20 February 2012

How do you know you are in trouble?

Very simple: when Roger Cohen, one of the NYT luminaries of freedom, progress and let's-feel-good-about-the-life-the-universe-and-everything tells you that your situation could hardly be better, like in:

This is not 1938 revisited, or even 1967. Israel is strong today, a vibrant economy and the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state. Its unwavering ally, the United States, is home to a Jewish community that has never been more integrated or influential. Turbulent Arab states are focused on their own reinvention, not Israel; Iran’s principal regional ally, Syria, teeters on the brink.
you should consider getting rid of the stock ASAP. Roger Cohen, a man who rarely misses an opportunity to miss a point, put me in dire straits with this "vibrant" thing. The last time he called something "vibrant", it was the Iranian democracy. A bit before the last Iranian elections where Mahmoud the Mad achieved his everlasting victory, if you still remember...

Usually my approach to anything predicted by Jolly Roger is to do the opposite of what he recommends and expect the opposite of what he predicts.

So what now?

2 comments:

Pisa said...

I've managed to read the linked NYT article until the words "major Palestinian shifts" growled at me with bared fangs. No further comments about that, as none are really needed here. 

May I politely point out  to mr. Cohen that countries and governments are not waiitng for his brilliant  pink-ish articles to tell them what to do. Iran has already half-shifted from the teetering Assad regime to the Hamas in Gaza, strengthening ties with Haniyeh in spite of Hamas' leadership abroad. Guess the man never heard the one about the ship and the mice...

SnoopyTheGoon said...

"May I politely point out  to mr. Cohen..."

Of course, you may, but what will it change? Roger Cohen is not a reader, he be a writer.