syrian football

THE DEADLY GAMES

OF TODAY AND YESTERDAY

AND PROBABLY TOMORROW

A Commentary based on recent events:

I’m hoping that world opinion,

And internal opinion,

Prevent Obama from doing to Syria

What his predecessors did to Iraq…

I hope he turns the other cheek and

Let’s the Syrians resolve

Their own internal problems

While the world looks on and influences

All events with wisdom and reason.

By Izzy Ess of Naïve-ness

Blasted are the countries that play deadly games with other populations by supplying arms to just one side while other countries do the opposite.  Suppose the USA supported rebels in Old Syria and Russia supported the old dictators, then each side could claim that they are quite superior and start some genocidal stuff, right there and then.  Usually it’s the dictators with stockpiles of some deadly weapons that begin and then the other side is on the brink of much annihilation.  Whoever starts it, it makes no difference.  The start is just the murderous beginning to much killing on both sides.  The rebels might have started with some suicidal bombings sending in their bombs on innocents, including women and their children.  The rulers might deny that they are using gas or bullets to mow down their enemies.  In my own lifetime, I have seen this pattern of aggression since WWII, as I was born in ’38.  The Germans and the Russians both would publicize that they were forced to conquer countries and to make the people slaves, because they had some allies, in that country who were asking to be saved.  Mostly, it was the agitators, sent in by the aggressors to stir up the populace.  Later, when the nations of the world lined up, the Allies and the Axis did the same, claiming they had friends to rescue and were forced to kill the enemy.  It’s so damned obvious!

Chiam Potek wrote a book, DAVIDA, ‘bout a Jewish youngster who was born in old New York, whose father was an Irish Roman Catholic Communist and mother was an Eastern European Jewish Communist.  A character was introduced as “crazy uncle” something, who kept looking in the ears of everyone and asking, “Where’s the little bird whose singing blocks right out the screams of those who’re being murdered, everyday?”  Indeed, where is the little bird?  What is the propaganda that denies the murdering and hides it from the world?  All the leaders knew that Jews were being murdered every day.  The Pope in Rome, he knew and never said a word to try and save them.  Churchill knew and bombed the German cities in retaliation.  The Polish Freedom Fighters knew and many lost their lives protecting them.  The Danes and Swiss and others knew.  The Danes and Belgians and some others also risked their lives protecting them.  The English, Swiss, Americans, Canadians, Swedes and Irish and some others kept them out of their countries, even refusing them some anchorage to make them safe when boatloads of escaping Jews and others would request asylum.  Of course, the policies of countries were established by the leaders.  There must have been some sympathizers who would have let the boatloads land, but most were turned away.  Of course, the Arabs of the Middle East objected strongly to the Jews establishing a safety zone in Palestine, but out of this the Country, Israel, was born in 1948.  A lot of heroes fought to get the Jews to safety despite resistance from some powerful big nations.

These broad sweeps of our history does not say everyone in every country did agree with policies against the Jews and others fighting to survive in all the war zones.  There were many heroes matching all the villains with the struggles of many oppressed groups.  The stories of their bravery, like one Czech, Schindler, and like one Swede, Wahlenburg, that saved some thousands from their certain deaths, do abound.  There must have been a thousand heroes who may have died protecting folks from Nazi wrath.  There are some stories just now being told about the children that were told to run through sewage systems, under Warsaw, to escape and find those who might protect them through the war, while most of those remaining in the camps and ghettoes were murdered.  Steven Spielberg’s movie, SCHINDLER’S LIST, retold the story of the bravery of some who saved a lot of lives.  Some other stories told in books and movies do support the stories of the heroes and the villains of the European battlefields.

In the last few months, by virtue of some comments on my blogs, the history of Polish nationals and Jews who lost their lives defending freedom for the Jews and others, without a lot of credit, came to my attention.  In fact, Sue Knight has helped me see how Poles were hit by both the Western and the Eastern Powers and were not allowed to share in the victory celebrations of the winning side.  Only locals know the truth about the Polish Freedom Fighters who lost a lot of brothers in their struggle to regain their sovereignty and dignity.  The powers that be, including Neo-fascist factions, apparently are having influence in all the media to keep the stories of the Polish struggles now and during WWII, suppressed or down played, unmercifully.  Germany’s return to central European power, by virtue of its riches and financial might, must be quite frightening to many Poles and others who were victims of the German onslaughts during WWII.  There were at least 50 family members including my father’s mother and his father, and an older brother, who were murdered in the months preceding Victory in 1945.  The Poles suffered huge amounts of family losses all throughout the War, which are not generally being acknowledged.  It is a blight on histories, that changed the stories to be suited to a successful Germany, beginning with its massive restoration following the War in the name of anti-Communist protection that was needed, then.

I apologize in advance for any errors I have made in my interpretations of the winds of war.  The Poles who wrote to me following my long essay on my Superintendents who were acting like Nazi’s in their management of tenants at my apartment, even using phrases like, “This is not my doing; I am only doing what I’m told” were such reminders of the “Nazi personality” which made it possible to kill opponents mindlessly, in the name of policy set down by leaders with such Evil motives.  It is not unlike the stories told in ESTHER, in the Old Testament, about how bounties were established for the annihilation of the Jews.  And, it is certainly reminiscent of the men, women and children who are inspired to kill themselves to kill some Jews because they have been told it is an easy way to get to Heaven and to have their families so honoured by the suicidal action.  After 9/11 the pictures of the jubilation of some Arabs when their heroes killed thousands of innocent non-warriors by well-planned suicidal missions, were very disturbing to me and to millions around the world, as they watched it on TV or internet.  This genocidal mentality is Evil but cannot so easily be stopped as demonstrated by successful suicidal missions carried out virtually every day around the world.

In Canada, I’ve met a Lebanese Muslim man and his son who run a convenience store in Niagara Falls.  When I first introduced myself as Izzy, he shouted, “Why can’t the fucking Jews stop building settlements in Palestine?”  I smiled as I have learned to do to handle this kind of outburst and said, falsely, “It’s because we Jews got there first.”  He smiled back and then we had a dialogue about the Middle Eastern situation.  His schooling is American and he had many Jewish friends in Cleveland where he went to University.  He felt he wasn’t treated fairly by some Jewish men who had invited him to join them in a business venture in California, where they shunned him and suggested he withdraw from their adventure.  His business training brought him North to Canada where he is very successful as an owner of a thriving business.  Recently, he returned to Lebanon to attend an ailing father and his son has been the operator of the store.  I greeted him one day and started a discussion of the Middle Eastern politics.  He became quite angry and he shouted loudly that the Jews are all at fault for pushing out the Palestinians and continuing to settle lands that are not theirs.  I smiled at this young man and “turned the other cheek,” as one of my best Christian friends had once advised me.  I asked him who his prophet was and he responded, quickly, “Mohammed.”  I asked if he accepted Jesus as a Prophet and he answered, “Yes, of course.”  I did not expect what happened next when I informed him that Jesus was Jewish.  “No one ever told me, Jesus was a Jew!  Are you sure?”  In the old vernacular, I said, “Yes, Jesus was one of our boys, a member of the Tribes.”  He was incredulous as he loudly asked me once again, “Are you sure that Jesus was a Jew?”  I smiled and answered, “Yes, of course.”  I speculated to him that it probably was written in his own Koran.  I left him speechless at the counter and I haven’t been back since that time, about 2 weeks ago.  I’m looking forward to the return of his father from Lebanon who is apparently having a little difficulty obtaining his return ticket because he had to change his plans because his father had taken a turn for the worst.

I was struck by this young man’s dogmatic repetitions of the propaganda to which he is exposed.  My stating something about the history of the Middle East that contradicted most of what he firmly believed must have been a shock.  Since then I learned that his father was part of the Ecumenical Council that was formed in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, that sought to protect the Muslims from unfair attacks after 9/11 that would have been unreasonable and misdirected.  My source of information was one of the leaders of the Jewish community of Niagara Falls who told me of the really great community effort to reassure the Muslims that they need not fear reprisal.  He said that he learned a great deal about the devoutness of the Muslim community that lives and thrives here and that, of course, their main concerns were safety and further education of the youngsters and security, health care and prosperity for their families.  In general, the Muslims that have settled locally are very good business people who are caring parents and active in the many Mosques that have been recently built.  Many of them have become licensed doctors and lawyers, nurses and other professionals, and are going to be very successful Canadians.  It is now much more common to see bourkas and traditional Muslim clothing than it is to see Orthodox Jewish folks.

The Jewish communities in the Niagara Peninsula are dwindling quickly, not because of the influx of Arabs, but because the younger folks are no longer interested in the Jewish way of life and most of the older folks who are, have moved to areas containing larger groups of Jews, Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo.  Besides, like many younger people, there has been a movement to go where the jobs are plentiful, and the communities are more youthful, and that’s out west in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and into prosperous areas of the USA.

Perhaps enlightenment will catch up to the young Lebanese Muslim who didn’t know that Jesus was Jewish.  From what I could gather, enlightenment would come very slowly to this man who is extremely angry, militant and willing to give up his life for what he thinks is reasonable behaviour for a modern Muslim.  I am guessing that his friends are Muslim and he has not been exposed significantly to opposing opinions about the world at large, and the unreasonableness of the Arab-Judao-Christian conflicts that have been going on for centuries despite the closeness of their DNAs.

My “solution” is naïveté, itself.  I suggest that warring neighbours sit down at dinner and share a meal or aperitif and find out that as Humans they do share the majority of their dreams and goals about the security of families, their health care, financial status and their education.  It seems to me that only leaders foster all the differences and harangue their people to develop anger, hatred, envy and the militancy to go on with senseless homicide and suicide.  All leaders know that controlling their own people does require some bigger lies than have been ever told.  The young man who harangued me with his venom, without knowing what my background was, is a good example to me of how tough this problem is.  Internet and other media are manipulated by all leaders while there are some folks who fight this with the Truth, which of course is different for each group, though strongly similar when closely examined.

My naïveté is probably a product of my normal optimism concerning the ability of reasonable people to be able to communicate.  Most likely, it represents a Wish for Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men and Women and their Children who are innocent at least initially.  In the past few years of my approaching senility I have become a fan of Jesus though I wish he wouldn’t have made the suicidal gesture that he made which seems so Schizophrenic to me.  Of course, the Truth about Jesus was only told in retrospect by someone who did not apparently speak the original language of the man who started, accidentally, this Christianity.  It seems to me that it was Paul who knew both Greek and Latin who misrepresented Jesus and his insights, intelligence and strong political behaviour, which influenced the Romans and the Greeks about the Power and the Glory of the God of the Old Testament.  One good reference that I like, because it represents a different possibility about Jesus is Hugh Schonfeld’s, PASSOVER PLOT.  Schonfeld studied the life of Jesus from the ancient texts and decided that his actions were all the willfulness of a revolutionary like Che Guevara.  Of course, this is contrary to popular opinion but it illustrates that the stories of Jesus as accepted by Rome and Canterbury, might be very different from the Truth.  Schonfeld’s arguments are based on years of research and are very interesting.  Other interesting reading was Wallace’s, THE BIBLE, and Ecu da Quieroz’, O CRIMO DEL PADRE AMARO.  All three of these books refer to deleted text which indicates that Jesus was much different than the official Roman Catholic version of Him.

It is certainly the protestations of a Prophet, Martin Luther, who eventually changed the face of Roman Christianity and engendered some degree of moderation in the face of unreasonable Dogmata.  Perhaps I err for some important reasons, not the least of which is that the stories of the ancient movers and shakers are not completely accurate.  Perhaps, again it is wishful thinking on my part and an underlying tendency to be more optimistic about the reasoning of every individual and his power to provide essentials for his, or her, own family.  Perhaps, my friends, perhaps…

God Bless you all and keep you from the Devilish agendae of some leaders who would make it quite impossible to discern the Right from Wrong and the Truth from Fiction.  Forgiving kith and kin and loving all of them as you do love yourself, would seem to be more healthy than the ambient gross hatreds and suspicions that abound.  Ah, naïveté, it is an opium that is worthwhile, I think, and probably, and stubbornly, will think, forever, even after I lose my mortal coils.

AMEN AND HALLELUJAH!

THE END

© izzy sommers, md

Welland, Canada

September 5, 2013