A marvelous quotation by Albert Einstein

It's a really good one, and a friend of mine sent it to me - I thought it would be worth posting it here, but first...

But first . . .

When Paul Newman died, they said how great he was but they failed to mention he considered himself Jewish (born half-Jewish).

When the woman (Helen Suzman) who helped Nelson Mandela died recently, they said how great she was, but they failed to mention she was Jewish.

On the other side of the equation, when Ivan Boesky or Andrew Fastow or Bernie Madoff committed fraud, almost every article mentioned they were Jewish.

However, when Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Martha Stewart, Randy Cunningham, Gov. Edwards, Conrad Black, Senator Keating, Gov Ryan, and Gov Blagojevich messed up; no one reported what religion or denomination they were, because they were not Jewish.

This is a reminder of a famous Einstein quote:

In 1921, Albert Einstein presented a paper on his then-infant Theory of Relativity at the Sorbonne, the prestigious French university.

"If I am proved correct," he said, "the Germans will call me a German, the Swiss will call me a Swiss citizen, and the French will call me a great scientist.

"If relativity is proved wrong, the French will call me a Swiss, the Swiss will call me a German, And the Germans will call me a Jew".

Iran - .... all the way

Until Hitler was ready to launch a major attack, he bought time.

First, internally, he built the infrastructure. As years went by and segments of the population started being concerned with the direction of things with his Hitler Youth and his Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (personal bodyguard regiment), the world thought that perhaps things would change in Germany. But not only that nothing happened, Europe looked for ways to appease him. First, it was with the Munich Pact, where the British, French and Italians handed parts of Czechoslovakia to Germany in 1938. Then in 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-agression treaty.

Initially Germany invaded Poland, still in 1939.

...And in 1940 and 1941 all the wishful thinking and acting came apart when Hitler started his invasions in the Western and Eastern front.

Fast forward 70 years, and I will just make some "slight" changes to the above paragraphs....

Until Ahmedinajad was ready to launch a major attack, he bought time.

First, internally, he built the infrastructure. As years went by and segments of the population started being concerned with the direction of things with his Basij and his Revolutionary Guard, the world thought that perhaps things would change in Iran. But not only that nothing happened, the world looked for ways to appease him. First, it was with the 5+1 Nuclear negotiations, where the Americans, Chinese, Russians, British, French and Germans extended month after month deadlines for Iran to comply with the international requirements to prevent them from having nuclear weapons. In addition to that, different countries started making individual agreements with Iran, as a way to ensure that economic sanctions would not affect the Iranian regime.

Initially Iran invaded Iraq, still in 2009 (in fact today, as I write these lines).

...And in 2010 and 2011 all the wishful thinking and acting came apart when Ahmedinajad.......

Wait a minute.... we are still in 2009. There's still time to avoid history to repeat itself all the way....

Lebanon, once upon a time - but now.....

When in Brazil, I had many Lebanese Christian friends before I moved here 18 years ago. In a sign of appreciation towards the good relations the Jewish and Israeli community had with the Lebanese Christian, I received the entire collection of speeches by Bashir Gemayel, who was assassinated by the Syrians at the age of 35, shortly after he was elected President of Lebanon in 1982.

Slowly (or perhaps not so slowly) but surely, the Lebanese Christian, once the largest and thriving population in what used to be called the "Paris of the Middle East" have been wiped out by the Muslim not just in Beirut, but in entire Lebanon.

The latest absurdity happening in Lebanon, is the inclusion of Hizbullah in the Lebanese government, and that government's authorization for the terrorist organization to hold on to their armaments and own "army".

Here's what a member of the dwindling Christian community in Lebanon had to say about this:

"The new move by PM Saad Hariri only shows that Muslims are regrouping in Lebanon brought together by a common enemy, Israel. Hariri would not have done this without the blessing of or even direction from Saudi Arabia. The US is the big sucker in this now. We just handed Hezbollah under the title of "aid to Lebanon" over $1 billion in military and peripheral weapons to use freely against Israel. And I suspect Hezbollah will soon find a way to drag Lebanon down a very nasty conflict and get that weapon in the name of "resistance."- not just because Israel remains their target, but also gives them an opportunity to neutralize the Christians of Lebanon once and for all. Two birds in one stone.

"First comes Saturday and then comes Sunday."

Then Hezbollah empowers the palestinians to march down with them and Israel faces enemies on three major fronts; Hezbollah, Hamas and the world of public opinion.

There has to be a major move to shake up the Lebanese Christians to regroup as they did in 1976 because quite honestly, the Christians of Lebanon are toast. They are about 3 steps from being told "check mate" by both the Sunnis and the Shiites.

Someone needs to keep the US from delivering the rest of installments of that $1 billion that is yet to be handed over in 2010.

Israel can but shouldn't be the only entity trying to neutralize Hezbollah. They need to find and strengthen an internal ally. The US can't and won't touch this. Europe is too influenced by the Arabs. Israel seems to be alone and isolation is not a good thing. UN is useless and words don't heal.

Time for some serious strategies."

If only the Palestinian-Israeli conflict were resolved.....

Yes, this is what critics of Israel say about Islamic fundamentalist terrorism: "if only Palestinian-Israeli conflict were resolved.....if Israel would just freeze the settlements.... we would have a more secure and peaceful world..."

Sure....

12/04/09 - Militants attacked a mosque during midday prayers in Rawalpindi today killing at least 40 people and wounding 83, Pakistan authorities said.....

12/04/09 - The death toll rose to 23 on Friday in a suicide bombing attack at a Somali graduation ceremony at Banadir University...The attack in Mogadishu on Thursday was carried out by a male suicide bomber dressed in women's clothing, witnesses said.Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has blamed the Islamist rebel group Al-Shabaab for the attack.

12/04/09 - Guinea's president has been flown to Morocco for medical treatment after he was shot during an assassination attempt nearly a year after he seized power in a coup, a government official said Friday. Since winning independence half a century ago from France, Guinea has been pillaged by its ruling Muslim elite. Its 10 million people are among the world's poorest, even though its soil has diamonds, gold, iron and half the world's reserves of the raw material used to make aluminum.

12/02/09 - Chechen Muslim rebels claimed responsibility Wednesday for blowing up a high-speed Russian train last week, an attack that killed 26 people, injured scores of others and raised fears of a fresh wave ofterror attacks....

11/25/09 - The death toll from the Philippines’ worst politically-linked massacre has risen to 57. The victims were abducted as they were travelling to nominate an opposition candidate for governor in upcoming elections in the Muslim province of Maguindanao

Indeed... "if only Palestinian-Israeli conflict were resolved.....if Israel would just freeze the settlements.... we would have a more secure and peaceful world..."