A Letter to Germany

100 Briefe an Deutschland  that was published a few weeks ago includes a letter from me. It is in German. S0 read it, if you can…

Say YES to UN observers in Jerusalem

The 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine foresaw a special status for the greater Jerusalem area, as a corpus separatum, under a special international regime and administered by the United Nations. Unfortunately, this resolution was never implemented.

Now, because of the current tension in Jerusalem, France is promoting a plan to deploy international observers at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Sounds like a good idea to me. But, Israel objects.

Having one-sidedly annexed East Jerusalem, Israel wants to avoid any act that might question its self-declared sovereignty over the city that contains sites holy to all three monotheistic religions. Sadly, the US will side with Israel on this matter and thereby prevent the necessary Security Council resolution.  

“How do I become a damn good writer?”

Years ago a German friend of mine stayed as a house guest in a beautiful country house in England. When he entered the room he had been allocated, he found a book on Nazi atrocities on the bookshelf. He was and still is convinced that the book was placed there by his hosts and friends on purpose, especially for him.

Recently, a friend of mine very kindly allowed me to use her apartment in a small town in Germany. Was the book “How do I become a damn good writer?” that I found on the coffee table in the living room, left there especially for me?

Back from Malta

Just back from a week in Malta.

This has now been taken care of. You do not need to go there. 

Cameron: I’ll Build a Stronger Society

First headline I saw when I arrived in the UK, a couple of days ago:

Cameron: I’ll Build a Stronger Society

Anyone buy that? I suppose that with his track record, pigs can fly would not be appropriate.

Visit Israel

Three Stories in yesterday’s Israeli Press caught my eye:

1. A video showing an Israeli Member of Parliament (blue shirt) - with the singing support of his orthodox backup band - going berserk in the Arab part of Jerusalem.

2. The call of the Jerusalem’s mayor – following various stabbing events - for people to carry arms when they leave their homes in Jerusalem. 

3. The Israeli government’s decision to farm out its overseas propaganda work to an American advertising agency. It probably makes sense: Advertisers that try to convince us to smoke cancer producing cigarettes, should also be good at convincing the world that Israel is a good tourist destination? Or just extreme adventure holidays? Perhaps even a country worth supporting?

Queen Rania and Saudi Arabia

Queen Rania of Jordan has just called on Europe not to turn its back on Syrian refugees. My first thought was that the Jordanian queen should have addressed her plea to the more logical direction of the Gulf states. After all, they are fellow Arabs, fellow Muslims and they are rich.

And then I remembered reading some time ago that the Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait) had set up a US$ 5 billion fund that invests in capital projects in Jordan … 

The Queen of Jordan is perhaps not really free to talk frankly to Saudi Arabia. Much easier to tell the Europeans what to do. And yet, we should not forget that Jordan itself has been bearing much if the burden (like Turkey), having had to take in great numbers of Syrian refugees: more than 600 thousand in Jordan and almost two million in Turkey.

So how about it Saudi?

Don't buy Scottish Sturgeon

There is good sturgeon to be found in many countries, often producing the most wonderful caviar. 

For some reason the Scots are going wild over a local sturgeon: a recent poll has shown that Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon’s popularity continues to rise. Sadly, there’s nothing like blatant nationalism to boost popularity. 

Amazingly, Sturgeon whines about the fact that the Scottish electorate voted with their heads and not with their hearts: “If we’d asked people just to vote for what was in their hearts we’d have won a majority. Where we lost was in the head.” She too understands that voting for separation is not a clever idea. But, Sturgeon and her party are obsessed with separation and – having lost last year’s referendum – she already is talking about a new referendum. 

Do you know a Lufthansa pilot? Tell him(her) what you think of him(her).

Just back from a short visit to Armenia and Georgia. There is probably not much one can do to provide 100 per cent protection from Montezuma’s revenge, which I caught in Tbilisi, on the last day of the trip.  I would, however, wish a heavy dose of the same revenge on the Lufthansa pilots, whose union called a strike on the very day we were meant to fly back.

Something must and can be done about the outrageous conduct of Lufthansa pilots; This was their 13^th strike in the last 18 months. These German pilots, terrorise their employer as well as the wide air-travelling population, by calling short strikes with extreme short notice to prevent any planning of alternatives.

This is an abuse of the important right to strike by a bunch of high earning fat cats, and German politicians are doing nothing about it. At a time when Europe is cracking under the burden of an enormous refugee crisis, the best-paid pilots in the whole of Europe want more money.

Do you know a Lufthansa pilot, or someone who knows a Lufthansa pilot? Tell them how despicable they are. (No need to invite the pilot for dinner; let them eat alone. A phone call will do.)

Austrian Airlines / Turkish Airlines

For the flight to Erevan, we flew with Austrian Airlines who sometimes seem to almost monopolise the Eastern European routes. (I recently also flew with them to Romania.) If possible, this is an airline to avoid. You get almost no food on their flights. They are an unfriendly, arrogant lot, who probably think that Austria still owns the Austro-Hungarian empire.  

On the other hand, Turkish Airlines, which – because of the Lufthansa strike - flew us from Tbilisi via Istanbul, was a nice surprise. For a second, it sounded weird when the voice from the cockpit was a rough sounding Turkish-speaking male. But, it was the pilot and not, as the lady who sat next to me thought, a high-jacker. On both flights, the planes were new, spacious with attractive interiors. The service was very friendly; they seem to have more cabin staff than other airlines have these days. The food was good. I would definitely fly them again.