Hi Lew, nice post about empathy. What the world needs now…

I recently caught a bit on the cuban missile crisis and how one Kennedy administrator talked K into just one more attempt at diplomacy which really addressed where Krushchev was coming from (empathy). I forget the details, but the whole thing was directed at allowing Krushchev to posture as the bigger person by backing down.

I often wonder where the brave administrators are who can really reach cheney/bush ego with a peaceful resolution to their twisted egos…

great post.

Oklahoma kiddo at 14

These are such difficult issues. Dictatorship are easy to despise. The Israeli-Palestinian issue to so extraordinarily difficult. Which is why I hold Stern in such awe. She has managed that were so many have failed.

After reading The Great War for Civilization and Beyond Chutspa(sp?), a picture emerges that dispells this perception of extraordinary difficulty. It is as if there is an interest that promotes the idea of irreconcilability to further its own ends and profits. Another book, available in Europe, written by an Irish solicitor, Lies in a Mirror, (available Amazon.co.uk) completes the loci of necessary perceptions, illuminating as it does the relationship between lies, crime, and the mindset that is associated with fascist mentality.

The I/P conflict is made intractable because of the falsehoods, mainly from the Israeli perspective but the Palestinian have a share as well. Get rid of the selfserving lies of Zionist foundation history and working with what remains, solutions are to be found; as long as lies remain, no agreed solutions are to be. Neither side will countinance the lies used by the other. The most recalcerant side uses the greater share of lies and cannot maintain the continuity of their myths, positions, and identity without the lies. Every failure to reach accommodation has foundered on the insistance of acceptance of the others lies and will continue to do so, no matter the cost in blood or lives lost. Recognize and neutralize the lies, solutions are there.

This is way EPU’d, Hope it may be of value, good posting Lew Koch, All the best…..

Oklahoma kiddo @ 14

I cannot help but think if we had dealt in an even handed manner with the Israeli-Palestinian situation a long, long time ago, then perhaps we would not find ourselves where we are today. Who knows, maybe ‘9-11′ would have never happened either. And I realize our chumminess with Arab dictatorships (Egypt and Saudi Arabia, etc.) played major roles in Arab hatred for America too.

Elucidate further, please. What would have been an even-handed way to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian situation in 1948? In 1968? In 1999?

IIRC, 9-11 happened (according to the perpetrators) because U.S. troops were in the Holy Land of Saudi Arabia.

Would that have been someone who was on the airplanes that crashed into buildings and burned to death?

The acts of 9/11 seem to have made jihadists happy. But, the details of who did what and why are yet to be discovered in full.

Were the names of the FBI’s 9/11 attackers actually on the airplane manifests? Did anyone see them board those planes? Why is ObL not on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for 9/11?

I know it’s hard to ignore all the propaganda, but we must remain open-minded about 9/11.

ive been around the lake since jan, but this is my 1st time responding to one of your pieces.

i just had to say thank you. this is the type of information that can’t be talked about enough. i have been advocating for years that the american government and/or corporations should somehow be providing computers that are internet ready & wi-fi equipment to as many areas as possible that breed young terrorists in trainning, convinced that once these young ones got a taste of the wide world, the world their terrorist trainers describe would loose its flavor.

and the picture broke my heart.

thanks again – i will direct others to this post.

best~

So, we pretty much agree on what we are saying. In my own religious tradition we express it thus:

When God created all of the animals, all of the birds, and all of the fish he created them all at once. But when it came to creating man, he created only one. Why? So that no man could say that his ancestors were better than yours.

OT It’s the end of the week and I thought I would recap the situation in oil and gas that look to be in flux.

Gasoline:
National Average for Regular Gasoline (Retail) $2.952
National Average for Regular Gasoline (Wholesale) ~$2.40
Gasoline future $2.3096

Crude oil:
Dated Brent Spot (World benchmark) $77.10
WTI Cushing Spot (American benchmark although less so) $72.81

This is a complicated picture. The retail price of gasoline actually went up today something it hasn’t done for awhile. Wholesale prices have been going up, and the resulting differential between wholesale and retail prices has narrowed to more traditional levels. Gasoline futures have also been inching up and are now at mid-high levels. On the other hand, gasoline inventories were unexpectedly good last week up 1.8 million barrels. Still it appears that declines in gas prices are at or near an end.

At the moment, beyond the usual manipulation in gas prices, it is high crude oil prices that are supporting higher gas prices. What is unusual about this is that there are no particular reasons for the high benchmark oil prices, certainly no drivers (hurricanes, wars, etc.) that justify the current levels. There’s the usual background noise of instability but nothing special and nothing that has actually affected the flow of oil. And supplies remain generally good. So whereas early in the year, the story was refineries and gasoline, the mid-summer picture revolves around crude oil. In the absence of speculative pressures and supply constraints, I tend to suspect either manipulation or some subterranean change in oil market fundamentals.

The current “raison du jour” is the kidnapping of the child of a British petroleum executive’s kid by Nigerian rebels.
The whole oil price thing is a game with the speculators pushing up the price if someone farts the wrong way.
Of course our oil companies love it because they can get more from everything from their crude to the refined stuff.

boxer @ 104

But the Nazi’s used nationalism to accomplish the genocide in the first place.

I am not sure what you are saying. If you are equating Israel’s conduct with genocide, well, I don’t think I can carry on a civil conversation with you. You have had too much lemonade. If you are commenting on the fact that excessive nationalism leads to genocide, and therefore, we have much to fear from King George the Codpiece, well maybe we can find common ground.

There is a difference between patriotism (a virtue) and nationalism (a vice.) Please accept that there are Israeli patriots who want to live in peace, as I accept the fact that there are Palestinians with a proud heritage and peaceful ambitions.

I am most certainly not equating Israel’s conduct with genocide. My point is that unchecked nationalism leads to death. I think there is an extremely fine line between patriotism and nationalism, and you (collective) don’t know when that line is crossed until it’s too late. Therefore, I’m not so sure how virtuous it is. I think a world view that sees each person as a child of God (or something similar), with equal value is a better way. I hate the arguments the Repubs make about “if we don’t fight them in Iraq, we’ll have to fight them here” – works great if your an American, not so good on the Iraqi women and children. Again, nation states exist primarily for war.

We say thank you