I can’t predict this. Half of me says World War III. The other says we’ll muddle through the mess in the Middle East, like we have before.
I worry because todays mess is truly awful and widening. More players. America just shot down three Iranian cruise missiles, fired out of Yemen by the Houthis. The missiles were headed for Israel. America has deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups armed with many fighter aircraft. A lot of force.
For now, Hamas has brilliantly got itself the upper hand. 200 hostages is a big bargaining chip.
One note of optimism; None of the players want a full-fledged war.
Master of the proxies is Iran, which funds Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others. Qatar funds Hamas to the tune of $100 million year –maybe to create “news” for its state-owned Al Jazeera network (am I being too cynical?). Without Qatari money Hamas would not exist and maybe we’d be closer to a two state solution and some sort of peace.
Meantime, Israel, the Middle East (and us) are stuck with an Islamic terrorist problem. (Osama bin Laden came out of Saudi Arabia.)
Israel would prefer peace — though not the way Netanyahu is playing it — stealing land and cozying up to the religious crazies.
Israel has alternated between fighting them and appeasing them.
The problem is that they want Israel’s land and all Israelis to be dead.
But appeasement never works. War always follows.
The only way to deal with terrorists (Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, etc.) is to destroy them.
Where is Lawrence of Arabia when we need him?
There are no easy answers.
Half of me says that one day, stocks will plunge, perhaps 10% to 15%. It won’t be pretty.
Yesterday wasn’t pretty. It was my awfulest day in years. It’s been a awful fall.
America will try to restrain nutcase Netanyahu. But Hamas has outplayed him. Israel is up in arms about Hamas atrocities, Israel’s own military stupidity, Netanyahu’s gross incompetence etc. Hence Israel will do something extreme, expensive and stupid.
So much dangerous gameplaying.
The Qataris wanted humanitarian aid (maybe), but got tunnels.
Saudi and others could have accepted Palestinian refuges — as Jordan and America did. Saudi (and others) could have banded together and organized a Palestinian State. But the political ineptness of the neighborhood gives incompetence a whole new meaning.
What isn’t Saudi America (or someone) calling for a royal commission into the blast at the Ahli Arab hospital which killed 500+. There is some evidence their deaths were by a failed Palestinian rocket laden with fuel, But Israel is being blamed. Perhaps no one wants the truth for fear of hurting their own biassed PR?
Bridges built painstakingly between Israel and its Arab neighbors now lie in ruins — precisely what Iran wants.
Iran is shiite muslim, Saudi is sunni muslim. This hatred/killing between them (forget the Jews) has been going on hundreds of years.
You could draw a PowerPoint chart showing who hates who in the middle east. You’d need circles, arrows, squares, solid and dotted lines. In the end, the chart would be more confusing than all the companies I don’t invest in.
Case in point: Iran versus Iraq: Their war dragged on from 1980 to 1988, killing 500,000 soldiers and civilians and accomplishing absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
Futures are way down. It’s going to be another yuchy day.
the best places to read about the Middle East mess are the Economist, Thomas Friedman in the New York Times) and “Qatar: Master Double-Dealer” in Gatestone. Click here.
A failure of imagination
This is a kid’s Apple Watch, but better.
My two grandkids living in Amsterdam are each wearing one. .
You can track on your iPhone where your kids are. It has a real SIM card.
When they need you, they can call you. They love it. The phone costs only 104 euros.
Grandson Peter and I walked into the Swatch store in Amsterdam. “Do you sell these?” I asked a salesman.
The answer? “No, but I wish we did.”
AT&T invented the cell phone. Motorola made the first one. It was big and heavy. Then Nokia made a smaller one. And Blackberry made one with a teeny keyboard. It took Steve Jobs to make the cellphone really useful with the iPhone.
Now AT&T sells the phone it invented.
There are always opportunities. The big companies get fat, lazy and uncreative. Look what’s happening the shoe biz. Look at how little MasterCard and Visa have done, compared with PayPal and my favorite little credit card company, X1.
I got my first computer from Radio Shack. I’m writing this blog bbbbon a Lenovo ThinkPad.
The best part of traveling
You must imagine this. My train is slowing down as we approach Brussels. Suddenly a four-wheeled suitcase rolls by me. A little old lady is in hot pursuit. The more the train decelerates, the faster the suitcase rolls and the crazier the little old lady gets. I’d help her. We’d all help her. But we couldn’t stop laughing.
I do like the Chrome browser for Windows
+ It remembers userIDs and passwords for all sites.
+ It synchs bookmarks, userIDS, passwords, etc between my laptops.
+ Hit Ctrl P and it’s saved the web site in PDF to my computer.
+ It takes extensions. I love two — Session Buddy and Ghostery, which gets rid of ads.
This is an educational video
This video has nothing to do with sex but a lot to do with AI robots.
In foggy rainy Amsterdam
Here bicycles are king — unless you step outside without looking both ways –and get clobbered by one going at high speed.
I’m in Amsterdam which gives new meaning to the foggy, foggy dew and regular downpour, and where a brilliant entrepreneur has a created a successful chain called “Rains.”
We’ve visited the wonderful Van Gogh museum.
Next stop, buy a darling baby car.
See you shortly. — Harry Newton
