We always live in dangerous times, however, we should try not to make them worse. Now we go back to fearing international travel, fearing people of colour, and fearing our friends and neighbours. 'Who will relieve (us) of this damned priest.'
Robin, I was serving in a NATO HQ when the towers were hit and experienced the shock and anguish of all of the nationals working inside the HQ. I later worked in a HQ in which I wrote plans and was part of the deployed group that executed operations and subsequently worked inside the aftermath of our nation's decision to follow the US's lead in 03-04.
The one, overwhelming, view that I came away understanding is that we, in the West, think and operate within short-term windows (it aligns perfectly with your 'attention span of a comic book' metaphor). The people of other regions, the Middle-East being a perfect example, think much longer-term.
So, whilst Trump, his backers and Netanyahoo may herald a new dawn/horizon with this latest example of 'shock and awe' which will appease some of his MAGA base, clearly those aligned with his more anti-sematic idealogues will not be pleased, and Netanyahoo's Zionist/European Israelis; I am certain that the Shias in the region will adopt a posture more aligned with the 'revenge is a dish best savoured cold' principle.
Leaders in the UK should also start to be lazer focussed internally and perhaps dust off the lessons learned from the tradegies of 7/7 and the Manchester Arena bombing because, given the perception, be it right or wrong, that we as a nation have been tacit in our support of both Israel and the US will provide those that are against us food for thought.
With the illegal US act of war, an Iranian response is almost inevitable. When that happens, ponder this: would the US invoke article 5? Let’s hope not and more importantly, let’s pray that no one supports it.
We always live in dangerous times, however, we should try not to make them worse. Now we go back to fearing international travel, fearing people of colour, and fearing our friends and neighbours. 'Who will relieve (us) of this damned priest.'
Robin, I was serving in a NATO HQ when the towers were hit and experienced the shock and anguish of all of the nationals working inside the HQ. I later worked in a HQ in which I wrote plans and was part of the deployed group that executed operations and subsequently worked inside the aftermath of our nation's decision to follow the US's lead in 03-04.
The one, overwhelming, view that I came away understanding is that we, in the West, think and operate within short-term windows (it aligns perfectly with your 'attention span of a comic book' metaphor). The people of other regions, the Middle-East being a perfect example, think much longer-term.
So, whilst Trump, his backers and Netanyahoo may herald a new dawn/horizon with this latest example of 'shock and awe' which will appease some of his MAGA base, clearly those aligned with his more anti-sematic idealogues will not be pleased, and Netanyahoo's Zionist/European Israelis; I am certain that the Shias in the region will adopt a posture more aligned with the 'revenge is a dish best savoured cold' principle.
Leaders in the UK should also start to be lazer focussed internally and perhaps dust off the lessons learned from the tradegies of 7/7 and the Manchester Arena bombing because, given the perception, be it right or wrong, that we as a nation have been tacit in our support of both Israel and the US will provide those that are against us food for thought.
Dangerous times.
With the illegal US act of war, an Iranian response is almost inevitable. When that happens, ponder this: would the US invoke article 5? Let’s hope not and more importantly, let’s pray that no one supports it.