Germany's refusal to take part in the U.S.-led war in Iraq used to reassure Germans that Islamic terrorists would focus elsewhere. "We didn't fight in Iraq, and until now we assumed that if we behaved well in the world, nothing would happen to us," said one woman. Until now, Hezbollah has ordered its people not to engage in terrorist attacks in Germany, according to a public report by the intelligence agency for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
But the two train bombers arrested in Germany recently were Lebanese. A Middle East expert and government policy consultant said, "Germany did not call for an immediate cease-fire (during Israeli attacks) in Lebanon, and that was disappointing in the Arab world. Some radical forces now think Germany should be punished."
Decades ago, a friend persuaded me to have my palm read by a clairvoyant. At the time, I treated the whole thing as a laugh, a bit like a visit to the circus. So I can only remember three things that the clairvoyant said:
- I would get very sick around age 33, but I would recover. True!
- I wouldn't be rich, but I would never run out of money. True!
- I would die suddenly, at the age I am now.
For security reasons, I have shrunk my handprint to hide most of the details. I know somebody who would just love to stick a thumb tack in my lifeline.
Last Christmas someone gave me Robert Fisk's ironically-titled The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. It's a huge book, so I have just been staring at it since Christmas, wondering when I'll have time to read it. Recently I thought I'd try and read it before I'm obliterated. That way, at least I might better understand why.
In the last 2 months I have read the first 100 pages. That leaves just 1300 more pages to read in the next 4 days, before I fly to London. I don't think I'm going to make it.
Perhaps I should give up on the book, and go to the movies instead. What's showing just now? United 93. That should help take my mind off things.
Have you noticed how some bloggers are gradually losing the will to blog? I can't blame them.
The world wide mess makes it hard sometimes to see the point of anything. Things have even got so bad that I've decided to double my medication. That should help. Even if I have to stay on it for the rest of my life, I've got 2 packets left. Plenty.
Of course, one of the side-effects of the drug is that you can't ejaculate. For most of my life I had the opposite problem. Everything's balancing up. I already achieved lifetime membership of the mile-high club long ago (solo division).
If you missed previous HNTs, you can access all the old half baked thursday posts here.
