Iranian Erections

This is not s spelling mistake. The Iranian Elections are over. Now it is erections that worry the Iranian rulers.

Earlier this week, Ayatollah Kazim Sadighi, a leading Iranian cleric, warned that women who dressed immodestly disturbed young men and the consequent agitation caused earthquakes.

Those young Iranians evidently enjoy the most powerful orgasms.

Indeed, the Teheran Chief of Police has followed the cleric’s warning with an announcement that too many suntanned women and girls who look like walking mannequins can be seen in Tehran. He added "We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them."

Anyone with personal experience of Iranian sex is invited to comment. If necessary you may choose the anonymous option.

Don't Fire the Pope

The following is from an interview I gave several days ago to an American radio station:

The recent media hype surrounding the Catholic Church includes calls for Pope Benedict to resign. Should he? There are currently two known cases that connect Benedict personally to abuse. As Archbishop of Munich and Freising, he did not prevent the reassignment of a paedophile priest and as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he acquiesced to the request of an abusive priest and thwarted his defrocking.

Up to now, nothing has come to light that would suggest that Benedict had ever abused anyone or that he knowingly allowed abuse to take place. Indeed, no malice can be ascribed to either Benedict or to most other senior Church figures.

Instead of evil, what we have is total blindness: Blindness to what is important and what is not. In other words, their values were corrupted. Sadly, the brutal end result is the same as if they had been evil.

There is no doubt that Benedict is guilty. He is guilty of being not only part of the machine but also an important, significant and formative part the Catholic Church machine: A machine that had systematically allowed abuse to take place under its auspices. A machine that has a history of acting evilly in other spheres of life too. But Benedict is not guilty of abuse; it is the Catholic Church that is guilty. Therefore it is not a personal resignation that we need but rather a total change in the way this institution operates.

We should ask ourselves what had enabled such corrupt values to thrive in an institution that is all about love and hope, an institution that considers itself to be a lighthouse to humanity. The Pope’s resignation would cause an earthquake within the Catholic Church. Such an earthquake could be helpful. Yet, it might not necessarily produce the change we need. Let there be no doubt, society would have closed this institution had it been secular. Those who run the Catholic Church should be aware of the risk in not making the necessary changes.

Does Netanyahu Have the Balls (for Peace)?

For the first time in many years the US administration is giving Israel a hard time. Even the American friends have grown tired of Israel’s lies.

Will Netanyahu seize this as his opportunity to go down in history as the man who brought peace with the Palestinians?

Nobody likes to give in to pressure, least-of-all extremists and faith-driven right-wingers. Netanyahu’s bloated right-wing cabinet and the coterie surrounding him cannot make one very optimistic. Netanyahu’s brother-in-law is on record with an accusation that Obama is an anti-Semite. Others surrounding Netanyahu say so off-the-record. Even more outrageous to them are Jews in the American administration – such as the two senior Obama advisors, David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel - who do not toe the Israeli line. Are the two on the Mossad’s list? Perhaps for some dirt that could be fed to opponents?

Israel’s moral situation is fast deteriorating and for its own good it needs to be forced by the outside world. The alternative is frightful. Let the external force that will lead to change be the US and Europe and not war.

The Israel lobby in the US must be working overtime these days. Netanyahu will be pulling all the levers he can and calling all the favours he is able to. In the past, this has always worked and US Presidents have succumbed to the pressure.

Please, Mr President, do not falter.

The Pope’s Latest Troubles

Many of my friends in Germany are getting worked as the press publishes daily reports about cover up of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church. The great excitement is whether any dirt would stick to the Pope personally. They have already reached his brother, a regular priest, who has admitted to slapping choirboys. (Not that way) The brother denies having indulged in any spaß with the Spatzen of the renowned Regensburg choir.

Those who have read Double Cross: The Code of the Catholic Church should not have been surprised. In the conclusion to the chapter on sexual abuse, I wrote:

The unfolding of the sexual abuse culture of the Catholic Church has exposed her as dangerous institution which runs sophisticated cover-up operations to defend the criminal activities of her priests. This secret and authoritarian institution and its hierarchy have, by their conscious policy of hushing up and covering up, become accessories to sexual crimes perpetrated by their clergy.

SO, if you have not yet got the book, GO and BUY it. The easiest way is to order the book through Amazon.

If you already have the book, buy another copy and give it to a friend: The ideal present for Good Friday.

Thank You America

It has taken the US a long time, a very very long time. Left-of-centre Israelis have been praying for US intervention for years. Instead, the USA has permitted Israel to run wild with its settlements in the Occupied Territories. Finally, the Obama administration has told Israel to fuck off.

Israel had gotten used to pissing on its dwindling number of friends with impunity. Announcing new building plans in East Jerusalem during Jo Biden’s Israel visit last week was one outrage too many. Worse even was Israel’s subsequent explanation that they were sorry about the timing of the announcement. They were not sorry about the actual building plans.

Will Netanyahu finally go for peace? Will he bring in new coalition partners instead of his present land grabbing lot? I believe that - like so many others - Israel only understands the language of power. The time has come for the US to use its power.

Jewish Genius

At dinner last night a friend suggested that I should be proud of the very high number of Jews amongst Nobel Prize laureates. Apparently more than twenty per cent of all laureates are Jews. I was not quite sure why I should get brownie points for their achievements. Nevertheless, I went home with a smile and spent a proud night in bed.

My pride did not last long. This morning, I came across the following item in today’s Ha’aretz: Poll: Half of Israeli high schoolers oppose equal rights for Arabs.

So I have forgotten all about my pride and now I am just full of shame. After all, I cannot really see that I have done anything to produce all those Jewish Nobel Prize laureates. But I am responsible for the education of the young generation in my society, in the country that likes to refer to itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East”.

As a further slap in my face, Gavriel Avital, the Chief Scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Education has recently come out with a statement that "If textbooks state explicitly that human beings' origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions. There are many people who don't believe the evolutionary account is correct.

Is the problem simply that Avital was once a monkey or is this the way that Israel hopes to produce more geniuses for the Nobel Prize?

Lufthansa

Two months ago, on 10 January, I wrote to Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman of Lufthansa, with a serious complaint. I am still waiting for his response.

Do you know the man? Do you know someone who knows Mayrhuber? I would like to get his fax number or his email address.

Please let me know if you can help.

I don’t just want to give in to this Lufthansa policy of throwing complaints to the bin. Lufthansa should not get away with it.

Praying for Mubarak's Health

Mubarak’s gall bladder operation, earlier today, is likely to heighten the talk about a possible successor. Egypt’s President is said to favour his eldest son for the job. But recently, Mohamed El-Baradei, under whose auspices as head of the IAEA, Iran was able to develop its nuclear capability, has come forward as a potential contestant.

Judging by the increase in the number of veiled women in Egypt over the last fifteen years, the country is becoming more religious-conservative and less secular. El-Baradei says that his ultimate goal is to set Egypt down the path of democratic reform. Is one of El-Baradei's partners in his plans to challenge the present regime the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood?

If so, what kind of an Egypt after such “democratisation”?

Does Size Matter?

Jewish students in Canada have decided to do their bit to promote Israel.

Have a look at the following Link

Learning from Experience or Egyptian Entrepreneurship

1. A well-dressed and friendly man approached J and me as we were walking towards the entrance of Cairo’s Egyptian Museum. He introduced himself as a director of the museum, Dr. A, and we chatted for a few minutes. Unfortunately, he said, during prayer time, some tills were unmanned and the museum was now and for another 45 minutes open to groups only. We could walk about in the surrounding streets, he suggested. There was much to see, he said. He recommended a visit to the “government bazaar” that was right opposite the museum. Both his wife and his mother, he added, liked to shop there.

I knew that there was no way out once J heard the word bazaar. The friendly Egyptian showed us where we should cross the very busy road. I actually enjoy negotiating the crazy Cairo traffic but our friend insisted on crossing the road with us. We were, by now, accustomed to the friendliness of the Egyptians although I became somewhat suspicious as he continued to the point of handing us over to the man at the entrance of the shop. The “government bazaar” turned out to be an ordinary souvenir shop that like all such shops in Egypt has a government license.

An hour later, as we made our way to the museum, I suggested to J that not only had this been a ploy to divert us to the store but that there was actually no break in the opening hours of the museum. I was right; J was full of admiration for Egyptian entrepreneurship.

2. A couple of days later, as we were walking towards the Sultan Hassan and Refa’i mosques, another man approached us. The mosques, he said, were closed to non-prayers in the coming hour. He suggested that we might want to visit another mosque just around the corner. He was a music teacher, he said and was neither a tourist guide nor did he expect us to tip him. He simply enjoyed practicing his English and would gladly accompany us to “his” mosque.

We thanked him for the information but decided not to accompany him. Instead, we continued on our way to the “closed” mosques. The mosques were open to visitors and – not to our surprise - had no prayer breaks at all.