Some Syrian Suspicions, an Incident at the Pool Reported by Sid and How to Reduce DUIs

What’s Behind Our Behavior Toward Syria?

My take on the ambivalent behavior of the Obama administration in regard to attacking Syria to punish Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons against civilians (the President says let's hurry up and wait until Congress has its say, which he can choose to ignore), even if they are his own nation’s civilians, is this:

Our ultimately failing to attack Syria will send a message to Israel that they cannot count on the President of the United States and a good number of members of Congress to fully back them up in their efforts to curtail the development of nuclear weapons by Iran.  That may result in Israel announcing that they will be “going it alone” in attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, without U.S. support, whenever they choose to do so.  So what's going on is not entirely about Syria!  To a great extent, It's also about Israel and Iran.

  Benjamin Netanyahu cannot be happy about Obama's deferring to Congress in regard to intervening in Syria.

Iran, foreseeing this as a very likely scenario, and not really desirous of being attacked by Israel, may attempt to deter such an attack through the good offices of the United States by offering to put pressure on Assad to cease the use of chemical weapons and even destroy his stockpiles of them.  Without Iranian support, Assad would be significantly weakened in his battle against the rebels, so he very well might accede to pressure from Teheran.  If this can be worked out definitively, the United States would then make a point of very strongly reiterating its support of Israel against Iranian nuclear aspirations, reducing the chance of Israel "going it alone" against Iran's nuclear plants.  Iran would then sigh with relief.

This course of action might achieve the same result in Syria as if the United States had sent cruise missiles to accomplish it:  An end to Assad's use of chemical weapons.  The price? Our quietly recognizing that keeping Assad in power, at least temporarily, might be preferable to Sunni extremist control of Syria, a position which I suspect is one with which both Israel and Iran tacitly agree.  Could this actually be the situation which the Administration is attempting to back into?

  

Assad                                             Cruise Missiles

This would also bring the United States and Iran closer together in opposing the radical Sunni extremists (Al Qaeda) included among those rebelling against the Syrian regime and similar extremists elsewhere in the Middle East.  And very importantly, it would also impact the Iranian position in the forthcoming negotiations concerning their nuclear program.  Once they recognize that  Israel, put in a position of having to act on its own, would be a greater danger to them than an Israel with the strong support of the United States, Iran would be much more likely to engage in meaningful nuclear negotiations with the United States and other Western nations, a result which might meet with favor in Israel.  

I suspect that we only know a portion of what is really going on from what confusing government announcements and the media tell us.  Actions such as I describe above are certainly among those being discussed in “back channels” by representatives of the United States, Russia, Iran and Israel.  No one will acknowledge that such talks are going on but I believe that they are.  There really is no other explanation for the hemming and hawing so evident in the Administration’s position in regard to attacking Syria.  Could the President be waiting for his phone to ring with a call from Teheran or perhaps Moscow?

Jack Lippman
                                                              

Sid's Corner

LOVE, SWEET LOVE          

Sid Bolotin                                

They were alone in their retirement community’s swimming pool in the late morning.  Nobody else was in the area, not even on the lounges surrounding the pool.  He was doing water aerobics near his wife who was floating with her Styrofoam noodle between her thighs and swishing her water weights for her upper arm workout.

He had a flashback to being with her like this decades ago in their above-ground pool in the backyard of their home in a suburb of a town in New England.  So he sidled up to her and began to get frisky just as he did way back then.  She began to half-heartedly protest with a giggle just as she did long ago.  Except back then she was concerned about being caught by his mother who was in the kitchen watching their two toddlers while making supper.  Now she was fretting that some resident or a maintenance worker might catch them.

He assured her that the cloudy sky threatening rain was keeping everyone away, and they could relive the excitement with impunity.  After all they wouldn’t go all the way as they had in their backyard…just a little bit of slap and tickle.  So, they began with just kissing, but then quickly advanced through stages of groping until they lost themselves in the impromptu joy of the sweet intimacy…oblivious to being caught.

  Afterwards?

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The next day the Board of Directors of the community was called into the office of the Property Manager for an emergency meeting.  The tryst in the pool had been captured by the new security cameras, and the Board needed to decide on what action should be taken…especially if future videos caught others in the throes of such passion that would be displayed automatically on the monitors in the office.  Even worse what if some smarty pants was to somehow get them posted on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube, and they went viral? Did the Board want to deal with the possible lawsuits from children and grandchildren??

                                                            



 
Drive Sober or Be Pulled Over  


You've probably seen the TV commercials ("Drive Sober or Be Pulled Over") aimed at reducing DUI arrests.  As the quartet of inebriated young men stumble toward their car, the commercial points out that "They'll See You Before You See Them" by showing a ghostlike figure of a police office observing the scene from a corner at the back of the parking lot.  So they drive off, encounter a road block and the driver is arrested.  Fortunately, he doesn't crash the car or hit someone before being apprehended.  But wouldn't it be better if that shadowy figure in the parking lot were a real officer, who would approach the car asking if they had a sober designated driver to get behind the wheel and if they didn't, suggest that they call a taxi.  Patrol cars should make a habit of checking out parking lots adjacent to drinking establishments late in the evening with the aim of stopping drivers who have had one too many from even getting behind the wheel.  
JL

                                                        

                                                           
                                                              

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