2. So What is Going on in Iran? - former CIA operative Reuel Marc Gerecht advances one theory. Michael Rubin of Middle East Quarterly advances another. Zvi Bar'el of Haaretz offers a third, and here is a fourth from Richard Fernandez.
Michael Rubin's suggested link between the Chinese and the Iranians is quite worrisome - the real crackdown may not come until later, when no one is around. When people complain about the negative effects of globalization, this is not what they mean - but they should. I shudder to think of the brutality that will likely be entailed.
3. Israel Issues - Sooner rather than later, the focus of the world will shift back to Israel - the "Two-State Solution", the settlements, and so on.
On the first issue, here is a blunt column from Herb Denenberg of The Bulletin - "Why A Two-State Israel Palestinian Solution Is Insane". There are numerous opinions about this issue - here are two, from well-known philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, professor and author Alex Grobman. In addition, here is a site I have never linked to before - Debatepedia - with its analysis.
On the settlements, it is important to understand that the vast majority of the so-called "settlements" are suburbs of Jerusalem - Maale Adumim, Givat Zeev, Efrat and Beitar and their related communities. I say so-called "settlements" because to me at least, the way that word is used in the media conjures up an image of people living in tents or other such temporary accommodations - speaking solely about Efrat (below right), which I have visited many times, I can assure you that the community is every bit as nice and permanent as anything you would ever hope to live in in North America. I have also been in Maale Adumim (below left), and was struck by its beauty.
In any event, even Jimmy Carter, my least favorite ex-President (living or dead), has said that he does not envision Israel pulling out of the Gush Etzion settlements near Jerusalem. That said, in light of President Obama's statement that there were no "understandings" between Israel and the US on various issues, who knows what Carter means? (who ever knows what Carter really means? - but I digress).
Here a few detailed pieces from Howard Grief that give an excellent background to the settlements issue - "Legal Rights and Title of Sovereignty of the Jewish People to The Land of Israel and Palestine Under International Law", "Is Israel Occupying the West Bank?", and "The Origin of the Occupation Myth"
And on another major issue - illegal construction in East Jerusalem, which is used to criticize Israel for ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the like, here is some critical background information - from IsraelNationalNews and from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
4. Operation Barbarossa - on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The result was a brutal was between two totalitarian regimes with opposite ideologies. The war on the Eastern Front lasted almost 4 years - it is estimated that on the Soviet side alone, over 26.5 million people (soldiers and civilians) were killed.
From a Jewish perspective, the tragedy of the war was that it gave the Nazis physical control of the eastern part of Poland not taken over by the Nazis in 1939, as well as huge swaths of the western Soviet Union - in other words physical control over millions of Jews - many of whom were murdered by the actions of the Einsatzgruppen or through the more industrial method of the death camps.
5. Golf - The US Open is over. Neither Tiger nor Phil won, and the weather was atrocious. Some people say that golf is not exciting. Personally, I don't agree - it's just exciting in a different way. But if you'd like to liven it up, try this:
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