2014 — 31 July: Thursday
When you fire mortar shells1 into Israel, you should confidently expect retaliation. Sad, but true. Ritual cries of "Outrageous" and "Shame" from the UN achieve little. The Israeli ambassador asks if Israel should allow more of its citizens to be killed (to "equalise" the death rates on both sides). Would that make the fraught situation more morally acceptable to the West? Answer comes there none.
If Chomsky is asked to pick a title for a speech months (or even years) in advance, he always falls back on "The problem in the Middle East". I expect it has yet to fail him. Answer comes there none.
I have much...
... lesser problems, chores, and errands, all much closer to home. As do most people, most of the time. I simply observe that the conflict at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean is something whose roots I don't pretend to begin to understand, but is one that I first became aware of in 1967. Indeed, I still recall iconic images of one-eyed Defence Minister Moshe Dayan.
Not for the first time...
... I must have been slightly hesitant about the Yaris button pushing that resets2 my two trip mileage indicators. Result, I'm pootling gently along my way back home from the latest round of foodie cupboard filling chores only to see I'm apparently up to 50mph already. ("Make that 'kilometres', Mr Sulu.") It's clearly time for some breakfast.
And I forgot to buy more plums, dagnabbit.
The "dismal science" is...
... by no means the only area that eludes my comprehension. Take realpolitik. The US Commerce department has just declared the Russian United Shipbuilding Corp to be a defence technology company, freezing its assets and prohibiting all US transactions with it. Meanwhile, our French friends are still intent on delivering a Mistral amphibious assault carrier to the Russian Navy in a couple of months. And why would you name the thing "Sevastopol" if that wasn't where you intended to base it? After all, the second one is already named Vladivostok...
[Pause]
If peckishness strikes, can lunch be far behind? TTFN.
Today's third trip...
... will be to scour Mr Postie's lair for the parcel "too big to deliver".
[Pause]
And here we have its contents...
Naturally, having...
... just shut down BlackBeast for the evening before remembering that I'd forgotten about Episode #5 of "The Honourable Woman", my attempt to download it tonight (and thus offset the 1GB or so file size against my remaining broadband data limit3 for this month) founders on its current non-availability. This is despite the web interface currently telling little porkie pies by asserting it's there for viewing.
I'm too tired to hang around waiting for the BBC data elves to finish getting their files act together. I have some sleeping to do ahead of tomorrow's next little ramble in the countryside.