Andrei,I read your comments today and one you wrote the other day.They reminded me of an old Russian saying about Russians..We are slow to mount but fast to ride".

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I do not despise Senator Graham.He is obviously very intelligent .He has a quick mind ,funny and great at repartee.However I have suspected for a long time that Israeli intelligence or "friends" of the current Likud government have something on him.I see no political reason why a US Senator from SC would be so "gung ho" for Israel.

Colonel,Years ago National Geographic had a long article about the Phoenicians.The researchers for the article were very surprised at the high level of Phoenician dna found in the MalteseYou write that Senator Warren should look at her face in the mirror regarding her roots.Have you seen a picture of Buttigieg's father face.He definitely has a very semitic look.Only his deceased father was Maltese,Catholic also...……...Like the Sicilians say about their Greek cousins...…...One face,one race

"A fool lies here who tried to hustle the East."................Kipling

Thank you very much for that excellent article.I certainly hope the professor is not correct.Since both Netanyahu and President Trump are facing legal problems it might be a convenient time for a war to divert the public of both countries.

The cause ,in a word ,is Fear.They are afraid they will not be able to continue living in their comfortable world if their apple cart is tossed over.How many of the above mentioned people could make it as a farmer in 1880?or a farmer's wife?

Ed S..............Here are a few things you might want to ponder.I did vote for Trump but he did not win the election as much as Hillary lost it...........He won Mich,Wisc and Pa by 0.8 % or less in each state..........The Black vote was 11% less in 2016 as it was in2012.After having Obama on the last two presidential tickets there was nothing exciting or interesting about the 2016 ticket of 2 whites for the Blacks.It was anticlimactic...................In all of her brilliance,Hillary picked a nondescript,Mid West transplant ex governor of Va to be her running mate.She just needed a smiling,White Male face to be on her ticket...............As you point out because of Gerrymandering the House may stay with the Repubs............People do not just vote for their economic interests.That is what the book"What is the matter with Kansas" was about.I have seen this in the Evangelical South.Cultural,social and religious issues will trump economic concerns................You are right when you write you cant beat something with nothing.However if the next presidential election was being held in2018(and I know it is not) A ticket of Camila Harris and say a Joaquin Castro I believe would beat Trump and Spence.I would not vote for them but they would bring a lot of people of people who did not vote last time.Florida is getting hundred of thousands from PR along the I 4 corridor..........Hold On!!

No Babak,IMO the secular American Creed is stronger than ever and gaining strength.There are a few pockets in parts of the US where Evangelicals are strong.These are mostly in the South...................ie Southern Baptist etc................There is a strong overlap of Trump supporters,Evangelcal Christians and the Tea Baggers..............Your Northern Roman Catholics and your mostly non southern Protestants ie Methodists,Episcopalians are on the wane.................I'm not in favor of this but the country is becoming less religious by the hour.

The chances of Assad loosing an election in Syria are less than my chances of being the next president of the US.He has the Alawites,Christians and Druze behind him just for starters.If he survives this he will most likely severely punish all those who he thinks were against him..................He will run his country or any part of it that he controls much tighter than he did before the "uprising".Syria's prisions are known to be some of the worst in the world.............Just before the uprising the Assad regime was on the hot seat for their involvement in the killing of the Prime Minister of Lebanon,Rafik Harriri,and 21 other Lebanese notables................Bashar's father,Hafez Assad was suspected of killing Kamal Jumblatt ,Kamal's son Walid,certainly thinks he did.But yet the Druze in Syria stiil support Assad.................Many think that Hafez was also involved in the "disappearance" of Iman Moussa Sadr..........A Shia who was getting too powerful in South Lebanon in the 80s.....Then there is Hama Syria where Hafez massacred 20000 Syrians to stamp out the Moslem Brotherhood..........I realize that nowhere in the Middle East resembles Switzerland.............but the Assads are a rough bunch who will do what they have to keep power.It is a zero/sum game.............I would not be very surprised to find out that Zahreddine died from "friendly fire".

Yes,I saw both of his fights with Hagler.I remember he was called the "Syrian Buzzsaw".I remember the commentators of the first fight saying he had a heart as big as a washtub................He was fearless and came to fight..He gave Bobby Czyz ,who became a first tier boxer and a champ,his first defeat.I once met Czyz and watched him train in Tampa.He was a member of Mensa of all things......................If you want to know the truth of how a boxer really thinks about his opponent ,pay attention to the FIRST thing out of their mouth at the end of fight interview.Bobby Czyz was amazed at Hamsho's strength and toughness.I remember Czyz saying every punch Hamsho landed hurt big time.................Hagler was too skilled and athletic for Hamsho..............The second fight ended early because Hamsho twisted his ankle or knee and could not really fight a Hagler injured............I thought he was just Syrian but some Middle Eastern friends told me he was a Kurd.I guess in reality we are all mixed...........Hope this is not too much info.............

"A select group of citizens would colonize another spot".That is interesting.Maybe the got the idea from the Phoenicians who did the same thing.The Lebanese city Tripoli(three cities) got it's name because the Phoenicians wanted a city,trading post,in the north of the country.They got members of elite families from three of their cities to form Tripoli.They also did the same thing to start Carthage and all over the Med.

Being difficult and tough/brave are not mutually exclusive.It is certainly anecdotal but years ago there was a Syrian/Kurdish middleweight boxer named Mustafo Hamsho.................He was incredibly tough and strong.Other world class fighters would comment on his toughness...................

My Godfather/Great Uncle, who would be about 130 years old if he was alive,told me one claim to "fame" was that Salidin had come through the family's village at one time.....Jezzine,Lebanon.

English Outsider...You are 100% correct.There is not even much of an overlap.All Jews are not Israelis.And ,to be accurate, all Israelis are not Jews since many Israeli citizens are Muslim and Christian Palestinians......Also many of the Jews of the world have no use for the Likud Party or Netanyahu.....................There is an old Jewish saying............"If you have 2 Jews in a room you have 3 opinions".

The Israelis/Zionists will be trying to get Russia out of the equation by hurting them financially and in other ways.They wont just be thinking militarily............

Yes Anna They are human,very human.The problem with humans is that they are human.From Abam and Eve to Cain down to you and me.Menachim Begin was very human when he helped bomb the King David Hotel in 1946,killing innocent Arabs AND Jews.He was later elected PM of Israel.Ariel Sharon was very human when his IDF units provided cover for Christian Lebanese forces who massacered hundreds of Palestinian men,women and children in the Shatila refugee camps .He was demoted but later was elected PM of Israel.Half of my ancestors were Christian Lebanese.They were human also..................The reason why the Palestinians were in Lebanon was because they were chased out of Israel where their families had lived for many,many generations.The Jews say THEIR GOD promised them that land thousands of years ago.They were run out of their home by the Romans about 76AD..............and came back almost 2000 years later.In 1900 only 10 % of the inhabitants in present day Israel were Jews.And a lot of then were Middle Eastern Jews..............who have only had 1 cabinet post in Israel.........The Jews have had it rough all through history.If you have not read "A History OF THE JEWS" by Paul Johnson ,I think you would find it interesting to say the least.

Unfortunately once the shooting starts the Israeli lobby in the US and the Neocons will make sure Israel will get all it needs.As a matter of fact if Hizbullah/Iran starts strong and makes some initial progress ,Israel will get even more help and quicker............Israel has long threatened to destroy Lebanon if they are attacked from Lebanon................IMO they will do major damage to Beirut and would probably love to get North of the Litani river...............The Neocons and the right wing in the US will have no trouble killing Arabs and Persians.............I'm am certainly not a military expert but I do not think Hizbullah has any answer for the Israel Air Force.............Even though many Israelis may die.I believe they have excellent civil defence programs and shelters...................The Neocons/Israeli Lobby/AIPAC are ready..........Unfortunately

It was interesting to hear Katrina Vanden Heuvel remarks on one of the Sunday talk shows today.She is married to the Russian "expert" Stephen Cohen and the editor of The Nation magazine.She is half Jewish and was born and raised in NYC.She was positive about the Trump/Putin meeting.

Some of the answers might be in the book" Two Hundred Years Together" written by Solzhenitsyn about the relationship between Russians and Jews.However it has not been "allowed "to be published in English.If you have read it in French I would like to know what you think....................I am not an expert on Jung or his collective memory theory.However I always thought it took longer than a few hundred years to take hold.

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