragedy for humankind.
i have just returned from holiday in italy, having traveled in the north and visiting various towns and cities of tremendous beauty and wealth.
amongst them, i have traveled to venice a city which though one of the greatest cities historically and majestic in the world encompasses the jewish history in a nutshell. the ghetto started in venice and it lanquished there for nearly 700 years in one sort of form. jews were tormented there, flourished there, were freed there, elected the first jewish italian prime minister from there, and then only 30 years later were led to the gas chambers from there..........and yes enough survived to live again.
forgive us if we are paranoid, but sometimes they are actually after us.


jerusalem zp 13:39 GMT July 7, 2003
revdax, may i .......
there are over one billion chinese in the world, there are about 15 million jews in the world. which group would you say is faced with a greater danger from anti-anything?

jerusalem zp 21:43 GMT June 25, 2003
jp, does this count?
BREAKING NEWS Iraqi scientist turns over centrifuge, needed to develop nuclear bomb, that had been hidden in Baghdad.

jerusalem zp 09:21 GMT June 25, 2003
Reports on the latest sighting of Saddam Hussein.
After numerous rounds of "We don't even know if Saddam is still alive", Saddam himself decided to send George W a letter in his own handwriting to let him know he was still in the game. Bush opened the letter and it appeared to contain a coded message: 370HSSV-0773H.
Bush was baffled, so he typed it out and emailed it to Colin Powell. Colin and his aides had no clue either so they sent it to the CIA. No one could solve it so it went to the NSA and then to MIT and NASA and the Secret Service. Eventually they asked MI6 for help. They cabled the White House: "Tell the president he is looking at the message upside down..."



jerusalem zp 12:15 GMT June 24, 2003
bc, may i please be a skeptic and ask what may be a naive question regarding your post to jp about the rmb and the possibility of it being linked to gold? why would china put themselves under such a condition when no other major currency currently does this? what within the current central banking formats that are recognized worldwide would make the chinese govt go against this grain? is it possible that just as currency long ago (actually not so long ago) was linked to salt historically that gold is possibly just another commodity that will share this same historical story? not to say gold isnt a valuable commodity, but perhaps the world has grown to believe in its own mirage.

jerusalem zp 21:57 GMT June 23, 2003
the following sums up life over here:

00:52 Israeli delegation to Special Olympics in Ireland lodges official protest after Arab teams boycott competitions in which Israel taking part (Haaretz)

jerusalem zp 13:36 GMT June 22, 2003
and the point? well the NEW AMERICAN is a ultra right wing rag written with what can only be described as nonsense by the likes of the John Birch Society and it believers.
thus we can all prove our points using the most vile of evidence especially when it is one sided and stretched and presented with a shiny package.

jerusalem zp 13:27 GMT June 22, 2003
here's an interesting web site about u.n peacekeepers doing there jobs.....incorrectly.

http://www.geocities.com/domesticdecay/documents/peacekeeper.html

jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT June 20, 2003
madras jj, your question about the disappearance of the jews from new york can easily be explained as the result of a large amount of assimilation into the general public. that is, a large amount of jews in the new york area and united states as a whole are inter marrying and choosing to rid themselves of their jewish identity - as for the reasons behind this, they are book length.
but of course caisa may be right and they may be hiding under rocks waiting for their next massive attack on the states. LOL.

jp, your question to ac also speaks volumes regarding the use of atomic bombs. do you think we would be so stupid to blow ourselves up too.......please, get a grip.

jerusalem zp 20:08 GMT June 18, 2003
nh, just one additional note, if you have the time and go into the archive regarding the subject of iran in my posts you will see that i have been writing about them for nearly two years now........

jerusalem zp 19:51 GMT June 18, 2003
nh, looks like, iran = positive sum, doesnt it?

jerusalem zp 13:12 GMT June 17, 2003
oil man & jp, as promised here yesterday by me.......information regarding the upcoming fun in what will one day be known as palestine........

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/304831.html

jerusalem zp 12:19 GMT June 17, 2003
haifa, what do you make of these two items from debka?

IAEA 16-17 June board meeting in Vienna is informed of illicit Iranian facility housing tens of thousands of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

US plans complaint to Security Council warning Iran will have nuclear bomb by end of 2004 ......




jerusalem zp 09:42 GMT June 17, 2003
haifa, interesting to me that you have included rabin and barak on your list of those who are gifted, this after you have spent a considerable amount of time here being critical of the pair. does this explain why a gifted person such as yourself can sometimes be wrong too?

jerusalem zp 21:35 GMT June 16, 2003
nh, i disagree with you, any side that fights a war, does business, and or competes as if it is a zero sum game typically is the side that will come out on the short end. merely because the opposition doesnt believe or practice 'the theory' does not mean that it isnt an appropiate strategy.


jerusalem zp 15:18 GMT June 16, 2003
revdax & oil man, the both of you should be respectful of caisa, afterall when nesara takes over (if it hasnt already) our collective heads are going to roll in re-education camps of which we all (enemies of caisa) will certainly be sent to.

jp, good question, i actually took the time to answer one way but in the middle of my post i actually convinced myself that i might be wrong. the following is what i am left with.....

i would like to think that this is a non biblical problem we are facing here, but this is possibly just wishful thinking.
for some people the nonsense over here does in fact fall between theocratic lines this goes for both jew and muslim.
i for one, being mr. non religious, choose (probably for my own biased reasons) not to view it that way. i can only hope that there are more people like me than the others - this goes for both the israelis and palestinians.
actually it is a scary proposition to even consider for me, it makes me think about my truths vs. universal (or brainwashed truths). if i took the time to examine this at this juncture i unfortunately think i would almost have to agree with haifa about this CLASH OF CIVILIZATION nonsense.

thankfully though there is a way to look at even a clash of civilization as having a root cause (hhmmmm, biblical? i hope not).

importantly for me, this is not a zero sum game, all i want is a positive sum outcome (look into modern game theory regarding warfare for this one).




jerusalem zp 13:59 GMT June 16, 2003
btw, in total last week here in israel & palestine maybe 50 people combined died in this stupid little war.......in liberia and the congo maybe about a thousand or so perished, but who cares about that right?

jerusalem zp 13:56 GMT June 16, 2003
oil man, you happen to be correct about what you just posted......except you failed to post that the reason additional settlements have not been pulled down as of yet was because the settlers took the issue to court and a ruling which is sure to be in favor of the govt being allowed to continue its mandate will in fact take place. from what i discern and hear on the ground - it will be sometime this week or early next week that major movement will start taking place again.
you have to expect that both sides needed a few days to take some deep breaths after the bloodbath last week.

jp, i just love your opinions on the issues over here. any opinions on what is taking place in tehran, liberia, zimbabwe,
the congo or is that not of interest to you?

jerusalem zp 15:26 GMT June 15, 2003
because i have posted a very long piece already today i will not post the entire article from the new york times this morning......but it should be noted that the nyt's is reporting that these protests started by university students in tehran have apparently spread to other locations inside of iran. i hope that these students and other people protesting can take care of themselves, sounds as if this will not end in a pleasant way.......

here is an excerpt from the new york times:

Iran Blames Paramilitaries for Attacks on Student Protesters
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
TEHRAN, June 14 — Chanting students and heavily armed vigilantes remained in a tense standoff around the main student dormitories of Tehran University tonight after the government unexpectedly put the blame for five nights of escalating clashes on shadowy paramilitary forces that have long been the favored means of squelching dissent here.
Reports emerging today indicated for the first time that the protests had spread beyond Tehran, with one protester reportedly killed in the southern city of Shiraz, and a dormitory at the Industrial University of Isfahan heavily damaged by fire.
"This is a student movement, not an American movement," some 500 students chanted outside the Tehran University dormitories, according to the Iranian Student News Agency. They were evidently answering accusations made by senior clerics that the demonstrators were stooges aiding an American plot to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
The ISNA report said that at least 50 vigilantes on motorbikes were circling the area yelling "Hezbollah! Hezbollah!" and darting through the heavy traffic to detain anyone who looked suspicious to them.


jerusalem zp 14:38 GMT June 15, 2003
particularly interesting to me that no one here is writing about what has been taking place in tehran for the past five days or so..........strange thing, this desire for freedom.

jerusalem zp 13:46 GMT June 15, 2003
oil man, i thought you might like to see the following.......it is interesting to me that you hold up this particular war as some wonderous moment. moshe dayan, an ex-israeli general and acting minister, was almost disgraced from the public life after this war, the reason being that he didnt believe the intelligence being supplied to him that an attack was being planned. as a matter of fact, he refused to believe the attack was underway even after he had been told about it......we zionists are to trusting sometimes.
the point being that egypt and syria attacked on israels most important holiday, one in which they knew most of the country was at sleep.......
after israel awoke from its slumber, it in fact beat the armies of syria and egypt once again. it may behove you to note that israel could have fairly easily gone into damascus in 67' and could have inflicted a unholy amount of terror on cairo had it wanted to or needed too.
while it is interesting to note that the united states had armed israel and helped rearm it during the 73 war, you should note that the soviets were doing their best to arm the syrians and egyptians just as much. good question is whether they stopped their backing because of u.s pressure or because of the embarrassment the israeli army started to inflict upon their machines when the battles really started to rage....and they found that the syrians and egyptians were outmatched once again.
point being that when the final bell rang - israel won a war that scarred her psyche perhaps and taught her to be on guard forever more (not a bad lesson for us jews). egypt made its point, but had its troops tried to march much further north by all accounts it would have been cut off and massacred in thousands of numbers.

the following is some info.......not classified that you might like to read:

The Yom Kippur War began on Saturday, October 6, 1973, with an attack by Syrian MiG-17s on Israeli positions on the Golan Heights, followed by an assault by 700 Syrian tanks. Simultaneously, Egyptian forces launched an assault across the Suez Canal. Total surprise was achieved, and Israel was suddenly faced with the greatest threat to its existence since the War of Independence of 1948.

In the opening Egyptian attack on October 6, 1973, a pair of Phantoms were able to scramble and shoot down seven enemy aircraft. On the same day, Phantoms intercepted Mil Mi-8 helicopters attempting to land commandos in Sinai, and destroyed five of them.

On October 7, Phantoms launched an attack against Syrian SAM sites, but the Syrian forces were now equipped with the new Soviet-built SA-6 Gainful mobile surface-to-air missile. Syrian forces were also equipped with ZSU-23 mobile radar-controlled anti-aircraft artillery. The SAM-6/ZSU-23 combination proved deadly. No less than six Phantoms and thirty A-4 Skyhawks were lost in this single day. Very few of their pilots manage to escape by parachute. At one time, the Israelis were losing three out of every five aircraft they were sending over Golan. These losses were clearly unsupportable, and Chief of Staff Elazer was forced to temporarily abandon air strikes over Golan in mid-afternoon.

The SA-6 was an unpleasant surprise to the Israelis. Israeli electronic countermeasures had been designed to counter the earlier SA-2 and SA-3 radar-guided missiles that had been encountered by the Americans in Vietnam, but these techniques were useless against the SA-6. Earlier Soviet SAMs had used command guidance throughout the entire flight of the missile, but the SA-6 homed in on CW energy reflected from the illuminated aircraft for the final approach to the target. The Straight Flush radar that guided the SA-6 operated over a much wider bandwidth than did the earlier Soviet radars, and used D-band for illumination and G, H, and I/J-bands for initial acquisition and initial launch guidance. The Straight Flush codename is an apparent reference to the five frequencies used by the system. In the semi-active homing mode, the SA-6's homing head and rearward-facing reference antenna receive CW command signals in the I-band. Beacon signals from the missile are in G and H band. The SA-6 apparently also had an alternative infrared-homing system, but I am not sure if it was actually used.

The early part of the SA-6's flight was guided by radar, but the Straight Flush radar operated over a much wider bandwidth than that of the earlier Soviet missiles. The radar ranged over three separate frequencies during search, acquisition, tracking, and guidance. Before the war began, not enough was known about these frequencies or about the ability of the missile to switch between frequencies while in flight to throw off jamming transmissions. The ALR-36 radar warning receiver was of little use in picking up these radar signals, since these emissions were outside the band in which the ALR-36 was designed to operate. Consequently, Israeli aircraft found it very difficult to detect a SA-6 launch, and even more difficult to jam the missile while in flight.

One technique that was occasionally effective against SA-6 missile sites was to use dive-bombing attacks against them. When launched, the SA-6 took off at a relatively shallow angle which steepened as it climbed and accelerated. In order to take advantage of this weakness, the attacking plane would approach the site from a high altitude and then dive down on the battery as steeply as possible.

The fix for the SA-6 problem proved to be in figuring out a way to detect the launch. Hurried modifications of Israeli radar warning receivers were made in the field, assisted by a lot of people in the United States burning the midnight oil in trying to come up with a solution. By the third day of the war, equipment was in the field which could produce a reliable squeal in a pilot's earphone whenever a SA-6 launch occurred in his direction. If the SA-6 launch could be detected, violent evasive maneuvers were often effective in throwing it off the target. These maneuvers turned the side of the aircraft toward the incoming missile and sharpened the missile's turning angle. This would sometimes cause the SA-6 to lose its lock. Another tactic which sometimes worked was for two planes to carry out a "split-S" maneuver, with the lead plane diving sharply into and across the missile's approach while the following plane dove across the first plane's vapor trail. After the third day of the war, these techniques began to work and losses to SA-6s began to drop sharply.

On October 8, Phantoms attacked Syrian airfields and attempted to bomb the Egyptian pontoon bridges that had been thrown up across the Suez Canal. Four MiG-17s were shot down.

By the end of the day on October 9, Israeli Skyhawks had destroyed more than half of the SA-6 batteries on Golan. Israeli Phantoms and Mirages flying top cover had shot down 27 MiGs in one day over Golan.

On October 9, Phantoms launched an attack against the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus. This was (in part) an attempt to get the Syrians to divert some of their deadly SA-6s away from Golan. One aircraft was lost, and another was damaged but managed to get home. Another F-4E was lost during attacks on airfields and power stations in Egypt.

On October 10, Phantoms attacked various Egyptian and Syrian air bases, suffering no losses.

On October 11, two F-4Es were shot down by Egyptian MiG-21s. On October 13, an F-4 was badly damaged by AAA during an attack on a Syrian airfield near Damascus. The plane was flown out over the sea and the crew ejected.

The attacks on Syrian airfields ended on October 14, but attacks on Egypt continued. On October 15, F-4s shot down a MiG-21, but one Phantom was lost and another suffered severe damage. Three Phantoms were lost and a fourth was damaged during attacks on SAM positions over the next three days. On October 18, four Syrian MiG-17s were shot down by IDF/AF Phantoms, at least one by using the new Shafrir air-to-air missile. On October 20, two more Phantoms fell to Egyptian SAMs.

By mid October, 37 Phantoms had been lost, most of them to SAMs and AAA. An additional six Phantoms had been so badly damaged that they had to be written off. To make good the losses, President Nixon approved an emergency transfer to Israel of 36 USAF F-4Es under Operation Nickel Grass.

jerusalem zp 22:33 GMT June 13, 2003
THIS KID SHOULD GET HIRED BY ENRON..........

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A college freshman created a fake airline that offered bargain-priced tickets on flights between Honolulu and Los Angeles, authorities said Thursday.
Luke Thompson, of Yardley, Pennsylvania, incorporated Mainline Airways in Pennsylvania, established a business address in the Boston suburb of Wellesley and set up an elaborate Web site, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly.
Thompson, who attends Babson College in Wellesley, offered fares as low as $89 one way between Los Angeles and Honolulu, Reilly said. Flights were to begin July 3, but Mainline had neither planes, crews nor the required permits and approvals as recently as a few weeks ago.
Thompson told The Associated Press that the allegations were "absolutely untrue," but he did acknowledge that he was the only person behind the company, other than a consultant and an investor he did not identify.
"We had every intention of doing this operation," he said. "We had 15 airlines we had contacted or were in serious negotiations with, regarding the actual providing of the (air) service."
He offered no details on which airlines were involved.
Thompson's Web site, which has been taken down, described the company's "fleet," outlined various policies and answered travelers' questions.
Reilly won a temporary restraining order Wednesday that keeps Thompson from using any Mainline bank accounts for anything other than providing refunds. A judge in Hawaii last week ordered ticket sales halted.
Thompson faxed letters earlier this week to Hawaii officials, promising refunds by the end of the week to 120 "pre-reservations" and maintaining that Mainline Airways was "only to be the tour operator."





jerusalem zp 14:06 GMT June 13, 2003
revdax, yes, nothing like having a supermodel on your arm when you go to a funeral......

jerusalem zp 12:02 GMT June 13, 2003
haifa, question for you......how well do you understand hamas? i dont think you understand them so well. think 'shas' with a military wing.......
do you have any idea just how involved hamas is in the day to day lives of the people of gaza?
you say this mess has nothing to do with arafat, mazan, islami jihadi, hamas, (and my mother)......and that they are only a micro part of the situation......BUT you are wrong.....
in order to beat your enemy you have to use other options. israeli will not be the beast that can carry this out, first off we arent about to kill one and a half million supporters of this group, and we arent about to ship them somewhere.........thus we must learn to conquer this enemy in an other way, and that will either be through the auspice of a palestinian led charge or by making them an entity that is no longer needed in their own society. for every hamas member we kill another one springs forth and always will - the math simply supports it.
i dont think you comprehend what you are up against really. your tactics (if in fact you have any to offer are not going to work).
keeping israel secure is one thing, but wiping out hamas is as good as hoping to get rid of ants from a picnic area. it is time for different tactics.
mcdonals and footballs and supermodels will work much better than anything else.

jerusalem zp 16:18 GMT June 12, 2003
revdax, you may doubt it but then again maybe you dont know either.......from all accounts and people 'in the know' that i happen to personally have a relationship with, i have been told that at least 5 planned attacks have been stopped before they could carry out attacks in the past three days......simple as that.


jerusalem zp 15:39 GMT June 12, 2003
revdax, first off thks for your note.
as for the botched missile attempt please see my post from yesterday morning regarding what i thought about it. as for what the israeli govt thought, officially they are indicating that they seem to believe that they have been able to stop at least a dozen potentially deadly attacks in the past few days. thus.......i have no answer - accept to say 'they' believe they were going after someone who was giving the orders to commit these acts and has been attempting to kill many people in the past and continues to on this day.
my personal taste would have been to have james bond attempt the killing of the hamas head instead of a helicopter. but who knows maybe there is something going on i dont know......that i dont understand......

jp, as for those who you seem to believe live in a insulated and secure little world......i offer you the following from the jerusalem post.......

start of quote.....
Natan Sharansky, the Minister For Jerusalem Affairs, stood next to the bus ruins shaking his head.
"My daughter rides that bus, so immediately you start checking where your family is and getting irritated because one doesn't know where the other is and none of the phones work," he said.
end of quote.....

it is important to note that a large amount of people in israel ride the public bus systems, it is improtant to note that a noteworthy amount of politicians and govt ministers have, too, been effected by deaths of people close to them during this conflict. no one has been left unscathed.
i know full well that palestinians are dying and suffering too, i am not ignorant of this.
but my point is that this is real life here that we are undertaking, it is not your view which seems to think that only a certain class of people are dying. this is part of the reason hamas and others love going after the buses here, because they know they are filled with all parts of the israeli society.
the whole of israel is being effected by the madness as is the whole palestinian population.



jerusalem zp 13:33 GMT June 12, 2003
jp, you are catching me at a rather bad time......a friend of mine died on that bus yesterday in jerusalem and a couple of other people i know were also inside the bus and escaped with injuries including burns. the bus is one that goes along a route in a neighborhood i used to live - the german colony/baka.
allow me to tell you that the person and group that blew up that bus claimed to have been acting as a measure of revenge for the botched missile attack on one of the hamas leaders. BUT jp, i happen to also know a thing or two about the security situation in israel, and please permit me to tell you that in order to carry out this kind of attack that it has been planned well in advance. the fellow that carried out the attack was from hebron. he didnt just wind up in jerusalem yesterday, it took him at least a few days to get in place and hide himself and then carry out the murder.
thus, one thing doesnt quantify the other.
notice i said sharon should have shown more stealth, that he should have poisoned the hamas leader. put simply i am no fan of hamas and they must be destroyed if not nicely through transforming the organization then through force - and if not by the palestinians themselves then by the israelis.
sorry i am not in such a pleasant mood. while i stand by my comment that sharon really screwed up in the botched missile attack - bad publicity, bad planning, bad carry-thru, i am not about to compare for anyone the deaths of innocent kids and old folk riding a bus home and getting killed to that of someone who is actively pursuing the death of my country.

jerusalem zp 09:59 GMT June 12, 2003
revdax, i wager to say that george's information is a tad bit better than mine, as for bc......i do not know.

jerusalem zp 08:35 GMT June 12, 2003
and this from mr. soros....

George Soros: Rouble Can Become Convertible within 5 Years
MOSCOW, June 11. Well-known American financier and philanthropist George Soros believes that if the Russian government so desires, the rouble can become convertible by 2008. He said this on Monday at a news conference in Moscow. The task of making the Russian rouble a freely convertible currency in the course of the coming five years was set by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May in his state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly.
At the same time, Soros said nothing about a possible correlation of the world's hard currencies until the end of the year. I know what the exchange rate of the dollar to euro will be and therefore cannot disclose this information, Soros said.

© RIA Novosti

jerusalem zp 17:11 GMT June 11, 2003
nh, no need to worry as long as that crack smoking, glue snorting, injection infested belgian judge is controlled by his cia handlers who according to oil man are controlling a good share of the worlds drug market........
someone, tell me a joke please......

jerusalem zp 09:01 GMT June 11, 2003
haifa, i cannot stay silent any longer, yesterday's attempted killing of one of the self admitted leaders of hamas was a reminder that israel is prone to shoot itself in the foot almost every time some type of improvement is made in its international standing. only the night before did israel pull down some illegal (vacant - yes) settlements. instead of continuing on this path and actually pulling out settlements with people on them yesterday instead it decides to kill one of the leaders of hamas in public. why? not only that, they botched the operation letting the target get away with light wounds so he can now portray himself as a victim on television for the world. if we are so smart and coordinated why didnt we poison the guy in the quiet of night, why didnt we make it look like he simply had a heart attack and died? why, because we are stupid, we are very very stupid sometimes.
if sharon really wants to go forward he will have to be much more stealth than he was yesterday. if the ridiculous actions of yesterday serve any purpose they should be to remind israelis that sharon though having proven clever the past two years is prone to making major mistakes of judgement. what did he think the reaction of the united states would be publically regarding this attack?
we are stupid, and unless someone can show why this attack had to take place in the fashion it did - heads should roll for this type of miscalculation including sharon's.
why not let the palestinians who want to really negotiate with the israelis get so strong that they can take care of this guy themselves? why not continue to dismantle some of these settlements and pull some lunatic settlers out of gaza to show that we are willing to work with mazan instead of making him look like a fox caught in the headlights who is surrounded by palestinian extremists and israeli idiots?
makes me want to vomit.

jerusalem zp 18:34 GMT June 9, 2003
revdax, i beg you to be careful about this subject, you are trying to equate an orange to a fruit which doesnt exist - yet or never will. you should read up on your history too, aaaaaaah, the germans did in fact run death camps in their own domain - fatherland - too. i dont mind you bringing up the subject for discussion but you should study a bit about this before you venture too far into the unknown.

jerusalem zp 20:31 GMT June 7, 2003
this little excerpt from the recent update on the bbc.......

British forensic experts are investigating grave sites, but the identity of those buried will not be easy to establish because those searching for loved ones are unknowingly tampering with the evidence.
"Iraq is the land of mass graves and secret prisons," said one man.
Suspected mass grave sites have been identified right across the country.
Human rights groups believe that more than a quarter of a million people disappeared during the long rule of Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party.
end of quote.....

seems to me hussein was his own weapon of mass destruction regardless of the technology he used.

jerusalem zp 15:37 GMT June 5, 2003
what i suggest is that both the israelis and palestinians be given a huge stock pile of water ballons and let them fire away at each other emptying the jordan river. at the end of the waterfare they must sign agreements saying that there will be no more war or bloodshed between the two and that both countrys are recognized for their uniqueness - one a jewish state the other a palestinian state. a clause to do away with the stupidity of extremism may be asking too much from both sides, so boards of spent water ballons can be put on billboards in both countrys reminding them of the huge waste............in water, that ought to scare us idiots into acting.
the signatories of this endeavor insuring peace and tranquility will be five women from each side in their wet tshirts. if men fail to abide to the dictates of the agreements that will be taken out back and assaulted by hours and hours of south american soap operas.........while tied to olive trees.

jerusalem zp 08:51 GMT June 5, 2003
dolphin, the best of coarse used to be getting the nymphettes on the kibbutz.......i think revdax would have loved that opportunity, but i digress......


jerusalem zp 07:09 GMT June 5, 2003
oil man, no please dont think i was being too critical, i quite enjoy reading your posts and i think you have a valid point of view. obviously we will disagree on certain things but that is okay.
i was merely pointing out that ben gurien (yes the leader of israel who brought her into state hood with a strong hand sometimes) did in fact go after the stern gang and irgun in order to birth israel. as an aside it should be noted that menachem begin would not speak to ben gurien and
visa-versa. begin refused to even take his knesset seat for years until his cohorts almost literally carried him in one day much to the chagrin of ben gurien.
this being said i think it would be ideal (i thus dont know if it is possible) for both sides - jew and arab - to admit that history sometimes can be cruel (i am cetain that you are aware that i can come up with equally harsh sounding tid bits from arab leaders) and that in this the infancy of our nations that we should be able to walk into the future knowing that if we can actually work together that we can in fact build one tremendous machine.


jerusalem zp 05:49 GMT June 5, 2003
oil man, what you write about the stern gang does have a basis in reality, but you fail to mention that ben gurien eventually went full throttle against the stern gang and the irgun either having them arrested, thrown in prison, or when it was needed to have them killed. this in order to found the jewish state of israel with one command, one authority, one army, etc, etc, etc.

jerusalem zp 18:23 GMT June 4, 2003
may i step into this quagmire:
first of all jp - the japanese hardly gagged on the real estate values of the united states, what happened was that their own real estate market in japan collasped, thus making their stocks collaspe which were based on value added by real estate holdings in japan iand directly united with their bank crediting lines. what happened was they simply couldnt afford to pay the mortgage in new york and los angeles anymore.

second tg, do me a favor dont quite compare stalin to lenin and definitely dont compare either one to chirac. stalin was the kind of guy that makes hitler look like a mere school boy in the bad department. chirac is chirac - he is a classic politician and little more. also please note it wasnt only socialist countries trading goods with the middle east regimes for the past 70 years. every capitalist country in the world has been active with the regimes - including israel with a fellow known as the shah of iran.

third - oil man - you and i agree quite a bit on your statement regarding the west in the end deep in their hearts fearing the day that jew and arabs get along. i think that will be a genuine new polar but until then keep aiming for the russian chinese thing - after all mao and stalin considered for a long time until they realized that only one can lead a dance.

fourth and most important- ibiza, i think our dinner is getting closer at hand.

jerusalem zp 14:08 GMT June 4, 2003
oil man, ....it all depends on your choice of poison of coarse.

jerusalem zp 13:57 GMT June 4, 2003
oil man, kindly note that i am not naive enough to think that the implications economically from changing regimes in iraq isnt enormous for many groups and people in this area of the world including yes, the americans and brits. there is no doubt that israel, the turks, the jordanians, etc, etc, (see my list yesterday given to jp) will benefit greatly. having said that i have reason to believe that the idea of taking out saddam for the reason of creating better stability and to eliminate the threat of terror from his land is and was a prime reason to go after him. it is a pure reason, thus obviously up to questioning in this cynical world and that i can applaud, but i have seen too much from the results of violence for the sake of violence - in order to create havoc and fear - for one lifetime. it is time to move on.......sometimes it is actually a genuinely good thing to remove a poison when one can.

jerusalem zp 13:37 GMT June 4, 2003
oil man, thks, imo when it became clear that russia and china would protect their own interests individually that the french and germans were left with no alternative but to cave in on this vote. if saving face were the issue surely the french and germans would have pulled out their stalwart politicians like they did during the wmd conferences in which the states sent powell to present their case leaving the other members to exort into the cameras and microphones more and frankly embarrass powell in debate.
but this didnt happen, most parties sent their u.n. ambassadors instead of their ministers of state. my point is that far more was at stake than the simple game of saving face, what was at stake was that germany and france realized they had no where to go. they were not able to hide behind russia or china and their vision if any of some new polar was quickly extinquished leaving only their fading hope of protecting their self interests in shambles and to the devices of the brits and americans of whom probably had some nice new evidence to show the world regarding the economic and diplomatic ties of the french and german to the ousted regime.

jerusalem zp 12:11 GMT June 4, 2003
just coming in ........
Partial report of fuel tanker explosion near embassy row in Amman Wednesday noon. Twelve dead unofficially estimated. Terror attack suspected. King Abdullah absent from Jordanian capital, is hosting Bush summit at his summer palace in Aqaba.



jerusalem zp 11:04 GMT June 4, 2003
oil man, you write well, but i still disagree with you. for instance the shift in power due to economic crisis and the 2nd polar including france, germany, russia, and a sometimes team player in china is wishful thinking at best. first off though germany and france may be part of same team and same polar in fact - but i dare say russia can not be counted in on this and forget about china. why? they - both russia and china - are far too big to be worried about this type of nonsense. what they are worried about is positioning themselves in the global economy. as per bush's visit with putin - the u.s. understands far too well the amount of power the russains are capable of having even when still a wounded bear - which will not last forever. china is basically the same story except it is not a wounded bear but an up and coming power that no fool will take their eyes off of. both must be respected. both russia and china are about as worried about france and germany being on their side as much as the americans.
as for france and germany. germany and france are having economic problems that make the u.s economic conditions look mild in comparison. the french and germans need the u.s. much more than the u.s needs either one of them. ohhh yes, there are reciprocal features in the relationships but lets not kid ourselves. if your thesis was correct all of the above would have never agreed to the terms in the u.n a couple of weeks ago granting the brits and the states the means to develop iraq under their own auspices.

jerusalem zp 18:21 GMT June 3, 2003
jp, clearly - you and i are not going to agree on this........as for the shifting sand, i am certain if you look closely enough you will see that it all belongs to the same beach......

jerusalem zp 17:23 GMT June 3, 2003
jp, we disagree, i think anyone trying to say that wmd was the only reason for the invasion of iraq is either trying to mislead and be coy or are really ignorant of the facts. seems to me hussein can be shown to have direct terror links against the world and his own people. of coarse if you dont count paying terrorist families for blowing themselves up against israelis or butchering thousands of his own people we have a problem in communicating.
i am certain that hussein not only was trying to develop more wmd but that he had them in some measure. again, please explain the purpose of these mobile labs? what exactly were they for?
and oh, just to correct haifa a bit more, let me add that the interests served in this war were not only the jews - the turks, the jordanians, the saudis, the iranians, the kuwaitis to name a few are sure as shi'nolla glad he is gone.
lastly, and importantly any first year student of economics can clearly see that the cycle for this spurt of recession in the states started under clinton.

jerusalem zp 16:04 GMT June 3, 2003
haifa & jp, regarding your 11:37 yesterday jp to haifa, please allow me to say for the record that though i have disagreed with you on many a thing jp and i am sure to in the future that i found nothing regarding your questions about wmd to have anything to do with anything else. i am getting tired personally of some of the paranoia i see exhibited here (yes, i know haifa - even if you are paranoid they really might be after you).
as for the wmd question, i remain confident that answers will be forthcoming that will prove in time answers for you jp if you choose to examine them. what exactly were the two mobile trucks found that could have been used for chemical/biological attacks? and isnt it just possible that saddam really did destroy a good amount of material just before the war came, hid things once again in new places, shifted weapons to third parties? even at some point in his cruel world he must have realized the end was near. and if this was the case he probably decided to make it a bit tougher on the states to prove their case later on. but i think you have to believe that a man who used gas on his own people before and of whom is responsible for the deaths of the thousands now being found in mass graves was more than likely to be trying his best to build weapons that could inflict the greatest harm.
i salute you jp for not wanting to believe that the iraq attack was unwarranted and not needed. i do disagree with this but you have a right to your opinion.
in my mind the world is a safer place without saddam and until i am proven otherwise, which means first person conversations with iraqis for me, i will believe that the vast majority of iraqis are more than happy he is gone.

jerusalem zp 12:41 GMT June 1, 2003
and now the stupid award for the day:

http://www.starspangledicecream.com/

this company will probably make a million or so before people get tired of such crapolla. a little like the pet rock, although in my country the rocks could have found a second life.
live long and prosper folks......

jerusalem zp 12:34 GMT June 1, 2003
has anyone got any additional information on what is happening on the greece / macedonia border with the Romas right now. i have heard a report on the radio that a few hundred Romas are stuck in a never never land there. they tried to enter greece without visas and were turned away and the romas are refusing to go back to macedonia. the radio also said that these particular romas are part of a bunch that were castigated in kosovo by albanian muslims who accused the Romas of taking the serbian side and were expelled from kosovo in a group of a few thousand and took refuge in macedonia. apparently they have gotten fed up with their treatment in macedonia and are now trying to go elsewhere and thust the ensuing situation. i have tried to find something about this in the international press but have failed to find anything....

jerusalem zp 19:12 GMT May 31, 2003
jp 16:14, maybe it is just me but your posts seems to be showing just how jealous you are of the states. you seem to be bordering on almost glee when reporting the deaths of 5 people.
and to top it off you write about the value of the dollar as if the u.s govt has no tactical reason for wanting it to be at these current levels.
maybe it is all misinterpretation............
you seem to have a severe case of super power envy.

jerusalem zp 17:41 GMT May 29, 2003
nh, first off, i have missed seeing you around......
as far as the road map is concerned please note that i am less optimistic than i was before the oslo process a decade ago but perhaps that is a good thing. when the oslo process began an older man on the kibbutz told me that i had better not go to sleep with my eyes closed, i am here to say now that israelis ought not to lose this trick quite yet either. i agree that arafat and his gang remain quite a thorn in the grass and at some point the palestinians if they choose to really live with the israelis as neighbors will have to either have had to sideline arafat or outright get rid of him.
this being said, israel must try this process this one last time. if it works it will be a fantastic thing for both people, perhaps my generation will not see the fruit of such efforts but at least the paperwork will have been done and the children can let the ink dry and really work on an economic confederation and actual links between the two people that go more than skin deep. if it does not work, what will change here? israel will still be a strong nation, it will not give in to terror and we will go on through the fog - not happy but we will go on and make things work.
my last thought is this, at some point both the israelis and palestinians will tire of this charade, at some point the common folk with common sense will take over. if you get a palestinian alone and an israeli alone they both might speak a while about disliking the other because of what has taken place here the past three years but you will still get them to agree even while alone that peace is the best alternative for all.

jerusalem zp 14:52 GMT May 29, 2003
haifa, question for you - what does it say in prophecy when the sky turns orange and green and strange things start falling out of the sky......? we have a sandstorm going on in my area that has to be seen to be believed.

jerusalem zp 07:49 GMT May 29, 2003
revdax, thats funny, once in a while too i try calling the phone numbers that they list. you must be dealing with better thieves than i because they have not once picked up the phone when i have called.

jerusalem zp 07:38 GMT May 29, 2003
haifa, have you seen the volume being traded on the tel aviv exchange this morning? it is unbelievable even to an optimist like myself........i almost fell down when i saw the numbers.....its as if we have joined the modern world suddenly.

jerusalem zp 05:21 GMT May 29, 2003
revdax, while i agree that revenge should not be a motivating factor for u.s. policy in iran, i can only state what i feel to be an obvious human flaw. revenge is something that makes our little world go round, not nice but still true.

jerusalem zp 12:37 GMT May 28, 2003
th, i would take the u.s posturing as just that over iran. i do not see the u.s. doing anything but putting forth quiet methods of persuassion against tehran. this however all changes if and when bush and his gang feel like they are making real progress between the palestinians and israelis. if and when bush and these folk feel certain enough that the palestinian and israeli issues are actually going to get resolved look for very forceful banter about iran and how it must change or else. rumors around here suggest that bush will meet with sharon and mazan middle of next week. typically a president does not show up to a summit such as this unless certain things have been worked out in advance to show that what is being undertaken is worth the price of addmission by the american administration.
thus, know that sharon and mazan are to meet tmrw. word has it that not much was discussed during their meeting the week before BUT and this is important both sides are showing their cards just a bit. mazan hinted in an interview with ha'aretz that he will not speak about the refugee issue until final status talks. but this is actually a good thing, it thus puts it on the backburner and can be used as his last bargaining chip. both sides need peace and quiet right now, if that can be maintained things may actually have a chance of working out albeit with two steps forward and one step backwards here. wildcard is arafat and his reaction to be shut out of this historical moment.
iran will be important for the u.s. - i am sure there are many in the administration who are still thinking about a payback regarding the hostage situation a bit more than twenty years ago - in a word they will get their revenge when the moment is ripe.

jerusalem zp 07:40 GMT May 28, 2003
revdax & ahe, your tea comments reminded me that about ten years ago several friends and i went for dinner to a beduin's tent. the man who was our host ate the same amount of food that we did - which was an enormous amount of various dishes. all night long during this feast he, the beduin man, continued sipping on tea. the rest of us were drinking mostly water. at the end of the meal the beduin man finished with another hot tea. the rest of us finished with hot coffee. when it was time to get up and move, my friends and i could barely do it - we had a hard time lumbering back to the jeep to go home. the beduin man though was just as active as before moving around, putting order into his area, telling people to do things, and then literally jumped onto a camel to take care of something...........we looked at him in amazement and asked how it could be that he was able to be so vibrant after a huge feast. he looked at us and told us in one word - tea. i saw the same man about a year ago in the negev, he was doing well and still drinking tea.

jerusalem zp 21:11 GMT May 27, 2003
tg, may i ask you what heck you are talking about regarding sugar? is this an inside joke or am i missing some posts here, i dont see anything about this.........has my english left me?

second, let me say that a lot of the time i agree with you, but is it possible that during a war sometimes extremely nasty things take place that most people would rather have covered up than come to light? it doesnt mean that if the event took place as seems to be reported - i am discussing the alleged massacre of the taliban - that it makes the war unjust. it might make all battle field endeavors less palpable but then again battlefields should never be palpable and merely be a way to exert will when there is no other choice. i am certain that many disagree with the war against afghanistan and iraq here, but there are some of us who actually support it. thing is, it doesnt make it right to conduct oneself in a way that we accuse the enemy of doing.........and that is in a way that is less than human. not that there is any thing human about war except for the stupidity that it shows we are capable of but when an injustice is done by your side - my side - it has to be looked into too.
i dont know if any of this has helped, all i am trying to say is that even if the americans were somehow around during this alleged massacre, what should be done is that it is investigated and taken care of - not doing so will only lead to those on the other side to use it as a propaganda source against you as if they are somehow innocent of all things too -which they certainly arent.

jerusalem zp 18:27 GMT May 27, 2003
oops, sharon made a mistake the land isnt occupied, it is disputed........

Last Update: 27/05/2003 19:09
PM redefines his use of 'occupation' after A-G rebukes him
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday backtracked on his use of the word "occupation," which he had used four times at a meeting with Likud MKs on Monday to describe Israel's presence in the territories.
On Tuesday, Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee, "When I used the term 'occupation,' I meant it is undesirable for us to rule over a Palestinian
population." Sharon noted that Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein had rebuked him for using this term, pointing out
that the legal position adopted by all Israeli governments since 1967 is that the West Bank and Gaza are "disputed territories" rather than "occupied territories." Rubinstein explained, "These are territories that belonged to no recognized sovereign power before 1967, and therefore the correct way to describe the situation in the territories in legal terms is as 'disputed territory,' whose status is to be determined through agreements."





jerusalem zp 18:19 GMT May 27, 2003
nh, i think i pointed out a long time ago to you that the chances of the u.s going directly after the hizbullah (nice guys that they are) were fairly slim at this time. we shall see where this great bus goes..........perhaps it is the original merry pranksters that can lead the way.

jerusalem zp 14:24 GMT May 27, 2003
revdax, i think if you were to examine what this iraqi man must have gone through to have lived in a wall for the past twenty years and compare it to the guy in the united states out west who recently had to cut off his arm to live and the japanese soldiers that hid on remote islands in the phillipines and survived for 40 years we must come to the conclusion that people no matter where they come from have one thing in common when they are strong in the mind - the will to survive and go on with life.

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT May 27, 2003
revdax, here is the story from the bbc about the man who hid inside of the wall cavity of his parents house for the past 20 years in order to hide from the death sentence that was ordered by saddam's govt. amazing.........
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2938998.stm

jerusalem zp 12:55 GMT May 27, 2003
jp, i think you will find this article very interesting on sharon and what is taking place here in israel, its well written and balanced.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=297577&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

jerusalem zp 12:43 GMT May 27, 2003
igor, but having said that there is 'no pure' country it doesnt make torture or any other human rights violations correct......one day and one action at a time. unfortunately groups like amnesty international seem to have many years of work in front of them.

jerusalem zp 12:35 GMT May 27, 2003
igor, okay, but let those without sin cast the first stone....
who shall it be? russia, china, turkey, egypt, algeria, england, france, germany, mexico - who within the great body of nations is so pure?

jerusalem zp 12:16 GMT May 27, 2003
igor, with this i agree but there is a fine line between getting information which will stop a murderous attack and extracting information which has little value. the united states is not the only country in the world who has had to walk this fine line, obviously israel is included, but there are many amongst us who dont have the courage to say they have had to do the same......

jerusalem zp 12:04 GMT May 27, 2003
sg, thks, i went into a couple of search engines and found many articles on this, all which seem to point out that something very wrong took place......i believe i heard allegations of this last summer but had never read about it. there are no excuses for this kind of thing happening, hatred does amazing things to people.....
i read one article regarding your post which said that an afghan fighter was ordered to shoot holes into the containers this because it was a very hot day and the prisoners inside of the containers were screaming that they were suffocating. thus the 'need' for air holes which obviously seem to have killed many people. some reports indicate 150 people or so dying from this action alone.
other articles point to between 900 and 3000 people dying as things developed and became more ugly.
as for the blame u.s. is obviously denying they knew anything about it..........
i will read more about this, thks for a post which has brought me back down to earth.

jerusalem zp 11:39 GMT May 27, 2003
.......walker

jerusalem zp 11:37 GMT May 27, 2003
sg, one last thing, how is it that john walkern (an american traitor) was able to witness this and survive it without getting killed himself?


jerusalem zp 12:33 GMT May 26, 2003
jp, ...........welcome to the revolution.........

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=297175&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

jerusalem zp 11:15 GMT May 26, 2003
i have recently stumbled upon the following web site for extremely 'seems to me' balanced news from russia......
offering detailed reporting on energy, banking, and general news........
http://www.rosbaltnews.com/


jerusalem zp 10:45 GMT May 26, 2003
ib, hello, how does subjugate actually relate to allowing turkey to make the decision NOT TO SEND troops in and then even remaining a very strong allie of the states? seems more like 'asserting an ideology' by the wolfman, while perhaps not nice and difficult to swallow it none the less probably taste better than being ignored to the turks.

jerusalem zp 09:12 GMT May 26, 2003
sorry lads, o'dwyer........

jerusalem zp 09:10 GMT May 26, 2003
here is thomas o'dywer telling it like it is regarding israel joining the eu........

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=296113&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y



jerusalem zp 17:37 GMT May 25, 2003
jp, true to my 15:08 prediction:

Palestinian minister: Sharon, Abbas to meet 'within 48 hours'
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart are to meet within the next two days, their second summit in little over a week, Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Sunday.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Sharon would meet "within the next 48 hours," Abed Rabbo said.
The announcement comes hours after the Israeli cabinet conditionally approved the internationally-brokered road map to Middle East peace, which the Palestinians accepted in its entirety several weeks ago.
On May 18, the two leaders met at Sharon's office in Jerusalem, the first top-level meeting since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000. Following their three-hour meeting, both sides said that no agreements had been reached. - end of quote from ha'aretz

what does it mean? where will it go? i have no idea. but i can tell you that radical elements are probably wondering how to stop this parade............watch out for nonsense to follow here soon.



jerusalem zp 17:24 GMT May 25, 2003
jp, rather interesting that you have to dwell upon bibi. the finance minister is not the issue, the peace process is the issue, sharon just had it passed it through his cabinet, his govt. instead of worrying about bibi abstaining from voting (or worrying about why syria abstained on the recent vote in the u.n to lift the sanctions against iraq - just in case you want to write about that too) maybe we should move on........issue at hand is making peace hardly bibi. lets see if we can have about a day of peace and quiet in israel and palestine now. btw, and yes i am picking on you a bit jp, what happened to the great likud doctrine that said it would not permit a palestinian state? seems to me that the doctrine was just voted away in a pragmatic sense. you see, this 'road map' that was just ratified by israel clearly states that the goal is a palestinian state living in peace with its neighbor israel.

jerusalem zp 15:18 GMT May 25, 2003
jp, without driving haifa too crazy i should note that in my view as stated numerous times before by me - is that the settlers are the ultimate bargaining chip - a bit like the question on the palestinian side regarding their '48 refugees.....

jerusalem zp 15:08 GMT May 25, 2003
jp, driving force may well be your 'best friend' bush who is seems to have a rather strong will. you are correct about the difference between approve and implement - same is true for both the israelis and the palestinians. the next few moves on this chessboard shall be quite interesting, what they will be i have little idea. pulling the settlers out of gaza if somehow security could be assured regarding weapons being smuggled through the tunnels wouldnt be a bad start, but that is like wishing for a couple of million. more realistic might be another meeting between sharon and mazan.

jerusalem zp 12:52 GMT May 25, 2003
and last but not least........revdax - optimism reigns in the economic garden from the land of chaos today. even the schkel picked up more strenght - thus not only giving investors more money because the market thrived but because the local currency got stronger too........i wish all days could be like today.

May.25,2003 Trading Phase: Continuous
TA100 Index 14:17 :411.82 +6.10% TA25 Index 14:17: 404.93 +6.45% TELTECH 15 Index 14:17 :227.28 +6.00%
TA75 Index 14:17: 403.51 +5.89% TA-BANKING Index 14:17: 444.61 +6.56% Turnover (NIS,000) 14:17 : 440,029


jerusalem zp 12:48 GMT May 25, 2003
jp, that's two things done now and only one thousand things left to do..........
15:41 Ha'aretz
Cabinet approves Mideast road map by margin of 12 votes to 7. Vote marks first time Israel has formally acknowledged Palestinian right to statehood.


jerusalem zp 11:00 GMT May 25, 2003
throught biz and sport we can get there........where ever there is:

Nazareth reaches the promised land with one game to spare
By Ori Lewis
Maccabi Ahi Nazareth gained promotion to the Premier League on Friday with one game to spare, becoming the second club from the Arab sector ever to make it to the top flight. Nazareth broke into rapturous celebrations after the team's 1-0 win over Maccabi Kafr Kana.
Nazareth's coach Azmi Nassar ripped off his shirt and was speechless for several minutes after the match ended at the team's small stadium in the nearby lower Galilee village of Ilut. After regaining his breath he said: "All the politicians talk of peace, but I have beaten them all, Sharon and Arafat, I have beaten them all.
"Look at all the love shown here: Christians, Muslims, Druze, Jews, hugging and kissing, this is the way it should be in our country."
Nassar then clambered onto the roof of his team's dugout together with other players, before climbing onto the perimeter fence to join in the chanting of Nazareth's 4,000 ecstatic supporters.
After the game the Nazareth fans descended on the city as thousands more Nazareth residents went out on to the streets to celebrate the local team's promotion. Saba Leon, a Christian priest caught outside among the fans, joined in the celebrations.
"Nazareth is more united than it has ever been, Muslims and Christians together," Leon said as onlooker showered the revelers with sweets and rice from their balconies.
Nassar also registered a bit of personal history by becoming the first Arab coach to lead a team to Israel's top division. Nazareth's promotion follows that of Hapoel Taibeh, which played for one season in the Israeli top division in the 1996-97 season.
Taibeh's promotion proved disastrous, however, and the high cost of maintaining their team has seen it go into free fall. They have just been relegated from the fourth division where they finished bottom. Ahi Nazareth chairman Askandar Hadad promised Friday that the club would do everything possible to stay in the Premier League.

jerusalem zp 07:44 GMT May 25, 2003
revdax, here's what a small scent of your economic garden will do to israel and the middle east when there is the slightest hint of optimism:
May.25,2003 Trading Phase: Continuous
TA100 Index 10:39 :410.18 +5.68% TA25 Index 10:39: 403.25 +6.01% TELTECH 15 Index 10:39 :226.70 +5.73%
TA75 Index 10:39: 401.57 +5.38% TA-BANKING Index 10:39: 441.83 +5.90% Turnover (NIS,000) 10:39 : 128,733

jerusalem zp 16:35 GMT May 24, 2003
jp, it seems as if there is a bit of sunshine that might actually fall on the land of chaos tmrw. it appears that sharon will have enough people on his cabinet voting in favor of the road map tmrw night here in jerusalem. yes, things could turn sour quickly - in more ways than i want to imagine - but optimisim, my friend, optimism is the key. so it appears that one thing is almost done leaving only one thousand and one things remaining to do.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/296405.html


jerusalem zp 11:36 GMT May 23, 2003
haifa, thks very much for this biz possibility. funny thing is i had one of the more important palestinians in my office last night talking biz and we were joking around as always about selling stone that had been thrown by palestinians at the israelis as a keepsake for people outside the land of chaos. think of the biz - we could sell to those that hate israelis and were glad they got hit by a stone - and we could sell to those who support israel to show what a struggle we must endure.

jerusalem zp 15:57 GMT May 22, 2003
dolphin, if you are swimming about, i think bush and friends attentions are now going to really start focusing in on israel and the palestinians now that the iraq question is 'solved' for the time being.....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/295704.html


jerusalem zp 14:37 GMT May 22, 2003
jp, i try to stay off the buses as much as possible, so ahhh yes...

jerusalem zp 14:32 GMT May 22, 2003
jp, regarding the eu and israel, notice i said in our lifetimes.....not tmrw.......


jerusalem zp 14:10 GMT May 22, 2003
th, to be fair i think it should be noted that the earthquake hit algeria for the most part when the states were going to sleep - the sun is only now rising on most of the states. in time i am certain you will see american assistance there. having said that, isnt the responsibility of us all (all countries and peoples) to help the algerians?

jerusalem zp 14:01 GMT May 22, 2003
jp, i think you are witnessing the future strenght in the 'idea' of the eu via the decision of france and germany to go along with the plan that the u.s and great britain will be tabling at the u.n today. this because france and germany see that the greater cause of a european nation is at stake if they cause any further ruptures between its member states. eventually the eu will be much like that of the u.s - it will model itself on the u.s quite a bit ( i hear some choking ). this meaning they will encompass all countries of western europe and almost all of eastern europe up until the great russian border - this much like what takes place with the states and canada. then the eu will expand to include some med. states such as friends like jordan, israel, palestine (yes haifa), morocco, and possible algeria. this will happen in our lifetimes........why? well, why not?


jerusalem zp 07:00 GMT May 22, 2003
th, no, no, no sharon is not on any currency here in israel. as for the fx sharks - when they have to eat, they have to eat.


jerusalem zp 06:45 GMT May 22, 2003
th, yes, but can a panda walk into an elevator unguided, push the button for the highest floor, and then pee on the penthouse? i dont know what my wife would say, but i can tell you that i think men should be allowed to perform this in the olympics, they would have to be judged from and for distance too i suppose. th, keep up the good tidbits on the animal kingdom...........how are the sharks doing in the great reef this morning?


jerusalem zp 05:42 GMT May 22, 2003
revdax, regarding your posts about islamic extremism, religion of any sort when it leads a govt and is responsible for issuing dictates on a whole population are supposed to live is a dangerous and unforgiving thing. i see know problem with any country identifying with a belief system but to make sure one and all must abide by its dictates leads to what you have written about. it also allows as you have pointed out to a mass hysteria which makes for an uninspired life.
the greatest teacher i ever had told me in one short sentence, i have mentioned it before here, that the reason why communism failed was that it like puritanism didnt know how to have fun. in the end the extremist will lose for the same reason, be it tmrw or in fifty years............the younger population in iran is starting to find this out now.

jerusalem zp 15:13 GMT May 21, 2003
revdax, i read your 14:36 from yesterday and choose not to comment because i think your thoughts were a bit too extreme. while i understand how haifa can get angry and sometimes carried away with generalizations i think that you should not thread within this sphere. not that you dont have a right too, but because (and i dont mean disrespect) you are too far away from the core of the hatred that exists here to really understand the pressures that both peoples are under. the fact is that if i were to contemplate everyday what i must undertake in a normal way that i would have packed my bags a long time ago and purchased a ticket for buenos aires. but instead i choose to remain here and live because i think this situation will someday be worked out. how it is going to be worked out i am not certain, but i know it wont be while both sides are pointing fingers at one another. am i biased? yes, i am, i am israeli afterall and have grown quite weary of remarks i perceive as being full ignorance or hate. but at some point i have to laugh it off because in the end i know that history is the only thing that matters here and that i choose to be amongst those still standing. the conflict here in the middle east and other regions of the world in which extremism is being fought with exploding humans will one day end. i hope it is sooner rather than later. i think that it is rather difficult for most on this forum to understand the level of hatred that exists, i can not say this strongly enough, and until we really deal with the hatred and why it exists nothing is going to get solved.

jerusalem zp 14:19 GMT May 21, 2003
haifa, another cia/zionist plot foiled apparently, better luck next time......
SAUDIS AUTHORITIES SAY:
Three arrested al Qaeda suspects were planning to hijack a Saudi plane and crash it into a building in the Red Sea town of Jeddah, Saudi security sources told CNN today. Meanwhile, a new tape recording attributed to Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, urged Muslims "light a fire under the feet" of America and its allies.



jerusalem zp 13:32 GMT May 21, 2003
sfx, actually i am in a rather nasty mood today and the site that i served up is more of an indicator of what i would term blind hatred. unfortunately we have reached a point once again in history that people have come to believe in politics and religion as one being - one same thought - some type of universal justification for actions and deeds. i am not a follower of religions except from a distanced field and tend to believe that while it helps some it hurts quite a few too........this goes for all religions. unfortunately there is no shortage of morons and fanatics on our planet who buy into thoughts spewed like vomit. people die every day because some one thinks they are better than someone else be it because of religion or politics. having said that i will defend myself in the fight to live and remain free.
the world of business is much more comfortable to me than the world of borders and wars. unfortunately i am human and must watch as the bridge sometimes burns.....


jerusalem zp 11:01 GMT May 21, 2003
haifa, need i remind you that there is no such thing as bad publicity......

jerusalem zp 17:57 GMT May 19, 2003
and this they find, its a wonderful life...........

20:24IDF troops, Border Police capture three men smuggling 90 kilograms of marijuana across Egyptian border into Israel (Itim)

jerusalem zp 05:30 GMT May 19, 2003
bc, thks as always for your reply, appreciate your thoughts on the subject........we shall see what comes to pass.

jerusalem zp 14:58 GMT May 18, 2003
bc, i would like your thoughts on how serious a threat deflation is if possible - in the summer of 2001 some of the rumblings came from mainly academics in the states and europe - but govt agencies NOW too seem to be sounding alarms.
the financial times today ran a story speaking about the issue......
thks in advance


jerusalem zp 10:43 GMT May 18, 2003
revdax, here is a link to some of the basic info on this investment opportunity:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/05/16/miss.venezuela.reut/index.html

jerusalem zp 10:42 GMT May 18, 2003
revdax, there is an investment opportunity brewing for you of which i think you will have a profound interest. it seems that miss. venezuela is unable to attend the miss universe pagent in panama coming up in early june due to a lack of funds to send her. i think this is your chance to step in, help the woman, help venezuela, and be a hero to all. one would have to think that she will get far in the pagent on sympathy alone (not to mention that she seems to be attractive too), thus she is bound to bring profit to any financial endeavor for your help. you would also gain much in the way of friends in the oil rich country and not least the good will of many thousands of south american beauties who are hoping they can participate in future pagents...............
ahhhh, if i were not married my friend i tell you i would be on a plane right now to caracas........

jerusalem zp 21:30 GMT May 16, 2003
jp, i know you are interested sometimes in south america, here is a recent story from the buenos aires herald which is very interesting about menem dropping out of the race in argentina this week................it is like one of their 'great' telenovelas - absolutely muy estupendos.......
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=12739

jerusalem zp 21:19 GMT May 16, 2003
jp -14:29, well - first thks for the link interesting article. ha'aretz is the best written paper in the country, it is the paper i choose to read - i think even dear haifa would have a hard time calling it a left wing rag because it publishes many point of veiws constantly.
as for the article - lets note that it was in fact published in israel which should show you that we as a country actually have the freedom to be critical about our own thoughts and actions. secondly, i dont trust polls, i dont trust them because i feel they always have a motive they want to prove - i am certain the fine folks at the institute of israeli democracy are no different. it doesnt mean that i disagree with their findings - in fact the numbers might be worse then they claim. but i do and can disagree with their interpretation of the numbers. first and foremost israel is in the midst of a war, i have pointed this out a few hundred times now, but make no mistake it is a war. when a war is being fought a certain resolve comes forward in which to win it. israelis can disagree with each other all day long how it might be best to wage this war, but you will find few who disagree with the notion that the country is involved in a war. israel as a whole is one of the most hyper sensitive and hyper critical countries i know of and i have traveled a great deal and continue to do so. i myself love taking a 'schadenfreude' outlook when comparing ourselves to argentina. but again, it is me being hyper critical. it is me being israeli. the folks who took this survey and ha'aretz are doing much the same, good for them, good for everyone. it is a shame the palestinians are not free enough due to their own leadership to be the same in terms of being self critical. if you dont agree fine, but my perception is my reality and i think my perception is pretty good.
what the article will change will amount to nothing until both the israelis and palestinians can sit down at a table and really start being honest with each other. tmrw night sharon and mazan are set to meet nearby - what is going to come from this i have no idea.
i think it much wiser to watch what is happening at this meeting and others that will come about soon after than reading about what israelis think or dont think - the same goes for the palestinians who have some unique ideas of their own when polled about justice. the populations of both the israelis and palestinians will be led down a road by either good leadership or bad leadership, my concern starts there and from that point i can only be one man and do the best i can.


jerusalem zp 13:57 GMT May 15, 2003
sfx, we laugh now.....but i would not be surprised if some reality shows comes out of this.......the possibilties are unlimited:
the survivor mullah series - this would have competing mullahs voted on and the least favorite every week eliminated by his followers.
the survivor oil series - competing oil companies are voted off weekly by a world wide council of ngo's as they compete to show why they should control the oil fields.

i would probably watch the first couple of episodes of each.

jerusalem zp 13:43 GMT May 15, 2003
sfx, we can only hope the americans supplied popcorn to the iraqi masses to enjoy while watching 'the show'........

jerusalem zp 12:24 GMT May 15, 2003
bc, okay, but lets say you take $ 25.00 usd at a compounded rate of 4.5 percent for 103 years, how much money do you have then - $ 2300 and change.
if you own an oz of gold and keep it in your pocket 103 years you still have an oz of gold.



jerusalem zp 10:47 GMT May 15, 2003
i invite all gold bugs and detractors to take a look at the following:
http://info.goldavenue.com/Info_site/in_arts/in_mill/20thcentury.htm
seems to me if this information is correct that in fact buying an oz of gold and holding onto to it for the past 103 years would have proved a failure in the end if profit was the goal. am i wrong? someone please show me how the rate of inflation if calculated can show anything but a loss at this point......thks.


jerusalem zp 10:32 GMT May 15, 2003
the next big fire ball developing........

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/293677.html

jerusalem zp 08:33 GMT May 15, 2003
wysiwyg, maybe we should just put all of these jewish troublemakers on the left and the right in big fish tank and let them drown. i take it from your recent post that you will now let us know the religion of all people whose comments you want us to read. also regarding the cia and its drug cartels of which it is running according to you, can you please give us more facts. also please indicate religion of the growers in bolivia, peru, columbia, afghanistan, turkey, lebanon. might help to list religions of all the smugglers and pushers too and for that matter manufacturers of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and lsd.

jerusalem zp 12:57 GMT May 14, 2003
haifa, regarding your list you failed to mention wonderful vacation spots such as chechnya and kashmir.........get your tickets while they remain cheap.

jerusalem zp 08:50 GMT May 14, 2003
these thoughts from debka......
Saudi reluctance to admit high death toll creates discrepancy between Saudi and American figures in al Qaeda’s triple suicide attacks on Western housing estates in Riyadh Monday. The Saudis insist on 29 killed while the American figure is 91, including 10 Americans and many other foreigners. Up to 200 were injured.



jerusalem zp 08:44 GMT May 14, 2003
the world is a stalking ground, a battle of realities both in business and politics. there is a choice to either work towards harmony or chaos. in order to survive, function, and thrive you must be prepared for both. pray for quick battles and long peace.


jerusalem zp 17:59 GMT May 13, 2003
has NOT reported as of yet.......

jerusalem zp 17:59 GMT May 13, 2003
here is a link to a story regarding the attack by albawaba which is the jordanian news link which is quite good most of the time......it has some info the western press has reported as of yet, also containing confirmation by bin laden's merry pranksters taking credit for the attack.

http://albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=249231&lang=e&dir=news

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT May 13, 2003
jp, i am hesitant to give out details of what i am hearing because there is a chance it will look quite strange but from what i understand the attackers took out an american compound with a multi level attack on 3 key points using shooters, suicide bombers, and trucks laden with explosives. the number of casualties is different with each report coming in but if you have seen even a small photo of the area you can clearly see this was a large area taken out.

jerusalem zp 14:44 GMT May 13, 2003
reports coming now that it appears over 100 people are now believed dead from suicide attacks inside of saudi arabia this morning.

jerusalem zp 15:02 GMT May 11, 2003
haifa, what does your wycoff/ & charts tell you about islamic fervor? can you make a trade such as this based on only technicals or must you take into account fundamentals?

jerusalem zp 14:58 GMT May 11, 2003
haifa, you have at least one more ba'ath party that you have to take into account......
http://www.damascus-online.com/se/hist/baath_party.htm

btw, do you have any thoughts on the shi'ite cleric who returned to iraq yesterday after 23 years of exile in iran? i did not see you in the stadium wishing him a proper hello. there were however thousands of others who lovingly took your place.

jerusalem zp 14:50 GMT May 11, 2003
revdax, here is an excerpt from ap wire today, as i read the story i thought of you first...........

STUART, Florida (AP) -- A woman was arrested for dousing herself with perfume, spraying the house with bug killer and disinfectant, and burning scented candles in an attempt to seriously injure her chemically sensitive husband, prosecutors said.
Police charged Lynda Taylor, 36, with aggravated battery Thursday.
David Taylor, 46, is disabled due to allergies that resulted from exposure to toxic mold and hazardous chemicals as a construction worker, his doctors say. That exposure netted him $150,000 in a recent workers compensation settlement.
The fragrant incident occurred on April 4 during a conversation the couple were about separating after three years of marriage. Taylor told investigators that his wife became enraged when he refused to give her half of his settlement.



jerusalem zp 11:21 GMT May 11, 2003
and this just in, possible cheating in a horse race, no less the kentucky derby..........as bc suggested in different words, where there is money there is a way.........

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/horse_racing/news/2003/05/10/derby_photo_ap/

jerusalem zp 10:53 GMT May 11, 2003
haifa, you want to see hope in action, here it is.........

May.11,2003 Trading Phase: Continuous
TA100 Index 13:44 :421.09 +3.04% TA25 Index 13:44: 412.91 +3.10% TELTECH 15 Index 13:44 :223.52 +2.95%
TA75 Index 13:44: 415.95 +3.02% TA-BANKING Index 13:44: 448.29 +3.14% Turnover (NIS,000) 13:44 : 233,503


jerusalem zp 08:58 GMT May 11, 2003
speaking of life, anyone else chilled to the core regarding the guy in the states, out west, who was hiking and climbing in the mountains and got his arm stuck when a boulder suddenly moved? this guy was stuck five days on the face of the rock in a canyon that was hidden. alone, out of food, and done with water, he cut his arm off below the elbow to escape. not only that he had to break his arm on purpose to make the area soft enough so he could cut through his flesh since his knife wasnt so sharp. then he had to repel down the rest of the mountain and hike out of the canyon. i dont know about anyone else here, but after hearing this guy speak and his sense of humor i can say that he is absolutely incredible.

jerusalem zp 06:13 GMT May 11, 2003
athens, regarding your comments about saddam and the middle east last night. i agree with you strongly. i posted 'the story' to show even how the newspapers feel they must get in on the act to print nonsense this to somehow show that they seemingly can compete with forums like this in order to 'entertain' the mass with rumors instead of facts. my point was made even clearer this morning when i read that the new york times has printed a huge in depth article outlining journalistic fraud by one of its reporters who instead of choosing to actually visit locations and interview people choose to do so from his apartment and make up facts and quotes. what alarms me more than anything if the new york times isnt looking into its reporters 'reports' than what news agency is?
this being said, we live in a world of instant communication and thus we must be able to really look at all things - and as our forum mate, red, would add probably - cut things into pieces to find some truth or something useful.
i for one will be very glad when the biggest news from my part of the world is about interest rates and gross national product.

jerusalem zp 21:54 GMT May 10, 2003
Iraq rumor mill: CIA has Saddam, U.S is stealing oil
By Niko Price
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD - The CIA is hiding Saddam Hussein in the United States, but the deposed Iraqi president will return to unleash chemical weapons on his own people.
But wait - that can't be right. Saddam has been dead for eight years, part of a plot by his son Qusai, who hired an actor for his father's television appearances.
True? You'd think so - if you listened to the talk on the streets of Baghdad, where there are few newspapers, little electricity for radios or TVs, no authorities to give definitive answers, and enough desperation and fear to excite an already overactive rumor mill.
"You hear a lot of things. Most seem impossible, but these are rumors - Saddam's rumors," said Kamal Jehan Bakish, manning his fly-infested shampoo stall in a street market in the slum once known as Saddam City.
Graffiti, scrawled in the shadows, helps fuel the rumors. In eastern Baghdad's Zayuna neighborhood, pro-Saddam slogans appeared this week on a pedestrian bridge. "Long live the leader Saddam Hussein," said one.
Another was ominous. "We swear to God - we swear to God - that we will chop all the hands that wave to American soldiers whose hands are stained by the blood of our great martyrs," it read.
With little law enforcement, gasoline or electricity in Baghdad, most commercial establishments are closed. That leads not only to hunger and frustration, but to a lot of free time for trafficking in rumors in a part of the world where conspiracy theories flourish.
Complicating matters is the unresolved fate of the deposed Iraqi leader. No one can say definitively if Saddam's dead or alive, inside Iraq or not. And though many in Baghdad believe he's not dead - and quite possibly in the United States - the swirl of inaccurate information only makes things muddier.
In the Azamiyah neighborhood, where Saddam was last reported seen April 9, a group of men sat on wooden benches Friday, smoking cigarettes and sipping tea.
"If you want to know where Saddam is, ask the CIA," said Ahmed Jassem Issa, 56, a retired Irrigation Ministry worker. "They have him now. He is their son. I even heard he released an audiotape."
No, interjected Ahmed Rashad Ahmed, 57, a mechanic: "The tape was from Hala," Saddam's youngest daughter,
"I tell you, it was Saddam," Issa snapped back. "Just ask the CIA about him."
The rumor about Saddam unleashing chemical weapons has a history. At first, Saddam was to commit this atrocity on his birthday, April 28. "People were afraid," said 51-year-old Abdul Kalek Kamal.
When that day passed with no attack, several other dates were mentioned - including Friday, one month after the fall of Baghdad.
After Saddam, the most common subject for the rumor mill is Iraq's oil. Pretty much everybody in Baghdad is convinced the Americans invaded to steal oil, and many believe they're already making a profit from it.
"They are secretly pumping oil and stealing it," said Nazar Mohammed, 59, fingering his yellow prayer beads as a mechanic worked on the fuel pump of his Chevrolet Caprice.
That rumor had made its way across town to the former Saddam City, where Kamal expounded on it from his empty wholesale food shop.
"There is a rumor that Saddam is demanding a share of the oil they are pumping," he said. "There is another rumor that the Americans will give it to him in return for his quick withdrawal from Baghdad."
Down the street, Hassan Jouma, 31, guarded a branch of the Bank of Baghdad with a pistol and tossed out another speculation.
"I heard Saddam has been dead since 1995," Jouma said. "The actual ruler was Qusai, and the man on TV was a double. That's why the Americans - with all their technology - can't find him."
Saddam's other son, Odai, was rumored to have surrendered Friday, but, the story goes, the Americans are keeping it quiet because he's a U.S. agent.
Bakish said Saddam was probably in the United States, but added he'd be back soon. He said Saddam was promising to "return to power to rebuild Iraq and let people live in prosperity." How did he know that?
"Some people heard him say that on a secret radio wave," he said.
Kuwaitis also figure prominently in the rumor mill, often as marauders who arrived to exact revenge for Iraq's 1990 invasion of their country.
"I saw it with my own eyes. I saw Kuwaitis, accompanied by Americans, carrying gasoline," Jouma said. "The Kuwaitis burned our buildings, saying, 'Now we have our revenge against Iraq.' "
There are many more rumors out there - some widespread, some more obscure. At the Everyday Supermarket in Zayuna, the manager, who wouldn't give his name, said he was keeping his to himself.
"I have heard many rumors, but I'm not going to tell them to you," he said. "Maybe some of them are true."



jerusalem zp 12:22 GMT May 8, 2003
more on the interpretation of history........

Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out. When the medical director became aware of Edna's heroic act, he immediately ordered her to be discharged from the
hospital as he now considered her to be mentally stable. When he went to tell Edna the news he said, "Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of another patient. I have concluded that your act displays sound mindness. The bad news is, Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself right after you saved him, with his bathrobe belt in the bathroom.
I am so sorry, but he's dead." Edna replied "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry."


jerusalem zp 09:37 GMT May 8, 2003
krr, i must hand it to you, you really rub me the wrong way, but having said that i must contradict myself and say that i have read you last post.
note, you were the one who directed a question to me first last night regarding my post about the billion being stolen. i can accept that you say you werent trying to make a comparison and that you were pointing out the media's faults.......okay.
as for putting words in your mouth, again, please note i wasnt trying to do that. i was comparing things, but (et tu bruti) it was because you directed your question to me.
sorry if i have seemingly gone off the deep end with you, the one thing in life that drives me most mad is arguing about arguing (perhaps this comes with being married to a clinical pyschologist who is constantly searching my every word).
lets go forwards..........i ask for permission to compare things without you believing i am putting words in your mouth.


jerusalem zp 08:53 GMT May 8, 2003
athens, i understand your points and dont want to get bogged down in semantics with either you or krr. what irritated me a bit about krr's retort was that i was accused of putting words in his mouth when i clearly asked a question. simply put, i dont agree with the rationale between comparisons of having money stolen by a dictatators family and those who seemingly have silver spoons in their mouths in the u.s. - i am not so stupid to not see why and how some one can want to make this type of comparison, but i do not agree with it.
your issues about business and war are fair and i am certainly not going to disagree that business/profit motives plays a fair amount of cause in some conflicts. i do not however think this was the main reason for this war being fought. will profit be important - yes, definitely but was it the reason the war was fought - no in my opinion.

again, i was merely saying that i disagree with the comparison of stealing a billion dollars and biz/profit. and i will stick to my other posts stating my opinions about biz and profit and degrees of seperation. i have no doubt that the world is not a fair place, but nor do i see that everything that happens has evil behind it just because profit is involved.
what it really will come down to is how the old and new wealth of iraq that will be gotten and used, will the mass of people there be better off in three, five, twenty years time than they would have been under saddam and his sons? my experiences tell me yes, but perhaps i am too naive and optimistic.


jerusalem zp 07:16 GMT May 8, 2003
krr, simply put i disagree with your world view. i tend to look at things from a marketing point/ there are seven degrees of seperation for all of us and i dont see everything as black and white as perhaps you d . as for putting words in your mouth, no, i didnt do that either - note ? - means ?.

jerusalem zp 22:37 GMT May 7, 2003
krr wrote - "You can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding..."

woody allen did.
anyway, folks i must get some sleep, good night.




jerusalem zp 22:01 GMT May 7, 2003
krr, but i would like you to comment further. in business arent you suppose to profit? what is the problem with that exactly? listen i dont think all is paradise, i am certain 'friends' of the washington crowd will profit with entry into the iraq 'effort'. but please tell me again, how stealing a billion dollars from the central bank is justified? tell me how one can scream that its children are dying of starvation and illness when palaces and sports cars are being built for family and friends of saddam? tell me how you would have liked to taken care of saddam exactly..........and what exactly do you think the iraqis should do with their deserted torture chambers, numbered graves, and wounded psyche due to the saddam years? aaaaaaah ok, perhaps we should have just let him go on, build weapons and systems that could deliver them to a number of countries in the middle east.
are you reading the newspapers? do you see any connection with the money on the other side? do you see that the french and russians are besides themselves because they are about to lose billions of dollars in business that they were conducting in a very grey legal area internationally? no, krr, please do discuss the money issue more. lets see whose money is put to better use in the end, lets see if in three or five years from now the millions of iraqis that will be put to work in the construction industry will have anything to say about their new economy. lets see if there is a better distribution of wealth within iraq and if a greater share of it is being split amongst many more people other than supporters of the baath party............

jerusalem zp 20:57 GMT May 7, 2003
krr, regarding brown & root, or bechtel, or bovis, or skanksa or any other general contractors about to make millions in iraq regarding the implementation of rebuilding infrastructure or the putting of buildings......what does this have to do with a member of the 'family' driving up to the central bank and putting one billion of cold hard cash into 3 trucks? are you suggesting that this 'favorite son' was taking the money so he could foot the bill for the new u.s embassy that will surely be put up? do explain please.....thks.

jerusalem zp 17:56 GMT May 6, 2003
ib, you dont happen to have a newer version of the maybach do you? is this the maker of the car i saw recently on the bbc's top gear show that is the german 'rolls royce' now? whhhhhoooa, that is one nice car.

jerusalem zp 17:40 GMT May 6, 2003
tg, i must point out that we are only now just entering a new phase of globalization. it has been around for thousands of years. as the world gets more coordinated it may appear that we are entering some new type of dimension but it should be noted that pre world war one the greatest lenders on the planet were the german and british banks. in fact they helped build the infrastructure of the late 1800's in america. if you take a close look at the numbers you will see that world war one was a death knell for both britain and germany as the worlds financial powers and that the safety of the united states plus benifits gained from the investment of europe helped propel it swiftly.
also, if you care to take a look at the number in terms of global trade per captia averages you will find that in fact in the early 1900's the worlds businesses and countries were trading at almost the same levels today in terms of percent of financial capital being invested abroad and good traded.
in other words, be glad that in this economic cycle the u.s is king of the hill but know that it got their with the help of the old kings.

jerusalem zp 16:37 GMT May 6, 2003
ib, i think you should ask why the israeli troops are just a bit jumpy in these area. seems you keep wanting to bring this particular area and peace group up. why dont you post anything about the two guys from britain who blew them selves up in tel aviv this past weekend at mike's place? appears from all evidence that they spent the week before this act hanging out with the 'peace group' you so proudly keep pointing too. nice try though.

jerusalem zp 13:29 GMT May 6, 2003
correction: not uday, but qusay, sorry for soiling uday's fine name......

jerusalem zp 11:56 GMT May 6, 2003
is anyone else here reading in bewilderment the amounts of money that were stolen by uday hussein the week before his dad's dictatorship fell? nyt's is reporting that he literally showed up at the central bank with an associate and had 3 trucks filled up containing about 900 million USD and 100 million Euro's - nice work if you can find it........
thus far 650 million was found in a central palace and another large sum was found in an armoured car. somewhere somebody is holding a few million i suspect praying that the accountants somehow dont pick up the scent.

jerusalem zp 14:59 GMT May 3, 2003
ib, while apartheid in south africa and what the germans did to the jews in world war two are nice to compare to our current situation - frankly this is not the same ball game for either and you do a dis-service to anyone who suffered from either of these histories.
i do not see how israel offering the palestinians there own country can be equated to apartheid exactly. again it is a try often heard.
but it clearly shows you have never been to israel either. please tell me what you think of the arab women in their full dress walking the streets of jerusalem, haifa, tel aviv for that matter to this day without being harassed has to do with anything? tell me how arabs come to 'jewish' shopping malls in israel and are treated just like anyone else (rudely for that matter)?
now tell me how i would be treated walking down the streets of ramallah by myself? you see, i would probably be killed unless i was escorted by a palestinian friend.
again, ib, i dont agree, but interestingly enough i find that i dont have to agree with you because you clearly show through your arguements that you think israel and palestine are a black and white issue. you seem to think that one side is right and the other is wrong............i dont see it that way. i see two side with bad leadership, scared leadership, who do not know how to go forward because they are too short sighted.
you ib have been taken in by the big lie. not nice to say, or point out for that matter, but true.
the world is complicated. israel and palestine are one of the most illogical avenues on our planet.


jerusalem zp 09:05 GMT April 10, 2003
athens, agree with you about this and i would like to take it a bit further. history is also largely written by the victorious side. how would the world history look now if pychopaths such as hitler would have been victorious? the world would have looked upon the deaths of millions and millions of people like it now looks upon the death of the natives on north and south america - and that is merely as a weak link that perhaps was not up to snuff in order to exist on our fine planet. (yes it is a completely disgusting notion, but one that unfortunately rings true in our worlds twisted logic). the gifts have always gone to the victors......this is not about to change anytime soon.



jerusalem zp 14:37 GMT May 3, 2003
ib, sorry that you are repulsed i am sure you can get some good wine to wash the feeling away. i do not agree with you, i think that the history of being second class citizens for 2000 years does actually have something to say of merit and if you are tired of this well i suggest you just keep that good french wine around. note, that i am not trying to play on sympathy, note that i am not trying to play on guilt. no what i am pretty much saying is what women in the 60's and 70's said.
I AM JEWISH HEAR ME ROAR. if you dont like it i dont care.
as for palestinians living as second class citizens, no, i dont see it that way (why would i). what i see is an opportunity for them to have their own country.
note in all my previous posts here, and i say it again, if jews (settlers) want to remain in palestine - fine let them, just make them palestinian citizens. the same goes for the israeli arabs on our side of the fence. btw, they vote - when they choose to, and their standard of living is better than most in other arab countries. is their prejudice? yes, yes there is. but give us a chance. let us stop fighting.
until then ib please just sip on wine while i take my repulsive stances, i will do the same...........cheers.

jerusalem zp 14:28 GMT May 3, 2003
athens, it is good reason why i should never bet.......if you would have asked me ten years ago where the israelis and palestinians would be today i would have told you then that we would have been hundreds of miles away from this disgusting situation. the assasination of rabin was done by an israeli, it was done by people who dont want to move forward, it was done by people scared of the future. we israelis suffer from fools just as much as anyone. if rabin had not been killed i think the world would have been a much different place than it is today.

jerusalem zp 14:20 GMT May 3, 2003
ib 14:12, and so it would seem from an outsider perspective here in israel looking at the palestinian leadership that the palestinians are not moving forward either. arafat has taken the most important controls away from mazan and made him a mere puppet. as long as arafat controls the 'security apparatus' in palestine - he controls palestine.

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT May 3, 2003
he wants to stay in power as long as he can. he wants a palestinian state next to an israel which is NOT a jewish country but a bi-national country made up of arab israelis and jewish israelis.

LET ME BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS, the above is the real problem here. israel will not kick out the israelis arabs living in israel proper, that is not the question for most level headed people. the question is how two countries will be allowed to have the identity they deserve. it might be conspiratorial thinking, but if israel were to allow arab 'refugees' back the jewish majority of this country would disappear quickly. and then what happens........are jews to become second class citizens again like they were made to live the last two thousand years? when the palestinian leadership admits this and when they confront their souls regarding this issue we will move ahead here - only then. do both sides have the leadership in place to go forward and let two peoples have their own homelands?



jerusalem zp 14:09 GMT May 3, 2003
ib, yes, walking my dog is relevant. we choose how we want to live our lives. the palestinian militants have choosen their path and we israelis have chosen ours. it is fairly simple, lay down your arms and negotiate peace. if they, the palestinians, choose to continue to fight we will continue to fight too. i acknowledge it takes a braver person to make peace, but too - it takes two sides. it is very simple and you may not want to hear it..........the majority of israelis want to make peace with the palestinians, the majority of palestinians still support suicide bombings.
lets not forget our history either, after rabin was assasinated by israeli maniacs, instead of helping the movement towards peace arafat let his suicide bombers start blowing up tel aviv.
why do i mention something from eight years ago now, because arafat represents what is wrong with the middle east and the world. people are simply deceived, either that or they are true believers in arafat's beliefs. and what are arafat's beliefs?
he wants to stay in power as long as he can. he wants a palestinian state next to an israel which is NOT a jewish country but a bi-national country made up of arab israelis and jewish israelis.
and he believes violence is the way to get what he wants.
no, sorry, it wont happen like this, israel will stay a jewish nation. it will accept a palestinian nation as a neighbor. it is arafat that cant handle this. until he is dealt with and those who believe in his dream are dealt with (nicely preferably), we are going no where fast here in the land chaos and honey.

jerusalem zp 13:56 GMT May 3, 2003
athens, regarding golan heights, the israelis and syrians had some interesting discussions on the heights about three years ago which collasped and were in essence a lynch pin for failed talks between the palestinians and israelis. it seemed three years ago that the syrians decided not to make a deal until the palestinians made a deal wanting to remain the last player at the poker table. it will be interesting to see what happens now. somehow i believe they think they will get more of a compromise if they are the last country to make a deal with israel. i personally have no idea. the syrians have a govt which is highly educated but working in a never never land regarding their aspirations - of which i am not certain they even understand anymore. they seem to be trapped in some type of cold war dream.

jerusalem zp 13:50 GMT May 3, 2003
ib, yes it happened, and i walked my dog today........

jerusalem zp 13:47 GMT May 3, 2003
ib, regarding your note about the journalist (camera man) that was shot. it happened in the MIDDLE NIGHT, happened in a most dangerous and active combative place in gaza - right along the border of egypt - where arms are known to be smuggled through tunnels - along a route which is an active battlefield consisting of torn homes, fences, muddled yards, and house to house combat. unless one is a jackass, one does not enter such a place without knowing the risks that are involved.

jerusalem zp 13:02 GMT May 1, 2003
on the luxury of being able to strike.............this a quote from an idiot union leader who was explaining why those working in retail would continue working.....

Ha'aretz:
The 23,000 unionized workers of retail chains were also exempt from striking. "Employees of the retail chains, whose profit margin has dropped over the last two years, cannot afford the luxury of striking, especially on a day when people storm the shopping malls," Histadrut representative Yoram Orenstein said. - END OF QUOTE

after all the strikers must have a place to relax when not working, and what better place than a nice air conditioned mall? good to know too that the greater workers' mass has their own class system too. afterall why should retail workers be allowed to strike of whom are probably completely underpaid and overworked? this compared to the government office workers who are striking and do virtually nothing when they putter in their offices all day when getting checks.


jerusalem zp 14:10 GMT April 30, 2003
flip, i agree with you but it should also be pointed out that the folks carrying out the research are the touchy feely folks in the united kingdom, home of some fairly monty pythonesque groups fighting for the rights of cows, sheep, and foxes.....as for me and cnn, i gave them up a long time ago as anything more than some entertainment network which tries deperately to adhere to political correctness. in the meantime, may the force be with you too........that is if you desire it or need such a thing. as for me, i will simply pray against manchester united some more, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesnt........

jerusalem zp 11:50 GMT April 30, 2003
revdax, thks for asking, biz discussions between palestinians and israelis never stopped. oh some business did stop and is still slow, but some of us have never stopped speaking. it isnt quite as easy to visit each other the past two and a half years unless one wants to go through military check posts into or out of areas (and there is the occasional stray bullet). yet your economic garden still has some strong seeds in the ground here and they will grow. i was telling haifa this morning via phone that our business connections in jordan and even some unmentionable places are positioning themselves for what is to come. and, revdax, what is going to come is PROSPERITY.......be certain of it..........to make sure it happens though all the madmen, all the fanatics will have to be shown the door or made inconsequential. little by little, day by day my friend it will take place. ibiza and i, if he wants to meet with me, are going to have a good dinner together one night.

jerusalem zp 11:38 GMT April 30, 2003
heres a fishy story..........perhaps flip and dolphin will be interested and can provide some insight........
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/04/30/fish.fear/index.html

jerusalem zp 09:55 GMT April 30, 2003
and.....if they get sick you tell them it happened between the 3rd and 4th day obviously, this will confuse them just long enough so you can flee the city......

jerusalem zp 09:54 GMT April 30, 2003
revdax, no silly, that is why they come back to you on the 4th day. this way you have repeat business.........trust me on this, we jews know how to market a business.......

jerusalem zp 09:48 GMT April 30, 2003
revdax, she is probably too smart for this trick but you should try telling her that you have been approved by the chinese govt as a cure all for this virus, that in fact anyone who makes physical contact with you will stay heathly for at least 3 days after each visit.
if it works you just might find yourself a nice side business.

jerusalem zp 09:43 GMT April 30, 2003
bc, good point regarding choking on tea......i suspect some of the hot peppers from szh-uan have done in a higher percentage too.

jerusalem zp 09:34 GMT April 30, 2003
i have a nomination for the most ridiculous thing said so far this year, from the leader of the national labor union in israel.
this guy, peretz, is almost as funny as caisa..........

Amir Peretz: The srike is about a basic struggle to save Israeli society and democracy in the country.




jerusalem zp 08:06 GMT April 30, 2003
haifa, is god a member of histradut?

jerusalem zp 15:27 GMT April 29, 2003
flip, outstanding use of metaphor with 'phantom of the forum' for ac, but dont you think you use a bit of rhetoric yourself........?

jerusalem zp 09:29 GMT April 29, 2003
maybe they should make name tags for everyone in israel and palestine part of the final agreement between the two sides........?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/04/28/offbeat.hello.scott.ap/index.html

jerusalem zp 09:17 GMT April 29, 2003
sights and sounds from our factory this morning -
the palestinian workers refused to eat the rice that was served with their meat and vegetables today because they said it reminded them of the rice that the u.n distributes in their towns. frankly, it reminded me of the rice my mom used to put in soups and i sent it back too. most of us made due with quite a bit of bread........
this being said it is the feeling of the palestinian workers around me in general that arafat is trying to make sure that abu mazan - the designated prime minister of palestine - will not be able to go to the toilet without arafat's knowing of it.


jerusalem zp 12:26 GMT April 28, 2003
maybe they'll find the wmd's in a public toilet too.......

Monday, April 28, 2003 Posted: 5:50 AM EDT (0950 GMT)
Van Gogh painted "The Fortification of Paris" in 1878
Story Tools
LONDON, England -- Police investigating the theft of three paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and Gauguin, valued at £1 million ($1.6 million), found three paintings after an anonymous tip off Monday morning.
The watercolors were found behind a public toilet near Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, where they were stolen at the weekend.
Officers got a call at about 2am telling them the paintings were in a tube. They were recovered and returned to the gallery for safe keeping.
Experts were expected to verify the retrieved pieces were Vincent van Gogh's "The Fortification of Paris" (1878), Pablo Picasso's "Poverty" (1903) and Paul Gauguin's "Tahitian Landscape" (1891-93).


jerusalem zp 10:22 GMT April 28, 2003
haifa, there you go........planning a step into the past and becoming a flower child again might not be bad for you. dont forget to take along the massage table.......

jerusalem zp 08:48 GMT April 28, 2003
here's the most interesting thing i have read in the past few days.......raises a lot of questions. its from ha'aretz regarding two brit soldiers being RELEASED from syria.......
hhhhhmmmm?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/287915.html

jerusalem zp 08:15 GMT April 28, 2003
revdax, so then we should send all those with mba's - this would be recent graduates, we dont want to upset those who have set up families - for three year service duty to africa and hope that they have camp followers. we can give this job to the united nations, this since they are looking for some new type of responsibility now that they have been pretty much told they are not needed in the middle east........

jerusalem zp 08:00 GMT April 28, 2003
revdax, i agree with you. so if maybe we sent all the leggies to africa to care for the infants and others who were ill, then men would follow and bring order (our version of it at least) to africa.......

jerusalem zp 07:56 GMT April 28, 2003
haifa, so what are you going to do with all your new found spare time when peace breaks out?

this from ha'aretz:
Abu Mazen tells Europeans will declare end to armed struggle
By Arnon Regular
Palestinian Prime Minister designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has told European diplomats he will use his inaugural speech to declare an end to the use of arms to achieve Palestinian national aspirations.





jerusalem zp 07:51 GMT April 28, 2003
athens, i completely agree with you........if the world's gaze in uninterested or unfocused a caring hand is seldom around. infant mortality rate in africa is still absurdly high due to such things as malaria...........and it would seem that because it is africa the world cares not.

jerusalem zp 07:37 GMT April 27, 2003
athens, i agree with you about the 9/11 point..... i dont think saddam probably knew first hand about the impending attack on the wtc. clearly it was bin laden's game. now if you ask me if bin laden is crazy, i would say no - but he is (was) certainly delusional.
also, if saddam somehow did know about the 9/11 attacks it is perhaps twofold in thinking - one he thought the attacks could actually bring down the usa in some way. or number two, he might have known about them, wished the task well and thought there was no way it was really going to succeed.
.......did bin laden even think that the attack would be so accurate and actually work out?


jerusalem zp 07:20 GMT April 27, 2003
athens, i disagree, if you read further you will see why i mentioned the usa and ussr. it is the same. human psyche is no different when it comes to death. the human psyche understands what it means to die violently. saddam was never crazy, never a religious fanatic, he believed he could rule arabia and had a plan. didnt work out for him (at least not yet). he wants (and wanted) to live. he had weapons of mass destruction. he only used them against people who could not defend themselves. he was simply put a 'bully'. his whole political history is defined by this. he rose through the ranks of the baath party because he was the best thug. 'bullys' do not pick on people they know can kick their 'arse'.

jerusalem zp 07:13 GMT April 27, 2003
athens, revdax also just made a good point - saddam did in fact use weapons when he could against people. but he knew that the people he was using the weapons against could not destroy him in the same way. thus, much like the cold war scenario - one doesnt undertake weapons of mass destruction when the enemy can do the same back.

jerusalem zp 07:05 GMT April 27, 2003
athens, ok, sorry my fault, now an answer........
why didn't the ussr or the u.s ever use their nasty toys against one another? because the iraqis are not stupid nor do they not understand the implications of using such things. to use them would be akin to signing your own death certificate. they understood they would be destroyed in such a way that horrified even their psyches if they undertook such a road. thus, my first answer stands - these people who could get out of the way did so to protect their own arses, thus who could lie to saddam did so to protect their own arses, and the leadership (those in control of these weapons decided that they would not use them to save their own arses). is that clear enough an answer.

jerusalem zp 06:49 GMT April 27, 2003
athens, regarding your question about why the iraqis didnt put up more organized resistance against 'the coalition'. first, many of the iraqi soldiers decided that in order to live that it would be better to simply disappear when it became possible to take off their uniform and melt back into the public. but also, and i think more importantly - saddam surrounded himself with yes men. people who would tell him what he wanted to hear. anyone who came with bad news was dealt with in a way that made lying to saddam much safer than speaking the truth. thus, saddam was caught off guard, he probably up till the last moment didnt realize just how strong a blow was going to come. he also relied on the history of the last persian gulf war in which he was bombed for a month before the army went into the south from kuwait and saudi arabia. this time the tanks came in at the same time. the tactics and thus the resolve this time of the americans and brits caught him completely unaware and the fact that his top assistants were not all too keen to tell the emperor bad news hastened his departure.

jerusalem zp 05:37 GMT April 27, 2003
add this to your list of new developing today, from the new york times - an except from a long article outlining deceit and deception. starting to remind me when the communist 'wall' fell and the west suddenly had fifity years of documents showing how the russians and their political cohorts lied to the world regarding weapon systems and tactics and how they out right fooled western scientists who visited for inspections.........(nothing is new under the sun).
we are in for a long hot diplomatic/shouting summer. but whats a little disagreement between friends regarding chemical weapons, sharing of information, and two faced dealings in general?

Leading Iraqi Scientist Says He Lied to U.N. Inspectors
By JUDITH MILLER
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 26 — Nissar Hindawi, a leading figure in Iraq's biological warfare program in the 1980's, says the stories and explanations he and other scientists told the United Nations about the extent of Iraq's efforts to produce poisons and germ weapons "were all lies."
Dr. Hindawi, imprisoned during the final weeks of Saddam Hussein's rule, is now free to talk about his experiences in the program, in which he says he was forced to work from 1986 to 1989 and again sporadically until the mid-1990's.
Iraq, as it belatedly acknowledged, he says, "produced huge quantities" of liquid anthrax and botulinum toxin, which it concentrated 5 to 10 times with sulfuric acid and other preservatives.
"There were orders to destroy it," Dr. Hindawi said during interviews conducted today and on Friday. "They destroyed some — whether all or not, I can't say."
He said that while he worked in the program or was ordered to brief the inspectors on it, Iraq made 8.9 cubic meters of concentrated liquid anthrax, one of the deadliest and most durable germ weapons, and even larger quantities of botulinum toxin, one of the most lethal poisons.

jerusalem zp 13:55 GMT April 25, 2003
jp, in word it is called 'history'. all cultures remember and study their history......those who refuse to look at it are destined to repeat it as many philosphers say. i seriously doubt that there are many cultures on the planet that can get away from this. and while you use the m/e as an example why not study europe which has had many more people die on its continent the past five hundred years right up till the yugo conflicts. please lets not forget the great histories of the native americans land of which you live on because tribes were either wiped out or moved to another area........yes, you may have nothing to do with it, but it does not hurt to let the native americans remember, the new americans remember. nor does it hurt to let anyone else do so. the real power is in understanding what took place and coming to terms with it. spare me your constant pointing out of the middle east - take a look at europe in its most recent wars, africa, central america, and asia. the middle eastern wars have been tame compared to these. the only reason we matter is because nearly half the planet thinks they have some moral reason to pass judgement on the middle east because supposedly it is god's land...........

jerusalem zp 11:34 GMT April 25, 2003
athens and jp, i disagree with the both of you about this. the iraqi people as a nation should be allowed - if they want to and maybe they dont - a memorial that remembers all victims of saddam's tyrany. that list would include a wide range of the entire population. lets not forget that the baath party also put sunnis to death. i am not saying the united states or the united nations should set this place up either. if it comes it should come from the iraqi people in order to remember what took place and also try to build a way to reconcile and point towards the future a better life. what is so bad about that.
as for others groups, elders, etc, pressing to memorialize things it should be remembered that a lot has to do with the way such things are set up. i have personally visited concentration camps in europe and do not come out feeling aggresive towards and feel that i must now punish the offspring of other cultures and people. there are some things wish should never be forgotten. does it mean that this should deepen hatred, no, what it should do is make a visitor - a student - feel something for the victims and actually for the aggressors too, because in some way many of the aggressors were a victim of one sort to.
if you have ever studied the psychology of crowds you will find that all it takes is a few well placed individuals to move a mass. the same is true for society.
presentation is power. good presentation lets us live better lives because we are able to understand each other just a bit more.

jerusalem zp 09:42 GMT April 25, 2003
the following is an excerpt from the new york times. i think one way to help the iraqis would be to establish a memorial museum of saddam's victims............his victims need to be remembered and their deaths should not go unnoticed or in vain. freedom is something to fight for..........

Threat Gone, Iraqis Unearth Hussein's Nameless Victims
By IAN FISHER
BU GHRAIB, Iraq, April 24 — First the gravedigger found some teeth. "Please, just barely scrape the sand," Adel Rahaif Hani, whose brother, Satter, was arrested as a political prisoner in 1995, begged the digger. "I'm worried he's just below this layer."
Mr. Hani came to a cemetery here today, like dozens of other Iraqis, not with the name of his dead brother but with a number. Satter's number was 535. A cousin, Sagur, arrested at the same time, was 537.
These numbers were what was left of people convicted as enemies of Saddam Hussein and then made to disappear. Their graves were not dignified with names but with numbers painted on metal plates. The plates spread like rusty weeds, covering more and more feet of desert every year Mr. Hussein held power.
But now that he is gone, the families of the disappeared are finding the numbers, matching them to the metal plates and finally collecting their dead.
These were people executed — most by hanging in the fearsome Abu Ghraib prison a mile away — merely because the government considered them a threat. Many were Shiite Muslims more active in their religion than the Sunni-dominated government felt it could tolerate.


jerusalem zp 16:13 GMT April 24, 2003
dolphin, you are correct - it is strange but it goes hand in hand with the control the govt tries to put on people here when trading. capital gains laws are always about to be adjusted, rules of the game are changed in mid stream, thus many prefer the depths of foreign brokers, markets, and lands....

jerusalem zp 15:55 GMT April 24, 2003
dolphin, count me in on the i dont know club......sorry about the speech......

jerusalem zp 15:54 GMT April 24, 2003
dolphin, that being said, long term i am a heavy buyer of israel.

jerusalem zp 15:49 GMT April 24, 2003
dolphin, on the face of it any plan that will actually control spending and run a modern economy here is a good thing. but pardon me while i lol because there are too many external things out of bibi's hands here currently to predict what will take place:
palestinian issues
labor issues
corruption issues
perception of outside investors issues
if you think you have a grasp on those and then believe you can make a judgement be my guest. my greatest fear the last year has been that the economy here was being treated with smoke and mirrors and that major numbers were being manipulated almost like argentina.........personally i will not feel comfortable until 3 of the 4 issues above are dealt with in a transparent way.
until then i will operate my biz and go forth always looking behind my back.
does that help you?

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT April 24, 2003
lastly on subject of tase, that is why a few days ago i pointed out to haifa that prices are starting to near resistance points on the way up - this if you have been a long term investor as opposed to short term speculator......
could it have anything to do with the world political situation?

jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT April 24, 2003
it should be noted that several stocks even when looking at most recent gains here in israel the past few months, are still below their market share price from 2 and a half years ago - factor the loss of value with the schekel over that time and you are left with the words - BE CAUTIOUS still.......but who knows maybe tmrw (sunday) will be another up day....

jerusalem zp 15:18 GMT April 24, 2003
an interesting little story in case anyone is interested........

“Yediot Ahronot”: Merrill Lynch ranks TASE world’s no. 2 Q1 performer Merrill Lynch monitors the world’s stock exchanges according to the Morgan Stanley MSCI index.
Globes’ correspondent 24 Apr 03 15:18
Hebrew daily “Yediot Ahronot” reports that Merrill Lynch ranked the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) the world’s second-best performer among 45 stock markets worldwide in the first quarter of 2003.
Merrill Lynch monitors the world’s stock exchanges according to the Morgan Stanley MSCI index, which comprises a number of representative companies of each country’s stock market. Israel ranked second after the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). MSCI reported that the SET rose by 6.84% and the TASE generated a return of 6.17%. The Prague Stock Exchange was in third place, with a return of 5.97%. Israeli shares rose by 7.57% in March, the third highest return, after Brazil’s Bovespa, and Pakistan’s exchanges.
Israel was ranked in fourth place in dollar terms, with a return of 7.24%. The Buenos Aires Bourse was the top ranking stock exchange in dollar terms in the first quarter, with a return of 19.07%, followed by the Prague Stock Exchange at 8.62%; and the SET at 7.37%. The Korea Stock Exchange was in last place, with a negative return of 17.18%. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was in second-last place, with a negative return of 16.24%.


jerusalem zp 15:04 GMT April 24, 2003
ahe, i'd like to think that if saddam is still alive he is playing this game with bin laden in their time share in libya......

jerusalem zp 10:12 GMT April 24, 2003
athens, i have found your last couple of posts regarding democracy and the iraqi people very interesting.
i agree with you to an extent.
we must start somewhere so better today than tmrw. seems to me the art of democracy is going to be taught one person at a time and then handed down as a belief and then maybe one day as a woriking system.
i dont expect the iraqis to wake up tmrw morning thinking in a way that has not been part of their life culturally - but new concepts can be taught. as i said many times in this forum, taking over iraq was not going to be so difficult, the real problems would be at winning the peace.
i agree that this will not come about in television time, but i think it has to be tried...........i just hope that there is a viable plan in place that deals with the reality of the world the way the iraqis see it, and not some plan drawn up that envisions trying to convert people who do not exist except in some fairy tale.

jerusalem zp 08:01 GMT April 24, 2003
jp, this being said attacks are still being planned and attempted all too frequently.........

Israeli security guard took main blast of Palestinian suicide bombing at new Kfar Saba railway station early Thursday. He was killed at entrance. Second guard gravely injured. Thirteen commuters hurt in explosion, one seriously. Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades takes responsibility.



jerusalem zp 07:54 GMT April 24, 2003
jp, i bring you this info just in case you are wondering how exactly a peace coalition could be put in place if and when the time comes..............

New PA government could bring Labor back into coalition
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent
The establishment of a Palestinian government under Abu Mazen could hasten the chances of coalition changes in Israel, senior Labor Party sources say.
According to these sources, it might be possible for Labor to join Ariel Sharon's government in the not-too-distant future if the prime minister seriously intends to move forward on the peace process. Sharon has several times stated such an intention in the past two weeks, in media interviews and at a Likud pre-Passover meeting.
"If Sharon is serious, and if the National Religious Party and the National Union leave the coalition, we will be there to help him along the way," senior Labor sources said.

jerusalem zp 20:06 GMT April 22, 2003
and this before i leave for the night.......an article in cnn about iraq and it's possible future dealings with imf and world bank. it actually contains some interesting info -

http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/22/news/war_worldbank/index.htm

jerusalem zp 20:00 GMT April 22, 2003
ib, btw - i have as much faith in red as i do anyone within this forum. he is a purveryor of occam's chainsaw/razor and i thus believe in his capability to cut through the nonsense and use what he needs and wants. i trust his judgement quite a bit.

jerusalem zp 19:45 GMT April 22, 2003
red, we have the same problems with tomatoes here on the kibbutzeem, nothing is right for these folk unless they get their morning ration of tomatoes and cucumbers. nothing like a good cup of instant coffee, sliced and diced tomatoes and cucumbers, and bread in the morning to make one want to work in the cow shed and birth the slobbering beasts all day.

jerusalem zp 17:01 GMT April 22, 2003
ahe, btw, it is the flow of all possibilities that i find so intriguing. also important to note that one can tell the state of the world by watching the markets just as much as the other way around.

jerusalem zp 16:56 GMT April 22, 2003
ahe, appreciate all details......thks.
jv, as for critical thinking, all of life is and if it isnt well then it just can be an interpretation......thks. other than that i will let grand delirium rule. reality is the illusion we make it.

jerusalem zp 16:34 GMT April 22, 2003
ahe, i appreciate your note and thoughts as always. please know that a wise man that participates on this forum taught me long ago to discount all news i read as manipulation. the article was interesting but i treat it only just this way.

jerusalem zp 16:31 GMT April 22, 2003
jv, let me make a feeble attempt to serve you. israel for a long time has let it be known that it has weapons that can take anybody on the planet out. we dont go around parading this publicly but we do let people know.much like haifa has said, israel and a majority of its citizens know first or second generation about the fear and actions of having to face genocide. we are a small clan of about 6 million people here. just about any mad man who wants us all dead can try to build a machine to accomplish the task. in a way we - israelis - all linger in the same place. this being said, if someone wants to wipe us out they should know that we practice the old school - old testament - justice here. we will take down anybody and everybody who attempts to take us down. it is that simple. it isnt a threat. it is a fact. we survive because we refuse to eat the world's crapolla.
note too while i write, haifa wrote about subs, dolphin wrote about facts not being facts sometimes, let me add that we have missiles that can hit anyplace on god's good earth.
we are not momma's boys jews here,we will not be sent to any ones gas chambers again without putting up a terrible fight.

jerusalem zp 11:08 GMT April 22, 2003
ahe, no i dont think so, i love the states and have spent a lot of time there, but i think the cops have always been a bit uptight there........

jerusalem zp 10:59 GMT April 22, 2003
i must ask, is it just me, i love dogs as much as anyone, but why shouldn't the guy have fought back? is he supposed to let a dog bite him after he hah been pounded on already by the cops? stupid world.......

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The world turned upside down in Syracuse, New York, Saturday night -- at least for one drunken bar patron and an unlucky police dog.
After being thrown out of a bar, Paul Russell Jr., 33, bit Renny, a 3-year-old German shepherd who works for the local police, according to a report in Syracuse's Post-Standard newspaper.
The rare "Man Bites Dog" incident happened when Renny and his police handler were sent to investigate a disturbance after Russell was ejected by bouncers, the newspaper reported Monday.
Russell was on the sidewalk and bleeding from the head when he grabbed the dog by the throat and started choking it and biting it on the neck, police told the paper.



jerusalem zp 10:39 GMT April 22, 2003
funny stuff spoofing bush, blair, economists, military industrial complex.......

http://www.foulds2000.freeserve.co.uk/economists.htm

jerusalem zp 08:39 GMT April 22, 2003
and while i have a moment, i would just like to congratulate 'histradut' the workers union in israel for not calling a strike during the passover holiday so they could get paid for their legal holidays and holding off on the strike until the 'haggeem' (holidays) are over so they can then throw the country into chaos and continue not to work......

jerusalem zp 08:34 GMT April 22, 2003
this from ha'aretz on the ongoing soap opera in the palestinian offices..........it will probably be much the same (in some type of israeli way) when it is time for sharon to confront the NRP - national religious party - over the settlers.......
the old men are going to find out the hard way that .....times, they are changing......

Arafat, Abu Mazen at loggerheads over confronting militia groups
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
The dispute between Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Palestinian prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) over the formation of a new government centers around the latter's plans to dismantle Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades and his intentions to confront Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Most reports have focused on Abu Mazen's plan to make Mohammed Dahlan, the Gazan strongman and former head of the Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, head of the new government's security services. However, Palestinian sources said the dispute actually revolves around the premier-designate's plans for establishing a new PA security policy, and whether he must win Arafat's approval for every decision he makes.


jerusalem zp 17:58 GMT April 21, 2003
Schnitzer: SARS could cause global diamond crisis
Israel Diamond Exchange president says the world’s diamond exchanges believe trade could fall by over $2-2.5 billion.
Hadas Manor 21 Apr 03 16:22
“The SARS epidemic could cause a global problem in the diamond industry. Diamond exports to the Far East from key diamond production centers in Belgium, South Africa, India, and China have already been hard hit,” Israel Diamond Exchange president Shmuel Schnitzer told “Globes” today.
Schnitzer also serves as president of the World Federation of Diamond Exchanges, which incorporates 25 diamond exchanges, including Singapore and Hong Kong.
Schnitzer said the world’s diamond exchanges expect SARS will cut the world’s diamond trade by at least 10%, unless a vaccine is found soon. A fifth of the world’s $20-25 billion diamond trade is directed to the Far East, and that trade could be halved.



jerusalem zp 13:23 GMT April 21, 2003
ab, ahe, be, revdax, and sfx, may i please ask a very cynical question? what is the chance that sars will be used as an excuse to settle old political scores and as an excuse for bad economic growth?
what is the chance that the mayor of bejing and the minister of health yesterday in china were fired not so much for mishandling the sars epidemic but in actuality because old political score could now be notched and sars could be used as an easy excuse to rid them from the scene?
same goes for the economic news coming out of singapore, hong kong, and southern china? what is the chance that the sars news will be used as an excuse to cover 'bad financial news' that was already brewing?
for instance jp's dollar peg article notes that the peg has been called into question the past five years. while i know full well sars is a crisis and a terrible illness that poses a threat to the public, it too can be used as a defence to disguise other things.
thks in advance.

jerusalem zp 12:49 GMT April 21, 2003
all of this being said, is there any reason why the u.s would be stupid enough to try and help keep the iraqi bank notes floated as a real currency.........seems they would open themselves for a disaster of even greater magnitude if they were to try this. bad enough that the country is awash in notes but there is probably a high level of counterfeit money around too........ not fair i know, but it seems logical that the dollar quickly replace the dinar until the iraqi central bank is set up once again and has a policy in place.

jerusalem zp 12:42 GMT April 21, 2003
i have some cuban bank notes with che's signature on them when he was named to the financial post in cuba in the early days of the revolution......nice to collect.
this being said, money with saddam on the notes will be worth something as a collectable but perhaps not much since he apparently was having money printed like crazy to prop up his spending within iraq.


jerusalem zp 12:37 GMT April 21, 2003
athens, i heard a report on the bbc radio last night that the dinars are now being dealt with as souvenirs. unfortunately for the iraqi people it looks like this currency is just about dead in the water. you and ahe bring up a very interesting point, one that i have no idea will be dealt with fairly. seems to me (i am only mildly joking about this too) that the best thing the iraqis could do would be to get their hands on several of the card sets that the u.s. soldiers have - mint would be best - hoard them and then sell them on e-bay for a few thousand dollars a pack in the coming months.......these cards will be worth a lot of money within twenty years, stupid perhaps, but true......

jerusalem zp 12:52 GMT April 20, 2003
and more into this story about david eisenhower which brings us full circle back into the world surrounding us.....this because john fogerty of the much underrated rock band credence clearwater revival claimed that the song 'fortunate son' was written about the likes of people like david eisenhower......


jerusalem zp 12:42 GMT April 20, 2003
ahe, ike was ike........anyway, david went on, correct me someone if this is wrong, to marry one of nixon's children i believe. perhaps in another fifty years it will be renamed yet again. who knows? perhaps camp clinton..........perhaps not.

jerusalem zp 12:22 GMT April 20, 2003
ahe, here you go........
On January 20, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower took office as President of the United States and the use of the Catoctin Mountain Presidential continued. President Eisenhower renamed the compound from Shangri-La to ‘Camp David” after his grandson, David Eisenhower. The Eisenhowers made other changes to the Camp; President Roosevelt’s escape door was removed; the family living quarters were made more private; the building was air-conditioned. President and Mrs. Eisenhower regarded the place as one of their private homes; therefore , the camp was no longer available to members of the Cabinet or White House staff. Also, because of the president’s affinity for the game of golf , the broad lawn east of the Main Lodge was converted into a three-hole golf course and a skeet range was added.



jerusalem zp 11:45 GMT April 20, 2003
correction, not a blood test, but a swab smear from the throat and examined.....(this just in case anyone has a test coming up).

jerusalem zp 11:43 GMT April 20, 2003
revdax, another key is not to exert yourself too much during this time. stay away from the leggies just a little bit too.
last year i battled with whooping cough for about a four month period, it was the worse thing i have ever had. it was a choking cough, completely uncomfortable, and worse yet completely misdiagnosed for the first three months. my wife, the psychologist, kept telling me the illness was in my head. since i am not apt for being sick very often i found myself wanting to express myself in disagreement with my wife regarding the matter strongly. thankfully, i finally met a doctor who gave me a blood test for whooping cough. it is a childhood illness for the most part, i - of coarse - waited until i was well into my adulthood to try it out.
in the end, you must think positively, rest, eat wisely and wait. you will be okay..........take care.

jerusalem zp 11:27 GMT April 20, 2003
revdax, dont forget chicken soup and tea.........this time honored remedy has been passed down from one jewish grandmother to the next for five thousand years.....

jerusalem zp 11:23 GMT April 20, 2003
haifa, whether you know it or not you are stumbling around the reasons why some of the larger countries did not want the u.s. to go to war against iraq - and that is the debt question. as athens and bc have pointed out while there may be logical reasons to forgive the debt owed, it would be a rather bad precedent for countries such as argentina which have been dealing with a debt crisis for almost a generation now which had to do with a corrupt dictatorship (as opposed to non-corrupt dictatorship). perhaps this is why saddam was holding onto the royal dinnerware from kuwait which has gold inlay and he liked to eat off of, he wanted to auction off the plates and their ilk on e-bay.....to repay debt.

aaaaaaah, before another ship sinks (not speaking about the accident in your port today btw), what do you make of the battle between arafat and mazzan? seems to me it is a clear case of arafat not being ready to give up the reins - why he would be more ready now than before is a very good question considering his history.
for all the idle nonsense the israelis come up with time and time again, it behoves us to note that the palestinians are locked in a quagmire for controlling their own destiny - one that might take them a long time to find a solution to. nothing will be resolved between the palestinians and israelis until the palestinian power struggle is finished. in the end, arafat will lose his struggle to a group of people who are ready to deal - maybe tmrw, maybe in two years.

jerusalem zp 08:39 GMT April 20, 2003
haifa, i am not speaking about volume of today's session - this with the holiday week - but overall as of late.
also, on the noise from media front, i have noticed a lot of people writing into the 'experts' wondering why they should even consider stock after the performance of the indexes the past three years. if the sentiment of the public is a true contrarian indicator..............we are almost there.

jerusalem zp 08:33 GMT April 20, 2003
haifa, is it me or does the tase look like many of its top 100 are about to break some major resistance levels? volumes have also been interesting...........hmmmm.

jerusalem zp 08:29 GMT April 20, 2003
wasnt the same web site posted last week?

jerusalem zp 09:13 GMT April 18, 2003
may i please ask why anyone should care about what the science minster things about trying to making peace?

12:04Science Minister Sandberg objects to confidence building measures, says PA hasn`t done enough to fight terror (Israel Radio)

what a joke.......

jerusalem zp 09:08 GMT April 16, 2003
athens, maybe one day you will be the owner of a team.....
ICE HOCKEY IN GREECE
http://www.icehockey.gr/

jerusalem zp 07:44 GMT April 16, 2003
haifa, you should stop using sport parables when speaking about international affairs. everyone knows that in order to have a good hockey team that a premier left winger is very important. only through the cohesive union of a right winger and a left winger can the center provide the puck in order to have balanced play which leads to winning. throughout your career as a top hockey guru you have learned that a balanced front line and strong defence make for stanley cups, i am shocked with this outburst.

jerusalem zp 16:51 GMT April 15, 2003
jv, hello, question for you, did it cross your mind to think that just maybe the iraqis who were looting should be held accountable for their actions too?
when the people of los angeles looted after the rodney king riots whose fault was it that looting was taking place?
who was responsible for the looting in new york city when the electric failed in the late 70's one summer night?
seems to me the looters were criminal in all these instances.


jerusalem zp 15:58 GMT April 15, 2003
nh, like dolphin i just dont think chirac could possibly be this naive, he is a classic politician and seems to have survived too long in the rough and tumble world of french politics to let this kind of thing hang over his head. unless of coarse, some one else permitted it without his knowledge.

jerusalem zp 15:39 GMT April 15, 2003
haifa, any comments on debka's assertions that france has actually taken in some of the iraqi leaders to help assad in syria placate the americans?
not even i think it is possible..........but wilder things have happened in life.

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT April 15, 2003
haifa, please dont tell me that you had a thing too for margaret thatcher. though i do recall hearing that she was able to charm the socks off of reagan, gorbachav, and mitterand.....

jerusalem zp 10:43 GMT April 15, 2003
......just got off the phone with a business associate of mine in israel who is in the shipping biz, he says he has seen an increase in biz in since jan. of this year of 20% over last year for both import and export, he said the only problem now seems to be collecting the money on his end when he has completed work for the clients. thus, is it possible to deduce that people have started to gamble - that is manufactures and wholesalers - that we are going to see a economic rebound shortly?

jerusalem zp 10:33 GMT April 15, 2003
short term vs. long term are two different games.....

jerusalem zp 09:42 GMT April 15, 2003
haifa, have you seen what the tase (tel aviv stock exchange) is doing today?

jerusalem zp 09:34 GMT April 15, 2003
before i get too busy, i would like to take this time to wish everyone a happy passover and easter for those celebrating either of the holidays....

jerusalem zp 09:27 GMT April 15, 2003
haifa, do the words, "speak softly and carry a big stick" mean anything to you? syria is the cuba of the middle east, we shall see what happens......but for gnat sized problems these two places do get a lot of attention.

jerusalem zp 08:19 GMT April 15, 2003
haifa, dont count on syria being irrelevant. afterall, correct me if i am wrong, this is a war supposedly being fought to curtail the powers of terrorism is it not?
syria and iran are different heads on the same beast. syria condones various factions and lets them operate offices in damacus and worse yet gives a wide leash to hizbullah. for all of the naysayers regarding my connecting iran to syria, please note that i have no proof that they in fact coordinate their itineraries but there is legitimate proof that hizbullah receive a large amount of money from their caretakers in tehran which is followed by logistical help by the syrians.
where does that leave us? i suspect a massive amount of political pressure is about to be exerted on syria.
there is little reason to invade syria, it is a poor and backward country that suffers from a great deal of corrruption but more than anything mismanagement.
thus, haifa, your premise that syria is irrelevent is not correct, they need to have attention paid to them to make this region more stable. BUT, they just might be able to be taken care of much like romania after the soviet union fell. it is probable that if the hizbullah is taken care of somehow that internal pressures on the eye doctor will take care of things themselves.

note, that afghanistan has actually contacted israel about creating formal recognition and communication with each other. i suspect by this time next year iraq will be doing much the same. thus, it is also in our seat, we must take care of things here too. i understand full well that arafat is having a hard time coming to grips with his loss of power and is blocking his prime minister currently, but this will change too.

as for north korea, count on the fact that china and russia have something to say about matters there too. and since it is there geographical backyard they will have to be listened to in a very respectful way.

we are in fact living in interesting times, i believe things are getting better........
one last thing, do not gloat because you side is winning, it looks bad in sports and no better in international affairs.


jerusalem zp 19:27 GMT April 14, 2003
dolphin, for almost anyone in biz in italy, the worst nightmare are the folk from the 'guardia di finanza' showing up with their cars at curbsite.



jerusalem zp 18:57 GMT April 14, 2003
dophin, your comments regarding biz in france are on the mark, europe as a whole suffers from a large amount of misguided regulations which help to keep its economies in the proverbial toilet. germany and italy suffer too everyday from an exhaustive amount of taxation........it is not for naught that two sets of books are kept in most of these countries.

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT April 14, 2003
ib, "..............a global israel........." and if i may paraphrase, this being a place where all is justified......
pardon me, i know you are not really french, but i just love when someone living the life points fingers at someone else because they somehow feel psychologically stained by the actions of things in their own enviroment. can you say transference?
please, dont let me be the only one to point out that talking out of both sides of their mouth is a political skill taught best by the place you reside.

jerusalem zp 13:43 GMT April 14, 2003
the u.s. should do as the romans.....that is after turning iraq into the country they want, they should arm the iraqis and have them carry out military policy in the area as an ally of the 'west'. thus after iraq is armed it should be sent into syria to control the 'great merchant' class that apparently is of so much interest to the u.s. this too would give the iraqis some self esteem back and let them know that they are actually still able to pick on other countries from time to time.
freeing the syrians would be a bit like giving the northern italians along the adriatic the ability to trade with the east during the renassiance. with syria being taken care of by the iraqi army, the u.s could turn its eyes towards the french......


jerusalem zp 16:44 GMT April 1, 2003
folks, it is early on......and unfortunately i still have no time to really be a part of the forum - this until next week. but i would like to say that it appears to me that syria is now getting lined up for some type of pressure to be excerted upon it - perhaps of a military nature. rumors have existed for months that syria has transfered weapons bought by iraq to their neighbor - that they have also hidden weapons for iraq...... and in addition now, syria is helping the cause by allowing volunteers to cross into iraq to fight......the united states will view this gravely and i suspect will deal with this issue in a way that they find meets the issues. we are only now really entering the black hole, welcome.



jerusalem zp 13:52 GMT April 13, 2003
jp, the idealism comment was my attempt at gallows humor....
as for sharon, he is the elected leader of israel and must remain vigilant - afterall that is why he was elected. i suspect he is making his viewpoints known before he and his team must enter the negotiating room........we will see what happens, and until otherwise stated i will stick with my predictions regarding the outcome - a good outcome.



jerusalem zp 12:36 GMT April 13, 2003
jp, glad that you checked in today because i have been waiting to post this address which is an interveiw between sharon and ha'aretz in today's paper.......the only thing i will add to this is........if not sharon it will be someone else.
lastly, nothing wrong with idealism as long as it is protected by body armour.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/283307.html

jerusalem zp 11:44 GMT April 13, 2003
the best comedy to come out of the iraq war thus far is this:

A spokeswoman at Central Command war headquarters in Qatar said she had no comment on U.S. military action in Tikrit, but joked: "We're hearing that CNN has taken Tikrit."

this after the cnn crew headed into the area of tikrit and actually tried to enter the city until being shot on today. did anyone else watching the live footage as sandler and his help in the convoy from cnn roamed the desolate warehouses of tanks and a republican guard fortress feel like they were watching a stupid group of teenagers entering what could only be described as a horror movie about to happen?



jerusalem zp 05:10 GMT April 13, 2003
revdax, regarding 1:00, it is possible that what the iraqis witnessed were several of the regimes arm depots exploding after they were hit. when massive quantities of bombs are exploding in a warehouse it can cause all types of 'evidence' but sometimes incorrectly.

jerusalem zp 23:02 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, i am glad to see that you and i have solved the one of the world's problems tonight. with this i must leave and direct some attention to sleep for about five hours. thks as always and have a safe night.

jerusalem zp 22:54 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, i wrote 41 before i saw your 40. it is an easy answer for me, settlements will be and must be shut down if and when palestinians agree to israel's existence and its right to live as a jewish nation into infinity........simple as that. jews wishing to remain in palestinian land will be issued palestinian passports, just as arabs living in israel have been given israeli passports. is that direct enough for you?

jerusalem zp 22:41 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, further into this .........this is why haifa and i disagree a lot of the time. you see, i accept there is a palestine, just as i accept there is an israel. check the maps of most books and you will see that people have actually inserted notations regarding some type of boundaries - PROBLEM is that no two people agree on where the boundaries are and will be and for the 'real fanatics on both sides' why they should even exist in the first place.
athens, it isnt easy i admit this and i really wish not to bother you with this, it even gives me a rash thinking about it.

jerusalem zp 22:33 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, i disagree with you. arafat is the recognized leader of palestine. there is a such thing internationally as a palestinian passport. check on this if you dont believe it. further more, arafat has been caught red handed funding the terrorism. and the terrorism he has not funded was funded by the iraq's - by paying families for the service of suicide bombers and by iran through its proxy the hizbullah. this is indesputable and there is ample evidence for all of the above. must i remind you about the ship israel seized last year and countless documents recovered when israel took over arafat's headquarters in ramallah?

jerusalem zp 22:21 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, the world community could start by sending out a 'i'm sorry' card i suppose. all kidding aside, i suspect that america and britain are going to press for iraq debt forgiveness to a certain extent, this will drive the creditors crazy but certainly plays into the hands of 'the coalition' when it has to pose on television wearing the good guy hats. as i said prior to the war with iraq, beating iraq would not be so difficult, setting up future economic policy and a real functioning govt would be the tricky part.
further to the point, you can be sure the states will not hesitate to embarrass the french regarding this matter.

jerusalem zp 22:16 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, your notes regarding terrorism are true, but too they bear out what haifa is arguing. if we are pure philosophically enough to say the actions of both sides are acts of war and that all targets are legitimate than we must accept all of the consequences of war. if the palestinians want to fight a war by blowing up school kids on buses, people praying during passover, then they had better expect to have retaliation that seems rather unpleasant to most. it cuts both ways.....doesnt make it nice but know it can be interpreted this way.

jerusalem zp 22:05 GMT April 12, 2003
haifa, get ready, the world's eye is going to start focusing on israel & palestine in a way i think you will find hard to believe....

folks, i would like someone to verify this but i heard tonight that the amount of foreign debt that iraq owes is somewhere in the neighborhood of 140-160 billion u.s.d.
i have also been told that the three top creditors are in no particular order - france, germany, and russia.
is this true?
what will happen regarding debt forgiveness? why should the iraqi people be responsible to have to pay back debt if it was being lent money that a dictator was borrowing to build lavish palaces and a regime in order to quell unrest by a population being brutalized?
seems to me that france, germany, and russia will have some explaining to do to the masses.......am i being unfair?



jerusalem zp 21:21 GMT April 12, 2003
ib, i respectfully disagree with you. no one wants peace more than the average israelis on the street. believe what you may, but i feel confident when i say that. my point was not the brutal listing of tribulations - typically i stay away from that sort of thing. no, my point was to say that there is a reality here, an ugly reality. we must strive for peace everyday, but that includes both israelis and palestinians. do not try to tell me that all the palestinians are peace loving and all the israelis are a perpetual monster - it is wrong, and no matter how or why you believe it doesnt matter. putting flowers in guns is a beautiful notion, but it is one that could get you killed here - on both sides. this is not some simplistic morality play being performed in israel and palestine, it is real life. sometimes you must stand up for what you believe in.

jerusalem zp 21:14 GMT April 12, 2003
athens, hello, i appreciate your comments and questions as always. land is an issue for both parties, israel wants enough to make sure it will not be invaded and run over while it sleeps. the palestinians want a cohesive land, one that is a real place, a real border, and one that is fair.
having said that, the current conflict -if i may be so naive so describe it that way - goes back to the choices made at the negotiation table by mr. arafat and mr. barak at camp david two and a half years ago. arafat walked out of that meeting and promptly started an armed intifada. we - ibiza and i - can go around the proverbial block on the reasons and justifications for it happening but it is none the less a line. if we can get past ill will and the behavior of the past the real question is where do we go from here? the point we will wind up is known by both israelis and palestinians - i believe it is nearly where arafat and barak left off the last time, problem is getting leadership that is bold enough on both sides to tell their collective populations the truth. israel will have to live with a palestinian country on its borders and the palestinians will have to accept israel as a country on its borders. unfortunately the issue of borders and statehood are actually the easy parts. getting both populations to act in a way that is mutually best for the other is my deepest concern. overcoming the fear that pervades both sides of the street which dominates everything now and has led to hate is very hard.
i for one do not want a fake peace, one that last only another 50 years before the next war. i want to live in peace with my palestinian neighbors into infinity. when both peoples can say this we will have reason to believe in a good future here. we have a very long road ahead of us, it is attainable, but it will be hard at best sometimes. i for one promise to engage palestinians and israelis the best to my ability within business.
i hope this answer helps somehow.

jerusalem zp 22:01 GMT April 11, 2003
nh, the one big difference is that the u.s. pays attention and gives consideration to the turks......

jerusalem zp 21:09 GMT April 11, 2003
ib, all powerful stuff that you are presenting, but let me ask you something......when is the last time you were parked near a bus that exploded next to you and had limbs from the victims hit your windshield? when was the last time you went to work and found out four of your relatives died when on a bus going to school? when is the last time you kissed your wife (or someone you love deeply) in the morning and told her you love her because you know that it is possible you may never get the chance to tell her that again? when is the last time you canceled a night out at a restaurant to go to a friend's for dinner and later on found out that the restaurant you were planning on attending blew up? when is the last time you answered your phone because relatives were calling to see if you were okay because they just saw some news on the television that unsettled them?
tell me please, and then tell me why i shouldnt continue to go on with a tough shell.........we are fighting a war, perhaps it is stupid to you, but my family has spent generations being chased by all kinds of people, i will no longer run.

jerusalem zp 21:00 GMT April 11, 2003
ib, i believe the chicago tribune is owned by the tribune company, which is definitely one of the biggest media companies in the state, they also own a tv station - wgn - which is considered a superstation because it is beamed via cable throughout the country. it is also considered a conservatie paper - having said that - its news stories are no more biased than london's guardian.
as for the war in my hometown, it will not go on forever, eventually someone is going to tire, or both will tire, or everyone will be dead, or one side will be left standing OR SOME COMMON SENSE WILL STRIKE not in the way of a bomb of death but a lightning strike for liberty. but alas, i am a cynical optimist at best. one of these days, both sides, the israelis and palestinians will get leadership brave enough to cross the divide.
having said this i remain committed to my optimistic approach to the war in iraq as an avenue to force israel and palestine to the table (in madrid of coarse) and force the two sides to kiss (wipe off their mouths) and get down to the business of glaring at each other from a marked border - this until both can trust the other one enough to actually start having relations again.
one last thing to say, most israelis and most palestinians want peace. some of us actually work together everyday, others shake their heads on both sides and say that we are crazy of coarse......but we go on even when we dont agree all the time. one day, if he is willing, i really hope to sit down with ibiza and do business with him and then buy him dinner in his favorite restaurant in gaza, bethlehem, or tel aviv.
until then i shall plant where i can and pull weeds when possible.

jerusalem zp 20:44 GMT April 11, 2003
ib, there is a lot more than my own backyard to worry about....if it were that easy you would have really appreciated my garden by now.....no, what i have here is a problem with weeds - and they grow all over the darn place.
thks for the tip though....

jerusalem zp 20:42 GMT April 11, 2003
ib, here is a story for your regarding some of the folks recently trying to get out of cuba. while i understand a peace activists got shot today and i feel sympathy towards the person, it should be pretty clear by now that we are fighting a war in israel. again, maybe not textbook, but a war none the less. those brave enough to protest the war here should know that innocent people die on both sides by now - including themselves once in a while.
here's the cuba story, via the chicago tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-cuba-hijackers-executed,1,1304308.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed

jerusalem zp 20:34 GMT April 11, 2003
ib, i want castro out so i can control the gambling interest my uncle meyer had there some years back.......all kidding aside, castro isnt all peaches and creme (cigars and old chevys).

jerusalem zp 18:29 GMT April 11, 2003
and this.......for whom ever was the person only a couple of days ago speaking about the virtues of cuba....

Cuba Friday executed three men charged with hijacking a passenger ferry April 2, Cuban state-run television reported.

these people jeopardized everything amd died for the fight to be free. in the past three weeks there have been at least 2 attempts to fly planes into the united states from cuba via high jacks in attempts to win freedom. how many flights have been high jacked in order to escape to cuba since castro has taken over? aaaaaah dictators and ex-cia agents fleeing their hunters do not count.

jerusalem zp 14:21 GMT April 11, 2003
The cycle of violence between the Jews and the Egyptians continues with no end in sight in Egypt. After eight previous plagues that have destroyed the Egyptian infrastructure and disrupted the lives of ordinary Egyptian citizens, the Jews launched a new offensive this week in the form of the plague of darkness. Western journalists were particularly enraged by this plague. "It is simply impossible to report when you can't see an inch in front of you," complained a frustrated Andrea Koppel of CNN. "I have heard from my reliable Egyptian contacts that in the midst of the blanket of blackness,
the Jews were annihilating thousands of Egyptians. Their word is solid enough evidence for me."
While the Jews contend that the plagues are justified given the harsh slavery imposed upon them by the Egyptians, Pharaoh, the Egyptian leader, rebuts this claim. "If only the plagues would let up, there would be no slavery. We just want to live plague-free. It is the right of every society."
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian spokesperson, complains that slavery is justifiable given the Jews' superior weaponry supplied to them by the superpower G-d.
The Europeans are particularly enraged by the latest Jewish offensive. "The Jewish aggression must cease if there is to be peace in the region. The Jews should go back to slavery for the good of the rest of the world," stated an angry French President Jacques Chirac.
Even several Jews agree. Adam Shapiro, a Jew, has barricaded himself within Pharaoh's chambers to protect Pharaoh from what is feared will be the next plague, the death of the firstborn. Mr. Shapiro claims that while slavery
is not necessarily a good thing, it is the product of the plagues and when the plagues end, so will the slavery. " The Jews have gone too far with plagues such as locusts and epidemic which have virtually destroyed the Egyptian economy," Mr. Shapiro laments. "The Egyptians are really a
very nice people and Pharaoh is kind of huggable once you get to know him," gushes Shapiro.
The United States is demanding that Moses and Aaron, the Jewish leaders, continue to negotiate with Pharaoh. While Moses points out that Pharaoh had made promise after promise to free the Jewish people only to immediately
break them and thereafter impose harsher and harsher slavery, Richard Boucher of the State Department assails the latest offensive. "Pharaoh is not in complete control of the taskmasters," Mr. Boucher states. "The Jews must return to the negotiating table and will accomplish nothing through
these plagues."
The latest round of violence comes in the face of a bold new Saudi peace overture. If only the Jews will give up their language, change their names to Egyptian names, and cease having male children, the Arab nations will incline toward peace with them, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah declared.



jerusalem zp 13:59 GMT April 11, 2003
iraq's future leader????????
http://villagevoice.com/issues/0315/fahim.php

jerusalem zp 13:27 GMT April 10, 2003
anyone notice that the marine who put a united states flag on saddam's head yesterday before taking it down was in fact a 23 year old kid whose parents immigrated from burma? the family lives in brooklyn now and are absorbed in the american dream. we can sit here all day long and argue about what makes america a great country but in the end 'inclusion' when truly practiced has to be high on the list.

jerusalem zp 13:10 GMT April 10, 2003
and now comes the fun part, watching france, germany, and russia trying to organize some formula so they can be involved in the future of iraq......this is more hilarious and sad than caisa:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/10/sprj.irq.europe.reaction/index.html





jerusalem zp 11:24 GMT April 10, 2003
dolphin, i suppose it is a question of philosophy. i choose to look at it as a war between good and bad. now that will be likely to anger as many people as haifa almost. but let me point out that if it is fought as a clash of civilizations you are putting yourself in position that will make for a conflict that rages for eons........and perhaps it will and perhaps you will be proven correct. BUT if you choose to look at this as a war between good and bad, about the chance to give other people freedom, and the chance to switch sides as was shown yesterday instead of letting yourself die for 'the cause' we are apt to end this conflict much sooner.
we live in a world in which the power to communicate is one of the greatest tools. as haifa and others have pointed out, the mere fact that syrians and iranians will hear news about this upheaval and the joy it caused on the streets causes the leadership of both these countries to quake in their pants.
in the end i must stick to what i know, perhaps i am too much an optimist but i believe that there are too many regular moshes & machmouds on each side who have received enough education to understand that the choice to live under the yoke of dictatorship or freedom offers a huge difference in the standards of living. be they palestinian, syrian, iraqi, or iranian - or even settlers in the west bank - somewhere within these masses is a group of people who understand that it is wiser to live in peace and prosper instead of listening to bold face announcements from a loud speaker offering up your death instead of theirs as they comfortably send you off as a martyr for a cause.

jerusalem zp 10:42 GMT April 10, 2003
dolphin, with the fear of going off into some talmudic semantics, lets say i agree with you....
yet, it can work the other way, a person can choose also to leave the rabbi behind.
too, a man can choose to live with his dictatorial wife and worse yet believe in all that is spewed from above without questioning because they have been conditioned to do so.

jerusalem zp 09:57 GMT April 10, 2003
haifa, another question for you prime minister, i would like to ask you about the celebrations going on in baghdad. if this is clash of civilizations why are the people on the street acting as if they are happy to see the american soldiers there? if it were a clash of civilizations wouldnt the people choose to die against the oppressive regime about to be imposed on them? amazing how fast the people seem to have switched sides isnt it? is it an act? i doubt it. thus, it seems to me that the people, when the yoke of a dictatorship has been vanquished actually prove that they care not about a battle of cultures and civilizations as you put it, but actually are crying in joy for FREEDOM - be it real or potential......
it seems to me all the mullahs, rabbis, and priests and the leaders that govern above could learn a thing from the general population. fed enough garbage over the years and without a choice to change the diet people some how wind up asking for more of the same, but given a choice and the power to change and affirm life they will always do so.


jerusalem zp 09:15 GMT April 10, 2003
haifa, at one time and maybe still you were fond of quoting, "you are either with us or against us". i need to point out that it is possible to be with us but with our eyes open to the world. you should remember that while you list diatribes being spoken in mosques around the world that we 'the coalition' are in fact fighting against a secular dictatorship currently - one that does use religion in order to try and create fervor no doubt elsewhere, but none the less secular. the world in my eyes is a bit more complicated than merely saying it is us against them.

jerusalem zp 09:05 GMT April 10, 2003
athens, agree with you about this and i would like to take it a bit further. history is also largely written by the victorious side. how would the world history look now if pychopaths such as hitler would have been victorious? the world would have looked upon the deaths of millions and millions of people like it now looks upon the death of the natives on north and south america - and that is merely as a weak link that perhaps was not up to snuff in order to exist on our fine planet. (yes it is a completely disgusting notion, but one that unfortunately rings true in our worlds twisted logic). the gifts have always gone to the victors......this is not about to change anytime soon.

jerusalem zp 08:57 GMT April 10, 2003
haifa, in order to have a clash, there must logically be two parties in which to carry out such a gathering. point is that on our side of the hill there is no shortage of nuts either. lets remember that fanatics on both sides of the spectrum must be dealt with.
here's to dealing with all the fanatics......
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/282799.html

jerusalem zp 08:50 GMT April 10, 2003
tikrit, tikrit, tikrit.........is the mother of all surrenders awaiting there?

jerusalem zp 07:55 GMT April 10, 2003
A woman was walking along the beach when she stumbled upon a bottle. She picked it up & rubbed it, & lo & behold a Genie appeared. The amazed woman asked if she got three wishes.
The Genie said, " Nope, sorry. Three-wish genies are a myth. Most of us are just single types. I'm a one-wish genie. So...what'll it be?
The woman didn't hesitate.. She said, "I want peace in the Middle East. See this map? I want these countries to stop fighting with each other & I want all the Arabs to love Jews & Americans & vice-versa. It will bring about world peace & harmony.
The Genie looked at the map & exclaimed: "Lady, be reasonable! These countries have been at war for thousands of years. I'm, out of shape after being in a bottle for centuries. I'm good but not THAT good! Don't think it can be done.
Make another wish & please make it a bit more reasonable."
The woman thought for a minute & said, "Well, I've never been able to find the right man. You know, one that's considerate & fun, likes to cook & helps with the housecleaning, is great in bed & gets along with my family, doesn't watch sports all the time, & is faithful...and handsome.
That's what I wish for....a good man I can marry and make my mate."
The Genie let out a long sigh, shook his head & said:
"Show me the darn map again."




jerusalem zp 20:26 GMT April 9, 2003
ib, actually it did include some interesting bits on chile and the allende / pinochet coup......but i will leave it at that. i must go now, she who must be obeyed is beckoning.....

dolphin, if the new iraqi govt is wise it will not consider any contract offers to collect trash by any israelis. (let me point out that for those who dont live in israel, that we have been undergoing the threat of a national labor strike for sometime, thing is the trash collectors always manage to go out first and come back last)

jerusalem zp 19:56 GMT April 9, 2003
btw, i pray that i am right for both spain's sake and that of the israelis and palestinians........

jerusalem zp 19:55 GMT April 9, 2003
athens, i like you and fear that you are not particularly pleased with me lately but allow me to tell you that it is no small secret that spain hopes to be included in a world wide diplomatic effort to get the israeli and palestinian talks going once again. forget not the madrid conference in the early 90's which came about shortly after the persian gulf war. count on madrid being a focal point in the next go around as well. spain has taken a gamble and i dare say it will pay off to be included in the higher reaches of diplomatic gamesmenship that will begin this summer.

jerusalem zp 19:39 GMT April 9, 2003
and lastly, what about this, seems the zionist entity has already linked itself to the euro.......

http://www.mof.gov.il/beinle/euro_declare.htm

jerusalem zp 19:34 GMT April 9, 2003
should i even take the time to point out spain, which is a large backer of our current war, is part of the euro already?

jerusalem zp 19:32 GMT April 9, 2003
ib, so let me get this right......tony blair who backs his country joining the euro is fighting on the side of the u.s. which is fighting a war because it fears a strong euro?
makes about as much sense as the iraqi minister of information.

jerusalem zp 11:53 GMT April 9, 2003
haifa, what are the odds we can export our bananas to iraq?

jerusalem zp 11:19 GMT April 9, 2003
sydney, shouldnt you be off getting married to caisa????

jerusalem zp 10:54 GMT April 9, 2003
dophin & haifa, all kidding aside, remain alert in these coming days.....history has a way of showing us here that when things are turning up roses a few thorns always come through.

jerusalem zp 10:46 GMT April 9, 2003
haifa, you realize of coarse that we and the palestinians are next on the block, i just hope the both of our confused little peoples are ready for it.......in the meantime see you in baghdad...
btw, revdax i hope you are packing your bags i will have a job for you soon - i wasnt joking......see our past posts....

Report: Israel, Jordan to talk on Iraq pipeline
By Reuters
TEL AVIV - Israel and Jordan will hold meetings about the possibility of restarting an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel via Jordan that was closed 55 years ago, a National Infrastructure Ministry source said on Wednesday.
The source said that minister Yosef Paritzky (Shinui) will meet Jordanian officials about restarting the pipeline, which sent Iraqi oil from Mosul to the northern Israeli port of Haifa during the British mandate period, on the assumption a pro-Western government will be set up following the U.S.-led war.
"Jordan contacted the prime minister's office who asked the minister (Paritzky) to meet with the Jordanian officials," the source told Reuters. "We know the section of the pipeline here is in excellent condition but we want to know what the Jordanian part is like and whether it can be restarted easily."





jerusalem zp 10:31 GMT April 9, 2003
saddam is irrelevant, it is plain and simple. what is not irrelevant is ahe & athen's comments. i hope serious thought is now being spent - if they are capable of it - in the u.s state department and brit foreign office regarding interim govts and economic policy for iraq - particularly a statement on the lifting of sanctions when all is safe and sound.

jerusalem zp 10:26 GMT April 9, 2003
dolphin, if he is not finished..... perhaps he is reworking his scripts in which he is going to explain that the troops and tanks on the streets of baghdad are iraqi soldiers disguised as americans.....this because the iraqis must remain humble in victory and not show up their enemy.

jerusalem zp 09:58 GMT April 9, 2003
ahe, dead or alive - saddam probably has little left to rule at this point.....

jerusalem zp 09:47 GMT April 9, 2003
anyone care to answer this truthfully..........here is an article about real estate prices in iraq and a brief mention of the stock market there just before the war.....my thoughts - if you can afford it, buy when there is fear......
is it possible that haifa was correct regarding the reaction of the iraqi population of whom did not have their hands in uncle saddam's cookie jar?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/873579.asp


jerusalem zp 08:41 GMT April 9, 2003
revdax, i am betting on sooner.....

Hundreds of jubilant Iraqis cheered, danced, waved and threw flowers as U.S. Marines advanced through eastern Baghdad and into the center of
President Saddam Hussein's capital on Wednesday.
People, mainly young and middle-aged men were chanting, blowing horns and throwing flowers, witnesses said. A Reuters correspondent with the troops said crowds mobbed a Marine convoy as it drove through the suburbs to the Martyr's Monument, just three km (two miles) east of the central Jumhuriya Bridge over the Tigris river.
People, mainly young and middle-aged men were chanting,
blowing horns and throwing flowers.
In a possible further sign of BBC World Service radio reported that the official Iraqi escorts assigned to accompany foreign reporters in the city had failed to report for work Wednesday morning.



jerusalem zp 08:36 GMT April 9, 2003
bc, are you fluent in japanese, just wondering?

jerusalem zp 07:09 GMT April 9, 2003
dolphin, did you see this article in ha'aretz regarding the electric grid and the settlements? it also goes on to speak about what we touched on yesterday regarding the future coarse of events here between palestinians and israelis regarding the resumption of talks.....interesting.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=281679&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

jerusalem zp 07:01 GMT April 9, 2003
questions for all of you, now that the 'coalition forces' say they have freedom of movement and control of airspace how long will it be before some type of interim goverment is announced? how long will it be before the u.s and brits also say sanctions on iraq will be lifted? not to say all of the fighting is done or 'ex' - leadership elements do not remain of the iraqi regime but it is clear we are reaching the end game. watching the gold and crude oil markets i would say that most are betting on sooner rather than later......

jerusalem zp 06:53 GMT April 9, 2003
revdax, allow me to say that you would have to chase my wife's sister down the street to stay up with her......not only does she have long legs but she also has good amount of independent thinking....

jerusalem zp 06:37 GMT April 9, 2003
ahe, your 6:07 says that you have seen israeli women walking a distance of 3-4 feet distance behind their husbands......
please allow me to say that this must only be because the wives were busy looking at gold or diamonds in one of the many shop windows of hong kong. i know of few jewish/israeli wives that walk behind their husbands........it is simply not done. now if you would have said that the husbands were walking behind their wives i might have given you some leeway. jewish/israeli women seldom play second fiddle to their husbands. women in many of the jewish/israeli households rule the castle.

jerusalem zp 19:04 GMT April 8, 2003
the i is inadverdent, i will NOT be an investor.....nor visiting this spa...

jerusalem zp 19:03 GMT April 8, 2003
folks, here is some interesting news, any investors out there? i

Richard Gere is getting into a new line of business -- that of Spa guru. According to the Daily Express, the Chicago star wants to build a holiday retreat called Spa Tibet which is being described as a luxurious getaway consisting of monasteries, hot baths and meditation rooms. Gere, who is close friends with the Dalai Lama, is hoping to boost the Tibetan tourist business and predicts, "There would be an influx of Westerners to the new spiritual tourist destination."


jerusalem zp 15:57 GMT April 8, 2003
irish, hilarious.....

jerusalem zp 13:45 GMT April 8, 2003
ahe, great to see you here.....



jerusalem zp 13:32 GMT April 8, 2003
dolphin, and you are 100% correct too......as much as the eye doctor in damascus is getting weary just about now, i think that sharon and arafat should prepare to get greased.
btw, do you have a blue sky down there today? we have had nothing but a sky high sand swirl for about three days now in jerusalem. i make it sound as if this country is enormous in size.....

jerusalem zp 13:13 GMT April 8, 2003
revdax, with the full knowledge that the prediction business can make one look like an arse - i will go out on the line and say that israel & palestine are collectively next on the agenda here. one day at a time, one day at a time......

jerusalem zp 13:03 GMT April 8, 2003
revdax, for a moment i thought you were talking about the farmers daughters......

jerusalem zp 13:01 GMT April 8, 2003
revdax, thks for this info, not encouraging news but lets hope she is doing better......take care of yourself too.

jerusalem zp 12:33 GMT April 8, 2003
revdax, since i have been pretty much in the woods for the past three weeks could you tell me how AHE is doing? is everything ok concerning the SARS virus that is causing havoc? i have not seen any posts from her in a while.....

jerusalem zp 12:08 GMT April 8, 2003
flip, is it fair to say that the shites and the kurds feel like they may have a bit more freedom however now that the bain of hussein appears to disappearing from their lives?
gotta love the way everyone here is such an expert on predicting history.......
ibiza, is karzai that bad in afghanistan? is he worse than the taliban? i highly doubt it.

jerusalem zp 11:55 GMT April 8, 2003
revdax, as for dropping cigarettes into iran, you dont need to do that.......we in the middle east are notorious smokers....you may want to add some copies of salman rushdie's 'satanic verses' though.......

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT April 8, 2003
ibiza, i think part of any future agreement between our two peoples should include the forced conversion of 1000 settlers to the muslim faith and 1000 hamas activists to the jewish faith. just think we wouldnt have to transfer any of these nitwits since the settlers are already in palestine and hamas claims to have at least 1000 ready and willing suicide bombers that want to come to israel.......

jerusalem zp 11:43 GMT April 8, 2003
athens, please have them drop some toast, tomato, lettuce, and mayo along with the pork products.....afterall a good sandwich isnt quite the same without 'miracle whip'....

jerusalem zp 11:40 GMT April 8, 2003
ibiza, didnt you become jewish last week? haifa tells me he attended your bar mitzvah......joking, just joking.....

jerusalem zp 15:55 GMT April 7, 2003
revdax, regarding your 42 & 47 posts - you are telling me things i know already and i do not disagree. my question to you was in reference to your post regarding the victims of this war and the suffering that comes about because of it. i noticed that ibiza tried to be cute regarding his question of any heart (thus compassion) existing on the side of the u.s. and brits......but it seems rather progandistic to speak of the pain and suffering caused by this war if we dont speak about the pain and suffering hussein and his henchmen brought to their own people time and time again until this reckoning.

jerusalem zp 15:40 GMT April 7, 2003
ct, intresting comments, except the israeli markets are surging higher the past three weeks, why? the schkel has actually gained considerably in strength and the tase 100 has gained remarkably.....again why?
it is because those who are trading here and abroad in this market know something.......what do they know?
that sharon or who ever wants to say something regarding blair or bush will have little choice but to negotiate when the time comes, this goes for the palestinian leadership too. it will not be paradise, there will be no miracles, but bet your money on the announcement of talks between israel and palestine by this summer.....thks.

jerusalem zp 15:28 GMT April 7, 2003
revdax, what exactly would have all the victims said who were lying in bits and pieces of remains as found by the british in the hundreds and hundreds of coffins yesterday in what appears to be the remnants of a iraqi regime torture camp? this story is still developing but has the ear marks of a pol pot type of activity in cambodia.

jerusalem zp 10:15 GMT April 7, 2003
th, thks for the note, i appreciate the thoughts. all things are fine.....the past three weeks were incredibly busy, but there is nothing wrong with having good problems....
as for what is happening around us, and i know this is going to peeve a lot of people, i feel very optimistic.

jerusalem zp 09:36 GMT April 7, 2003
haifa, more than anyone here, you probably understand why the minister of information in iraq lies........he is trying out for a part in a new reality series in the states called 'who are you kidding?'.......the person able to convince the most people regarding the most spectacular nonsense wins one million dollars. his only real competition at this point is robert mugabe.



jerusalem zp 16:44 GMT April 1, 2003
folks, it is early on......and unfortunately i still have no time to really be a part of the forum - this until next week. but i would like to say that it appears to me that syria is now getting lined up for some type of pressure to be excerted upon it - perhaps of a military nature. rumors have existed for months that syria has transfered weapons bought by iraq to their neighbor - that they have also hidden weapons for iraq...... and in addition now, syria is helping the cause by allowing volunteers to cross into iraq to fight......the united states will view this gravely and i suspect will deal with this issue in a way that they find meets the issues. we are only now really entering the black hole, welcome.

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT April 1, 2003
ib, a note of caution: you should be careful of bike riders who resemble a cactus......

jerusalem zp 20:19 GMT March 22, 2003
lurkerk, the truth is that there is no truth in politics, but their is justice, and saddam hussien is reaping what he has sown....

jerusalem zp 15:50 GMT March 20, 2003
revdax, i have about a thousand comments but cant do that quite yet.......must go now........see all of you in the funny papers.....

jerusalem zp 15:32 GMT March 20, 2003
haifa, sorry i am just a little busy, i was mistaken, it was one of my beacon's - ha'aretz..........debka merely says something to the point of possibility of frogs & or scuds.....
btw, mitzna the 'cheeseball' suddenly has announced he might join an emergency govt if it becomes neccessary, surprise, surprise.......

jerusalem zp 15:26 GMT March 20, 2003
haifa, one of your beacons - debka is now saying it was 'frog' system. of coarse they also reported that aziz had flown the coupe yesterday, that didnt exactly turn out to be correct either......

jerusalem zp 15:21 GMT March 20, 2003
haifa, nh is right, at the end of the day the americans will vote considering state of the economy.......

THE SOVIET FROG-7

When Syria's President Hafez al-Assad assumed power in November 1970, he immediately began to strengthen military relations with the Soviet Union. One of the immediate results was the purchase of Syria's first surface-to-surface missile, the FROG-7 (Free Rocket Over Ground). Within a year, Syrian technicians were invited to the Soviet Union to train on the FROG system. The FROG is an unguided, solid fuel missile with a maximum range of about 70 kilometers. It can be fired from mobile launchers and can be equipped with either a high explosive or a tactical nuclear warhead weighing 450 kilograms.



jerusalem zp 15:15 GMT March 20, 2003
haifa, missiles fired into kuwait apparently frogs - capable of about 70km range, not scuds....

jerusalem zp 13:39 GMT March 18, 2003
jp and haifa, be careful what you wish for..........
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/274160.html

and with this folks i believe i am going to call it a week or two, i will be busy around the old barn......i wish everyone luck and good trades.....take care of yourselves

jerusalem zp 13:25 GMT March 18, 2003
tg, i appreciate the effort......but too in order to have a bit of fun i must tell you that quite a bit of the population in tel aviv does spend an incredible amount of time in cafes and sometimes even agreeing with the french.



jerusalem zp 12:57 GMT March 18, 2003
jp, the simple answer would be - i didnt vote for him - and i didnt. but i actually remain a very cynical optimist. like i said if not sharon somebody else.....

scenes today from israel of note, just witnessed about 150 sheep hurtling down a green hillside near my office. the herd consists of one shepherd and his trustworthy dog. lovely sight, only problem is when i am in my car and trying to arrive to my office early in the morning and he has the wool creatures crossing the road which takes a bit and tries the patience.

my factory workers from bulgaria fighting during lunch time because they were served fish and had no other choice on the menu. they didnt win much sympathy today and were flatly told to eat the food or to simply make do with the salad and soup that was nearby.

and lastly, school girls dressed in various purim outfits - some were devils, some were monsters, or witches, etc, wearing red, purple, and blue makeup too. quite nice to see them walking along the street and smiling until one notes that they were all carrying their gas masks in the boxes the government has issued them in a package than has a black band to dangle them with from around the shoulder like an everyday piece of gear.

jerusalem zp 12:38 GMT March 18, 2003
jp, werent the both of them liers before they were elected to the positions they now have? we shall have to see....

jerusalem zp 11:46 GMT March 18, 2003
jp, i was assuming this was going to come up sooner rather than later. what i can tell you is only my opinion but sometimes i get lucky and am correct. my belief is this, sharon and the israeli negotiating team are going to take a tough stance on the issue of palestinian state right now. and why shouldnt they? should they reward the palestinians outright for carrying on a war with israel for the past two years so easily? this will be a punishment, but it shall not last long if at all. in the end the u.s will dictate what is going to happen here. it is going to tell sharon (and if not him someone who will sign) and the palestinian leadership that two nations are going to exist side by side with both signing up to secure the political future of the other entity.
how do i know this? the mood is this.........read ha'aretz, the israeli settlers in hebron held a mock execution of sharon last night. why would they do this if he was 'their leader'? they know full well at the end of the day sharon or whomever is in a leadership position will have to sit and deal. it is that simple. palestine will exist and i tend to think it will be sooner than later. its just that having come out of a war (actually while still in it) israel is comfortably on the side of the table that is going to be able to push a bit during the negotiations. as i told ibiza a long time ago, the palestinian leadership misread the mood of the israelis (we are not about appeasing here), the israelis were not going to let violence dictate the outcome of a negotiation. the reward for the palestinians in the end will be a country, but it will not be 100% of what they wanted, nor will it be 100% of what the israelis wanted. give the crazies here a bit more time to settle this, it will get done jp.


jerusalem zp 11:30 GMT March 18, 2003
oga, somehow i doubt that. and the reason why is because i am willing to bet the people at elf and other business types in france with a sense of what has been building have been carefully building relationships elsewhere to make sure they remain in the picture. perhaps i am being naive, but i suspect french business is as sophisticated as it gets on this globe. not only have they had to deal with the rise and fall of free market govt's in their own country but they were some of the first global adventurers when doing business in nations that were shall we say 'undecided'.
so, no, i think that the french business people shall save the day for paris having been able to see through a failed policy.

jerusalem zp 11:15 GMT March 18, 2003
revdax, what it isnt - is an anti-down-quark........i am not making this up.

jerusalem zp 11:10 GMT March 18, 2003
revdax, lastly dont confuse anti-matter with anti-up-quarks.......

jerusalem zp 11:05 GMT March 18, 2003
oga, i am personally not a tony blair fan but i have gained a lot of respect for him sticking his neck out while public opinion in great britain is so against the war. as for the polish army, while 200 soldiers might not be much at least it is something. perhaps the u.s or the brits - whomever is administrating the particular zone should allow the poles to take complete control of the oil wells that the great corporation elf has agreements with.



jerusalem zp 11:00 GMT March 18, 2003
haifa, you could stand to be about 100% more kind in your description of this event. why gloat over this exactly? who does it help? give me a break........

jerusalem zp 10:38 GMT March 18, 2003
oga & ib, your sweeping comments speak volumes about your lack of desire to take a moment and look inward. oga, you speak about france as if it has some greater claim to an ethical realm in this world. just where was france when the yugo mess started? where was france when the rwanda mess got started? and where was france when the vietnam mess was getting started? your lumping of the usa and israel together within the scripture of foreign policy is absurd. why not list the usa together with great britain? why not list the usa with poland, chzech republic, spain, portugal, italy?
please........

jerusalem zp 07:30 GMT March 18, 2003
haifa, the beginning of the universe as you see it:
http://albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=244050&lang=e&dir=behind

jerusalem zp 00:06 GMT March 18, 2003
red, i prefer to look at this from the standpoint of a once aspiring art student (actually anthropology until i changed my mind five more times)........and that is non-linear as oppossed to linear. where some see lines others see perspective.

jerusalem zp 23:35 GMT March 17, 2003
yeah, i was really worried that they would cancel the lottery here........news of the weird, i mean news from israel:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/273883.html

jerusalem zp 23:26 GMT March 17, 2003
th, let me put it this way, i can agree with your point as written. BUT (man, i am jewish, just cant stop arguing my point), what you and yes you - andy - seem to be doing is coming at this from an idealistic approach. my outlook is somewhat more along the lines of a pragmatic and longterm outlook. i dont think we can judge the actions of the states until this entire scenario plays itself out and without judging the states in consideration of past mistakes made in this region by a long list of players. someone out there must see that i am not patting the states on the back and saying "there, there, that's a good country," no, what i am saying is " there, there, if you feel you must do it okay, but do it wisely."
somehow i feel i have just added fire to this instead of putting the thing out.....

jerusalem zp 23:16 GMT March 17, 2003
krr, please note that i know that athens is one of the shining stars here, it is rare that i disagree with him. if you go into the archives you will see that him and i are typically with each other on many issues......thks.

jerusalem zp 23:04 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, let me be short, i believe i have answered you already. the morality play i am speaking about is largely to do with your posts regarding the u.n as of late. this is a forum, not everything that is written is concrete, sometimes words have a way of moving and meaning other things. i did not mean to take anything you said out of context. i simply disagree with you about the 'what seems to me' your illustrious notions of the u.n. and any notion that they somehow hold a higher moral ground. and lastly, i take exception to your holding the u.s up to a higher ethical litmus test than the other nations of the world. again, maybe i am reading you wrong but this is the feeling i have gotten from your last few days of posting.

jerusalem zp 22:43 GMT March 17, 2003
th, i dont know exactly and believe that only time will tell if ever exactly, lets say for now i believe it is for internal public consumption there. i find the last three sentence of the piece very interesting this because after saying the war is wrong it leave open the possibility that a short war would be a good thing, this assumes they believe the u.s is going to win the war, which than makes me wonder why this is a good thing if they dont want such naked aggression taking place in their sphere in the first place. why not openly root for the defeat of the americans? thus i am left to conclude that the saudis are torn. they want saddam removed, but they themselves do not want to be removed by democratic or civil unrest. they want iraq to participate in the arab league of nations as a modern country but not too modern. in the end, because they too then would have to become one of the new moderns.the arabs are some of the greatest pragmatists of our generation. they have learned very much like the israelis to roll with the punches and see things with rose colored glasses.
is this an answer th? i dont know.

"So now another war is upon us, decent people the world over pray for one thing: A short war, with an absolute minimum of civilian casualties.
To say that is not to dignify a victory in Iraq as anything other than a victory for imperialist aggression.
But the alternative — a long, drawn-out and bloody conflict -— would be even more catastrophic for that country, this region and the rest of the world."




jerusalem zp 22:01 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, now who is not reading who's posts correctly? please show me when i said that the settlements israel builds are correct or legal for that matter.
no i bash the u.n. ( i hesitate to get started on this) for:
cold war mismanagement and blood baths
south american disintegration and blood baths
central american disintergration and blood baths
yugoslavian disintegration and blood baths
israeli / palestinian disintegration and blood baths
south east asia disintegration and blood baths
african continent disintegration and blood baths
this is a partial list, please excuse the millions that i have failed to somehow miss who have died because as an institution the u.n. has lacked considerable backbone (again, yes because countries have misused the u.n -contadictary i know - and turned it into a farce nearly from the get go.

jerusalem zp 21:48 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, mind you.....i am not in the best of spirits right now, it appears that my scud party will only be attended by myself currently.......

jerusalem zp 21:46 GMT March 17, 2003
dublin, thks.....appreciate the info.

jerusalem zp 21:44 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, i think i happen to read your posts well enough, and as you know most of the time i agree with you. BUT imho you seem to be holding the u.s up to standards that no other country would be able to touch either if it were in the same position in the current world. you have spoken here about the u.n also as if it is some great bastion of upholding international law. please show me when this great institution has done anything worthwhile in the field of proactive and preemptive infrastructure from a political standpoint. the u.n. has failed outright as an institution, you seem to be in mourning for something which never existed.

jerusalem zp 21:36 GMT March 17, 2003
revdax, this is especially for you when you rise and shine...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/03/17/marriage.poll.reut/index.html

jerusalem zp 21:31 GMT March 17, 2003
dublin, while i would love to let you get away with that i should note that the french supported israel quite a bit in the early days of the state (israel). things started to change after the suez war & political disaster and the algerian mess......

jerusalem zp 21:20 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, i am really a bit surprised by your morality play over the last few days. france has a major amount of interest in iraq, why cant we be truthful about this? why cant we be honest about the amount of money france is worried about losing in this war? they have backed the wrong horse, they will try to switch the ride in the middle i am sure. do you really think france is so much morally correct than america?

jerusalem zp 21:16 GMT March 17, 2003
jp, these lessons may not be lost on russia and china but first they have to build an infrastructure that allows them to transport 300,000 troops half way around the world in order to act on those lessons.
could be argued though that we have it confused and russia's current fighting in chechyna has quite possibly taught the united states regarding the fighting first and consulting later mentality.

jerusalem zp 18:13 GMT March 17, 2003
basta with the war for a moment, lets get back to money matters - any recommendations on the ncaa's coming up? i participate in a rather expensive office pool from the states.....arizona is going to win it all, isnt it?

jerusalem zp 17:47 GMT March 17, 2003
it somehow seems that nesara will not be able to save us......hmmmm.

jerusalem zp 15:33 GMT March 17, 2003
what does it mean?

FOREIGN OFFICE ADVISES AGAINST ALL TRAVEL TO ISRAEL/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES (17/03/03)
The Foreign Office today revised its Travel Advice for Israel to advise against all travel. British nationals already in Israel are advised to leave as soon as possible unless their presence is essential. British nationals in the West Bank and Gaza should leave immediately. At the same time, the Foreign Office has ordered dependants of staff in the British Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Consulate General in Jerusalem to leave and is reducing the staffing of the Embassy and Consulate General.
The Foreign Office had, since 19 February 2003, been advising against all non-essential travel to Israel.
The following is the full text of the amended Travel Advice for Israel:
'There is a risk of an attack against Israel from Iraq in the event of hostilities. This might involve chemical and biological weapons. The West Bank and Gaza Strip may be affected indirectly.
The risk of further terrorist attacks within Israel often targeting crowded public areas and transport, remains very high. This advice also applies to Jerusalem (for consular purposes this encompasses both East and West Jerusalem).
Terrorist attacks in the region could involve the use of chemical and biological materials.
We therefore advise against travel to Israel. If you are already there, you should leave as soon as possible unless your presence is essential. If you do decide to stay you should maintain a high level of vigilance and observe the British Embassy advice on security.
There is also a risk of civil unrest and terrorist activity in the West Bank and Gaza. In the event of any conflict in Iraq, it is likely that Israel will close the West Bank and Gaza, making travel in and out of the West Bank and Gaza very difficult. We therefore advise against travel to the West Bank and Gaza. If you are already there, you should leave immediately.
We have ordered dependants of our staff in the Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Consulate General in Jerusalem to leave. We are in the process of reducing our staffing to a core. Once we do so, our ability to offer normal consular services will be very restricted.
Developments on Iraq and any further increase in regional tension could further affect our travel advice. You should check it daily and follow developments closely.'
The British Embassy in Israel is making arrangements to inform British nationals resident in the country of these changes.



jerusalem zp 13:32 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, but the powers of this world that have endured a bit longer have been the ones able to recognize forces which work against them and work to solve these issues either through diplomacy or through force when needed.


jerusalem zp 12:58 GMT March 17, 2003
ib, it will be what it will be.......

jerusalem zp 12:50 GMT March 17, 2003
th, they are less paranoid this time but beware.....(that is beware israel).
we have been told that if attacked we are going to be given the green light to respond. this means that we will also be given codes to use electronically when flying over enemy air space to strike so our planes are not viewed as hostile to allied forces in the air and on the ground. in the last persian gulf war this information was not shared and thus israel was not able to respond to the 35 or so scud missile attacks on tel aviv and haifa collectively and had to sit on their hands.
i hope it does not come to this but let it be known that if israel is hit this time it will first calculate the damage and then give an appropiate response.

jerusalem zp 12:42 GMT March 17, 2003
info you probably cant use on the red heifers.....
http://members.fortunecity.com/braveneil/redheif.htm

jerusalem zp 12:30 GMT March 17, 2003
beware of a red bull showing up next:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/273825.html

jerusalem zp 12:15 GMT March 17, 2003
athens, i think you are selling the other side a bit short......the only two wars the security council has ever approved through its long history for a united nations coalition has been the Korean war - this when the soviets made the infamous mistake of having walked out on another issue and missing the vote. and the last Persian gulf war.
the united nations has not voted to send coalition troops in on any other occasion to fight a war.
this list includes some 150 wars that have been fought without united nations approval since its inception including the kosovo war which nato decided not to bring to the united nations because it knew full well russia would veto any such action.
by the way, how many united nation security council approvals did syria and egypt get to start the wars of 67 and 73 against israel?
the long and short of it is that i believe you are giving too much credit to an institution which has never been able to hand political issues fairly or forthright.
the united nations is made of nice suits and nice salaries and that is about it.


jerusalem zp 11:44 GMT March 17, 2003
haifa, "if you build it they will come........"

jerusalem zp 10:52 GMT March 17, 2003
i would like to take this time to personally invite all of you to my scud party which will begin promptly tmrw night. there was some thought given for tonight but some of you will have to make quick travel plans i am sure......as mentioned before, it is bring your own gas mask.
red, if you come i suggest you bring some of your music along with you. the beer will be cold and chicken wings will be spicy.
revdax, my sister in law will be there if this helps spur you along.

jerusalem zp 15:08 GMT March 16, 2003
th, i see your point now, i dont think israel will be part of any super group in this region until and full peace is made with all of its neighbors. this includes syria, lebanon, saudi arabia, iran, and most of all a PALESTINE. i dont include jordan and egypt because we already have working agreements with them which in 1000 years when all of the above is taken care of will actually work quite well. unfortunately i think it will take quite a bit of washing here and in the surrounding countries in order to allow us to forgive and forget our difference of opinions and overcome the cultural divide. until then things will be done in piece meal, one country - one policy at a time.
i think it is more likely that a combination of countries such as lebanon, israel, palestine, jordan, and egypt are allowed special rights in the european union - this of coarse after france and germany are allowed back in after being kicked out for their shananigans.
sorry, i am really punchy right now........

jerusalem zp 14:55 GMT March 16, 2003
th, if the coming of a moshiach (messiah) should happen to come while i live in jerusalem i believe i will ask for your help to get to oz.....
but lets look at the facts:
nostradamous clearly spoke about a chicken (or was it an eagle or an egg) crashing into a mountain of twins.
a carp who spoke in hebrew was made into a dinner in new york shortly after being murdered by a club.
and now iraq is about to be attacked on purim.
hmmmmmmm, i would say that either you believe or dont. that is not an explanation, but rather a lame way of saying that only ' a red bull' will make me worry. what does it mean? i have no idea.

jerusalem zp 14:46 GMT March 16, 2003
th, i though the talking carp was an important issue too,
but having said that if what is being put forth is administrative zones much like berlin for iraq......lets just say that i believe it is possible. if it can work effectively is another question, but it seems to be an interesting idea if the final goal is to bring the cohesion of the three states together at some point in order to work together.

jerusalem zp 14:39 GMT March 16, 2003
After dying a grisly death in an Afghan cave, Osama Bin Laden made his way to the pearly gates. There, he was greeted by George Washington, "How dare you attack the nation I helped conceive!" yelled Washington, slapping Osama in the face. Patrick Henry came up from behind. "You wanted to end America's liberty, so they gave you death!" Henry punched Osama in the nose. James Madison came next, and said, "This is why I allowed the government to provide for the common defense!" He took a sledge hammer and whacked Osama's knees. Osama was subjected to similar beatings from John Randolph, James Monroe, and 65 other people who had the same love for liberty and America. As he writhed on the ground, Thomas Jefferson hurled him
back toward the gate where he was to be judged. As Osama awaited his journey to his final very hot destination, he screamed,"This is not what I was promised!" An angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you.What did you think I said?"


jerusalem zp 14:26 GMT March 16, 2003
th, maybe this is the reason why that carp was speaking in hebrew......
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/273431.html

jerusalem zp 14:18 GMT March 16, 2003
revdax, one one thing though....do not forget about turkey and iran so quickly. turkey will insist that the kurds not be given any independence and must be part of a greater iraq. iran on the other hand would love to have an influence on their shite brethren to the north....
can you say intrique?

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT March 16, 2003
revdax, i think that this might be exactly what is tried.......lets see.

jerusalem zp 14:08 GMT March 16, 2003
haifa, that monroe girl really got around didnt she?

jerusalem zp 14:05 GMT March 16, 2003
revdax, where exactly does that leave the jews on this forum? all kidding aside i dont think you should put to much money on the states building an american democratic system in iraq. if they are able to pull this off they are better magicians then i even give them credit for.......could be that iraq will be cut up into three entities which work some how as a confederation. the south with shites, the central part with the sunnis, and the north under kurdish leadership. we shall see my friend, this machine will not be built overnight.

jerusalem zp 13:51 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, i agree with you if you are telling me that the justification of creating a democray in iraq is an outlandish hoax if stated as the reason why this coming war is about to be fought. i was not arguing that at all. america is an entitly onto itself. i was merely stating that i believe the democracy which exists in the states is a vibrant one. iraq is not about to become america any time soon. i have been suffering from a case of realpolitik for about ten years now.....we will all get what we deserve in the end.

jerusalem zp 13:46 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, the work yechnology wasnt bad.....i thought it kind of meant 'yuck'nology......all the best....

jerusalem zp 13:44 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, would you prefer to write long letters to each other and await a reply? you win some and lose some in this world, pick and choose and above all do not waste your time on posers.

jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, we will have to disagree on this. i believe that while it was 100% evil that mc carthey was permitted to use his senate position to discredit thousands of america it is another thing to not look at the world political climate. lets remember that the berlin wall hadnt even been built yet. stalin was still in control of the soviet union and mao hadnt even completely flipped his lid yet. these gloomy days in america were the underbelly of a very vibrant society one in which had enormous economic growth during this time. paranoia ran deep through out the world. take a look at britain during this time and their problems with spys. the 50's cannot be judged fairly unless you take a look at what produced the era the world whether or not it admitted it was still suffering from many delusion self imposed from the great depression and world war two. seems to me america was able to take care of mc carthey eventually and completely and publically discredit him. how did the rest of the world turnout..........?

jerusalem zp 13:18 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, i think it best to mention the context that mc carthyism took place in.....it was the advant of the cold war. while it was going on in america, it rival stalin was killing millions of people. this does not make it right but helps to explain the political environment. also i do not want to get caugth up in a grammatical debate but your sentence the way it was written did infer that people were executed.
the point in the end, i believe that democracy is operating quite well in the states, perhaps right wingers like ashcroft are misguided and we disagree with them but these things come in cycles. the reagan years in the states was awash in the same kind of right wing thinking, which eventually gave way to another tide of thought - that of clinton's (yes i know he followed bush). it seems to me newspapers are still printing in the states, alternative presses remain vibrant - look at the village voice in new york, the chicago reader, etc. there are many voices of dissent, i dont think that you will find europe any more democratic than america and believe that it is wishful thinking. there are plenty of democrats in the states who have verbally come out against the war. take a look at a candidate for the next presidential race - carol mosley braun from illinois and read what she is thinking. it is one thing to disagree with the states and its policies, but i would be very careful to say that the states is not condoning different voices. examine this, for instance if the u.s was so anti-crititical why would we be allowed to partake in this forum which is pretty much on a server and software unit that operates in the states?

jerusalem zp 12:58 GMT March 16, 2003
athens, mc carthyism never to the best of my knowledge ever had any one sent to the death gallows. it ruined thousands of lives no doubt and was completely made illegitimate but never went the way of joseph stalin and his gulags. if you have some evidence i would like to see it. if you are speaking of the rosenbergs, mccarthy again, to the best of my knowledge had little to do with that. as for witch hunts, ahhhhh, okay, but they took place in salem when in fact the brits were still in charge and the united states did not exist as of yet.
the following is a link regarding the rosenbergs.....
http://www.nyhistory.org/rosenberg/social.html

jerusalem zp 12:12 GMT March 16, 2003
th, sorry but i havent been able to come up with a joke worthy enough regarding the carp. all i can say is that i am not worried so much about talking carps as i am red bulls........

jerusalem zp 09:53 GMT March 16, 2003
jp, first of all let me apologize to you for yesterday's abrupt remark......
the reason i have problems with what you are saying is because of the following:
menachem begin was the person who in the end made and signed a peace agreement with egypt and sadat. he was a spearhead leader of likud. not exactly a man perceived worldwide as someone who could make peace before that. also it should be noted that the person in charge of tearing down the settlements in the sinai after the agreement was none other than ariel sharon - this mind you after he said he wouldnt do the job, he got his order and he followed them.

next, the madrid conference came about because yitzhak shamir was forced to a peace discussion regarding the palestinians, he too was a spearhead leader of likud, not someone perceived as one who could make peace. IMPORTANTLY, in the end he backed down, though he could not bring himself to make agreements he was forced to the table. when it became apparent that he would not be able to make this agreement his government promptly collasped - for this and other reasons. the next elected official was rabin who went on to sign the oslo accords.

now we can argue all day why these accords have fallen apart, but also important to you arguement is that other presidents in the states while not having spoken the words of creating a palestinian state - clearly wrote an outline on how it could come about. this started with bush sr, was worked on then by clinton, and now george w. this has been a process that has been in the work politically for quite some time in the states.

now lastly we get to sharon, i have seen the platform that you have shown more than a couple of times now jp, problem is that it is a platform and not reality. the likud will be forced to the table by the u.s. - they might show up with there own plan as will the palestinians. but mark my words, in the end nearly the same deal that arafat backed away from at camp david will be what is agreed to by both sides. it might not be sharon that is at the table when the time comes, perhaps he will not have the willpower to do it. but it will be done - if not by sharon then by another elected leader of whom the israeli majority will vote in to get the job done.
why do i say israeli majority? because though first and foremost the israelis want to sleep securely at night and thus have elected sharon, they too still want PEACE. and eventually jp israel and the palestinians will get the job done. will it be perfect? probably not. will it take a long time to implement a plan in which the two start to coexist without fear? maybe.
jp, i have been telling haifa and ibiza this for two years now, sharon and arafat would not be the leaders to make our countries go forward. in a way arafat has been pushed to the side. hard to know the details of the future, but it is possible to read the writing on the wall.
in the end, what frustrated me about the way you wrote your posts was that you seem to be so cocksure that you know that likud cannot make peace. history shows that you are wrong.

jerusalem zp 16:46 GMT March 15, 2003
jp, the things that you dont understand about the situation over here are enough to kill a horse.......

jerusalem zp 14:25 GMT March 14, 2003
haifa, as you know i am not religious but need to ask you what your thoughts are now that it appears saddam might actually meet his fate on and around purim?

jerusalem zp 15:37 GMT March 13, 2003
nh, i hope that you are correct but believe that blair might prove a bit slippery.......we shall see.


jerusalem zp 14:45 GMT March 13, 2003
montanha, actually what i wrote was the following:

"do not tell me that the jews of portugal are a happier lot than the jews of europe elsewhere. particularly when there is ample proof that conservatively 20% of your nation are jews of whom were forced to deny their heritage or face death."

note that the last few words is a finished thought.
though i salute any attempt to deal with the past in portugal you should not downplay the fact that people were forced into conversion - that they are alive is good - but they were denied their ancestry.

having said this, please allow me to say that portugal is dear to me, this because in no small measure the football that luis figo and rui costa play is tremendous.

jerusalem zp 13:41 GMT March 13, 2003
red, i am now considering music by Pil (public image limited) particulary the 'happy?' disc. i believe the song - rules and regulations - may be quite appropiate to play..... and then to speed things up a bit i will contemplate Rage Against the Machine - maybe the song - bulls on parade.

jerusalem zp 13:20 GMT March 13, 2003
jp, regarding your question about my cancer statement yesterday, i would like to ask you if you are a doctor? i am not, but i trust that the symptoms sometimes indicate an illness. saddam has been found to be in violation of u.n dictates stating that he have no wmd. thus far rockets, drones, missile heads that can carry chemical payloads have been found. he wasnt suppose to have any of these things.
maybe he is telling the truth, maybe he is a man of his word, maybe these items were overlooked or forgotten and that is the last of them around. maybe saddam is contained and we can dance merrily in the street knowing that the tumor is merely benign. or maybe we are headed for a malpractice lawsuit..........

jerusalem zp 12:24 GMT March 13, 2003
montanha, if i am paranoid it doesnt mean that someone isnt out to get me......let me state the following:
the israelis and palestinians are fighting a war - have you noticed this? maybe it isnt textbook war as you know it, but it is a war. have you undertaken a close look at the level of palestinian corruption that steals money and lets their people live in squalor? arafat choose war as a way to get a better deal than what was offered at camp david, he seems to have lost this particular battle - we shall see if he loses the war.
as for american not being invaded or conquered, the attack on the states was clearly an effort to bring it to her knees. do you suggest that the attack was invitation to the ballet?
as for your comments regarding the inquisition, portugal undertook roughly 300 years of legalized persecution of jewish people - do not sell this short. portugal has only in the last twenty years started to deal with this issue. do not tell me that the jews of portugal are a happier lot than the jews of europe elsewhere. particularly when there is ample proof that conservatively 20% of your nation are jews of whom were forced to deny their heritage or face death.

jerusalem zp 11:30 GMT March 13, 2003
an example of family legacy of forced conversions.....
http://www.lusaweb.com/comunidades/secrets.htm

jerusalem zp 11:23 GMT March 13, 2003
montanha, regarding your comment as posted here from before - you clearly are not a keen historian.....did you ever hear of the inquisition?

Anyway, I suggest to go to Spain to familiarize yourself with the liberties enjoyed under the Muslims and the liberties "enjoyed" by Jews and Muslims under the Christians ...



jerusalem zp 11:19 GMT March 13, 2003
is money more important than the cause?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/12/shaikh.reward/index.html

jerusalem zp 11:02 GMT March 13, 2003
montanha, you should note that while the jews enjoyed a certain amount of freedom under the rule of their muslim leaders - it was under the RULE OF THEIR MUSLIM LEADERS.
jews were not allowed to own property that was larger in size to their muslim neighbors, they were not allowed to own property that was higher than their muslim neighbors, they served as council for their muslim rulers. true they were left for the most part to be able to pray as they wished but as long as it did not anger their rulers. so, as you say, while the jews enjoyed some freedom - they were not FREE. they were in fact second class citizens under muslim rule before the inquisition came about in spain and portugal.

btw, do you know that it is almost probable that about 15 to 20% of the people in portugal now living come from jewish heritage but were part of the forced conversions? note, that i am not blaming you for this but it is rather interesting.

as for muslims not stating that they were going to try and conquer or make the u.s. submit to its will, what exactly was the attack on the wtc. lets remember that the first attempt by zealots failed - the underground parking lot bombing. yes, no doubt by a select group of nutters but nevertheless muslim.

also note that although not everything posted on that forum can be proven as fact - without taking off a month to do so - it was posted on what is considered one of the most reliable arab news sites in the middle east.



jerusalem zp 13:47 GMT March 12, 2003
jp, while i can agree that the church is obviously not cultivating some secret relationship with iraq and that they believe they are taking the high moral ground, i still have a question:
what if the church is wrong? what if iraq is lying about the weapons that it has? what happens if iraq uses the weapons on the battlefield or the u.s finds them hidden away in storage units after the fight? who will be correct then?
while i can understand the church doesnt want to see any of 'god's children' hurt, what is so bad about killing cancer cells before they kill the patient?

jerusalem zp 13:33 GMT March 12, 2003
further into the foggy, i will not be surprised if the brits announce the following;
"we will stand by if needed for the u.s., we will not engage in combat (one never says war these days) with iraq unless saddam engages the use of wmd...if this should occur we will send our troops in to help."

jerusalem zp 13:27 GMT March 12, 2003
red, i believe your points are now being discussed in some detail by those in britain and the states. my gut instinct tells me that two different conclusions will be had. britain may actually not back the u.s in a military action now (this if blair decideds his political hide is more important than ridding the world of saddam)........if this unfolds it will be quite interesting if and when the u.s brings saddam to his knees alone. how will those who need to apologize to the states?

jerusalem zp 13:15 GMT March 12, 2003
jp, could the church possibly be wrong again?

http://home.earthlink.net/~velid/cf/

jerusalem zp 11:51 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, do not fear, that was me having a brain fart just now....i thought i was doing a search in order to see your written acceptance of the opportunity in bagdad....

jerusalem zp 11:44 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, just remember you accepted a position from me about a year ago regarding a job and a nice salary in bagdad when the time comes, dont make me hunt you down in africa.....

jerusalem zp 11:19 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, you should note that the central african region including rwanda is one of the richest areas in the world regarding the raw commodities that are at stake. while tribal tension - thus ethnic strife - can largely be blamed so too can the fight to carve up the riches.
africa has been plundered now for about four hundred years, the fight for the riches it contains are far more surreal than any of the petty fights that take place in the middle east and far nastier. oil, diamonds, gold, agricultural commodities are all involved.......if you want to become rich move to africa but take an army with you.

jerusalem zp 11:12 GMT March 12, 2003
athens, i completely agree with you. the reason why the security council has most of the issues thrust upon it is because back in the days of the cold war both the u.s. and the soviet union fought like crazy to make sure the important issues of the day needed to be passed or vetoed by themselves - this in order to block any action that might go against one of them. we should remember too that when the u.n was initiated it mostly included the victors of the second world war and its assoiciate allies. as an institution it has been ruined by the realities which pervades our complicated world.

jerusalem zp 10:52 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax & athens, further into the fog i would like to submit the following about rwanda, to say that the world as a whole looked the other way would not be too short a notion....

http://www.isg-iags.org/newsletters/25/rwanda.html

jerusalem zp 10:47 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax & athens, when it comes down to cold hard facts the united nations can never be blamed entirely and the cold notion that we only have ourselves (our individual countries making up the united nations) to blame. the security council was not able to do anything because it was blocked as athens said. BUT the united nations did manage to pull their troops out of rwanda when they were really needed to be deployed in reality. the problem is that individual countries including the u.s., britain, france, etc, turned a blind eye to the reports coming out of rwanda and thus made the u.n a not so effective tool. unfortunately this has been the standard of the u.n for many many years, it has not lived up to the high standards it was set up for. it has had to deal with the cold war reality and now the reality that the world has one super power which will act on its own accord when it needs too is causing much bedlam.
as much as i dislike the u.n from a political viewpoint because of it failed attempts to form a cohesive world view, it is not their fault - only ours - all of ours.
we do not live in utopia, the u.n is a utopian idea whose time has either come to early or has too much reality put upon it.
as you said revdax, all countries have national interest.
from a humanitarian standpoint the u.n does a good job, from a political standpoint it is a failed institution and for the most part a waste of time.


jerusalem zp 10:10 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, you will have to ask athens himself. i have come to trust his opinion quite a bit......

jerusalem zp 09:58 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax - 9:52, thks, much better - you can put forth your arguements in the house of commons now for tony blair if you would like. he is going to need all the help he can get.

jerusalem zp 09:55 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, regarding the un issue, here is an article from the bbc that i have googled for you - it is merely the tip of the iceberg. the un and most other nations failed to protect the people of rwanda when they knew full well what was going to come. if you want to read all about the u.n's failures i recommend you put aside a few weeks time to investigate the matter. my point is that the u.n has a history of failure and being misguided and misguiding........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/714025.stm

jerusalem zp 09:45 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, i disagree with you still, the u.s has national interest in what takes place in iraq for many reasons. these reasons have little to do with israel. israel has existed for a couple of generations now and will continue to do so in this tough neighborhood. it has nothing to do with my emotion and you are using my mood as an excuse. you are over simplyfying your reasoning for what is taking place in this region of the world. if i take a broader view on what you have presented i would still basically say that you are not looking at the real issues. you are generalizing and i am asking you to be more specific regarding your claims. the u.s. is the only super power in the world. it will stake its claim to any region of the world it wants in any way that it wants to. to use an arguement that it is about military outposts being kept safe is absurd.

jerusalem zp 09:34 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, to answer your question about why the u.n did not send troops to stop the killings in rwanda, the better question would be WHY DIDNT THE UN & FRENCH TROOPS THAT WERE IN RWANDA STOP THE GENOCIDE THAT WAS HAPPENING BEFORE THEIR EYES? this is an issue the u.n & france & belgium for that matter close their eyes too. bill clinton actually faced up to the issues of rwanda and said he was at fault for not responding sooner - THE U.N., FRANCE, & BELGIUM HAVE YET TO DO SO. instead the u.n was awarded a nobel peace prize only a few years after a million people were murdered while they were on watch.

jerusalem zp 09:29 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, i dont want to get into an absurd arguement with you, but i never said israel doesnt have national interest, it would be naive at best to not believe that israel doesnt have an interest in the events of their own region. but the point is this what you said and i asked you to prove is patently false:

hk revdax 15:52 GMT March 11, 2003
Athens//ONE of the purposes for which the US is going after Saddam is to safe-guard the US military outpost out there in that region. It is the home of Haifa ac's.

what you did is say that the home of haifa (israel) is one of the purposes for which the us is going after saddam. you have inferred that we are some sort of us military outpost - and i pointed out though we support the states and will help it in any way they need - that we do not have us bases here in israel.
what i strongly find irritating is that you have picked israel out from a group of other countries which have a national interest in what takes place in iraq too. maybe i am being sensitive - it wouldnt be the first time - but your comment does in fact cater to those who routinely find a way to make israel a scapegoat.
i know full well you are not anti israel, but i am asking you to be more specific within your posts. why pick israel out of a bad bunch?



jerusalem zp 08:39 GMT March 12, 2003
the entire planet needs a lot of the war machines that the u.s offers revdax, including egypt, saudi arabia, and turkey. israel buys weapons like anyone else.
we also happen to produce a fair amount of our own weapons and most importantly - we modify the beegees out of anything we buy to make them more efficient.
thus revdax your arguement is misguided at best and you are falling into the trap of the 'intelligensia' that wants people to believe that israel is somehow to blame and the reason for all things happening in the middle east and the world for that matter.


jerusalem zp 06:27 GMT March 12, 2003
revdax, my point is this, though the united states is strong partner of israel's, the united states does not have one military base in israel. though israelis on the whole may prefer to see saddam disappear into the woodwork we have nothing to do with the u.s decision to go into iraq. again if you know something i do not please show it to me.
i understand your point of national interest, but the same can be said in greater detail for muslim countries surrounding us. turkey, saudi arabia, and even though they would be hard pressed to admit it - iran, would certainly like to see saddam gone just as much as israel.
and to go a little further here is a link from ha'aretz regarding the mess a congressman in the united states has gotten himself into recently while speaking of the jewish interest in a war with iraq:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/272117.html


jerusalem zp 19:21 GMT March 11, 2003
nh, many thks, ..........this is the best indication yet of the way things are going to go.........

jerusalem zp 16:55 GMT March 11, 2003
can someone please confirm the following, i have been told that upon hearing a british infantry unit practice yesterday in kuwait on the iraqi border that an iraqi troop made its way to the british and tried to surrender. because no official war has been declared yet, the british had to turn the iraqis around and tell them they couldnt surrender and they had to return to iraq. is this an urban legend or did it really happen?

jerusalem zp 10:13 GMT March 11, 2003
athens, thks. as i remember you once posted that you were actually on your way to the island to fight when you were a student and were stopped by the british. a lot of time has passed and i am cetain you feel like you are a different person, but somewhere deep inside do you still identify with the young man who was willing to get on a boat in order to fight for this island? fyi, i can identify with you in many ways i think, i am a bit older now myself and feel that in the end is not so much that a reason doesnt exist to fight but that no matter who wins or loses the outcome will not change much of anything. we always seems to wind up in the same place we started unless we really are willing to work at changing the foundations of issues and structures. i wish the people of cyprus the best, it is a beautiful place.......

jerusalem zp 11:06 GMT March 10, 2003
athens, the longer the crisis goes on - and deepens - the more the moves of france, germany, and friends is certain to split what was a strong voice. as i have said before there are a few major issues which will be called into question by the arguing parties:
nato
euro security pact
and more dangerously economic agreements within the eu and the future of the un.
it could develop into quite a can of worms. one thing does seem certain and that is that tony blair can write off his political future for a few years after this 'war' situation ends.

jerusalem zp 10:54 GMT March 10, 2003
haifa, i wonder if i can trade spreads of suicide bombers against martyrs............?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/271163.html

jerusalem zp 16:27 GMT March 9, 2003
jp, tou'che........but they might freeze in the nearby snow!

Mount Hermon ski resort is to send 200 tons of snow to Sderot in a show of solidarity with the Negev town that has been suffering from a hail of Qassam rockets recently.
The snow, to arrive Monday, will provide 48 hours of relief to rocket-wary residents, said Zeev Greenfeld, director of the ski resort. The snow will be dumped the town's park.
"They need to know that they are not alone," Greenfeld said. "What I have to give is snow."
The town is less than a kilometer away from the Gaza Strip and has been hit by a dozens of Qassam rockets, the last landing Sunday. Although the rockets have caused damage, no one has been killed by the crude projectiles.
"We'd rather have snow falling from the sky instead of Qassams," said Shalom Halevi, a spokesman for the town.


jerusalem zp 16:13 GMT March 9, 2003
jp, how many nude protests do you think will be taking place in any of the arab countries or overtly muslim places in the coming days?


jerusalem zp 16:06 GMT March 9, 2003
red, you are a scream - lol, self deception is what my entire life is about......remember i live in israel. anyway i will try to remember all this upon my first orgy experience.

jp, nothing wrong at all with any one from chile. as for the ex-enron folk i seem to get the feeling that they wouldnt quite have the energy for this type of thing anymore.....(yes, i know, i know).

jerusalem zp 15:44 GMT March 9, 2003
red, i have seen the nude protests in there various sites but tend to think that an 'orgy for peace' might have a bit more force than a mere parade or spelling out of various words while in the buff. the 'orgy of peace' might even win a convert in haifa.
as for certain segments of our world civilization protesting nude, i can only say that those from argentina, brazil, and northern italy are welcome in my neighborhood at any time.

jerusalem zp 14:56 GMT March 9, 2003
jp, even better......i suggest that all the millions of anti-war protesters and pro-war protesters (all four of us) be put together and protest nude too. and if you can arrange it, please allow for me to be next to the argentine and brazil contingents when happens.

jerusalem zp 14:50 GMT March 9, 2003
jp, you are courageous........
why dont we decree that these two gents have to become homosexual lovers while we are at it?
what would this do to the price of crude (pun intended)?
as you know i have suspected sharon and arafat for some time, george jr. and saddam might make sense too - OR NOT.

jerusalem zp 10:37 GMT March 9, 2003
this is for all the people of sderot and others around the world being bombed.......
http://www.littlebearsnowshoes.com/team/meltest.html

jerusalem zp 09:48 GMT March 9, 2003
haifa, what does it mean?
11:40 - Hermon site to transfer 200 tons of snow to Sderot, in show of sympathy for Negev town under Qassam attack (Israel Radio)

jerusalem zp 09:29 GMT March 9, 2003
haifa, maybe you can get yourself elected to the palestinian council after all things are settled by moving to one of the towns out east and help sort out the quagmire of confederations that will have to be set up to insure that palestinian and israelis will both able to live with a secured future.
or perhaps you will want to keep spewing things which are irrelevant even if they are true. you seem to forget truth is the first casuality of war.........
welcome to the beginning of the black hole, where it ends nobody knows......

jerusalem zp 12:32 GMT March 6, 2003
interesting that a lot of people are speaking of polls here as if they have anything to do with what is going to come about. why dont we take the time to listen to the iraqis living outside of their country. what are they saying? by and large they say they will be glad to be rid of saddam. not all are in love with the u.s. - far from it sometimes, but they understand more than most that the only way saddam is going to be rid of is through powerful force - this because it is what he understands. where am i hearing these things - second hand through friends who sit in cafes in amman.
look for a mass surrender when the opportunity serves those who are under the boot of saddam.
as i have said before the fight for iraq is really going to begin after saddam has vacated.......

jerusalem zp 17:35 GMT March 5, 2003
th, thks,
and ahhhh no.......they do not see the point of stopping obviously. we really need to understand here that a scism exist in our world. sit at the table, negotiate, yell, raise your hands in the air, speak poorly about your neighbor in the newspaper, but return to the table and negotiate your problems - DO NOT KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE. really quite simple and a lesson that could be learned by all of us.
unfortunately there is a segment of fanatics on all sides of the spectrum who believe that they will actually accomplish their tasks through destroying others. this has been time tested through history and for the most part has always failed, the human spirit is stronger than that of any primitive terrorists - gulags, death camps, re-education camps, and random violence on innocents has mostly failed.

jerusalem zp 17:12 GMT March 5, 2003
jp, i believe you have read my posts over the last year and a half. please show me a post in which i am a supporter of politicians as a whole or the trustworthliness of any govt's....
that is certainly not my point, my point is that at some juncture you have to live with the reality being supplied, if that means hunting down and capturing terrorists world wide thats what needs to be done. while its nice to have some romantic notion of pirates and or bad guys sometimes we must take them for what they are - s.c.u.m.

jerusalem zp 16:43 GMT March 5, 2003
jp, maybe it is my mood today, but just what is your point? what exactly is wrong, do you feel that we should stop going after bin laden and his merry pranksters? are you rooting somehow for the merry pranksters? your posts strike me as someone who have never really faced the adversity of what is taking place around the world right now. for this you should be grateful but you should also know you have been lucky. how many attacks will it take before it dawns upon you that innocent people are dying around the world for what you seem to believe has some type of valid reason. dangerously close to putting words in your mouth probably, but again what is your point jp? what would you like to be done to stop this madness? do you think if the jews were perhaps to disappear that all the world problems would then be forgotten? again, i know you havent said that, but what is your point? at what place and time do you say that the killing of innocent people must stop? what did the people in the phillipines a couple of nights ago do wrong while waiting for their loved ones to arrive back from a plane trip? what did the people dancing the night away in bali do wrong? who exactly should the u.s go after in its war on the terrorists? would you like them to give up and surrender to the demands of these people? and what are the demands of these people? they are terrorists for a reason, they have no demands other than some utopian nightmare. the red brigade was no different in italy, the german terrorists of the 70's were no different, these people believe in a cause that above all will kill you without shedding a tear if it comes to that. you will never know that until it is too late though....

jerusalem zp 15:12 GMT March 5, 2003
http://www.interpol.int/Public/Terrorism/Terrorists/mostwanted.asp

jerusalem zp 15:06 GMT March 5, 2003
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/10/inv.mostwanted.list/

jerusalem zp 14:48 GMT March 5, 2003
if what i am hearing is correct regarding germany and russia saying that they will not allow for passage of a second resolution brought forth by the u.s. and britain look for major implications politically to fall out from this for the next few years. if the u.s. and britain go forward with war and it seems they will do so shortly, look for the e.u security pact to be called into question, look for nato to breakdown and be reorganized, and look for the u.n to become a league of nations. good luck world, you're going to need it.....

jerusalem zp 13:27 GMT March 5, 2003
haifa, i trust you are okay, but check in when you get the chance.....

jerusalem zp 08:21 GMT March 4, 2003
bc, regarding your last comments on the paper let it be known that i agree with you. i must stress once again that i was not in any way linking it to anything else, merely asking what has turned out to be made complex but was truly simple - and that was your thoughts on the paper as theory. obviously, red & you dont think that it offers too much.....i am interested in it because of its interpretations regarding the events which it uses to make its analysis - it offers a window if you will into the world view of the chinese military to an extent. nothing at all negative about this, in fact i agree quite strongly that war if and when it must be fought is not about rules - it is about anti-rules. i really hope this puts the matter to rest.
take care and thanks.

jerusalem zp 18:49 GMT March 3, 2003
red, i get the feeling the both of us are spending a bit too much time on this .......but........when i said think tank i was merely being polite, i wont be next time. but surely you dont think that this publication would not have come to fruit if the chinese govt didnt want it. as you said these two gentlemen (me being polite again - i have to stop that) are senior army officers, surely they would not have risked writing such a think without some type of tacit approval. unless of coarse they were planning on selling the publication to some radical press in argentina.......


jerusalem zp 16:41 GMT March 3, 2003
red, i agree with you, what i find interesting is that is supposedly an authentic publication from chinese think tanks and i find the point that they seem to have disected their ideas piece by piece interesting. not for the information it gives me to conduct my own war, but because it shows what one group actually thought worthwhile in order to engage in war for a modern theatre. whether bin laden has studied this text or earlier text on warfare is not important, what is important is that we live in a crazy enough time to actually have reason to call texts like these out.....

jerusalem zp 16:11 GMT March 3, 2003
red, yes & no, what is interesting about the concepts brought forth in the chinese paper was the use of non-military concepts in order to bring down a dragon. the specific use of tactics such as counterfeiting take high priority within the scenerios offered, take a look at the site, it is book lenght yes, but interesting. too, note that it seems to indicate that the cia has something to do with the translation of the work thus it may have to be questioned for it trust worthliness.

jerusalem zp 15:32 GMT March 3, 2003
red, its my mistake regarding the 'london's calling' song by the clash...thks for pointing it out. i suppose it must be some sub-consious fear on my part.

jerusalem zp 15:29 GMT March 3, 2003
bc, while i agree that most philosophy of war might be in some subtle nature within 'the art of war', it is of interest that such a doctrine has come about from chinese theorists. what fascinates me is the modern doctrine and theory. i didnt present it as something to throw at you but merely as an example of one of the facets of our modern world and thinking.

jerusalem zp 15:17 GMT March 3, 2003
red, good suggestion regarding the music........thks.

jerusalem zp 15:10 GMT March 3, 2003
here's one......saddam huessien, tony blair, and george bush jr. are standning in heaven before god. god looks at them and says, i have you before me to ask what you believe in before i can grant you a place next to me.
god looks at tony blair and asks mr. blair what he believes in.
"well, i believe i have done what is right for my country and the world in order to preserve justice and the possibility of advancement for all".
god looks at tony blair and tells him to sit next to him on the left hand side.
god then looks at george bush jr. and asks what he believes in, "god, i believe i have worked the last years as much as i could to keep the people of my country safe and free".
god nods to bush jr. and allows him to sit on his right hand side.
god then asks saddam to step forward and asks what he believes,
"i believe", says saddam, "you are sitting in my seat."

jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT March 3, 2003
bc, by means of transference caisa (this because of the counterfeiting issue) has reminded me to ask you about the philosophy of Unrestricted Warfare.......
which has been getting attention as of late. the following paper offers a extremely good background.

http://www.cryptome.org/cuw.htm

jerusalem zp 10:53 GMT March 3, 2003
haifa, further....it should be pointed out that within the muslim world women have risen to high levels of power - off hand i do not know their names but pakistan had a woman who was a political leader and indonesia currently has one. again, this is not about the religion itself, it is about a cultural environment that produces hatred.

jerusalem zp 10:45 GMT March 3, 2003
haifa, your poetess doesnt count. why? because she herself is an abberation. she may feel like she has put her self into a subjugated position too.
no, what you dont get is that it is not only the men that are coming after us. it is the mothers who support their childrens actions also (this doesnt make it right btw). it shows the level of hatred is not gender biased and that it goes deeper than a male oriented philosophy of mere machoism.
within the psyche something exists in which people have been taught to hate - right or wrong.
the hatred that pervades our area of the world has saturated all of us, you and i are not immune either.

jerusalem zp 10:38 GMT March 3, 2003
Maybe we can enter you Haifa into the tournament now......

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Tiger Woods pulled out of next week's Dubai Desert Classic, which has lost several players concerned about a possible war in Iraq.
The tournament announced his withdrawal Sunday, just as Woods was teeing off against David Toms for the final of the Match Play Championship in Carlsbad, Calif.
"It's just not a safe environment over there right now," Woods said after his 2-and-1 victory, his second win in three starts since knee surgery. "I don't think it would be wise for me to go over there at this particular time. If it's safe next year, I'll go, because I want to go back."



jerusalem zp 10:23 GMT March 3, 2003
haifa, regarding your post about the duality of terrorism and the penis, how do you than explain the advent of the female terrorist? does she undertake this mission merely because of envy?

jerusalem zp 09:29 GMT March 3, 2003
if this is true, it really is something......
The Washington Times: Al-Qaida planned to target
Pearl Harbor
By Reuters
WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida network planned to attack the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, using hijacked airliners, The Washington Times reported Monday.
The potential targets included nuclear powered submarines and ships, the newspaper said.
Intelligence reports about the threat to the naval base were sent to senior U.S. officials in the past two weeks and coincided with reports that Al-Qaida was planning a major attack, the newspaper reported



jerusalem zp 09:18 GMT March 3, 2003
for the neo-phytes amongst us within the punk rock genre, i am not making the names of these songs up........
yours,
sid vicious

jerusalem zp 09:13 GMT March 3, 2003
red, in reference to your question a couple of days ago on my choice of music from 'the clash' when sitting on the balcony i am leaning towards - 'rock the casbah' (it goes w/o saying), followed by 'i'm so bored w/ the usa' this for moderation, and if things start to get hairy i will then put on 'should i stay or should i go now?' to put the finishing touches on things. i have considered 'london is burning' too. we shall see......

jerusalem zp 09:07 GMT March 3, 2003
haifa, you say tomatoe, i say tomato, you say potatoe, i say potato, king, terrorist, arms supplier, drug dealer - lets call the whole thing off.........

jerusalem zp 17:35 GMT March 2, 2003
ahe, if it is good enough for arik sharon's friends, it is good enough for me.....

jerusalem zp 17:33 GMT March 2, 2003
ahe, believe it or not there are some amongst us here that shake hands every single day.........i am not ashamed of this and when the days comes that it business will be out in the open again i will be extremely happy. those who arrive late to the party will only cost themselves.
here is an example of the mixed up life some lead....
this from ha'aretz today
Among the more interesting details are the PA's part in the Oasis casino in Jericho. The PA owns 23.08 percent of CAP, the company that owns the Jericho Casino. The Oasis is also partly owned by Jewish Austrian businessman Martin Schlaf - a close friend of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - who also sits on the board of directors.
According to the report, CAP is registered in Lichtenstein and most of its owners are not known. Among its registered owners is an Austrian casino company, in which Schlaf is prominently involved. Schlaf last visited Sharon about two weeks ago in Hashikmim farm. The Prime Minister's Office director general, Dov Weisglass, represented CAP in Israel before entering his present office and his former law office still handles the company's business.
The Austrian Casino company received, according to the report, a franchise to operate the Jericho casino until 2028, with a 10-year tax exemption from the day it opened, and exclusive rights to operate other casinos in PA territories.
The report was issued by the Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF), the central body set up last August to concentrate and manage all the PA's assets and properties as part of the economic reforms in the PA. These funds and assets were managed during the Oslo agreements exclusively and secretly by Mohammed Rashid and his men. The PIF appointed Fayyad finance minister, Rashid as PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's representative and five other prominent private Palestinian businessmen, to take over and manage the assets in an orderly, open fashion.



jerusalem zp 17:24 GMT March 2, 2003
revdax & ahe, the real problem with this area - israel and palestine - is that both haifa and ibiza have very valid points and that makes it difficult to get them to stop and realize that grievances may actually be true on both sides of the table.
i suspect that after the iraq situation is taken care of that bush and his band of folk will call for a meeting of the brass here in the land of confusion and make us sort things out. will it work? i can only hope. until then i will continue to do business here and pray i outlast the madness.

jerusalem zp 17:16 GMT March 2, 2003
maybe we should put a consortium of castro, arafat, and hussien in charge of the world bank thus the entire spectrum of realpolitik economic thinking would be incorporated.....
but we shouldnt forget that this world is a bit of a fools paradise and where there is money we shall eventually find even our own friends and family........no one is immune to the international language of love - the greenback - or in bc's case - gold bullion.

jerusalem zp 15:45 GMT March 2, 2003
IT IS GOOD TO BE THE KING..........

The fortunes of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat total at least $300 million, earning him the sixth spot on the world’s wealthiest ‘Kings, Queens & Despots’ list, published annually by Forbes business magazine. Arafat reportedly managed to amass this sum using his tight grip over billions of dollars worth of international aid and revenues from PA-controlled monopolies in the local cement and gasoline sectors, as well as stakes in the Jericho casino and local Coca Cola bottler.
However, this situation is expected to change soon. Cutting off much of Arafat's cash flow is his recent appointment of former World Bank official Salam Fayad to the post of finance minister in June 2002, under heavy international pressure. ”I am here to tell you it's not Arafat's money anymore,” Fayyad told Forbes from his Ramallah office. “I'm not going to accept anything but total transparency."
Entrusted with the task of cleaning up the PA's finances and making them more transparent, Fayyad's first step on the job was to consolidate the national funds into a single treasury account, the Palestine Investment Fund, under his control. The PA currently has more than $600 million worth of liquid assets, held locally and internationally, Fayad told AP. “This is the PA money and it is being managed as such,” he said. PA investments include a stake in Orascom Telecom Algeria, valued at $90 million, as well as equity in Jordan Mobile Telephone Services (Fastlink), valued at more than $66 million.
In December, the Palestinian Legislative Council approved the PA’s first publicly disclosed budget, prepared by Fayyad. International auditors Ernst & Young as well as Deloitte & Touche will supervise budget spending. In February, Standard & Poor's released the first ever report on the finances of ten firms owned by the PA. Fayad has promised to end the use of cash in government transactions and to include the defense budget in public accounts.
Fourth on the list is Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whose worth is estimated at no less than two billion dollars. $525 million, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat is sixth with at least $300 million. Cuban President Fidel Castro ($182 million) conclude the list.



jerusalem zp 07:40 GMT February 28, 2003
THE POPE AND THE RABBI
Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to convert or leave Italy. There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community,so the Pope offered a deal. He would have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community. If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy,if the Pope won, they would have to leave. The Jewish people met and picked an aged but wise Rabbi, Moishe, to
represent them in the debate. However, as Moishe spoke no Italian and the Pope spoke no Yiddish, they all agreed that it would be a "silent" debate.
On the chosen day, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised one finger.
Next the Pope waved his finger around his head. Rabbi Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope then brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine. Rabbi Moishe pulled out an apple. With that, the Pope stood up and declared that he was beaten, that Rabbi Moishe was too clever and that the Jews could stay.
Later, the Cardinals met with the Pope, asking what had happened.
The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there is still only one God common to both our beliefs. Then, I waved my finger to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us.
I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of all our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of the original sin. He had me beaten and I could not continue."
Meanwhile the Jewish community were gathered around Rabbi Moishe. "What happened?" they asked.
"Well," said Moishe, "First he said to me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I said to him, Up yours!
Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews and I said to him, Mr Pope, we're staying right here." "And then what," asked a woman.
"Who knows?" said Moishe, "He took out his lunch so I took out mine."



jerusalem zp 18:38 GMT February 27, 2003
here is more background on the political season that developed and came about in fall of 1992:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_1992

jerusalem zp 17:56 GMT February 27, 2003
ahe, i disagree with you about that. i believe george jr's dad actually gave the order to desist when all of iraq was for the taking. this pleased colin powell quite a bit and upset norman swartzkpof (sp?) to no end.
lets remember that the reason bush sr lost to clinton had something to do with the famous quote......"its about the economy....."
clinton was lucky to have been president during such a convienent uptrend.

jerusalem zp 17:33 GMT February 27, 2003
a question - if this current conflict with iraq were about oil, why didnt the u.s. simply stay put in kuwait and iraq after the first gulf war? did those dummies in the white house not understand that this place was swimming in oil? or is it possible that the u.s. actually has good intent mixed in to its bag of poor public relations technique?




jerusalem zp 17:23 GMT February 27, 2003
ahe, you bring up a very interesting point, and that is saddam's reality. i venture to say that the world reported to him is somewhat skewed to say the least. problem with working for a fellow like that is that the messenger is often punished.........thus the news has a way of looking a bit more rosy than it ought.

jerusalem zp 18:46 GMT February 26, 2003
opps, sorry about that, the link will not work.........

jerusalem zp 18:40 GMT February 26, 2003
........i know propaganda when i see it and this is propaganda......
israel propaganda but it might prove interesting to some of you:

http://65.54.244.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=d9ad79961812e98c76dc0d03bf9a162f&lat=1046284618&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ekatzir%2ecom%2f1981%2f

jerusalem zp 16:06 GMT February 26, 2003
th, industrious yes but loud too.......haifa is one of our more quiet types believe it or not.....

jerusalem zp 15:39 GMT February 26, 2003
th, i tend to think israel suffers from too much govt for a country its size. we have a population of about 6.5 million people. we have a knesset (parliment) of 120 seats.
at this time there are also about 25 or something like that ministry seats available on the cabinet. this is the highest ratio of ministers to parliment members in the world i suspect. we also have municipal governments........

jerusalem zp 15:03 GMT February 26, 2003
th, i think your odds wont get much action. seems like the house is going to have to entice people much better. odds should be more like 15 to 1 based on the use of the word democracy. who get to be the judge in this case? the kurds, the shites, or the sunnis will not agree to this so easily. iraq stands not to lose any of its land to others but it is about to embark on forced implementation of a 'dayton agreement' - read 'yugo' mess. the real battle for iraq will start only after the americans get rid of hussien.

jerusalem zp 14:28 GMT February 26, 2003
revdax, please note that although the iraqi majority is muslim as is the iranian population, that these two people are not the same ethnic group by and large. the iraqis are mostly made up of an arab population while the iranian population is considered to be more central asiatic.

as for the reason why iraq is being targeted now, i understand it is really about leggies.

jerusalem zp 14:23 GMT February 26, 2003
bc, your 14:16 brings up an extremely good point i agree, same could be said for the united nations though. if this band of talking heads could actually make policy work worldwide perhaps they wouldnt be looked on as merely a place where one makes political points and gets a comfortable car for doing so.

jerusalem zp 14:16 GMT February 26, 2003
jp, this is an extremely good question - what you must do is the following - change the word 'must' for the words 'should please' and send your request to mr. straw - he is a brit afterall and will no doubt be comforted by your suggestion.


jerusalem zp 13:07 GMT February 26, 2003
and we claimed the french were the jealous ones.......

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/02/25/nkorea.missile/index.html

jerusalem zp 18:56 GMT February 25, 2003
anyone here have any thoughts on north korea testing their missile system today? seems as if the folk there are getting a bit jealous that iraq is getting all of the attention again.....



jerusalem zp 06:53 GMT February 25, 2003
Snow shuts down Jerusalem; schools shut, no
public transport.........so goes the headline in ha'aretz this morning. be assured the snowfall isnt quite what some are making it out to be here. i believe it has more to do with the need of a vacation day before the iraqi war starts. it gives us a reason to relax and be with the kids and dogs. i must admit it is beautiful though....


jerusalem zp 22:00 GMT February 24, 2003
red, thks, i must go now and shovel the rain drops.....

jerusalem zp 21:53 GMT February 24, 2003
and now this news.......
JERUSALEM — Sir Isaac Newton predicted that the world will come to an end in 57 years, the BBC network said, based on a document from a Jerusalem archive, although a library official said yesterday he hasn’t seen it. Newton’s sombre prediction was unearthed by a Canadian researcher as part of the documentary, Newton: The Dark Heretic.
In a statement promoting the programme, to be aired on March 1, the British Broadcasting Corporation said it will show a handwritten document by Newton (illustration) predicting the end of the world in 2060, according to calculations he made based on the Bible.


jerusalem zp 21:44 GMT February 24, 2003
th, syria doe NOT have a veto, they can merely vote no. the five permanent members can only veto - france, u.s., britain, russia, china.......

jerusalem zp 21:43 GMT February 24, 2003
red, post away - i need a laugh.

jerusalem zp 21:39 GMT February 24, 2003
zp, i am no muslim cleric and thus i do not know the answer, but i suspect it has more to do with a cultural attitude than a religious attitude. the reason i say this is because when certain people have embraced the muslim religion and married that with the modern world the outcome has been largely sucessful. it doesnt mean that i want to move to malaysia or the arab emirates but it does mean that it is quite possible to create a very comfortable world within muslim societies. i tend to think we are seeing the poison come to the top because of a very evil mix of political corruption and desire for power in an area of the world too long played with by outside powers.

jerusalem zp 21:29 GMT February 24, 2003
tg, a lot of the time i agree with you but exactly where you were going with your muslim comments and 'super race sojourn i do not know. i do understand your point that the religious element has spewed doctrine that seems to indicate those of us not following muhammed's path are a rather lower form but is it possible that this doctrine grows from some place? what is that place? could it be that a large number of arabs - say muslims - if you would like, have lived the life of a subjugated mass for too long now? could resentment and anger have anything to to do with this new brave world? dont get me wrong, i dont believe it is all the fault of western nations, a large part of the problem has to do with the leadership of the arab - muslim - mass. while i agree it would be a good thing to rid the world of bad leadership, one often doesnt know what one will get in return.


jerusalem zp 20:42 GMT February 24, 2003
ibiza, i have the ultimate solution for ridding the palestinian lands of israelis - tell them it is going to snow. i witnessed mass hysteria and panic in jerusalem today for a snow storm that never came (my wife warns me it still may, ooooh should i be scared?). people starting leaving offices around 12 this noon, the govt closed (thank god), schools closed, hospitals sent home the doctors (death rate probably went down), and factories shut. i stayed in my office - alone - and the snow never really came, oh it tried, but in the end it merely blew about and melted. made a lot of noise, caused mass bedlam, and in the end amounted to nothing............
does this sound familiar?

jerusalem zp 12:28 GMT February 23, 2003
who is playing who? should we look to the state of the union speech by bush in 2002 - the axis of evil club - iraq, north korea, iran?
while it seems iraq is about to be dismantled by war, north korea with diplomacy (as nh says negotiations carried out by renegotiating with themselves a bit amatuerishly by u.s), bush is most quiet about iran as of late. will that begin to change? are we seeing signs of that now through some type of manipulation? u.n was in iran yesterday for nuclear inspections, muhammed el baradei left before scheduled - why? is something now brewing?
america is now supplying troops also to phillipines and columbia, besides afghanistan.
enemies of u.s must now hope that they can entangle u.s. to long drawn out guerilla wars in order to have any chance of victory or survival for that matter.
we are only now beginning to enter the dragon, get ready to be eaten.

jerusalem zp 19:36 GMT February 22, 2003
athens, i dont think you have to worry about anyone confusing you with haifa.

here is a very interesting article published in ha'aretz about what is taking place in saudi arabia lately.....

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=265536&displayTypeCd=1&sideCd=1&contrassID=2

jerusalem zp 13:19 GMT February 21, 2003
nh, kurd situation for the turks is the most important issue. under almost any circumstance they will NOT agree to a kurdish nation on their doorstep. the u.s. understands this full well and this is why they stopped supporting the kurds so outwardly after last persian gulf war and left them hanging. turkey is fairly honest about this particular form of geo politics. seems as if some deal has been made and that u.s will be able to use bases from turkey. the kurds as a people do not have the distinction of having a great deal of good fate. i have heard talk that the u.s will allow for a kurd to become ruler of iraq, but this seems highly unlikely too because of turk resistance to the idea. iraq looks to be much like the yugo fiasco for the coming years with it ethnic divisions and problems. cant imagine that anything the u.n will try to do will help the matter either.....

jerusalem zp 16:19 GMT February 20, 2003
jv, please note that i commend your desire for peace, but i unfortunately must be prepared to deal with the reality of my environment here. the following is a brief article on recent casualties of russian soldiers in their war near home.

http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=35293

jerusalem zp 16:11 GMT February 20, 2003
jv, may i suggest that the russians continued stance against military action in iraq is the height of being hypocritical. why? just what are the russians doing in chechyna, are they planting sunflower fields for children to run in? no, they are destroying anything and killing anyone that gets in the way of their nationalistic goals. the russian attempt of showing 'concern' for the inspection process in iraq is a blatantly boldface lie by the russians. russia's concerns lies elsewhere.

jerusalem zp 15:50 GMT February 20, 2003
jv, having read your posts over the past year i believe you have witnessed war if i am not mistaken. thus i understand your feelings about it all too well.
BUT somewhere in this picture there is an other side to the story. who is responsible for the iraqis dying in the first persian gulf war? am i mistaken, didn't iraq invade kuwait?
in the yugo mess, including croatia, kosovo, bosnia, serbia, albania, etc. etc....who is exactly responsible for the mess?
i can say with a good and clean heart that i know of very few people who want to fight in wars and watch their loves die or kill anyone.
there are very few good reasons for fighting a war, unfortunately i believe we are within the grasp of having to fight for our survival once again.


jerusalem zp 15:30 GMT February 20, 2003
jv, yes, i read the posts regarding depleted uranium.
also, please note the only master i have is my wife.

jerusalem zp 15:22 GMT February 20, 2003
i am so tired of the nonsense, but it is ever occuring and i should be ready for it i suppose. if israel and jews had a quarter of the power some believe we had, we would not total only 15 million on this little planet. we are the world's scape goat and pay a price everyday for this. it is so boring, but it never seems to stop. today i found out that israel blew up the space shuttle, this excerpt from ha'aretz:

The ADL document brings examples of e-mail and Internet posts on the Columbia accident. It quotes a writer, Gordon Thomas: "Astronaut Ilan Ramon was conducting secret experiments on the Columbia to discover new ways to beat Saddam's threat to use biological weapons and chemical weapons against Israel. For most of his 16 days on board the Columbia, he had been using cameras linked directly to the Israeli Space Agency to study desert dust and wind drifts emanating from the deserts of Iraq."
Another e-mail writer is quoted as saying: "A reasonable suspicion is Col. Ramon photographed and measured the dispersion of inert substances over the Middle East as part of a weapons development program for the IDF."
ADL director Abe Foxman said yesterday that the conspiracy theories are taking on a life of their own on the Internet, just as they did after the events of September 11 in the U.S.
A Hong Kong-based journalist, Yoichi Clark Shimatsu, wrote: "How then can the Bush and Sharon administrations win support for space-based weapons? A cynical solution is to make martyrs of an Israeli-American space shuttle crew."

jerusalem zp 15:12 GMT February 20, 2003
jv, how should i respond to your comment? you give us too much credit kind sir.

jerusalem zp 14:29 GMT February 20, 2003
revdax, perhaps we can still bribe saddam with ownership of a five star hotel in sz.

jerusalem zp 14:26 GMT February 20, 2003
a father walks into his son's room and asks his son what he is doing.
"i am writing a letter to my uncle," says the son.
the father looks at his son and says,
"that is nice, but you know your uncle doesn't know how to read."
the son looks at his father and says,
"that's ok, i dont know how to write."

jerusalem zp 12:52 GMT February 20, 2003
revdax, lets just say her personality matches mine to a fit, i am lucky to have her. and now.....back to work.

jerusalem zp 12:41 GMT February 20, 2003
revdax, i dont know the hotel's name in chinese, sorry about that. as for telling my wife about my activities, yes, i did tell. my wife is quite a woman, i didnt know her at that time which helps too. i have never tried to make believe i am a puritan to my wife. besides she is originally from argentina so she understands the need to have a good time, but if i ever were to have 'this kind of a good time' now she would flat out simply kill me and believe that i deserved it. its better to know where you stand in the house.


jerusalem zp 11:21 GMT February 20, 2003
jp, nice article, accept what's the point? havent you been reading what haifa has been saying? this doesnt make him right, but it does point out that him and others - including sharon himself are living in some type of utopian vision. they would like the u.s. to rid the world of the israeli enemies. we are wagging the dog here as much as canada does - which means not at all. the u.s. is entering iraq because of its own concerns which have little to do with israel's interest. no doubt it is a good thing for us here in the land of chaos if iraq is taken care of and its weapons systems are made fallow. yet, it also helps saudi arabia, kuwait, turkey, and iran to name a few........

jerusalem zp 10:51 GMT February 20, 2003
athens, agreed, i am certainly no foe of globalization, countries should be careful to guard their cultures so they are not 'made american' but the more i travel the more i see that each place prides itself on its own unique character. ten years ago when i first visited china, i was amazed to find so many michael jordan t-shirts. whats nice about this is that the americans are completely in love with the chinese player who is playing for the houston rockets now - Yao-Ming. there is something to be said for the comforts of an international world getting a long with one another.



jerusalem zp 10:21 GMT February 20, 2003
athens, further on.....a case in point is the roman republic as compared to the take over by the caesars and the creation of the roman empire. i dont think the u.s is anywhere near that stage and perhaps because of it, the u.s will be able to sustain its super power status for many many more years. thus being able to govern with a soft enough hand that the other countries around it do not try to bring her down in a conspiracy.

jerusalem zp 10:14 GMT February 20, 2003
athens, i agree with you, but i do need to ask one question...
is the u.s. an empire? i personally dont think they have entered an empire stage as of yet. they are a super poweer to be sure, but just what makes the u.s. an empire? i think we are over using this word a bit. perhaps if the u.s. enters iraq and announces that it plans on staying there i could accept that, but i doubt that will be the case. for the u.s to enter the 'empire' phase of its history it will really have to do something in which it tells the entire world to mind its own business and to get out of the way.....maybe we are about to witness that in the next couple of weeks. i personally think the u.s. is too dependent on its economic partners through out the world to be considered an empire. what would happen if the world decided to boycott the united states? could the world thus turn the super power into a weak giant or could the giant simply crush those causing trouble?

jerusalem zp 09:47 GMT February 20, 2003
lastly, let me add that there are many in the u.s. within both political parties who are completely against the u.s. as policeman role. i dont believe even bush wants this job. maybe i am too idealistic but i have reason to suspect the u.s would be quite happy within it role as isolationalists (to a degree not counting the exploits of the cia or small private armies) - as it happily moves the worlds economic dynamic ahead.

jerusalem zp 09:42 GMT February 20, 2003
athens, i dont know what to say to this except that i understand your viewpoint but that i believe the world is a fairly complicated place, one in which in a majority of times when certain conflicts take place the u.s. is looked to as a device to alter things. it doesnt always work, sometimes things become a bigger mess, but everyonce in a while certain tasks actually get done.

jerusalem zp 09:27 GMT February 20, 2003
let me add that this goes for israel as well acting like we not only deserve special aid from the u.s. but have some kind of natural born right to it.....

jerusalem zp 09:24 GMT February 20, 2003
here is a story regarding a journalist who infiltrated a terrorist cell in france, i am sure this will not be the last we hear about this......

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/02/19/alqaeda.undercover/index.html

th & athens, it strikes me as troublesome that every one is ambivalent about the u.s. being the world's policeman but expects them to be their banker. the u.s. should bill europe for all of its costs involved for having to go into the yugo mess.

jerusalem zp 08:55 GMT February 20, 2003
something is going on here (i think the israeli govt is getting ready for the poker game that will be required of them after the iraq war is settled), people are really starting to sound like they are getting ready to speak about issues again that really have something to do with the task of settling this mess with the palestinians. i can only continue to hope that sharon actually shows that he is capable of forming a coalition that is forward looking instead of extreme right and unrealistic and religious - we shall see. i submit the following from the israeli biz newspaper - globes - regarding an issue that i have brought up before here that will be part of the negotiations between israel and the arab nations. i still believe that it is mostly a bargaining chip to get the palestinians to reduce some of their demands. will there be peace in our time?
From Globes:
The claims will be filed by immigrants from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen who immigrated to Israel since 1940. The office will collect documents and legal material pertaining to damage to Jewish property and persecution of Jews in these countries, including confiscation of property and bodily harm. The purpose is to provide a foundation for claims against these countries and international institutions to counter claims by Palestinian refugees.
A partial registration of claims, mainly by immigrants from Egypt and Iraq, was carried out in the 1950s. These claims covered about $1 billion. The registration was ordered resumed in the 1970s, but nothing was done. The current registration is based on a cabinet decision of March 2002.
“Globes” investigations in recent years discovered that the real value of confiscated Jewish property in Iraq, Egypt and Syria totals $8-10 billion. The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) estimates the total value of property, including communal property, at $30 billion.

jerusalem zp 12:36 GMT February 19, 2003
athens, i tend to think all european players will eventually kiss and make up. we tend to long for our lusts more when they dont return our phone calls. i actually believe that one day we will see a european union which crosses the med. sea and includes the likes of lebanon, jordan, israel, etc. etc.
but until then i am going to bet my money on the great greenland, iceland, & alaska alliance - they will freeze every one out......

jerusalem zp 12:23 GMT February 19, 2003
possible future empires & economic giant alliances and odds.....timetable
china alliance with russia 10:1 - within thirty five years
russia alliance with china 10:1 - within thirty five years
expanded european union 10:1 - within thirty five years - when they decided to form there own army and really use it.
australia & indonesia 75:1 - within 75 years
brazilian/argentine (mercusor alliance) 75:1 - within 75 years
union of arab states 200:1 - ask haifa about this?


jerusalem zp 11:43 GMT February 19, 2003
athens, the idea that you touched upon regarding alexander's rule of making sure the locals and those conquering mixed is vital for evening out these wars of nationality. BUT THIS IS AN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT, AND THEY ARE SELDOM CARRIED OUT. makes me wish that an army of women would invade israel and carry me off.....(as long as casia is not their leader).

jerusalem zp 11:38 GMT February 19, 2003
bc, i want to note i am in agreement regarding your statesments about the historical fact that empires weaken themselves considerably when they over step there maximum level of strength and thus put themselves in a position to be weakened against outside forces. we shall see where this ball bounces. taking into account the trend, i would find it difficult to bet against the states.

jerusalem zp 11:10 GMT February 19, 2003
revdax, th, bc, certainly i dont think the u.s is immune to moral or ethical corruption - but it does as good a job as anyone in confronting these issures.
the u.s does have an ability to govern itself under a system that does not allow for the transfer of power without a democratic vote ( i know that this is shaky terrain considering what took place in the last presidential election). also even if it does not exist as completely as americans believe there system of meritocracy does( a person attaining their position in life based on the work that they do)it is much more to the truth than the system which governed the british during their empire - that of aristorcracy and eventually helped in its inability to orchestrate worldwide.
too, the u.s. has the advantage of being surrounded by stable countries of which it has fair to excellent relations depending on economic cycles.
as much as we might feel the tendency to point to a political elite or a harvard or yale mafia it is not always the case. the u.s. still is able to sell its dream worldwide of opportunity for all. trying to predict the length of time the u.s. as a superpower will last will likely fall short of the mark by many many years.

jerusalem zp 10:16 GMT February 19, 2003
let me add regarding my comments about the u.s. that this doesnt mean that we should not be critical of her (or any other country) when it is called for. dissent is healthy. i am merely stating that if people are predicting the fall of the u.s. it has very little to do with reality and is much more due to bias. it is a bit like rooting against another team during a sporting match.

jerusalem zp 10:05 GMT February 19, 2003
revdax, what i wrote had nothing to do with fx trading in the immeadiate sense.....

jerusalem zp 09:50 GMT February 19, 2003
it could very will be that the u.s is still an infant regarding its development as an empire. lets recall that the romans ruled their domains for a very very long time. america also has the benefit of being able to add states to its union. i dont suspect iraq will become part of the union but who knows what could be in store in the next two hundred years. economic cycles will play a key ingredient within the u.s. sphere of influence but too it will be effected by population dynamics and an effective way to insure security for its citizens and works. there are many who doubt the strenght and the ability of the u.s to govern effectively over the long haul. for now this appears to be mainly wishful thinking. the u.s. as an entity is far more united than its counterparts anywhere else in the world. they do not have any fear of their union breaking up because of nationalists movements. plain and simply, the u.s. will be around and very strong for the remainder of our lives and probably grandchildrens lives. going short the u.s. is only for those who have money to burn.

jerusalem zp 11:09 GMT February 18, 2003
so here it is: POETS FOR THE WAR, the world is a funny place

http://www.poetsforthewar.org/

jerusalem zp 11:05 GMT February 18, 2003
the following is an article from cnn about poets against the war, yet it seems to me that this is not news. what would have been news is an article about poets that wanted a war........where's homer when you need him?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/books/02/17/poetry.protest/index.html

jerusalem zp 09:44 GMT February 18, 2003
th, funny but also true..... not only the drug trade is dependent on good cooperation between jew and arab - but the stolen car market is also highly dependent on this synergy. for the most part israeli crooks steal the cars within israel and sell them to their palestinian counterparts who chop them up or move them to other places for sale in whole.

jerusalem zp 09:11 GMT February 18, 2003
th, i assume you will find the following interesting about a smuggling gang consisting of israeli jews & arabs who were bring lebanese hash into the country. major problem with this is that there source seems to have been the hizbollah. not only can we be pretensious but we can be pretty stupid too.....
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=263951&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0

jerusalem zp 08:46 GMT February 18, 2003
john,
to be fair there are many other commercial uses of sodium cyanide........of coarse i have no idea if north korea has any use for this fun chemical for anything but bad intent....

http://www.chemlink.com.au/cyanide.htm



jerusalem zp 22:26 GMT February 16, 2003
th, you may be correct about oil in israel but then again you might not be......just where does israel get its oil from now? hmmm, could it be a secret deal between israel and one of its arab neighbors? as for the israeli economy, things couldnt get much worse here unless we become a full fledged argentine crisis. only problem is that we arent as commodity rich as argentina. shekel is trading in a bad way if you are long currently and doesnt look to get better until UNTIL peace is brokered between the palestinians and ourselves. actually, th, i firmly believe that after the iraqi conflict is largely taken care of mr. bush and mr. blair will be sending an army of diplomats to this deeply disturbed land and force the hand of both the palestinians and israelis as much as they humanly can. and at the end of the day, it just might all work at for the best.......until then israeli economy will be stuck in a dangerously bad place, big budget problems, too many govt workers, bad management of central bank, high unemployment....low grade warfare, and no tourists in sight.

jerusalem zp 22:07 GMT February 16, 2003
th, again i disagree with you. why? because the u.s is much to interdependent on a healthy chinese economy and japanese economy, not too mention healthy world econonmy -
except for perhaps cuba and north korea. the u.s cannot afford to turn iraq and iran into welfare states, it is simply not going to happen. and this is why france, germany, russia, china, etc. etc, can play their cards so well at the u.n.. they know that eventually even if they disagree over u.s. actions currently that the u.s will have to still deal them in economically down the road to be strong.
no, th, this coming war is about making the world a safer place.
btw, my mother and wife disagree with me about these things too. they have both been protesting for peace. i, however, prefer to sue for peace after after the fight is over......

jerusalem zp 21:48 GMT February 16, 2003
th, i do not agree with you at all. first of all britain is a huge oil producer itself. russia has some of the biggest natural reserves of anyone on the planet. china and japan are too important economically for the u.s to want to do anything to hurt them regarding supplies. what you suggest is not based on any facts. if you tell me that you believe the u.s wants to protect oil infrastructure that exists in the middle east, i can certainly agree to that. france and germany will have to pay a diplomatic price if the states chooses to make them jump a bit now......so be it.

mm, i enjoy your candy company......you should stick to that line of work.

jerusalem zp 21:35 GMT February 16, 2003
mm, you are obviously clouded by mis information. we happen to know quite well that sharon faces a trial in belgium after his tenure now because of a decision by the courts there last week. you should know that sharon already has been tried here and found guilty of negligence but that the charges of an order to commit such a massacre had no legitimate proof.
good luck to belgium if they can prove such a thing.
i wonder if dear old belgium will try arafat too after he is done with office? will they hold him accountable for the ordering of civilians deaths and his signed signature on accounts payable to his death squads?
or better yet, maybe the belgiums can try themselves for being part of the coalition in rwanda watching over the people when two million people were hacked to death?
maybe, maybe, maybe, mm, you are wasting my time, if you want to have a dialogue with me i suggest you prove you can think for yourself.

jerusalem zp 21:27 GMT February 16, 2003
mm, and aahhhh just one more note for you to consider, we in fact captured the entire sinai and could have easily controlled a greater amount of land but we gave it all back. aaaaaah, for what? maybe you know the answer PEACE with egypt. it might be a cold peace right now, but if you were to put arafat and sharon in the same room with mubarak giving the egyptian leader the choice of whom he wanted to slap first - i venture to say he would have a tough time making up his mind.
btw, osama and his band of merry pranksters had nothing to do with israel and the murder of 3000 people on sept. 11th. i suggest you go on a corner in new york and speak about these things openly. they say the truth will set you free....


jerusalem zp 21:01 GMT February 16, 2003
mm, thks for you comments. i suggest you go into the archive and look at past post from myself and ibiza.
the palestinians are perfect. lebanese christian arabs had nothing to do with the death massacre in the southern lebanon refugee camps. the palestinians had nothing to do with walking away from the negotiating table in sept. 2000 and letting the intifada begin. arafat is the ideal leader for his people.
mm, you are two and a half years late to the arguement, people have begun to realize what you are spouting is nothing but the big lie. good luck to you, you will obviously need it.

jerusalem zp 16:55 GMT February 16, 2003
red, i dont know who that barb was meant for, not that many of us agree on anything but i would certainly say that most of us here dont see their 'own' politicians in the best of light...
what it is - is a question of rationale. will the world be safer with or without saddam hussien at the helm of iraq?
i read someone's comment here yesterday that if we eliminate bin laden that ten more will follow....i dont agree. if you kill hundreds of soldiers - 'terrorists' - that are merely following some utopian goal that might be true, but if you chop off the head often the body does in fact die.

jerusalem zp 16:22 GMT February 16, 2003
fx trader, do any of us really live in a true democracy? are any of our democracies free from corruption, manipulation, scandal? i agree with you that there are many poor quality govt's in the world, but we must act pragmatically shouldnt we? while china, russia, and others can contain north korea to a point who can contain saddam hussien? doesnt it seem odd to anyone that iraq just passed a law within their 'congress' this week outlawing the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction? does that mean that up until this week it was allowed? we are kidding ourselves if we think it is possible that what we are hearing from iraqi sources are anything but lies.
we can sit here and list dangerous places all day long, but rationally we should understand that sometimes our best hopes are negated by those who decieve us.
what i am most against is that these countries that stand up and say they are against the war are not being truthful as to why they are against the action. they should be honest enough to say that they want to protect their interests financially - this will not happen any day soon.
we are on the proverbially slippery slope.

jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT February 16, 2003
shall i now post information about ties between the oil companies of iraq and russia? i think you get the point.
many of you here are saying that this war is about the u.s taking iraq's oil. it is simply not true. france and russia have a lot of it tied up already.....

jerusalem zp 14:43 GMT February 16, 2003
and this ditty about making money and turning the other cheek:

Roland Bareilles, a founder and honorary president of the French-Iraqi Association for Economic Cooperation, said France had assumed the first rank among Iraq's trade partners after the start of the oil-for-food program, but fell back recently to Russia's benefit. "Contracts are part of their political strategy," he said of Iraqi officials.
Among French companies, Peugeot sells cars in Iraq while Alcatel landed several contracts to rebuild the country's battered telephone system. Klaus Wustrack, an Alcatel spokesman, said Alcatel originally installed the telephone system in the 1980's. But he emphasized that all the contracts fell within the oil-for-food project.
At Peugeot, a spokeswoman said the company delivered 500 cars to Iraq in the first half of the year under the oil-for-food program, about the number it delivered annually before the Gulf War.
Some trade transactions have set off greater disagreement. In March, Nabel Musawi of the London-based Iraqi National Congress told ABC News that Baghdad bought seven refrigerated trucks from Renault Trucks, the French company that is owned by Volvo of Sweden, and converted them into biological arms laboratories. Bernard Lancelot, a Renault Trucks spokesman, said the deal was approved under the oil-for-food program. "What the client does with the trucks later," he said, "we don't know."



jerusalem zp 14:37 GMT February 16, 2003
german and iraqi business ties - some details:
German defense firms conduct roaring trade with Baghdad
German arms companies in the meantime have been conducting booming business with Iraq in recent years. According to the German Federal Statistics Office, German military exports to Iraq have been steadily rising from year to year.
From annual exports amounting to 21,7 million euro in 1997, the volume of exports for the following year shot to some 76,4 million euro. The trend continued in 2001 with exports to Iraq bringing German firms profits in the range of 336,5 million euro.
German goods worth 226,2 million euro have already been shipped to Iraq in the first half of this year. Some of the official heavyweights in the export scene are the German electronics firm Siemens with medical equipment and energy distribution systems and carmaker DaimlerChrysler. Both are reported to rake in revenues worth double digit figures in the millions.



jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT February 16, 2003
so i ask the following? who has the most to lose of the great nations sitting on the security council in the u.n if iraq is attacked?
the answer is france, germany, and that great country of civil liberties - russia.
why? because france, germany, and russia have the most business exposure within iraq and fear losing millions invested. they clearly are against war because corporations which sponsered the govt's of these three countries give huge campaign incentives to the likes of their respective leaders and political parties.
surely no one here is going to say that russia really cares what takes place in iraq from a humanity perspective when they are burning down checheyna - are they?
please, who is lying to whom just now?

jerusalem zp 14:10 GMT February 16, 2003
and quite recently the world turned a blind eye again, in fact the great moral countries of france and belgium were leaders turning a blind eye to what was occuring around them in rwanda - and let us not forget that bastion of civility - the united nations......

http://www.immortalchaplains.org/Prize/Ceremony2000/Rusesabagina/rusesabagina.htm

jerusalem zp 13:50 GMT February 16, 2003
the world community should remember that it has been tricked before:

http://www.cyberlabs.com.my/hitler/nurem.html

jerusalem zp 13:20 GMT February 16, 2003
gv, thk you & assume you know why i say that.....

jerusalem zp 18:34 GMT February 14, 2003
nh, there are going to be major consequences to what is going to fall out from this party at the u.n and nato. france has always disproved of american policy. (could it possibly have anything to do with jealousy? hmmm)
BUT france is nothing new, america expects this kind of reaction them.
where things get interesting is GERMANY, they have quite a bit to lose if they keep to their sudden coarse of actually being against u.s. action instead of their usual role of neutral thought.
entire structure of e.u is at stake during this crisis too. if their is a split of england, spain, italy, etc. etc. from the club of those saying no - expect a political storm in europe.
this is only the beginning. europe should be very aware of the axiom - divide and conquer, they have suffered from this for a long time and seem to be suffering a case of fools paradise once again.

jerusalem zp 18:27 GMT February 14, 2003
further into a fog.....
The predecessor companies' history in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began in the early1930s, when what was then Standard Oil of California (Socal) began exploring near theArabian coast. In 1936, Socal and the Texas Company formed the Aramco partnership todevelop, market and distribute the Kingdom's petroleum resources. In 1938, Socal madeSaudi Arabia's first oil discovery at Dammam Dome No. 7; before it was 50 days old, thewell produced 100,000 barrels. Continued probes led to the discovery of 52 oil fields,including Ghawar in 1948, still the world's largest oil field at an estimated 60 billion barrels.Today, nearly all the Kingdom's vast oil resources lie within the original 320,000-square-mile concession that Socal first explored. Expanded to include Exxon and Mobil in 1948,Aramco began transferring ownership to Saudi Arabia in 1973

jerusalem zp 17:36 GMT February 14, 2003
seems to me that i remember reading that britain prefered being involved in the sphere of the other arab nations and not the area of saudi because they considered it a backwater. also i seem to recall that it was an american geologist that did studies and reported that he believed there was an extensive amount of oil under ground that got the u.s. interest in this area going before anyone else had any idea. from there on in......america made sure it was a friend of the saudi leadership.

jerusalem zp 17:17 GMT February 14, 2003
back from dear old israel, wait i mean england. that was england correct? security services are doing their respective jobs well there, but the majority of the general population does not believe what is taking place in large measure. they are suspicious of all details reported by the police, home office, and others. why? because they really believe that it is a conspiracy by the united states and a few of their own brit lackies to enter into a conflict with iraq - much like this forum. the world has been sucked into a big lie. but whose big lie?

jerusalem zp 20:18 GMT February 12, 2003
jv, you have my word on it............see everyone friday.

jerusalem zp 20:01 GMT February 12, 2003
funny thing flying into heathrow yesterday to a full arsenal of weapons surrounding airport because of alerts for a missile attack, made me feel right at home..........

jerusalem zp 20:00 GMT February 12, 2003
..........let saddam win (not when) the war..........

jerusalem(abroad) zp 19:59 GMT February 12, 2003
folks, off traveling a bit for biz currently but i want to make sure that everyone is aware that not only did the u.s. help iraq during the persian gulf war when they thought iran was gaining too much ground, BUT the u.s. also wouldnt go the extra yard and let saddam when the war, they withheld key military info from him at a certain part and then actually started to sell iran some weapons third party to even things out. thus the beginning of the beautiful relationship between saddam and the states. i will be back on friday.....in jerusalem.

jerusalem zp 15:31 GMT February 10, 2003
here is a good article on the what the israeli govt would like to see happen in the middle east........from ha'aretz:

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=261064&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0

jerusalem zp 14:42 GMT February 10, 2003
haifa, you can add the church bells of ein kerem to amongst some of the things that makes jerusalem the most beautiful place in the world......

jerusalem zp 12:52 GMT February 10, 2003
revdax, it is quiet in israel too..........this from the israeli business daily today.....


TASE slips amid lackluster trade
Bank Hapoalim is down 0.3%, Bank Leumi is down 0.7% and Bezeq is off 0.3%. Market volumes remain low.
By: Avi Weinreb 10 Feb 03 12:36
Stocks fell amid thin trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning. After two hours of trading, only NIS 20 million worth of shares had changed hands, after the market generated a total daily turnover of just NIS 94 million on Sunday.
At 12:15 p.m., the Tel Aviv 25 index was down 0.7% at 297.74 points, the Tel Aviv 100 index was down 0.5% at 307.2 points, and the Tel-Tech 15 index was down 0.2% at 166.27 points.
War worries continue to weigh on the market, with low turnovers suggesting that most investors aren’t interested in stock investments at this time. Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told Reuters today that Iraq did not present any new evidence in papers given to him in his Baghdad visit over the weekend. Blix also said that Iraqi cooperation, not the number of inspectors, was the key to his mission’s success.




jerusalem zp 08:56 GMT February 10, 2003
red, the clash refered to one of the best bands out of england in the late 70's - early 80's........



jerusalem zp 16:53 GMT February 9, 2003
red, do you mind if i play the clash if i have to strike that pose?

jerusalem zp 15:08 GMT February 9, 2003
ahe, the question that begs is - so what? why did he have to launch scuds at israel? your answer doesnt give it justification. (okay, so we took out his nuclear power plant 12 years before that......this answer i will accept, if you want to use it as an excuse.)

jp, within the gas mask kits that have been distributed there is a drug kit for several different situations that may unfortunately arise......

jerusalem zp 15:03 GMT February 9, 2003
red, you are correct, all of it can be interpreted in many shades of grey - world war 1 & communists comparisons included.
(btw, i have some great cuban pesos signed by che when he was put in charge of their banking system in the early 60's).
admitedly, i am biased about this whole thing, but somewhere through the grey i believe that there is in fact a black and white.

jerusalem zp 14:48 GMT February 9, 2003
ibiza, with all of the craziness going around and hypocritical thinking that spews through my own mind......please allow me to take this time to wish you a good holiday. i really hope that within a year's time we will be able to meet somehow -
EID ADHA SAEED!

jerusalem zp 14:31 GMT February 9, 2003
red, remember for us here in israel it is a bit personal. why did saddam launch scuds against israel the last time? what did israel have to do with his invasion of kuwait and subsequent reversal of fortune from the united nations coalition which hammered him? nothing, nothing, nothing. yet he came after us and let me tell you, he will try again. why? because we are jews and it really disturbs him that we are on what he considers his land. it is purely fundamental thinking, purely for simpletons, but that is what we are dealing with in hussein. he is a borderline madman along the lines of hitler. i dont mean to make this personal with saddam but it is over here.....

jerusalem zp 14:27 GMT February 9, 2003
red, i am even more convinced of saddam's and adolph's similarities.......
both were responsible for killing minority populations within their own countries.
both tried their hands at conquest of neighboring countries.
both fought against large neighboring countries and lost huge percentages of their own soldiers - i.e. iran & soviet union.
yes, yes, i know, not exactly the same.......lets hope it never is allowed to become exactly the same. only thing really missing is that saddam hasnt killed 6 or 7 million jews yet....interesting isnt it, that israel is so tempting a target for saddam. the comparison then becomes quite nightmarishly close for me and my family......personally i will not let that day come about without putting up a serious fight if need be - politically or militarily, what ever it takes.

jerusalem zp 14:13 GMT February 9, 2003
red, i completely disagree with the pinochet comparison to saddam hussein. while i can agree that pinochet was a despot and responsible for thousands of deaths, he is not in saddam's class. pinochet never had nerve gas, biological weapons, and weapons ready for use against his neigboring countries. pinochet was a large pimple on the face of south america, some of my friends personally had to deal with his madness, but saddam hussein makes pinochet look like a happy face. iraq has the capabilities if allowed to 'go live' - use its technology and attack - to kill millions. it is as simple as that. also we didnt have the proposition of having people on the outside (not counting the cia) work with pinochet the way iraq does. discount it if you would like, but a network exists to seek the destruction of other entities that stand in the way of iraq and hussein. perhaps you will claim that it is all unsubstantiated but i suspect that you would be wrong. i dont have the sources to give you concrete money trail information, but i am willing to bet not everything that powell brought up at the u.n. was made up for show.

jerusalem zp 14:01 GMT February 9, 2003
haifa, actually the cola story is no joke.....it in fact points out that even if the u.s. and its allies win the battle of iraq and the battle against the terrorists that they will have to go a long way to win the hearts of muslims around the world. muslims feel that they have been ill-treated, taken advantage of, and ruled over by outside powers including countries and corporations
......this has nothing to do with 'our reality' but deals with peoples like ibiza's reality which is much different than our own.
this is why a clash of civilizations is so dangerous, it has more to do with sheer population and economic power than even we can imagine. implications could last the next few hundred years unless this war is handled correctly.
further to the point, this is why following the iraq war you can bet haifa that israel itself will become a focal point of interest for those who have taken iraq. the u.s. and britain will put a huge amount of pressure on israel to come to the table and make a deal with the palestinians.
mark it down!

jerusalem zp 13:42 GMT February 9, 2003
maybe the war is over coca cola.........?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-othernews-softdrink-ct,1,7367889.story

jerusalem zp 12:14 GMT February 9, 2003
what does it mean? hmmmm.....

president bush goes to a banquet and in the corner he believes he sees moses. bush walks up to the man who is sitting and asks, "hello, i am the president of the u.s, are you moses?" the old man does not respond.
bush looks perplexed, troubled, not use to such indifference. again he tries, " hello, i am george bush jr., i am the president of the united states, are you moses?"
old man does not respond again, bush doesnt have much time and with a gesture of his hand calls over an aide and whispers in the aides ear,
"i think this man is moses, but he wont respond at all to me, see what you can find out from him...."
the aide watches the president walk away, the aide looks at the old man and asks, "excuse me sir, the president wants me to ask you if you are moses?"
the old man looks up at the aide and says,
"yes, yes i am moses"
the aide looks at moses and asks, "why didnt you respond to the president?"
moses looks up to the aide and says,
"the last time i listened to a bush i spent 40 years wandering the desert."

jerusalem zp 11:07 GMT February 9, 2003
revdax, i didnt 'write' it, as i noted i took it off of a drudgereport article on the response america can be expected to make public shortly.
i agree that it is in bad taste to put someone in the position to prove a negative. but is iraq really in that position? i think not. there is a profound amount of evidence from those who have made it out of iraq alive, intercepted communications, known chemicals being bought, etc, that go long way in proving iraq's misdeeds.
the world should really advocate studying and learning from its history of appeasement with germany leading up to world war two. it let hitler build weapon systems and let him get away with quite a bit of it saying that much of it was for civilian use and defensive purposes.
does the world really want to be in that position again? at some point even nice guys must admit that there is evil about. we should not be swayed by the reality we want, but the reality that exist.

jerusalem zp 10:44 GMT February 9, 2003
caisa, they same the same thing about fraud.....

jerusalem zp 10:35 GMT February 9, 2003
this from the drudgereport regarding the french and german plan for a 'thousand' inspectors and 'thousands of blue helmeted un troops'........

Separate from the secretive process that the United States delegation found outrageous, the U.S. government is likely to reject out of hand any such proposal to beef up inspections.
The senior official brought up the disaster with U.N. troops in Srebrenica in the former Yugoslavia in July 1995, when Bosnian Serb units killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys after capturing the town, a U.N.-designated "safe area."
"We remember the last time that blue helmets were in a very difficult situation, and we remember July 10th, 1995, Srebrenica, when 8,000 men and boys were killed," the official said. "Srbrenica was an unmitigated disaster."
Moreover, the U.S. position remains it is not the inspectors' job to find Iraqi weapons but Iraq's job to prove it has disarmed. According to the United States, more inspectors will not change Iraq's noncompliance.



jerusalem zp 10:28 GMT February 9, 2003
ahe, i have never been to new zealand and have been told many times that it is stunning. perhaps one day i will get a chance to sail within her waters........

jerusalem zp 09:53 GMT February 9, 2003
haifa, i mean the following in all seriousness. while i was driving to the office a few moment ago, looking at the almond trees in full bloom, the hills green from a steady month of rain, i can only say that we are the luckiest people on earth to live in such a beautiful place. it is the garden of eden. i have traveled most of the world but i know of nothing as beautiful as the surrounding areas of jerusalem.


jerusalem zp 08:24 GMT February 9, 2003
ahe, you are right - by 'kindness' i meant market forces......thks



jerusalem zp 08:10 GMT February 9, 2003
revdax & ahe, thks to the both of you. it is an interesting saga. more than anything i think it is showing that the u.s. has a profound problem dealing with this issue on a diplomatic level. i think nh's comments regarding the issue of not negotiating with yourself before the other side makes an offer is keen advise. seems like north korea is playing a not so sophisticated game of nuclear roulette. in some strange way i am reminded of the missile crisis in cuba. seems to me the only way to help the north korean population is by making as many economic agreements with north korea as possible and letting time take its toll against the current leadership there. if it means letting the current north korean govt staying in power for another 15 years it is okay as long as the north koreans little by little are given a taste of market economy and in the end simply demand that they are allowed their full share. in other words i suppose the best thing to do would be to 'kill them with kindness'.........

jerusalem zp 07:01 GMT February 9, 2003
revdax, i always appreciate your comments here and have come to really enjoy the way you are able to speak on the behalf of both sides - thus showing that you understand why someone might be disagreeing with you.

i am really amazed that the north korea issue is again picking up so much steam in the last couple of days. i cannot figure out if it is because north korea refuses to play second fiddle to the iraq story, or because international types know by pushing the north korea agenda america must look at the 'whole' picture, or it is merely through america's incompetent diplomatic corps that the issue is coming forth again.

jerusalem zp 10:14 GMT February 8, 2003
haifa, this is all fine, lets just hope the iraqi officers are also fed up and ready to give in quickly. you become ever increasingly correct about some of this conflict. people on the outside dont realize just how badly they want their conditions to change and are actually praying for intervention if it is done wisely.

jerusalem zp 20:24 GMT February 7, 2003
In Iran's Hair Salons, the Rebels Wield Scissors
By ELAINE SCIOLINO -NEW YORK TIMES
HWAZ, Iran, Feb. 3 — Four hundred women from Khuzestan Province gathered in a darkened auditorium here to confront one of the most sensitive issues of the Islamic Republic: hair.
The women, all of them hairdressers, were invited by a hair products manufacturer for a one-day conference in the city's best hotel on how to better cut, bleach, dye, perm and straighten.
Fatimeh Farah, the company's representative, used tables laden with dozens of products and five wigs as visual aids. Her strawberry blond bangs blended nicely with the ivory- and peach-colored scarf on her head.
Ruler in hand, a microphone pinned to her well-cut pantsuit, she took a tough, no-nonsense approach. "So what happens if you want to turn hair blond and it turns green instead?" she asked, answering the question herself. "You have to use purple!"
When one participant suggested that blue would take out the green, Ms. Farah replied: "I want to beat the lady who said you should use blue to take out green. Blue is used only to take out orange!" The audience applauded. Ever since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, by far the most relentless battle for control of public space has been over the way women look.
The Koran says that "believing women" should "draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty." They can go bareheaded in front of other women, their husbands, fathers, sons, nephews, servants, slaves and small children who "have no sense of the shame of sex."
Still, early in the revolution, women were allowed to go bareheaded. Since the Koranic verse was viewed as subject to interpretation, a law had to be passed requiring women to observe good "hejab" (literally "curtain") by concealing the shape of their bodies and covering their hair.
But that has not stopped women from wanting to look good. Just as hair care is a major industry in Iran, the question of showing or hiding hair is a national obsession. So a guerrilla struggle rages on between women who want to show their hair and conservative elements determined to preserve what they see as Islamic purity.
Hair, in short, has become a measure of resistance to the forced will of the Islamic Republic.
Some women have mastered a gravity-defying trick with bobby pins or clips of showing as much hair as possible without the scarf falling entirely off the head.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's revolution, called beauty salons "dens of corruption" and tried to ban them. He failed. Beauty salons remain safe havens for women, private spaces where men cannot enter. Hair care has become a major industry.
"Having beautiful hair is vital in this country, as vital as electricity or water," said a beautician who has operated a hair salon in Tehran for more than 30 years. "And forcing women to hide it is just part of a bigger power struggle against women. My scissors and combs are my weapons in fighting for the four strands of hair women can show."
There is a sign on the front window of her salon, but the curtains are drawn and the door is locked. Customers have to be buzzed in.
More than the hair on women's heads is at stake. Many Iranian women have facial and body hair, so many salons offer full body depilation and bleaching. One method involves a heavy string slung around the neck of the beautician that removes facial hair from its roots by a painful friction system. Some women wax hair not only from their legs but also from their arms.
Pain is part of the process. "Torture me but make me beautiful," is one saying to describe what women endure in the name of beauty. Another saying to describe the pain of having hair removed from the upper lip goes, "The pain is less than that of your mother-in-law's tongue."
A complicating factor is that in traditional and religious families, all women are forbidden from showing the hair on their heads, while unmarried women are also forbidden from removing facial hair. Preparing a bride for her wedding day can be a lengthy and expensive ritual involving a facial, massage, manicure, pedicure, hair styling as well as plucking and tweezing.
Even men are spending more time and money on their looks. A popular book for barbers displays 51 different combinations of mustaches and beards. More barbers are offering facials and eyebrow shaping along with a haircut.
In a society that encourages men to grow Islamically correct beards but keep their hair short, some men have grown their hair shoulder length or longer. (The Koran does not forbid men from showing their hair.) More men are seen these days wearing telltale bandages of rhinoplasty across their noses, and newspapers advertise hair implant services. In Kurdish areas, some men submit to the painful string technique instead of shaving.
Still, it is in the evolution of women's appearances that change is most evident. Ever since Mohammad Khatami, a midlevel cleric, was first elected president on a platform of reform six years ago, the Islamic Republic has tolerated a relaxation of the hair and dress code.
But the trend is complicated by the fact that enforcement of rules on head covering often involve humiliation more than religion. Both male and female lower-class morals police tend to single out middle-class or foreign women.
The hair issue also remains a political pillar of the Islamic structure. An editorial in the highly conservative daily Kayhan last month criticized the reformist Participation Front Party for "rolling out the red carpet" for a human rights delegation from the European Union. "Now they are saying 30 prisoners must be released," the editorial complained. "And tomorrow they will say we must remove the 'hejab.' "





jerusalem zp 20:07 GMT February 7, 2003
and HAIR'S an article pertaining to the intricate care of the head amongst some of the most beautiful women in the world of whom we are not supposed to see......

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/07/international/middleeast/07HAIR.html?8hpib

jerusalem zp 19:57 GMT February 7, 2003
here's to hoping the kurds somehow get their hands on saddam and treat him with the respect that he has shown them.....

jerusalem zp 12:58 GMT February 7, 2003
red, i am glad you asked me this, the answer is YES. and i am positive of it. call me a cynical opitimist but i know many MANY people in this region who want integration of buisness and cultural well being and that includes integration with israel. in this sense it reminds me very much of what took place in the soviet union before gorbachav came about with his writings on peristroika (pardon the bad spelling). there are enough people within all of these populations INCLUDING ISRAEL to eventually make a difference when the day is delivered to them. i am 100% certain of this. in business dealings and within relationships i have built i can say that FIRSTHAND i am not the only fool who believe the day will come. and it will, ibiza wants it, and i want it. we might disagree about some of the terms but it isnt so far away.
in the end, some one like revdax will be proved correct, it is about the economy. this region has been a thorn, a jewel, a bloodbath, and a rough diamond in the coarse of history it will take its proper place within the dynamic of the world.
unfortunately this rough diamond as i now view it needs a major sea change. what will provide that impetus? if you want an example, go to the web site i frequently suggest albawaba.com - inside you will not see anything listed on israel within the home page but go deeper inside and you will find information on the tel aviv stock exchange within, why is that? because our leadership in this rough diamond doesnt have the foresight that its citizens do yet. we cannot speak openly about what we wish to come.........

jerusalem zp 12:19 GMT February 7, 2003
red, or it could be viewed as a rhetorical question not needing an answer. history is about to be repeated, this hasnt come on so fast. it feels that way because world bodies looked the other way for so long. the situation in the middle east is a quagmire of past disgraces by many a foreign land. perhaps this century will actually see it becoming modern. certainly there are large groups of people in turkey, jordan, lebanon, egypt, syria, iran that are tired of living under the auspice of a living memorial for what once was. this region has the capability of being transformed for the better. war is an ugly way to do that. but war was the impetus for what has become modern europe. why should it be any different here?

jerusalem zp 12:13 GMT February 7, 2003
ahe & bc, thanks very much...

jerusalem zp 08:49 GMT February 7, 2003
bc, thanks i appreciate the details of which i didnt know before. i did know that the u.s. was poised to launch an invasion of japan and had always read that much of the reason for the use of the bomb was so that casuality rates could be greatly reduced on the american side.
still leaves the question as to why it took two bombs to bring japan's formal surrender. why didnt they surrender after the first one?

jerusalem zp 08:19 GMT February 7, 2003
revdax, i liked your comment regarding mac and truman very much.
i would also like to add another comment regarding the use of atomic weapons against japan......... it has been suggested by some that what the u.s. should have done was invite a council of japanese representatives into the desert of nevada and exploded a bomb as an example of what they could expect. the thinking goes that japan would have surrendered on the spot.
but this leaves open the question regarding why japan didnt surrender after the first attack? i believe i have read that they didnt believe the u.s. had another bomb in the arsenal.
bc, i suspect you know more about the subject concerning japan and what took place than i...........elaborate if you would like to.



jerusalem zp 20:19 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, one last thing as i calm down ...........it was the vietnamese who helped create the 'paper tiger' label of the united states. this because they 'knew' they wouldnt be hit with one and understood a guerilla war would eventually win against the 'weak stomach' of the u.s.........
just thought i would throw this out to irritate you a bit more. i am not certain it helps my arguement or yours, take care madman!

jerusalem zp 20:14 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, in the first place i will not be sitting on the balcony hoping for the best.......i will be merely not going into a shelter with 50 hysterical people who are going to scare the beegeegees out of each other. also it is entirely possible that i might be called on to do 'other tasks' when the proverbial turds hit the fan.
next our mutual friend saddam is an interesting guy and i am not certain you can play that kind of poker with him. btw, he doesnt give a rat's arse about his own people being wiped out with a nuclear bomb. he is merely interested in preserving his own arse. therefore if you are going to get him, you have to make sure you are going to get him..........not as easy as it sounds.

jerusalem zp 20:00 GMT February 6, 2003
red, perhaps the bbc has something about it on their world service web site. i heard the news report on monday via the bbc radio - the vatican issued a paper saying that catholics were being brought into 'new age' experiences that had nothing to do with teachings of christ and was mere escapism from real spiritual truth. they went out of their way to mention feng shui and several other 'eastern' beliefs.

jerusalem zp 19:50 GMT February 6, 2003
jp, it was meant for me. yesterday i said the u.s would only do a half job against the hizbullah and should leave the job to israel. i stand by my earlier comment.

jerusalem zp 19:45 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, looks like we are going to knock heads tonight. again you are a bit out of your water regarding this answer.......regarding the funny men of lebanon. israel happens to live in the real world. we have to deal with real issues politically - not all things are solved with an army, be a bit more pragmatic.

jerusalem zp 19:41 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, disagree with you entirely on that, and i venture to say i understand what war is a bit better than you.
i also asked you to speak about - other than the japanese example.
lets examine your answer - iran, ahhh okay, so you would have killed one million people because there were how many hostages? please lets be a bit more realistic.
as for china, note it was truman - the man who dropped the bombs with an order - who choose not to drop the bomb on china and in fact called back mac from the far east to bring him under control.



jerusalem zp 19:33 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, i like you but you seem just a tad pumped up right now. kind of like a football player in the first quarter of a big game. calm down, you have an entire game to play.......you will need to have your energy (no pun) for later on. haifa must be in the states with you whispering in your ear. we have a long way to go. nukes, caisa machines (yes, i know some of them will actually work at some point), and the like are for the after party celebrations. keep yourself focused and dont call on a nuclear strike against any of my neighbors quite yet, i would like to live my lifetime out fully.

jerusalem zp 19:24 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, you joking about the use of nuclear weapons? when would you have used them besides on japan during ww2? i remember when you wanted to nuke the middle east after wtc but you were angry then. really, think about it and try to explain when you would have used them.

jerusalem zp 19:19 GMT February 6, 2003
nh, perhaps i am on delicate ground here because i am not an expert in 'fossil fuels' but i suspect your ten year window is wrong. if you are including crude oil on this list you are merely playing into the hands of the people who want to convince all others that this war is over oil only. ahe seems to know quite a bit about oil and gas, but i venture to say supplies coming from mexico, venezuela (post chavez), nigeria, iran, saudi arabia etc, etc, will still be quite strong ten, twenty, thirty years from now. this war is not about impending oil shortages. it might have something to do with oil infrastructure, that i could agree with. but lets not start speaking about the use of cold fusion quite yet..........

jerusalem zp 19:08 GMT February 6, 2003
and this little ditty from the same web site, thus showing that what is good for israel is apparently okay for saudi arabia too.

Saudi Arabia warns terrorists ahead of Haj pilgrimage
06-02-2003
Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Naif vowed late on Wednesday to strike with an iron fist any "terrorist" group trying to sabotage security at the annual haj pilgrimage.
"Our precautionary security measures for haj this year are of the highest order...terrorist organizations seeking to tamper with our security during the haj will be dealt with with an iron fist," the minister said.
"It is normal to take security measures and it is normal to prepare for the worst. Haj remains the priority for the pilgrims and I hope nothing will happen," said Prince Naif as he watched thousands of troops parade outside the holy city of Mecca.




jerusalem zp 18:58 GMT February 6, 2003
this little excerpt is from a jordanian web site, albawaba.com which is a tremedous gauge of what the arab world is thinking.
i recommend the site to everyone.

Perhaps one of the major reasons behind the Bush administration’s drive for war against Baghdad, could be explained by the existence of one female scientist who reportedly had made enough biological weapons to kill everyone on earth twice-over.

The name is - - Dr. Rihab Taha, who heads Iraq's germ warfare program and probably tops Bush’s most wanted list. Known to United Nations’ weapons inspectors as “Doctor Germ”, the US and its allies consider this female scientist to be one of the greatest threats since the end of the Cold war; a threat that must be strongly dealt with.

Dr. Germ
In 1979, Taha went to the UK on a student visa to study plant toxins, where she eventually earned a Ph.D from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where the young lady studied biology, focusing on infectious diseases, according to a recent report in the British Daily Telegraph.

"It's like finding your daughter has done something dreadful," said Dr. John Turner, former head of the university's biology department and one of Taha's teachers. "Finding out what Taha does now was a great shock to me. Of all the students I've ever had, Taha is the last person I would suspect of doing something like this."

According to UN arms inspectors, Taha is a specialist in deception and the shyness her former classmates have attributed to her merely serve as a disguise to her real intentions.





jerusalem zp 17:13 GMT February 6, 2003
an actual vision of the future..........i can hope.......

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/260379.html

jerusalem zp 13:18 GMT February 6, 2003
revdax, my wife would tell you that therapy is always a good thing and will lead to more rational thinking and a better way of interpretating everyday life - so therefore your fx should improve by participating here. also, as you pointed out a couple of days ago i believe, it perhaps helps eliminate overtrading by some.
jerusalem zp 12:43 GMT February 6, 2003
revdax & red, i think that the last few moments here would prove my wife's belief that this forum acts as some kind of high tech therapy for us all.


jerusalem zp 12:05 GMT February 6, 2003
haifa, i suppose that means......
war squared which eventually gets divided by the crash and demise of civilizations which in essense acts as the force to make the other slow down eventually.
w(war)2 / c = atrophy of energy = tranquility
further it can then be deemed that
death = peace

jerusalem zp 11:56 GMT February 6, 2003
haifa, btw - bc said........wars and wars........have a nice day.

jerusalem zp 11:39 GMT February 6, 2003
haifa, you seem not to have taken into account what the vatican council proclaimed earlier this week regarding 'new age' religions. of coarse they failed to mention that some of these 'new age' religions are older than theirs.....

jerusalem zp 14:50 GMT February 5, 2003
nh, that being said, i would like to see the jordanians and the turks given the job of taking care of the hizbullah. it would be much more politically correct and brutal enough to be effective.

jerusalem zp 14:43 GMT February 5, 2003
nh, i would agree with that if it were not for one major detail and that is the history of what took place in lebanon in the 70's and 80's. lebanon could be one of the most beautiful places on earth, unfortunately it has a collection of garbage which occasionally rears its ugly head and kills thousands in a month. hamas is a mere kindergarten class compared to the hizbullah. it will sound arrogant, but i wish israel were the ones allowed to deal with these hizbullah bastards, u.s. will not have the stomach for it i dont believe and will only leave the job half done. however, we live in reality and israel will not be allowed to do this job because it would do it too well.

jerusalem zp 13:34 GMT February 5, 2003
haifa, debka has outlined the six following scenarios of entertainment we can look forward to upon an allied attack on iraq. my question to you is, how do i change the channel?

1. Iraqi military intelligence, or rather the dread Unit 999, which is an arm of the super-secret Fedayeen Saddam (Saddam’s Martyrs), commanded by the Iraqi ruler’s eldest son, Uday.
2. Al Qaeda’s top men.
3. Iraqi and Al Qaeda sleeper cells planted in the United States, Europe, the Persian Gulf and Israel.
4. Palestinian terrorists operating on West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian terror groups and militias based in Damascus.
5. Hizballah security and intelligence bodies working in harness with al Qaeda.
6. Hizballah leaders and high officers under instructions from Tehran to open a second anti-American front from Lebanon or elsewhere in the Middle East, in support of Iraq.



jerusalem zp 13:19 GMT February 5, 2003
here is christopher hitchens for everyone, via the indy media link. a very good writer who is liable to anger just about everyone. my thoughts on hitchens are the worn phrases, honesty is the best policy, and the truth hurts.....

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/01/1564173.php

jerusalem zp 12:54 GMT February 5, 2003
sfx, good question, but i think france in the last couple of days has actually put themselves into a position where they are either going to approve of the action or abstain. there seem to be smoke signals coming from paris that it will go along in some fashion with its 'buddie's'. personally i remain convinced that in the end russia will vote yes, france will vote yes, and germany will abstain......of coarse i could be wrong...and of coarse the u.s. might not care so much what anyone else thinks.......but i do believe france will participate and think of themselves as the force that holds the u.s. back a little and offers a different reality to visualize when all forces meet in bagdad. interesting days are coming......

jerusalem zp 12:34 GMT February 5, 2003
jp, there arent too many days in history that we can look at and say that it should be viewed as a focal point. yet this afternoon the united nations just might give us that. i know that we dont agree all the time, but i too think powell has a tough task ahead of him today. actually i think he put himself in a rather bad position yesterday by asking iraq to prove what is a negative until otherwise proven.
i am speaking about powell asking iraq to prove that they have no wmd's.
i believe the onus is on powell to prove that the iraqis are hiding something sinister. from what i gather it will be a show and tell of intelligence gathered of phone calls and other assorted conversations of the iraqis communicating with one another discussing how to hide things from the current group of inspectors and the conversations afterwards when the inspectors were duped. we shall see.


jerusalem zp 12:23 GMT February 5, 2003
red, thks .......

jerusalem zp 12:08 GMT February 5, 2003
revdax, key word is simplicity. for instance if you have two competing theories on the way that things work and you know that both theories prove the hypothesis, you thus should choose the most simple theory to use.
in other words you 'cut out' the information which might seem relevant but of which there is no use for and does not serve a fundamental purpose in proving the theory.

jerusalem zp 11:52 GMT February 5, 2003
revdax, here is a primer from mc gill university on occam's razor, good luck:
http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~jacob/occams-razor/

jerusalem zp 11:07 GMT February 5, 2003
after reading the following article, i must say that i am not as concerned about what saudi arabia did but more frightened about the inactions of the u.s. state department and u.s. court systems........which frankly doesnt surprise me either.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26699-2003Feb4.html


jerusalem zp 15:04 GMT February 4, 2003
could the following be one of the reasons that the french are not so keen to go into iraq as an invading army? let me point out it is from 2000, but it does give a good overview on oil participation between the two countries........

http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/news/nte04871.htm

jerusalem zp 13:06 GMT February 4, 2003
revdax, trying to predict the actions of saddam hussein is like trying to predict where the price of gold will be in two years time - i have no idea how or what he will want his final production ( this in honor of phil spector of coarse) to be. perhaps he will demand to make an album with george jr. singing a duet to the sounds of oil wells being blown up....

jerusalem zp 13:01 GMT February 4, 2003
red, phil spector was one of the more influential rock (actually pop) music producers of the 60's and early 70's. he created 'the phil spector sound' in which he made any artist who was willing to work with him as a producer use - much to their anger as the years went on - this particular style of sound. he pretty much disappeared from the music world as of the early 80's - this after actually working with the Ramones before secluding himself.
he is now in his early 60's. yesterday he was charged with murder (accused by the police) upon a woman's body being found shot dead on his estate (it is a large suburban southern california mansion). spector is out on one million bail. he has hired one of o.j. simpson's old attorneys - robert shapiro. if not for the space shuttle and iraq, the media would be having a field day with this.


jerusalem zp 16:41 GMT February 3, 2003
revdax, yes, you are correct regarding the future will be the patterns from before.......thats what i meant about tomorrow becoming yesterday regarding 9/11.
also your comment before about most of us being left and right depending on the issue is true.
within moderation lives the civilized world.

jerusalem zp 16:25 GMT February 3, 2003
red, regarding our earlier posts, while i respect your opinion i think you are being a bit too philosophical about the article. what i believe the article points out is the bias and amount of ignorance that people like ritter and organizations like the u.n act out in order to argue their cases.
red your point is a good one that the writer's arguements can be turned around but that is the case with most things in life. this article is not meant to be a doctoral thesis.
simple facts are clear and have been for sometime, hussein misrepresents facts such as his diverting of funds for his peoples welfare and buys weapons instead to try and keep himself in power. if not buying weapons or building palaces - almost castles in the air - he is not spending the money at all and holding it in order for the use of propaganda points to have children photographed starving.
hussein has been responsible for the death of well over a million people during the coarse of his life.
case remains pure, there is a central reality. we can try to explain the dance but it is what it is. iraq has a despot who is a danger to the world. his removal will do his own population a world of good and change the middle east for the better.
it will not be easy, i am sure some mistakes will be made, but why not move ahead instead of lanquishing within the shared poverty of having a tyrant who is capable of bringing havoc upon the world.
related or not 9/11 should not be forgotten. we live in a world where yesterday is not held closely, but if we refuse to deal with these issues the world will be worse off and it will be yesterday again. somewhere behind closed doors i am certain there are many people in iraq who want hussein to be brought down.



jerusalem zp 09:39 GMT February 3, 2003
at least they werent fighting about the world cup results this past summer........

American & German Brawl
Agence France-Presse
CEBU - An American tourist was knifed and wounded by a German man in the central Philippines in a bar brawl over the raging issue of Iraq, police said Monday.
Police detained Frank Oesterle after he stabbed American John Flynn with a Swiss knife on Friday, Superintendent Maximo Calimlim, the provincial police chief in Cebu City said.
The 41 year-old American is confined at a Cebu hospital with multiple stab wounds, but his life is not thought to be in danger.
Calimlim said Flynn and Oesterle, a 37 year-old economist from Munich, met at a bar in the beach resort of Moalboal near here and started arguing their countries' respective positions over UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Oesterle, interviewed by a local radio station inside his jail cell, said he had told the American that he was against a threatened US-led attack on Baghdad because "many people will die if the US makes good its threat."
He said he regretted what happened, admitting both men were drunk when they started the argument.
Oesterle said a fistfight followed. The last thing he remembered was he was down on the floor with Flynn sitting on top of him.
"When you're on a holiday, you better speak about nice food, beautiful women and white beaches," said the German, who said he would ask the American to forgive him. He would also urge police not to press charges.



jerusalem zp 16:39 GMT February 2, 2003
bc, strange reply i think, while it is sound thinking it is not exactly realistic. would israel or any other country in this sphere rest at night if iraq had nuclear devices at this time or before? surely iraq would have built a weapons system. when the u.s. and the united nations condemned iraq internationally in the 90's for invading and destroying kuwait, was the world happy saddam didnt have nuclear weapons at that time? thank israel for doing away with the despot's toys before he could build an adult's machine.
as for one country having them and another not. so what? lets be realistic, if israel didnt have these weapons as a counter weight we would be engulfed endlessly by massive invasions. would you prefer that china not have nuclear arms and for its neighbors india and japan to have the weapons only at their disposal? please, it is seldom that you delve into the area of idealistic banter.

jerusalem zp 16:22 GMT February 2, 2003
now if i were an arab and a bit paranoid, i would be asking why do thousands of extra soldiers have to come to israel? what are those jews planning? hmmmmmmmm.
bc & revdax, remember when i asked for 25 million chinese to be exported to iraq to live? maybe my grand plan is coming to fruit.

jerusalem zp 16:19 GMT February 2, 2003
haifa, is this good news?
18:00 Report: Indian army to send thousands of special forces to Israel for training to fight Islamic militants in Kashmir (AP)

jerusalem zp 09:11 GMT February 1, 2003
th, your question in essense on how do you deal with the terrorists and cure the problem is a good one. my belief remains that the only way the problem will ever truly go away is that you teach people not to hate. sounds so simple and almost too pure but in the end this will be the thing that stops the killing. at this stage it is at least a two pronged problem, one you must deal with the terrorists in training and existing terrorists. two you must deal with the apparatus that nourishes the type of thoughts that produce within all cultures the ability to dislike another so much that a person will want to grow up to be 'like osama' - this instead of growing up and wanting to be 'like mike' (michael jordan).
it sounds like sentimental hogwash coming from me perhaps because i live in a place in which the most brutal party wins. i understand how ugly it all is. as i have said before it can be solved, it isnt an endless jungle. we dont have to prove to anyone that one culture is better than an other one, what we need to do is prove that all cultures are worthy of living on this planet as equal partners.

jerusalem zp 22:12 GMT January 31, 2003
back to the raeliens, i read a couple of days ago that one of their leaders in florida is claiming that one of their clones is now in israel.
i thought to myself when seeing this, jeezz i hope she isnt going to say it is baby jesus, that's all we would need here now.

jerusalem zp 22:04 GMT January 31, 2003
red, my wife disagrees with nearly everything i say, so that wouldn't be news........ i can agree to your use of the word 'pawns'. but i will disagree to giving any stature to these maniacs. why? because people like bin laden could have done anything with his life, he had the money to buy a political seat and have a platform to speak worldwide. but no, he choose to go the route of the 'death instinct'. much easier and the results are quicker to gauge.
you always have to be prepared for these people, but by the same token you always have to be prepared if you are riding the subway late at night in various cities worldwide.


jerusalem zp 21:48 GMT January 31, 2003
folks, i know this is changing the subject, but i needed a laugh. can someone please tell me how and why these people are still getting so much publicity?
i got it from the buenos aires herald, which is acutally a very good newspaper..........
Raelians show Argentine face
A Raelian spokesman said that another human clone will be born this year in South America. He also announced the opening of a Clonaid branch in Brazil.
By Fernanda Page
Herald staff
“In a second meeting with the extraterrestrials, he had sex with four of their women.” The sentence would fit a science fiction novel, but came from Gabriel Barra, who claims to be the representative of the Raelians in the Spanish-speaking world. The group that claimed the birth of the first cloned human being last December made its fresh announcement at a press conference in Buenos Aires yesterday.




jerusalem zp 21:34 GMT January 31, 2003
nh, i agree with you. to me bin laden is merely a free agent quarterback in this war, he must be tackled and dealt with. but saddam hussein and his cronies are national institutions which left to their own devices could make us all think that we have been woken up in a world war two flick.
i suppose my point returns to what i said earlier tonight, we must fight until we win. not nice, but it is the reality, i sincerely hope the american public has the stomach for this.

jerusalem zp 21:14 GMT January 31, 2003
red, this is why it is called terrorism, i dont mean to be flip with this either. sounds simple but lets investigate the actions for what they are. look at simpletons like reid - the shoe bomber - who after he was tied up and fastened to his seat continued to torment all around him with comments of impending doom. his main goal was to cause horror. osama bin laden and the ilk that walk this planet are not soldiers, they have no honor, they merely want to destroy civilization because of petty jealousies and desires that they were not able to achieve. i will be critizised for this perhaps......but what it comes down to is that these men are taking there frustrations out on the rest of us for not being allowed somehow to join the party. i am not kidding about this. maybe they were born into the wrong culture, wrong town, wrong family, etc, etc....but anyone who chooses to take out a plane, a bus, a building of innocents does it because in essense they are too weak and child like with their thoughts to have done any thing that could have led them to be productive humans in this world. screaming is an easy way to get attention, it scares the nuts out of a lot of us. threatning to blow up the world, or worse yet doing it to a degree gives the a simpletons gratification.
i have always wondered if the poor folk in the wtc had any idea of the terror that was behind their deaths? could they have imagined what was actually unfolding in front of all our eyes? did they think they were the only ones on that day that were chosen to be tormented?

jerusalem zp 20:37 GMT January 31, 2003
nh, yesterday i was reading all of our posts on the forex and political forums from the llth of sept. and 12th when the wtc tragedy took place. strikes me that it is easily forgotten by most people, put to the side, becomes background material. while haifa and i live this kind of crapolla everyday, i understand that it is not the issue most of human kind wants to focus in on everyday.....
point is that i believe unfortunately that another tragedy is bound to unfold. every week we hear about another mass arrest in europe of a certain throng who are found with various weapons. it is almost impossible to know all things and capture all the terrorists. best thing we can do is brace ourselves and to remember what we are up against and fight until we win.


jerusalem zp 11:33 GMT January 30, 2003
th, thks for the question. no, one nation is a workers party comprised of many of the big labor union membership which likes to go on strike at the most peculiar of times. this party, one nation, in a modern country would be part of the labor party along with meretz. the idea of one big party with different factions within is too much for our wee little ego driven brains here. it is better to be a selfish moron here, you can survive much longer.


jerusalem zp 08:31 GMT January 30, 2003
th, read the opinion piece from the saudi news, thks, please note that a fellow named norman solomon wrote the piece. so while it is well written and interesting, i dont know that it speaks for any portion of the saudi public.

as for the coalition party building here in israel, you must understand that i am what is termed here 'secular', it isnt that i hate the ultra-orthodox here but lets say i think they get a break or two or three with their 'special programs'. i would personally love to see a coalition of likud, shinui, and labor. but i think this is wishful thinking. i am afraid that labor will join likud and that they will go in search of embracing the fringe groups which these two parties fear the most. GREAT thing about that is that if likud and labor do this and get nothing done it will set up the day that shinui - which though haifa spews is a partly solely based on its hatred of shas - is in fact a party with a platform that is center based, pro democracy, capitalist, and speaks for the ever shrinking middle class here. labor and likud are like the great grandfathers of politics here, they have been through the wars, the infighting, the corruption, etc....shinui is a party that is going to cause these great grandfathers fits and so be it........
having said that the next couple of weeks will be effected greatly by what occurs with the united states and iraq. could be that the start of war there will be the impetus that labor's mitzna needs as an excuse to back peddle on his statement from before that he will never join likud.......again being the party of the grandfathers we expect this kind of behavior. he will tell us he is doing it in the national interest of the country, when in fact he is doing it to save his arse. this because if he doesnt join a likud led coalition labor will kick him out.











jerusalem zp 11:33 GMT January 29, 2003
jp, okay, but here is a little lesson on some of iraq's usages of gas to destroy entire towns:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42671-2002May31?language=printer

saddam can be trusted, cant he?

jerusalem zp 08:18 GMT January 29, 2003
haifa, i am reposting my earlier post from november, which accurately gauged the election outcome. likud did well last night but now comes the tough part. i am hoping for a likud, labor, shinui coalition but we shall see where the egos fall....

jerusalem zp 08:38 GMT November 7, 2002
haifa, when you start posting statistics regarding polling for upcoming election you should point out that people will not be voting directly for individuals but instead be voting for party. thus it has been calculated as of late that likud stands to win about 33 seats in a 120 seat knesset, hardly the stuff of legends. labor looks to drop to 19 or so seats. best news is that shas looks like its last few years within the sun are getting dimmer and stand to win only about 11 seats. of coarse this being the wild middle east a new gunslinger in town could change all things quickly. key to remember for anyone interested is that israel is all about coalitions within the knesset

jerusalem zp 10:32 GMT January 28, 2003
haifa, you should treat those who spew dogma relentlessly like you treat those who are bringing you useless news while you are trading........
i just got done voting, while i was walking out of the poll, a newspaper person asked me who i voted for - i lied to her about my choice. as interesting as it all is, i think we will be voting again in ten months time.

jerusalem zp 07:29 GMT January 28, 2003
the following is a little ditty from debka.com this morning, makes me smile to know the politicians here cant even trust their own voters -here is to a big surprise:

Israeli politicians complain that the Israeli voter is an enigma; it is hard to know what makes him or her tick. Person-in-the-street responses to media interviews and pollsters are often irrational or downright lies. That may be how 4.8 million eligible voters get back at their politicians, knowing there is nothing more predictable than the gap between a candidate’s campaign pledges and his actions the day after the poll.

jerusalem zp 16:04 GMT January 27, 2003
revdax, this should explain some of your computer problems, apparently you were first up to bat with the virus.....
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/27/internet.attack.ap/index.html

jerusalem zp 11:58 GMT January 27, 2003
th, here is a story regarding gaza and the recent rocket attacks, also a bit about the terror alerts all around the country for tmrw's election. see what you think:

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=256351&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

jerusalem zp 10:38 GMT January 27, 2003
th, any presense in gaza of israelis is akin to putting your hand in a wasps nest. israelis do NOT belong there. they do NOT belong in settlements living there, they do NOT belong there in policing or administrating the daily lives of palestinians. it is foolhardy at best and sheer arrogance that the settlers living in gaza put the lives of young israeli kids in jeapordy every day who would much rather be watching a football match in a camp or flirting with the girls as oppossed to freezing their arses off all night out in the thicket wearing night goggles.
now if you ask if the israeli military needed to be there the last few days, that is another question. israel will not tolerate having rockets of any kind launched from gaza into israeli land, nor should israel allow weapons to be smuggled into gaza and any attempt should be met with by force.

that being said, i hope all israelis join me tmrw in voting for the GRASS party.




jerusalem zp 15:34 GMT January 26, 2003
revdax, yesterday due to the world wide virus that infected many servers a great number of web sites were unavailable - including global view and other sites for me. today seems to be much better but perhaps there are still some residual effects floating around.

jerusalem zp 14:51 GMT January 26, 2003
the more i think about my own post from 14:36 regarding mogan stanley's 'were not responsible clause', the more i think they should be running the israeli govt.

jerusalem zp 14:47 GMT January 26, 2003
revdax, no what i was suggesting was probably illegal and would probably earn me a divorce......

jerusalem zp 14:41 GMT January 26, 2003
revdax, i much prefer impurity, photos too.....

jerusalem zp 14:36 GMT January 26, 2003
jp, maybe you can post such a contradictory post because Mogan Stanley clearly feels the same way - thks.......
this from their own report:
Morgan Stanley has no obligation to tell you when opinions or information in this report change. Morgan Stanley and its affiliate companies are involved in many businesses that may relate to companies mentioned in this report. These businesses include market making and specialized trading, risk arbitrage and other proprietary trading, fund management, investment services and investment banking.
This report is based on public information. Morgan Stanley makes every effort to use reliable, comprehensive information, but we make no representation that it is accurate or complete.


jerusalem zp 13:53 GMT January 26, 2003
red, declaration of independence is NOT written law, consider it the old testament of u.s. politics. only several years later did the constitution begin to be written and passed and live into the present day under the watchful eye of the u.s. supreme court.

jerusalem zp 13:21 GMT January 26, 2003
i wonder why? hhhhhhhhm....

15:15 Number of visitors to Israel in 2002 under one million for the first time in 20 years (Israel Radio)

jerusalem zp 13:12 GMT January 26, 2003
revdax, uncle milty's question is worth billions of dollars! the answer is no obviously.......to this many here would then tell you that in order to be that kind (here it comes) one must first know that they, themself, is going to survive the tempest first.

as for my wife, maybe i cant let you sleep over, my wife is younger than i (see i am not so stupid) and matches your criteria........but perhaps in an effort to afford my wife's safety i can introduce you to her sister who is quite a charm herself.

jerusalem zp 12:58 GMT January 26, 2003
revdax, my problem with you the last couple of days is that you are making too much sense.......please stop, we find it annoying here in the middle east where we would much rather be unhappy and killing each other all the time - otherwise no one would pay attention to us. but know that if you choose to come to israel you can always stay in my house and be in a somewhat safe setting. (the leggies here are spectacular - but i will have to ask you to stay away from my wife).

as for the donkey, please know that what i am refering to was in fact a real donkey being blown up today, sad but true.

jerusalem zp 12:10 GMT January 26, 2003
haifa,
so i guess this solves the old adage of about leading a horse to water........if you can lead a donkey to a nearby tank, you can in fact make him blow up.........
sincerely yours,
mr. ed


jerusalem zp 12:05 GMT January 26, 2003
th, that a joke? please tell me that it is......retaking the gaza strip is a little like dreaming to be the ruler of beirut for israel.....short term it might stroke the ego of mofaz, long term it will get many many people killed.

revdax, you should come and move to israel with your plan to help us fix our woes, you can sneak in and take a job on a kibbutz, and at night quietly start speaking about the dynamics of economic theory to the members..........it will be nice to have an idealist within the crowd, there arent too many left here.

haifa, i hope you are going to vote for the grass party on tuesday, they are counting on you.....

jerusalem zp 09:50 GMT January 26, 2003
haifa, does the donkey that just exploded get a share of virgins when it goes to heaven? or is it condemned to censored because it participated in a 'terrorist' attack? or does the donkey simply not get judged..........?
who is in charge of the donkey brigade? its true i guess, some donkeys are just arses.

jerusalem zp 18:30 GMT January 24, 2003
revdax, actually i have been on the wrong side of the house all morning, but lets not go there.........listen, i agree with most of you about the economic points you bring up about cooperation, trade, etc, etc.......what is frustrating me is what believe it or not what haifa has been trying to point out to you for a while too, and that is we are experiencing a WAR here. while it might be a parade of nonsense it is a war. unfortunately i expect things to get worse in the next month or so. what you need to understand, and i know it is tough because you are not here, is that the people sitting on this land happen to love the same piece of real estate. i can sit all day with my palestinian friends, we can make jokes about sending sharon and arafat out on a boat and waving good bye but the reality is that these people are not going anyplace quite yet. why? because even if they were to disappear their philosophies which have been soaked up by a large percentage of people will still plague us. revdax, i appreciate your spirit of thought, i wish it could be done......my wife tells me exactly what you do (acknowledging your own troubles is the start to working them out), ..........but what we need here in israel and the middle east is nothing short of a sea change, a wave to clean out all the old impurities. it is deeper than economics, marx was wrong when he wrote that economics is the background for all materialistic dialect - what he forgot was that people know their dna, they know their blood. the blood here is old and it remembers too many things.......
now i must get back to the other side of the house.

jerusalem zp 16:21 GMT January 24, 2003
........up housing developments here in israel.

jerusalem zp 16:18 GMT January 24, 2003
revdax, i have some news for you, the chinese have become one of the largest pools of cheap labor there is for putting up housing developments. on any given day if you drive through a construction site you will find teams of chinese working on the houses. lets get some our facts right here, israel might be a screwed up little place because there has been a lack of political maturity within the palestinians to accept things as they are, also israel lacks leadership itself that has the balls to tell the public what it doesnt want to hear. but let it be known that the israeli economy before this second intifada started was on the verge of being along the levels of a first world country. it is mired only as an emerging economy because of the political bs that stinks the plains, but it will be resolved. we are not a poor country, and the palestinians though stuck in the grass because of disgusting politics isnt that poor either. terrible conditions exist in some places, but it is time to accept the reality that this part of the world is not so barren as you make it. how many israelis are coming to china to work as cheap labor within the factories there? zero. dont be tricked into believing that everything you believe is real.

jerusalem zp 11:47 GMT January 24, 2003
revdax, okay, maybe you are right - maybe not -
but why do i have to make sure all of the imbalances in the world run perfectly? why do i have to worry about the imbalances here when no one worries about the imbalences in their homes around the world either? why does everyone have to point out the imbalences here when they live so far away? want dont all the immigrant families of australia give back the land to the aboriginees? why dont the american and canadians give their land back to the native americans? why wont europe, particularly great britain, france, spain, portugal, germany, and holland get on their knees and pay up for all the suffering they caused with their colonialism, imperialism?
maybe it is time we give the job to god and get out of the way.


jerusalem zp 11:26 GMT January 24, 2003
revdax, you have given a tremendous answer to haifa, but what if there is no god?

jerusalem zp 16:43 GMT January 23, 2003
revdax, one last thing for the evening regarding the baltic countries, they certainly must have a good amount of cash around. their construction idustries are able to pay for top quality gear. seems to me they have a bit of an advantage currently in the sense that there is a perception of promised wealth that is about to arrive - it probably helps the value of businesses and properties grow immensely.

jerusalem zp 16:38 GMT January 23, 2003
revdax, regarding economies of the three baltic countries, within the business context that i have spoken to people from this area with - things are improving quite a bit. i may be wrong but i believe all three countries are going to be entering the european union quite soon and that is a huge impetus alone. i am sure that people like red and athens and others can give you much better info than i about all of this.......historically i believe these countries had always been quite prosperous - except when the communists had their hands on the booty.


jerusalem zp 13:56 GMT January 23, 2003
revdax, these three countries have had the misfortune of being in a key area and having in the past many fight over them.....
small tribes make for small countries which make for large problems.....

jerusalem zp 13:53 GMT January 23, 2003
revdax, lithunia, latvia, estonia - were all part of old soviet union.....

jerusalem zp 12:54 GMT January 23, 2003
revdax, china may become some kind of point of focus, but no it will not become a hot spot unless it and the u.s. needs it to become a point of contention.....just why would china and the u.s. need that? thing is the two countries are both big and strong, seems like a fight no one would win and only come out wounded from such a scenerio. i am NOT speaking about a military confrontation, no - again - china and the u.s. have nothing too gain with a game of geo politics against each other just now. i think what you may see is some sort of new cold war - not east vs. west. but a problem regarding just how the middle east if it is pushed and pulled into a new political landscape will effect the other countries of the world. you can compare it to what took place in europe after world war two. in other words who will have the most influence where? surely this is one of the reasons that germany, france, russia, and perhaps even china have misgivings about action in iraq, they dont know where they will stand exactly from an economic sense. so you see revdax, you are correct - it is your uncle milton friedman who is most important!

jerusalem zp 11:36 GMT January 23, 2003
while i agree that imperialism is a negative, the people of iraq just might get the chance to make their respectives lives better when a change of government is 'forced' upon them if events unfold as we suspect they will. could be that a equally corrupt regime is put in place by the states and its allies, but it could be that the iraqi culture might be ready to rise above it and bring forth a better nation for themselves.....you have to play with the cards you are dealt.

jerusalem zp 11:18 GMT January 23, 2003
jp & revdax, sounds to me like the making of a bad partnership, nothing like everyone trying to protect their interests. i wonder if the u.s. and the russians have sat down and spoken about their coming joint enterprise in iraq, or if they are negotiating through the art of not negotiating. maybe we should send in nh to help out.


jerusalem zp 13:04 GMT January 22, 2003
revdax, thks but let me explain that though i will listen to people about getting more luck, i must politely refrain from taking trading tips and march to my own drummer. thks again though.....

jerusalem zp 11:57 GMT January 22, 2003
revdax, there are some who will tell you ' luck is the residue of design'.

jerusalem zp 09:56 GMT January 22, 2003
ahe, 99% of my current time is occupied with helping run an export company from the middle east. as far as i know almost every registered cargo vessel in the world at this time is operating with a higher charge for insurance policies due to war risk. containers are moving in and out of all middle eastern ports which are not restricted because of international embargoo - such as iraq's. but even in the case of iraq, where there is a will there is a way. for instance, dispite all reports to the contrary - jordan and israel are still moving a lot of freight between approved crossings with each other. what it comes down to is that if an importer is willing to make a payment for goods from this area that the goods will be delivered on within a timely manner. of coarse, one must pay for this risk..........and keep their eyes wide open.

jerusalem zp 15:59 GMT January 21, 2003
ahe, it is doubtful either sharon or arafat could fit into the rocket seats in order to be taken up into space.........maybe arafat could squeeze in but he probably wouldnt want to go without his lifelong pal......(in a deeply disturbing freudian way).....

jerusalem zp 15:31 GMT January 21, 2003
ahe, you have a good idea but it will take too much time to study and then come up with a good result, therefore i suggest the following as part of any peace deal. all unmarried israelis and palestinians must be paired off with each other and made to have a whole generation of palestinian-israelis. no one will ever accept this idea so it will have to be forced upon all the people by telling them that if they dont accept it - arafat and sharon will never go away.
like the famed marijuana party here that just may win two seats because of a protest vote, dont discount the idea of forcing we the people of this lunatic land into a lunatic gambit that will actually cure ills. if only the romans were still in charge and could actually mandate it..........

jerusalem zp 14:53 GMT January 21, 2003
folks, i ask you, why couldnt they have taken sharon and arafat up in the shuttle and simply have released them into orbit? they're both fat enough to be sattelites.......

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/20/mideast.shuttle/index.html

jerusalem zp 15:20 GMT January 20, 2003
bc, agree with you regarding the education levels of civil servants compared to that of the ordinary politician. problem is that these two components get merged when it comes to the realm of international politics. thus we have a dynamic which is nothing short of a smoked filled bar that can erupt at any moment into a brawl.

jerusalem zp 10:35 GMT January 19, 2003
th, its going to be an interesting election, polls in israel are historically inaccurate, people have a habit here of misinforming the person conducting the survey. that being said i have never seen so many undecided voters, many people i know are going to go into the poll and then make their final decision. i still suspect likud will win and have the mandate to make sharon the prime minister, but i suspect a few surprises are coming our way.
maybe likud can form a coalition with the green leaf party and get everyone high at the ensuing peace summit with the palestinians........it might be the only thing that works.

jerusalem zp 08:54 GMT January 19, 2003
interesting piece by thomas freidman in new york times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/opinion/19FRIE.html

folks, thought expressed on bbc this weekend by some one and making sense, " in order to have justice one must have order first, without order there will never be justice........."
of coarse it is up to all of us to determine who's order we are willing to accept........my question, is there such a thing as a universal justice that we can all agree to......probabaly not unfortunately........most of us are too concerned with just making sure our neighbor isnt moving the fence while we sleep.

jerusalem zp 19:32 GMT January 16, 2003
red, not often that i disagree with you but i think you can bet the bottom dollar that this alone is enough for the united states and britain to bring before the security council a reason to pass a resolution of war. it wont happen for a bit quite yet. but these warheads are the big WMD, they were specifically built to carry chemical weapons and nothing else. it is short and simple. if the warheads were not accounted for in the report handed over by iraq in december it is a breach. while it is arguable if it is a 'material breach' it is certainly a breach of letter and iraq has no excuse for such a occurence. ball game is nearly over............

jerusalem zp 14:22 GMT January 16, 2003
folks, thought i would just show you these little biz ditties form GLOBES - the israeli biz daily.....israel aspires to be many things......i wonder if it aspires to be argentina?
as for the mention of the name shari arison, person is part owner of bank poalim which just fired about 900 workers. speaking as a share holder - i am glad they did.

15:00 Ministry of Finance issues statement attacking Bank of Israel: "In the last 4 years, the Bank of Israel has failed to meet inflation targets set by the government...at times it has made statements that have not contributed to stability in the market."

14:04 The Histadrut labor union has threatened to sue billboard firm Poster Media if it doesn't reinstate the "Shari Arison Laughs...900 families cry" poster at bus stops. The poster attacked Bank Hapoalim shareholder Arison for layoffs at the bank; Arison threatened a $10m lawsuit.

12:54 Bank Hapoalim chief economist Ptahia Bar-Shavit has raised his CPI forecast for January 2003 to 0.5% from 0.2%, and the forecast for the next 12 months to 3% from 2.4%.


jerusalem zp 20:34 GMT January 15, 2003
nh, not so sure sharon isnt playing a zero sum game myself. seems to me that war is about making sure your side comes out on top, there are different types of wars. while most every has taken the time to publically rip israel for not allowing the palestinian delegation to attend blairs's conference, question that must be asked is why should the palestinians be allowed to negotiate internationally while they still condone terrorism within some of their rank and file.
i know that question will anger some.......but should tony blair now invite some of the fellows just arrested for having the toxin rancin to the table too or one of their representatives, particularly after a brit cop got killed last night.
thing is most people still dont want to admit what they are up against, this is not a picnic it is the proverbial can of worms and it is just getting started in many places. in some way, i think israel is lucky to have gotten a head start on knowing and understanding the threat. it wont be until everyone can agree to stop killing each other that this war will be over.
i personally dont think it is a zero sum game, but then again i am naive and an idealist besides being a cynical optimist.

jerusalem zp 13:03 GMT January 14, 2003
folks, while we begin our poetry studies today i would like you to know poe's last days were not pleasant, why i am telling you this i am uncertain but it seems worthwhile somehow, good luck everybody......

The poet's mental and emotional state was displayed in several drunken sallies to New York. One who knew him wrote: "He walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses, or with eyes upturned in passionate prayers, (never for himself, for he professed that he felt already damned), but for the happiness of those who were at the moment the object of his idolatry."8 More short stories and poems issued from his pen, but by this time opium had been added to an already deadly abuse of alcohol.

jerusalem zp 12:40 GMT January 14, 2003
i read your poems
not knowing why.
i question your temerity
, duality, transparency,
and sudden fog.
what does it mean,
this sudden burst of light,
in this absurd wasteland?

jerusalem zp 15:01 GMT January 13, 2003
nh, can i trade in canada and britain and get australia added to the list? this way i can still dream about the women of caracas and sydney together......the collective fiestas would be so good that others would ask for membership into this axis very quickly - maybe we can allow a new member once every four years via an evil axis olympics. the next candidates can be argentina, france, and thailand....bring on the contests....


jerusalem zp 09:59 GMT January 12, 2003
ahe, revdax & bc, thks for your answeres regarding korean issues...

th, as for being amazed regarding the level of corruption that israel has i dont know what to say except it is none too good. perhaps it is all part of a young country trying to grow up, perhaps it is because we are so small that all petty fights and jealousies are known, perhaps it is because we live by jungle rules here. things will have to change or we will be a country that operates on the same scale as many a south american country regarding large scale corruption, battered budgets, and policy that shifts from one month to the next depending on coalition shifts and back room deals. look for this coming election to give a bit of a response by some in the israeli public to the corruption charges and mudslinging. it is probable that a party called shinui (change) which is anti religious and sells itself as a clean secular party to gain a fair amount of seats. (perhaps this party is clean because they have never had much power to speak of as of yet). also look for shas, a religious party representing mostly jews of north african orgin to stay strong too, this as many of their voters who were thinking about voting for likud go back to their roots. shas by the way is one of the more shall we say better parties at manipulating the knesset in budget deals, they scare the crapolla out of many politicians who need them within coalition deals.
whatever happens it seems as if likud will come out on top with another weak coalition. the next two week here will be very interesting to see if any more 'news' develops.
my wife, the psychologist, would point out that it is a good sign that israelis are talking about the level of corruption within the govt and country, this she would argue is the first step to recoginizing the problem and dealing with it.
into the fog we go.......

jerusalem zp 17:28 GMT January 11, 2003
nh, what the north korean situation reminds me of is the movie, fatal attraction, in which glen close after getting dumped calls up michael douglass and says dangerously, "i wont be ignored........"

jerusalem zp 17:11 GMT January 11, 2003
bc & ahe, question for the both of you. just how much does the north korean philosphy be it nationalistic, isolationist, communist still effect the way north korea participates in the international world? i dont ask this first part as a question really but as a lead in to suggest that perhaps they have really somehow disconnected themselves with the rest of the world for so long that they dont have what we would qualify as a world perspective. is it possible that they have been so warped by their leadership to not understand what is going on in the world outside? i ask this and think about the case of cambodia and yes, what took place under china with mao (though i think china always was fully aware of the outside world even then). as an outsider it baffles me just how seemingly disconnected north korea seems to be from what would be considered a proper diplomatic discourse even if it were to rattle their sabres. perhaps i have it all backwards, perhaps they do understand and are merely testing the waters to see how the world around them reacts to their threats while they plead in some strange way for acceptance within the world community. i would really like the opinions of you bc and ahe, and revdax if you are out there tonight. thks.

jerusalem zp 11:20 GMT January 10, 2003
jp, thks. regarding judicial decisions in democracy. i suppose it depends on what you are looking at. seems to me that the supreme court provides an essential part of the check and balences within govt's when used properly. maybe i am wrong, perhaps you are thinking about what took place within the states after the last presidential election.......anyway, it was a bold decision yesterday by the israeli supreme court and i for one am glad they were allowed to have a say.

tg, thks, i read your comments with interest here.


jerusalem zp 15:52 GMT March 12, 2002
ny, thks, i suspect that the reason there seems to be no photo showing the plane that hit the pentagon on 11 sept was because of the impact of stone, cement, and steel meeting the boeing head on. things in life have a tendency to disintegrate on contact.....
also, if anyone wants a confirmation of the boeing hitting the pentagon, i suggest they call a company called lorton contracting in the washington d.c. area. why? because i happen to know first hand they had a crew working on the pentagon that morning which saw the plane crash into the building.


nh, do you think the statues (transmitters - ahh, excuse me) were used by the cia during their 9/11 operations?

jerusalem zp 22:27 GMT January 9, 2003
nh & red, appreciate the offer and info. as for spending my time responding to some others you are correct red, there is no use....
anyway, i look forward to visiting atlantis and sofia havent been to either one.
nh, what you gonna do with those statues on your soon to be aquired island? i understand the raeliens are going to clone them....

jerusalem zp 12:46 GMT January 9, 2003
haifa, sharon up till now has shown the ability to overcome all political obstacles in the past two years, he has surprised me quite a bit......tonight, however, i believe he will step into the theatre of the absurd and tactically open up a can of worms he will not be able to overcome.
in the words of richard m. nixon......."i am not a crook."
the election cant come soon enough.....

jerusalem zp 10:25 GMT January 9, 2003
haifa, no, not quite, i prefer surviving to see human dignity. as for 1.5 billion muslims being on the planet that still leaves over 3/4 of the world which isnt muslim.......looks to me like they have some work to do still. lets just remember that at one time a large amount of people believed that zeus and athena ruled the skys with their underlings working nearby. in other words......things change. here's to having my descendents see the day.
most importantly, it is vital that bashara and tibi run and are allowed to speak in public with out the publicity of bad press surrounding their every move as 'banned politicians'. haifa, you should know better, publicity of any kind is a good thing when you are an author or a politician. want to create a million copy best seller? ban the book. want to create a public figurehead? ban the politician, better yet put him in jail.
the freedom to speak also thankfully allows for the freedom to make mistakes publically and show your real colors.
i will go now, i must check in on sharon and his nixon-like timeline.

jerusalem zp 08:52 GMT January 9, 2003
haifa, supreme court of israel just made me very proud. letting the arab candidates run for knesset who others tried to expel and banning the likud candidates for not meeting standards is a powerful message. unfortunately we live in a world in which this message can be lost and miscontrued. surpreme court showed that israel has the strenght and stamina to let reason be a guiding light.
here's to hoping strenght of reason isnt percieved as weakness by some.


jerusalem zp 14:19 GMT January 8, 2003
nh, takes me back to the time when brazil occasionally spoke about developing a nuclear weapons program, most people including the brazilian population couldnt understand why such a thing was being considered..........this until someone suggested that it was a deterrent against the imf and world bank.

jerusalem zp 11:56 GMT January 8, 2003
haifa, i dont know if it is a curse, i tend to try and not contemplate that.....what i do find disgusting is that while i am looking at books in a shop, while i am sipping coffee with my wife talking to an artist who is exhibiting work within the cafe, while i am in a car stuck in traffic that i can be punished for choosing to live as a free person and doing what i love. maybe that is our crime. maybe we should return to the ghettos they set up for us in the past when they werent try to kill us in europe, the arab countries, or within the old russian empire. maybe should give up and allow our selves to be second class citizens within other peoples domains......or maybe not, maybe we should keep fighting for what is ours. i am staying here dead or alive.

jerusalem zp 09:22 GMT January 8, 2003
red, Englov Kosamov -33 years old - from bulgaria has been reported here as having been killed in the bombing on sunday night in tel aviv.

jerusalem zp 07:02 GMT January 7, 2003
haifa, perhaps dalia itzik's chauffer can drive sharon's boys to jail when there time comes........

jerusalem zp 19:55 GMT January 6, 2003
red,
if you ever want to visit this place let me know i will take you on a tour and then you can judge for yourself. this is a complicated place with different meanings ready for interpretation depending on prievious bias. though i am sure to be accused of being blind this is not a land of segregation. no, actually it is far more inclusive than most other places in the world. i walk with rose colored glasses perhaps but i believe that. ours is a land that is torn - poetry - cannot do it justice. it is a land that has not only history but the promise of the future.
if anything what this region and some others in the world may actually fear is that far from being marginalized as you suggest, israel will become a major economic powerhouse if we should ever be so lucky to watch peace break out.
actually it goes to one of the cores, and there are many cores here, this land, this area - the middle east - has been held hostage by history for four thousand years now. why? certainly not because it is not wanted. no, it has so many troubles because people have been willing to fight for it for so long. first it was trade routes, now it is the oil, next century it may be over pharmaceutical company rights to minerals in the dead sea.
dont fall into the trap of the easy explanation or definition. this is a place where people speak out of both sides of their mouths and their arse too.
if anything the people of this area - the entire middle east - are blessed with believing just a bit too much in their ability to complicate the truth, sometimes they are successful though.
remember a war is being fought here, maybe not like one you are accustomed to reading about or witnessing unfortunately - but it is a war. most israelis still want peace, most israelis still want to have the palestinians as their neighbor but it will not happen under conditions of extortion. neither side, i should add, will agree to that, and thus we are in this stink hole still.

jerusalem zp 13:08 GMT January 6, 2003
jp, one thing for sure, i am definitely in the wrong biz....

jerusalem zp 12:20 GMT January 6, 2003
jp, maybe you are in the wrong biz......

jerusalem zp 09:09 GMT January 6, 2003
revdax, regarding your 00:05 post
contradictary = politics
interesting to me that it has hardly been mentioned here that one of the few countries that has working relations with both north and south korea is russia.
bc, i tend to think that the russian relationship with both the north and the south has not escaped the entire u.s. diplomatic force. someone in the states (you would think) must recognize that russia will be a key to solving the korean problem.
in the end, what we are doing is merely participating in a tangent that obscures the big picture. the u.s. needs the product that it imports from china and china needs the states as an end user.
what i am reminded of are the discussions that we used to see about the relationship of business between japan and the states. for a ten year period from the early 80's to the early 90's, americans were scared out of their minds in some places that japan would become so strong economically that it make the u.s. a poor second fiddle.
what we seem to be forgeting that business is about making money and to do this one needs partners worldwide. only a stupid business person would try to harm their partners without having a back up plan.
the states and china have little in the way of back up plans, they need each other to prosper and grow.

jerusalem zp 18:52 GMT January 5, 2003
ahe, i must apologize to you for misreading your question about the gas masks before. i didnt notice that you were asking me what would happen if israel wanted to purchase masks from china?
i believe israel manufactures most of its own gas masks. but at this point in the day, having seen what has just taken place in tel aviv i suspect body armour would be quite welcome.

jerusalem zp 15:56 GMT January 5, 2003
speaking of propaganda, saw an interesting interview (cnn or bbc) this weekend. a fellow was discussing the amount of misinformation the north korean public is told about south korea.
dont know if it was a joke but the fellow went on to say that upon a delegation of north koreans visiting south korea for the first time, north koreans were over heard saying that the south koreans had moved in extra cars into seoul to show greater prosperity. one of the south koreans overheard this and looked at the north koreans and said,
"yes you are correct, but moving the builidings into the city was much more difficult."

jerusalem zp 15:50 GMT January 5, 2003
let me add, that sometimes the u.s. asks israel not to sell items to china because of a national interest (security) concern, and sometimes it is simply because they are interested in one of their own selling the item first........
ours is a world full of contradictions ahe, (and hyperbole)!

jerusalem zp 15:47 GMT January 5, 2003
ahe, i happen to know the answer to this almost first hand....i shall not go into details but please know israel has sold china many a military system - occasionally the u.s. asks israel to not follow through and israel for the most part cooperates. as for the u.k. if they have a problem with israel selling a particular item to china i suspect they go through the states to get their message heard more loudly.

jerusalem zp 15:34 GMT January 5, 2003
let me add the following, i have seen many a stupid thing in the middle east the past few years - including israel. maybe i am just too optimistic but i firmly - 100% - believe (that is probably my mistake) that the administration in the states and the leaders of china are far too smart to get involved in anything more than a diplomatic match that occasionally gets a bit terse. there is simply too much at stake economically and politically for these two giants to go at each other more than a mere mosquito swat. no, both the u.s. and china have much bigger issues to deal with, namely making sure all others are persuaded by their dictates or desires.

jerusalem zp 15:25 GMT January 5, 2003
ahe, i simply disagree. it is hyperbole because the chances of a confrontation between china and the u.s. are minimal at best. as for revdax's point of confrontation possibly taking place on a 3rd battlefield, this too is far fetched. it is simply not in the interest of either giant to get so involved. lets take taiwan as an example u.s. has a particular habit of going to edge and then backing off. much was the same when china confiscated u.s. air force jet.
as for belgrade embassy being bombed, so what? lets get real. it was taken out for a reason, or it was an accident, either way it obviously didnt escalate things very much.
no, china and the u.s. serve each others purpose right now. u.s. gets to point to a giant that will become a super power and thus continue to build a machine for 'the just in case scenerio'.
and china gets to point at the big guy and say to their population and the world, we should be careful about letting them have too much power and make sure they dont intrude on our affairs so we can keep our national agenda.
it is a machine, it is progaganda.......on both sides.

jerusalem zp 12:56 GMT January 5, 2003
seems to me people here are participating in hyperbole. any friction between u.s. and china is only because both govts need to perhaps give their populations something to busy their minds with. stop wasting your time and worry about things that are real........the last thing either of these nations would want is to go one on one with each other.


jerusalem zp 12:22 GMT January 3, 2003
haifa, thks i can now rest.....

jerusalem zp 19:01 GMT January 2, 2003
haifa, while i am NOT on the subject, is it only me that feels ashamed that israel's politicians are proving to be nothing less than an organized mafia (or perhaps a good imitation of the chicago aldermen) when the our little country is bursting not only from war but economic chaos? all israelis should be ashamed that we allow our leadership to be such a band of fools.

jerusalem zp 18:45 GMT January 2, 2003
reach a deal......

jerusalem zp 18:42 GMT January 2, 2003
nh, i agree that the north korean army is not a forward moving threat. i never said that. what i did say yesterday was that they have a collateral threat. they can inflict sizeable economic problems for seoul through two means, destabilization of area politically and worse through armed attack including a large amount of scud missiles. i agree that north korea is a sore much like iraq is a sore, but it is my humble opinion that north korea will not be appeased by a group of politicians who dont have the means appearantly in a diplomatic way to reach a conclusion that will be good for the u.s or its once strong but growing much weaker (relationship wise) u.s ally - south korea.
both iraq and north korea must be contained. seems to me iraq is contained much more than north korea currently. agreed with haifa already that north korea will implode on itself if left alone within a certain amount of time - but it might take longer than imagined. lets remember cuba has lasted quite a while because countries around the world trade with it and keep castro afloat. same will happen for north korea, china though perhaps not a huge fan of 'kimmy' at this point will not mind a little game of cards keeping u.s on its toes and thus will help keep north korea above water for a while longer if needed. and until that moment - when north korea implodes under its own fatigued and outdated ways - it will keep on selling weapons to people who do not have u.s interest in mind. they will also try to arm themselves with nuclear warheads in the hope that they have some sort of trump card if needed when they run out of chips.
how to solve the mess with out making more of a mess? agree to a roundtable discussion including south korea, china, japan, russia, the states - keep it discreet (hey, have them sign confidentiallity agreements) and reach a deas on ending the scab threats. the key to this is showing china that u.s does not gain by the collaspe of the north korean gov't, perhaps south korea will point that out in so many words if their relationship with the states keeps heading south.
and remember the rolling stones, "you cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just may find you get what you need."

jerusalem zp 16:23 GMT January 2, 2003
haifa, let me point out that like a number of our fine israeli politicians i have decided to forget that i have agreed to disagree with you and have now chosen to openly disagree with you again. this of coarse unless you approve my buget surplus of 2 million dollars for trading on the tel aviv borse!

jerusalem zp 16:17 GMT January 2, 2003
haifa, dont know if you have read ha'eretz today, but there is an article called North Korea's Chutzpah. it is worth looking at, i dont know where ha'eretz is getting their info from (it isnt me) but it claims that within the first hour of any war with south korea or the states that it - north korea - is capable of firing half a million artillary shells in the direction of the 37,000 u.s. troops holed up near the dmz. it also says north korea will have the capability of arming about six nuclear warheads within a few months time. if north korea is able to arm war heads, how will japan and south korea respond? will they then have to arm themselves with nuclear arms and thus make the 'fun club' even bigger.
i know, i know that south korea and japan are under 'the defense' of the u.s. nuclear umbrella.
my point? the u.s cannot let north korea deal the cards in this poker game. the u.s. has a major problem, as bc says, because they seem to have a void in which they are capable of real diplomatic action. it is one thing to be peachy and calm like colin powell but it is another thing to be able to deliver a clear and strong message and rub the beast in order that it purrs intead of growls.
so haifa, good luck keeping your eyes closed.....

jerusalem zp 13:36 GMT January 2, 2003
red, you should not forget bill cosby's joke quoting his father who threatens discipline, " i brought you into this world and i can take you out of this world."

jerusalem zp 08:15 GMT January 2, 2003
haifa, unless of coarse you want to disagree on agreeing to disagree, which would give us four opinions and qualify us to be candidates within the likud.......

jerusalem zp 08:04 GMT January 2, 2003
haifa, lets agree to disagree on north korea, thus creating the proverbial two jews and three opinions......

jerusalem zp 16:15 GMT January 1, 2003
haifa, i should add that i agree that north korea will implode from its own filth of system within the coming years if left alone BUT in the meantime they could remain a major weapons dealer to folk that should not be able to buy such delicate and sexy devices to kill - and may i add the devices will be aimed at you and i.

jerusalem zp 16:08 GMT January 1, 2003
haifa, the only reason why the north korea crisis remains a diplomatic issue and not a intervention is because north korea has rather large neighbors who would not look kindly upon an attack being sought by the united states. there is no one in the middle east who can match the respect level that the u.s. has to pay to china regarding north korea.
while iraq may have the odd and destructive ablity to create a WMD, north korea not only has the ability but the capacity as well.
when it comes down to it the decision to go after iraq and not north korea using bombs will be a simple one. the u.s. simply doesnt have enough juice to go after north korea without having to pay an extremely high political costs.
while the u.s. can convince egypt, jordan, kuwait and others to look the other way while it eliminates hussein. the u.s. cannot do this with north korea. why? it cannot risk the collateral damage that could be done to seoul or possibly even japan.
the only country that looks likely to get hurt with any attack on iraq is probably israel - if hussein has any fire left which is doubtful. north korea on the otherhand while definitely able to be mauled - is definitely heavily armed to the teeth with scuds and able to inflict a painful human and economic cost to its neighbors. lets remember it is north korea who manufactures scuds for the most part.
iraq is next because they are simply the easier target.