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The other day we were having dinner with our two favorite friends, one an ex-buddhist monk and the other the son of a rabbi. Masa and Zev. Masa is a graphics artist and Zev is a systems engineer. While the former is given to speaking in short pithy aphorisms, the latter is more apt to speak at length on any given topic of conversation. Both gentlemen are considerate and circumspect in their observations, opinions and advice. Both men hold world views which were more often than not in general agreement. We make it a point not to disagree with these guys when they are right. The tv in the corner of the room had been left on as we were sitting around the dinner table. Paul Krugman made an appearance on ABC's This Week. It was delightful to watch him mercilessly chewing at the heels of Newt Gingrich. Our comment? "Guess what jelly bean? Les jeux sont faits. There's nothing to be done. It's too late. Ya gotta love it!" Masa grinned. Zev rolled his eyes upwards. Had we said something wrong? Maybe not. The tv was ignored for an hour or so. Then this fellah comes on the screen in an NHK rebroadcast of a BBC program.
Masa said that a few years ago a couple of Iraqis had come to his temple. The Iraqis had wanted to convert from Islam to Buddhism. In fact they had wanted to become monks just as Masa had done. They had been invited in to give it a go. As far as he knew they were still at the temple up in the mountains of northern Honshu trying to reach the perfect state of satori. We wondered out loud what you have to do to reach that perfect state. Masa said that you have to sleep on the ground, give up all worldly possessions, and meditate. When you meditate another monk comes around and whacks you on the back as hard as he or she can with a long stick. Even though it hurts like heck, you have to be still and say, "Thank you." Hmm. We thought those Iraqi dudes might be real good at that. We commented that we were curious as to whether the outcome of the whole Iraq bru-ha-ha could be predicted. Masa made the observation that the thing which is eternal is now and that since what will be will be, we needn't be concerned about it. "The three of us would have as much of a chance of figuring it out as three fugu," Zev added.
Frage: "Glauben Sie, dass es zu einem neuen Golfkrieg kommen wird?" "Wie beurteilen SPIEGEL-ONLINE-Leser die Gefahr eines Krieges? Yeah, that may be true, but don't you wonder about it just a little bit? Probably
everyone does, don't they? We saw a poll on the website of the German magazine, Der Spiegel. It had a little thing
called a Saddameter which showed how Der Spiegel readers thought about it. On January 9, 2003, the momentary war
probability lay at around 63 percent according to the informal Der Spiegel Saddameter reader poll. We guided the conversation so that it began to take into account what general events might actually take place. Did you ever play on railroad tracks when you were a kid? Sure, we all had. We used to put coins on the track and let the train flatten them out into odd shapes. And we used to use a bridge which was used by trains as a diving platform. Zev got the drift of it and asked, "What did you do when the train came along?" That's right, jelly bean. You got the hell out of the way. In the case of Iraq there are a plethora of signs that a mighty big train is chugging down the track headed straight for Baghdad. According to the BBC, there is a complete government in absentia, from a president down to the necessary bureaucrats all lined up and ready to jump on the plane. There is even a king sitting around twiddling his thumbs in London. Unocal Oil Inc. will have even more representation than was the case in Afganistan. Both the new president of Afganistan and the number two man are Unocal representatives, one may recall. Invasion or war? Problematic. Then what would be done with the president? Trial in the Hague? What might he say there? Masa said that the most likely outcome might just be a coup in which the Mr. Hussein would be whacked. A neat and tidy alternative, one which Rumsfeld has repeatedly suggested. The guy who may have known too much could be conveniently eliminated. There would be few nettlesome questions asked afterwards. The thousands of troops and their megatons of equipment waiting offshore could then be invited to come on in to safeguard the building and maintainence of the new pipeline and other oil related infrastructure. With no sanctions and billions in new oil revenue, funds could easily be found for new government buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, sewage treatment plants, etc. What a difference a new regime would make. And detailed plans for rebuilding have been complete and ready to go for some time now. In this scenario a lot of naysayers would be left with plenty of egg on their faces. It might take weeks to scrape it all off. Muslims from all over the arab world might end up having to wait in line to get into Iraq. About the only downside of a coup would be that the massively overwhelming firepower of laughable.the US and Britain may not be demonstrated. That sort of demonstration would be useful to demonstrate what finally happens to those who actually use those flimsy scud missiles. Push button, fire and forget, hi-tech. Cool, huh? Dangerous for American "ordnance placers"? Dangerous Schmmangerous. You may learn something from watching BBC or ITN. For example, why does Britain want to commit about one quarter of its puny 140,000 man armed forces? That's right, jelly bean, only 140,000 individuals in that man's armed forces. That's dinky, isn't it? Maybe but, the ultra-hi-tech weaponry of the British and their American pals is so far ahead of the fools driving the antique Russian-made T-72 deathtraps or those individuals careening about in Toyota pick-ups and waving AK-47s, it's pathetic. Both the Iraqi armed forces members and the anti-war BoBos are effectively caught in some sort of time-warp. America's 1.4 million push-button heros take all the sport out of the sport of kings with their ultra-high-tech war tools. War? Brave? If you squash a bug such as a roach are you brave? Or are you just a bug squasher? Uber-Soldier?
Conflict of interest? What's that? Oil, money, power beyond comprehension. Plans for an Iraqi "Regime Change" are not at all -- as the administration might have you believe -- a result of the attacks of September 11th. In fact, plans for an Iraqi regime change, at the behest of Mr. Bush were scripted into the GOP's published platform statement for 2000. Why? There are heavy connections between the Bush Administration and US oil corporations. The interests of those oil giants are the cornerstone of this Administration's policy. Control of Iraqi oil fields would be worth incalculable profits for the very corporations whose former executives permeate the ranks of the Bush Administration. Oil is the Bush family business -- politics is the shield that protects it. You may say that since oil reserves are dwindling worldwide it is in the interest of the Americans and the G8 to control the largest part of what's left, i.e., Caspian and the Gulf oil field output. And oil is the Bush family business. That sounds good until one considers that those reserves are going to last a relatively short while. Then what? The Bush strategy will burn up the remaining oil as fast as possible. But by his own directives, serious implementation of alternatives, the so-called renewables, is not slated to begin until 2030. Huh? With the world becoming more overpopulated with each passing day? Does that make sense? Yes it certainly makes sense when you realize that it paints the non-G8 countries of the world into a perilous corner. The remaining oil reserves are humanity's bridge to the future. Bush is apparently commited to policies which wiill have the effect of burning that bridge.
There has never been a more gross or a more obvious conflict of interest situation for humanity. There has never been a more gross or a more obvious conflict of interest situation for any American president. Sure King George would personally benefit by becoming an instant multi-multibillionaire but, hey if the big dog ain't you and ain't never gonna be you, what the heck does it really matter who the big dog is? As a conflict of interest this is as blatantly unethical as one could possibly imagine. Heck, even the United Nations is a wholly owned subsidiary of George Bush. Who is going to blow the whistle? If King George is slick enough to pull this whole Iraq regime change/WMD farce off, right under everyone's nose, he can certainly deal with a few whining whistle blowers. How do you think Bush got the title of Loyalty Enforcer? He did it the old fashoined way; He earned that title. King George is a bit old fashioned. He goes by the book as well. Which book? If you're talking Tate Mae, the Good Book, of course. If you're talking HonNe, The Prince . To the letter.
Zev asked what else could be as upsetting as the Iraq thing. We had to think a minute about that one. When you think of all the potential NFL football players just going to waste in Iraq and Iran, that's really pathetic. But what if John Madden didn't announce for Monday Night Football or for the Superbowl? That would be pretty depressing, wouldn't it? Seriously. John Madden is simply the best. He knows it all. He sees it all. And he explains it all perfectly. What is done right and what is done wrong. When we were kids did we go to the game early to see George Blanda? Nope. Kenny Stabler? Nope. We wanted to see the best football coach there has ever been, John Madden, of course. And by the way we were sitting in close endzone seats when Kenny threw that Superbowl pass with three seconds to go. We saw very clearly. He was not down. That pass was good. Masa grinned at Zev. Zev rolled his eyes upward. Masa suggested we watch less television especially the news propaganda. That way we'd probably be less upset. We'll be getting together again for the Superbowl. Zev suggested we all ante in for an antidote for Bush or television news or whatever might be bothersome. Masa had a bunch of free coupons so we won't need to ante in.
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