muslims, jews and viruses

COMMENT

I heard this morning that intensive care units are unusually packed with (especially younger people; mean age 36) patients who have run into severe difficulties with H1N1. Why is this, as only yesterday I was reporting that it was essentially a mild illness? I don't pretend to understand this completely, but may I suggest it could have something to do with the changing criteria for admitting patients to the ICU? This would certainly explain a lot.

In Pakistan, Salman Taseer, one of their most popular liberal politicians, had no less than 30 bullets pumped into him by his own bodyguard. His principal crime, apparently, was to suggest that the law in that awful country, which hands down the death sentence to anyone convicted of blasphemy, was perhaps going a little too far.

A little closer to home, Tony Blair, peace be upon him, has urged the 2 sides in the Palestine/Israel conflict to sit down and talk, now, in order to prevent war. Let me go inside the negotiation room and imagine what might be said if they did:

Palestinian negotiator: "If your genuine concern is to bring about a lasting peace to our embattled region, could you at least stop offering substantial financial incentives to people building new settlements on the West Bank, in view of their illegal status under international law?"
Israeli negotiator: "No"

In other words, it's time for the Israelis to stopping letting the Zionist tail wag the dog of the Israeli state and allow the more humane and civilised elements of Israeli society (which I know for a fact exist) to have their way. And on the Palestinian side, it's also time for Hamas, who still believe that the solution to the problem is to throw the hated Jews into the sea, to be likewise marginalised. Here also there is a huge body of opinion among ordinary Palestinians to just move on and work with the Israelis.

The fact is that the Israelis are much less worried about what the world thinks about their treatment of the Palestinians than whether Iran will back up its hateful rhetoric against Israel by launching a war involving nuclear weapons, and also that Lebanon's Hisbollah, making equally bellicose noises, are best friends with Iran.