Late Summer Mittens

We hit the gym yesterday, despite pain in the joint of a middle toe, and did everything but run. It was a decent enough session. Given the girl's new dance schedule, getting in back-to-back days at the gym looks tough to do. Maybe on the weekend. This morning we awoke with what feels like plantar fasciitis. WTF? 

This blog remains bored with Israeli politics and the never-ending Supreme Court reform and Bibi drama. This summer marked the 30th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, and there's a lot of retrospective articles floating around about the Oslo Accords' meaning and failure. See this damming piece, for example. The article is fascinating and we strongly urge reader(s) to read the whole thing.

During the two decades after signing the accords, Israel endured and survived attempts by both the Clintons and Obama to force various concessions, including turning Jerusalem over to the West Bank People. The Democrats subverted Israeli elections multiple times. During the spring of 2002, Operation Defensive Shield ended the Second Intifada and the so-called peace process and permanently marginalized Yassir Arafat till he died of AIDs in 2004. Fools have been trying to revive the 'peace process' ever since. 

And yet many of the things the Israelis did under the Oslo Accord must needs have been done. They couldn't permanently occupy and administer West Bank towns. And there is no argument whatsoever for remaining in Gaza.  Get Gaza out of Israel, Yitzak Rabin used to say. Quite right. 

Many say [Who?-Ed], Bill Clinton for example, many say that had Rabin lived, the Oslo Accords would have succeeded. This is wishful thinking. We suspect events would have unfolded the exact same way under Rabin, with Arafat stalling, followed by terror attacks and riots, followed by Israel concessions, followed by more terror attacks and riots, followed by more Israeli concessions. 

Let us not forget that the assassination of Rabin gave us the two worst Prime Minister in Israeli history, Shimon Peres, a dangerous dreamer who wanted to be liked by the Davos set, and Ehud Barak, a weak man who allowed himself to be pushed around by the Clintons. There followed the Sharon interval (we wonder what would have happened during the Hezbollah War had Sharon not been incapacitated by a stroke) and then the failed Olmert ministry, which begged the West Bank People to make a deal which included Jerusalem. What part of, 'We will make no concessions and want you to die' did Peres, Barak and Olmert not understand?

Still, in the twenty years since the Second Intifada Israel's population has grown from six million to nearly ten million, 73 percent of them Jews. Israel is a young country. The economy has boomed and the nation has become a technology and medical hub. Israel is a growing energy provider with massive natural gas deposits destined for Europe. For all her foreign and domestic problems Israel has enjoyed a twenty-year renaissance. When will that renaissance end and who and what will end it?

...We admit to being impressed by Ukraine's ability to launch spectacular attacks on Russian infrastructure, that is ships, pipelines, naval facilities, office buildings, etc etc. These television friendly kabooms are  a good counterpoint to Russia's successful blunting of the Counteroffensive©. 

So Mitt Romney is retiring. We don't care. We admit we genuinely came to like and admire Romney during the 2012 campaign and yes, we voted for the man. What might have been? Probably not much. Romney wasn't tough enough to take down Barry Soetoro and he wasn't tough enough to be president. Romney has been a bad senator and a bad Republican. In fact, he's been a back stabbing little....well, the less said the better.

On to World War 1990: Norway...The Battle of Lake Rosca, as we're taking to calling it, is proceeding well. While one Marine battalion tries to retake Bardufus from the VDV, about 20 kilometers to the east, another Marine battalion slams into the 17th Tank Brigade. While two armor companies advance east, a third holds the crossroads west of Lake Rosca and sees a Soviet armored column coming down the road from Lingyan Fjord. We might have the rough of this chapter done by tomorrow. We might. 

The scenes feel a touch short, which may not be a problem. And here we are writing about tanks again and wondering, do we really need to name Sgt. Civale's gunner, driver, and loader, and give each a few lines and few details for the sake of character? This could lead to hundreds of words and a sperate scene to establish everyone...we do? Really? Crap. Okay.