# 283 – My Roof and Iran

July 18, 2015

My Roof and Iran

You’ll never guess who’s coming to Israel?

First, there’s the National Theatre of Russia on Ice – St. Petersburg – who will be performing ’Sleeping Beauty’ during the next 2 weeks – our hottest period – in 6 different venues. I have not found out whether the performances will be on real or substitute ice.

Next, in this atmosphere of Greek tragedy, the Gyro National Ballet of Hungary are here to perform ‘Zorba’.

The Düsseldorf Ballet will be here in October to perform a collection of dances entitled ‘Requiem’

And, to get us out of these moods, Booby McFerrin is here to show off his many skills, including percussion, using just about every part of his body. He will surely perform ‘Don’t Worry. Be Happy’ countless times.

Saturday morning is quiet time here. I went on the roof to read the weekend papers. Took my Bluetooth speaker for classic music background. A bit hot and humid, but I like being up there. And, despite us not having green fingers, some nice blossoms are showing.

In addition to our famous heavily-scented red roses….

…we have some others blossoming too

But I had to cut short my sojourn. I had noticed, as has happened before, that pigeons had nested in our storage area. Didn’t have the heart this time to destroy the nest, as there was already an egg in it. Now look…

This ‘pidgeonette’ on the floor – not more than 5 cm. from beak to scraggy tail. Parents flew off when I got there. Scared of me? Or just don’t like Rostropovich’s Cello Sonata…

Took advice from our Animal Rights daughter, who told me to leave the poor things alone and go back downstairs, which is where I am now.

God save the pidgeonette.

So, Iran.

I have never seen the divisions in Israeli politics so dramatically drawn as now. Even I went out and bought both Haaretz (HA) and the Jerusalem Post (JP) newspapers, to get ‘both points of view’. Wow! If you think World Opinion is mixed, come here for a day… Neville Chamberlain was mentioned of course, but in the guise of 2 persons: HA’s Netanyahu and JP’s John Kerry.

Some bullets:

• Israel is an int’l pariah

• Iran can be trusted

• Iran is led by religious fanatics

• Israel is led by religious fanatics

• Iranians are not Arabs, so all is OK

• We need Iran to fight ISIS

• The billions of $ Iran will gain will be used to rebuild the democratic infrastructure of the country

• Netanyahu is not the greatest diplomat, but he may go down as the most patriotic Israeli ever. Who else would stand up for his country’s safety in the face of such int’l hostility?

• Kerry kept on repeating that we can’t confuse subjects. So, let the US prisoners in Iran rot, let the threat of ‘Israel’s devastation’ continue to float, and perhaps support Iran’s support of Muslim extremism throughout the World. Who cares?

• ‘Après moi, le deluge’ is what de Gaulle once said. With limitation on the nuclear deal, Obama is saying the same.

• They keep on repeating that this deal is better than no deal. But this deal could have been improved upon:

• Iran should release those 4 Americans

  • They should openly take back the threat of annihilation of a fellow UN member-state.

  • They should officially cease heir support of terrorism.

• The only limitations on the deal should have been extensions of the deal.

  • And, although I may be wrong here, 24 days seems to be long enough warning period to hide whatever needs to be hidden from the IAEA inspectors.

At the end of the day, those of you who still think I’m rightist will be surprised to hear that, if nothing else was on the table (which there was), then this deal is better than nothing, and I am pleased to see this bogus state appear to be inching towards returning to the international community.

Trouble is, that int’l community is so torn apart….

Latest joke: United Nations…..

Stephen