The West has long suffered confusion over the Middle East, particularly over the Arab-Israeli conflict. Would you like to see an example of why? Check out this AP report, on Condoleezza Rice’s meetings with relevant leaders.

Here we go: “Rice met for two hours with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, resolute in his position that he must govern hand-in-hand with Hamas militants who refuse to moderate anti-Israeli policies.” Okay, now watch carefully: “Later Sunday, the U.S. diplomat held a similarly long meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a similarly hard-line position.” Do you have that? Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The repeatedly declared, and acted on, goal of Hamas is to destroy Israel. Israel, meanwhile, refuses to negotiate with those committed to its destruction. And these are “similarly hard-line positions.” I ask again: Do you understand that? And I know you will forgive me for worrying that the West will never, ever grasp the Middle East situation, because of the moral and logical dullness exemplified by that AP report. ‐P.S. I want to emphasize that I was raised with exactly that kind of thinking – and it takes a while, and a bit of gumption, to grow out of it. ‐I wish to point you to two items on the Internet: The first is here, a report on the death of Maurice Papon. Papon was the French official who sent about 1,700 Jews to the camps. The report is headed “Papon Lawyer Vows to Bury Him with Medal” (the Legion of Honor). The second item is this article by Michel Gurfinkiel. It is titled “A Dark-Haired Little Boy.” Gurfinkiel writes, “The Vichy police sent my brother to Auschwitz in 1942. He was almost nine years old. Maurice Papon, one of the Vichy officials who oversaw the roundup of Jews, passed away yesterday near Paris. He was almost ninety-seven years old.” A gross imbalance, wouldn’t you say?

‐I mentioned something earlier about my education (or miseducation). When I was growing up, people would say, “You want to define ‘oxymoron’? ‘Military intelligence,’ or ‘military justice.’” Yuk yuk yuk. It was utterly commonplace. Perhaps people still say this, in our smarter high schools and colleges.

I thought of this when reading this article, about a Marine who got eight years in the clink for the death of an Iraqi in a town called Hamdania. The system seemed to me intent on scrupulosity. I also thought of what Robert Bork says: “If I were innocent, I would want to be tried in a military court. If I were guilty, I would want to be tried in a civilian court.”

‐Noticed an article – here – published on February 17, after an “anti-surge” resolution received 56 votes in the Senate, versus 34. That fell four short of the necessary 60. And I now quote that article: “Democrats swiftly claimed victory anyway. ‘A majority of the United States Senate is against the escalation in Iraq,’ said Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.” Yup. And a majority of the Senate was for John Bolton, and for various Republican judges, etc., etc. Mr. Reid & Co. did not seem terribly concerned about majorities a few short months ago. ‐I hope you saw the news that Rep. William Jefferson (D., La.) is on the Homeland Security committee. So, those cities grousing that they have not received enough federal dollars . . . should considering raiding Mr. Jefferson’s freezer. Yeah, I know, a real comedian I am – don’t quit my day job. ‐Have you read about the Internet site – the live feed – that the Israelis have installed, as they do some repairs near the Temple Mount? An article is here. Let’s go through it.

Israel on Thursday began broadcasting live images of a contentious construction project on the Internet in an effort to allay Muslim fears that the work would damage nearby Islamic shrines.
Israel began excavations last week to lay the ground to repair an earthen ramp leading to the hilltop compound known as the Temple Mount to Jews and as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims. The work sparked immediate protests at the site and condemnation from across the Muslim and Arab world.
Three cameras at the site began broadcasting live images on Thursday and will work around the clock, Israel Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Osnat Goaz said.
“They film all angles of the works so people can view what’s going there all hours of the day,” she said. “The works do not go anywhere near any holy site and everybody can see that from the cameras.”

But there is a “however,” naturally:

However, angry Muslims said they were not satisfied with the cameras.

Oh, angry Muslims? Not satisfied? There’s a real shocker.

“This procedure is not enough,” said Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for the militant Palestinian group Hamas. “The Zionist enemy is engaging in trickery and continuing its digging. We don’t trust these procedures.”

Israelis should know better than to try to appease the unappeasable, or to impart reason to the determinedly unreasonable. If an Israeli toasted a piece of bread for breakfast – that would be Zionist trickery.

‐The Soviet foreign minister – I mean, the Russian foreign minister (it’s rather confusing nowadays) – caught my attention. As we see in this article, the Estonian legislature had voted to remove a Soviet war memorial from the Estonian capital, Tallinn. And Foreign Minister Lavrov said that this was not just a “grave mistake” but “a sacrilegious action.”

Ah, the world is offending Russia’s religious sensibilities now, is it? Great – just great.

‐Here in the U.S., we argue about the death penalty for serial murderers. In the People’s Republic of China, they . . . Well, check out this:

“A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a bogus ant-breeding scheme . . .”

‐And would you like to see (further) Chicom-think in action? Chew over this article, headed “Mountain Color Confuses China Villagers”:

Villagers in southwestern China are scratching their heads after an estimated more than $60,000 was spent to paint an entire barren mountainside green.
Workers who began spraying Laoshou mountain last August told villagers they were doing so on orders of the county government but were not told why, media reports said Wednesday.
The official Xinhua News Agency estimated the cost of the paint job at $60,600 and quoted villagers saying that if spent on actual plants and trees, the money could have restored a far greater area of barren mountain. . . .
A woman who answered the phone at the Fumin County forestry department said they also were unaware of reasons behind the paint job.
“This is an order from above. You should ask the leader from above. I don’t have any information on this,” said the woman, who, like many Chinese bureaucrats, refused to give her name.
Others speculated it was an unusual attempt at “greening” the area in keeping with calls for more attention to environmental protection. Photographs of the mountain showed the exposed rock covered in an artificial green the color of Astroturf looming over houses against a scrubby background.

In the PRC, it’s fairly easy to be green – just get out the paint brush. And do you love that exquisitely Communist response, or reflex? “This is an order from above. You should ask the leader from above.” One hears that in these here parts, too. ‐Loved the headline over this: “African Union Bemoans Continent’s Image.” Yeah, what about its reality? ‐Another headline: “Stern Engaged to Model Girlfriend.” That good, huh? ‐Jet Blue has suffered some serious bad publicity over what happened on that snowy-icy day of February 14. I feel a bit bad for the company, because other airlines didn’t perform so hot, either. I mean, I was at Kennedy Airport for about nine hours on that day, in the care of American Airlines, and that was a total – well, I’m thinking of a word that begins with “cluster.” Anyway, it seems to me that Jet Blue has been used as a bit of a scapegoat, or maybe a poster child – poster villain? Our media, and we, seem to demand one. ‐Care for a little music, meaning, a few music reviews from the New York Sun? For a review of the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vänskä, go here. For a review of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, go here. And for a recordings roundup – Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano), and Yundi Li (piano) – go here. ‐I have written about Bermuda before, and don’t intend to wax poetic (or long) about it now. But let me give you a few observations, stemming from a delightsome visit down there: 1) The people are very, very friendly. At the same time, I am told that Bermuda is far less friendly than it used to be – not just a little, but far. If that is true, and I trust the Bermudians who have told me: then, in the old days, they must have done everything but embrace you as you walked down the street. 2) There are varieties of Bermudian speech, and they are all interesting. I was especially interested in this: a combination of the American “aks,” for “ask,” with a British accent – making it come out “ahks.” 3) They drive on the left side of the road, Britishly. And that takes a second to get used to. So, when I saw an oncoming car, and that a child was in what I took to be the driver’s seat, I said, “Whoa! What’s that little kid doing behind the wheel?” 4) Speaking of Bermudian roads, there is one called “Controversy Lane.” There is another called “Fractious Road.” You would think Bermudians were a disputatious people. 5) Do you love the name of Dr. Beresford Swan? I do. I saw it when walking past King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. Dr. Beresford Swan works there. If you put that name in a novel – you would be criticized as over-the-top. I did not actually see Dr. Beresford Swan. But if he were not the courtliest, most old-school gent around, I would be very disappointed. 6) It is extraordinary – positively extraordinary – how many hues there can be in a single body of water. The Atlantic around Bermuda “puts on a show for free,” to quote James Taylor. (You never thought I would quote James Taylor?) 7) The primary delicacies of Bermuda, as far as I’m concerned, are 1) rum raisin ice cream, and 2) diet ginger beer. The latter is a nectar of the gods. But can anything called “diet” really be a nectar of the gods? Oh, you betcha. I realize that a list of seven – rather than of five or ten – is lame. But that’s about all I got, and I said I wouldn’t keep you long, so I’ll catch you soon.