By Peloni
From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.
Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.
Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.
The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.
Everyone will be happier.
@Edgar I’m assuming. Certainly new to me. I ordered the Ausubel for just under $7 including shipping used from Thrift books just now on my phone though I’ve read other anthologies. Arrives in 5 to 12 business days.
New ADL Survey Documents Alarming Rise in Antisemitic Beliefs Among US Voters
In today’s Algemeiner. Can’t copy link.
But, read to the end!:
“However, support for the right of an independent Jewish state to exist was “overwhelming,” the ADL said. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they disagreed with the statement “I do not think Jews have the right to an independent country.”
Asked whether they would vote for a pro-Israel politician, 24 percent of respondents answered negatively, while 21 percent said they would not “feel comfortable buying products from Israel.”
@Edgar very different kind of humor
SEB-
Very fortunate in your picks. Let me know what you think about the Donna Gracia book. Nothing in a novel can surpass her actual real life story. Her dedication and utter brilliance were endless.
As for the Jewish Humour book, I don’t see any reason for one because I am convinced that Nathan Ausubel covered this subject completely in his “Treasury of Jewish Humour”. I doubt if he missed anything.
I also have have his Treasury of “Jewish Folklore/humour/Traditions” etc., Both are exhaustive……Priceless..
But you’ll have all the jokes etc from the last 60 years that Ausubel would not have, which is ample reward. Many likely duplicated with different names but the same structures.
Enjoy them.
Mr. Zorn, On that men’s room on the West side. You sure you did not walk into the lady’s room. I did that once by mistake. Took care of business and left.:)
The Rise and Fall of the Judean State by Solomon Zeitlin you and Edgar where talking about I don’t have. But I did pick up A History of the Jewish people by H.H. Ben Sasson the other day for $3.00. I guess with all this antisemite’s going around the prices are decreasing. This book was published in 1976, with almost 1,200 pages.
Jewish, Israeli students afraid to go to Berkeley schools, federal complaint alleges
“The eruption of antisemitism in Berkeley’s elementary and high schools is like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” said Kenneth Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center.
See embedded video. Brilliant and on point.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-rapaport-skewers-hollywood-in-eretz-nehederet-skit/
Direct Youtube link
https://youtu.be/u5esBxX5YoI?si=HVdyHMeg5WngPX7o
@Edgar Funny, you should mention it. Earlier this week, I picked up 2 books from West Side Judaica on their used book table where books are $10 instead of around $40, which I just started reading. And one of them is a novel published in 2010 about none other than Dona Gracia Nasi! “By Fire Possessed” by Sandra K. Toro. I see Amazon, Abe Books and other used book sites have it.
The other, serendipitously – is somebody up there listening? – from 1981, “Israeli Humor – the Content and Structure of the Chizbat of the Palmah” by Elliot Oring. It says it was published as part of the State University of New York (SUNY) series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture, Sarah Blacher Cohen, editor. and again, various sites have it, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble and I see an article Oring wrote about it himself.
https://campanthropology.org/2022/08/22/elliott-oring-on-his-book-joking-asides/
Also, a professor with a distinguished bio.
“Elliott Oring (born 20 April 1945) is an American author of academic books primarily relating to the topics of folklore, humor, and cultural symbolism.[1] Oring is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles, and serves on the Editorial Board of Humor: International Journal of Humor Research.[2][3] In 2010-2011 he was President of the International Society for Humor Studies.” – Wikipedia
this was his first book based on his doctoral dissertation.
SEB-
Let me know when it arrives. I hope it is the 3 Vol set. I don’t know of any other .I got mine with a box of books I’d ordered from The Jewish Publication Socity in the very late 1970s.Or maybe 1980. I also ordered and got a wonderful biography of Dona Gracia Nasi, a most wonderful woman of Jewish faith,.\You should look up about her probably the most wonderful woman Judaism ever produced. I have much admiration for her.
Truly the original “woman of worth” whose “price is far above rubies”…….
And of course, a biography of Daniel Mendoza …….,and not least
“The Nitzachon Vetus”, with a wonderful introduction by Rabbi Prof. David Berger. I’m sure they are all on the internet. The polemics are in Hebrew with the English Translation on the opposite page. Some of the language……HIGHLY indelicate .phew !!!!
This last is a collection of Jewish Polemics against all the Christian beliefs, in the most open and ridiculing way. It shows that Jews during the late Middle Ages were certainly NOT cowed and defensive. Quite the contrary. It is a large book.
I mentioned the Nitzachon Vetus a few times on this site some years ago, but there was o interest then.
****Yes the Name of the College has always fascinated me by it’s alternate meaning***** A bit embarrassing i always thought. Likely founded by a Scotsman.
@Edgar Yes. What a name for a college. For example: To a surgeon: Where did you go to school, Doctor? Oh, Dropsie College. But then, not long ago, I was surprised to learn that UPS delivers packages to Italy. I mean, who would use a delivery service whose name was pronounced, “Oops”, right? Like the Marx Brothers bit from “Night at the Opera” (1935) in which they are tossing around a package addressed to somebody named, “Fragile” (pronounced, “Fragilly”) 😀
Impressive bio. I know you don’t like Wikipedia but there is an excellent bio and comprehensive bibliography with an absurd criticism at the top from the Wikpedia editor that there is only one source when there are clearly 8. (So much for the criticism that it is unedited. Actually, I once put in one for an important event my mother had organized and they didn’t even include it. But, it’s really comprehensive and usually accurate. How many encyclopedias can you say that about? I’ve rarely looked up something, no matter how obscure, that didn’t have an entry. Though, there are a lot of links to information about him, actually. Including an article that says he disputed the value of the Dead Sea Scrolls for Judaism.
Check it out. Says, “Solomon Zeitlin (Hebrew: ???????? ???? ??????; Russian: ????? ???????, romanized: Shlomo Cejtlin (or Tseitlin, Tseytlin); 28 May 1886 or 31 May 1892 – 28 December 1976) was an American Jewish historian, Talmudic scholar and in his time the world’s leading authority on the Second Commonwealth, also known as the Second Temple period.[1] His work The Rise and Fall of the Judean State is about the Second Temple period….” and then goes on from there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Zeitlin
*
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386050
@Edgar Thank you. No information but a photo of the dust jacket of the hard cover. Doesn’t say anything about volumes. Won’t arrive for a couple of weeks.
SEB-
Mazal Tov, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. You were lucky then. I should imagine it’s long out of print. Was it the 3 Vol set or all in a single volume?
I hadn’t heard that there was a single volume. encompassing the whole set. You should look him up on the internet, a very learned man.
Dropsie College I think.
You should check to make sure that you didn’t get only Vol.1. It is hard cover set, with the dust covers a series of perpendicular black thick lines.etc.
I just used the men’s room at the Upper West Side Apple store and – I kid you not – there are 2 booths, no urinals, and a free tampon dispenser.
@Edgar There was one used copy left on Amazon for
$19.95 and I ordered it.
@Edgar Thank you.
SEB-
My recollection is that there was a sort of “no conflicting” meeting” between Judah Maccabi and Roman emissaries in an early contact, but as far as I know, was just that, never more . Because of the Greek’s inner turmoil, Israel under the Makovim was de facto independent until
Simon reigned as Sovereign.
When Ptolemy was invited to take sides in an internal struggle between 2 brothers, rivals, about 70 years later, one could say that this was the end of Jewish independence until 1948.
(one brother inherited the rule, being the elder, the other the High Priesthood; but because of their temperaments a reversed role would have been much better}
BUT in this period there was very much inner dissent, because for the first time in Jewish History, both the Kingship traditionally assigned to the Davidic line, and the High Priesthood, (always from the line of Zadok) were taken by one family.
The brief period (9-10 years) under Queen Shulamit after her husband Aristobulus died, are regarded as “The Golden Years” of the Maccabi period.
This is to the best of my recollection
As for Assyria I am sure they were always expansionist enemies. And Egypt was nearly always hegemon over the Jewish State. from their earliest contact.
G-D picked a real hotspot to lead the Children of Israel to, right at the link between the mighty powers of the ancient world, and through which one or the other HAD to pass, either as a conqueror or through a subservient People,, to war on the other.
The early history is just a passage of one or the other major power (one of them being Egypt) through a minor kingdom, Israel, to get at the other.
I find more satisfactory to read of the period leading up to the dissolution of the Jewish State as in Solomon Zeitlin’s 3 vol account “The Rise and Fall of the Judean State.
@Seb Actually, I had assumed it was just his mistake or I would have looked into it further.
@Edgar I was just quoting the Kahane essay. Actually, I only knew about the Maccabees alliance with Rome and just recently at that. Ancient history was never my thing snd we didn’t even have a bible in the house. Just Alan Watts, etc. iI didn’t know what he was as talking about with Assyria but let it go as his main point was the thing not the illustration. Can you recommend any readings on alliances with Assyria and Egypt?
Sebastien-
You mentioned Assyria so you were right into the Torah. The instance I can recall where Israel allied itself with another was with Egypt-which you also mention- and the Navi said that not to rely on Egypt which WAS a “broken reed”. I believe the invading enemy then actually WAS
Assyria.
For me the inference was clear, but you say NO, so what were you thinking-if not just scattering words around???
@Edgar
@Tanna
Gantz, Eisenkot, Gallant Pressuring Netanyahu to Yank Ben Gvir from Temple Mount Decision Making
By David Israel – 20 Adar I 5784 – February 29, 2024 0
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/temple-mount-har-habayit/gantz-eisenkot-gallant-pressuring-netanyahu-to-yank-ben-gvir-from-temple-mount-decision-making/2024/02/29/
Great satirical, sarcastic tone of the article. Nice.
Now, it appears the fat lady hasn’t quite sung. Yesterday, they had yanked him, today, they are pressuring Bibi to yank him.
“the three Conceptzia IDF-commanders-turned-war-cabinet ministers,”
“The three amigos demanded” ? marvelous
I’m guessing neither of you recognizes the reference. It’s from the comedy movie, “The Three Amigos” (1986) Starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Randy Newman and featuring Chevy Chase from the original Saturday Night Live.
Something like if he called them, “Keystone Cops” ?
See plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Amigos
(which in turn is obviously a parody of “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), which in turn is an American Western remake of the Japanese film, “The Seven Samurai” (1954),directed by Akira Kurasawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, who was my favorite actor when I was a teenager in the ’70s. The Wikipedia article doesn’t note this.
Oh, and of course, “The Three Musketeers.”
@Edgar
@Tanna
Gantz, Eisenkot, Gallant Pressuring Netanyahu to Yank Ben Gvir from Temple Mount Decision Making
By David Israel – 20 Adar I 5784 – February 29, 2024 0
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/temple-mount-har-habayit/gantz-eisenkot-gallant-pressuring-netanyahu-to-yank-ben-gvir-from-temple-mount-decision-making/2024/02/29/
Great satirical, sarcastic tone of the article. Nice.
Now, it appears the fat lady hasn’t quite sung. Yesterday, they had yanked him, today, they are pressuring Bibi to yank him.
“the three Conceptzia IDF-commanders-turned-war-cabinet ministers,”
“The three amigos demanded” ? marvelous
I’m guessing neither of you recognizes the reference. It’s from the comedy movie, “The Three Amigos” (1986) Starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Randy Newman and featuring Chevy Chase from the original Saturday Night Live.
Something like if he called them, “Keystone Cops” ?
See plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Amigos
(which in turn is obviously a parody of “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), which in turn is an American Western remake of the Japanese film, “The Seven Samurai” (1954),directed by Akira Kurasawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, who was my favorite actor when I was a teenager in the ’70s. The Wikipedia article doesn’t note this.
Oh, and of course, “the Three Musketeers.:
@Edgar
@Tanna
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/temple-mount-har-habayit/gantz-eisenkot-gallant-pressuring-netanyahu-to-yank-ben-gvir-from-temple-mount-decision-making/2024/02/29/
Great satirical, sarcastic tone of the article. Nice.
Now, it appears the fat lady hasn’t quite sung. Yesterday, they had yanked him, today, they are pressuring Bibi to yank him.
“the three Conceptzia IDF-commanders-turned-war-cabinet ministers,”
“The three amigos demanded” 😀 marvelous
I’m guessing neither of you recognizes the reference. It’s from the comedy movie, “The Three Amigos” (1986) Starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Randy Newman and featureing the great Chevy Chase from the original Saturday Night Live.
Though the film, is, on its own terms, obviously a parody of the “Magnificent Seven” (1960) with Yul Brynner, which I see was remade in (2016) and which in turn was an American adaptation of the Japanese film, “The Seven Samurai” (1954) directed by Japanese director, Akira Kurasawa and starring the great Toshiro MIfune, who was my favorite actor, when I was a teenager.
Something like if he called them, “Keystone Cops” 😀
See plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Amigos
Peloni and Mr. Zorn:
Peloni, I believe they are treating it as a joke. No ammo or at least not enough! Then they put a ship and its crew in the danger zone. Like having sex without protection. Just a matter of time and somebody is going to get knocked up. A missile will get through, statistically it is only a matter of time. Then Biden, has his excuse to get involved on a level they have only dreamed about. Your analysis, on Ben Givir, I agree, when we step back and look at this situation, Israel would not be able to come out smelling like a rose in world opinion.
Mr. Zorn, I’ll take your bet. Ramadan starts Tuesdays, March 10, and runs through Tuesday April 9, 2024. The Hebrew calendar dates are Adar 29/30 base on when Ishamel rings the bell, running through Nisan 1.(April 8)
Here’s what’s interesting. (music please from the twilight zone)!!
This is a leap year. Also know as a (pregnant year- Shenat haibur) According to the Talmud the earliest date the calendar can be intercalated is in AV(august). Something happened in Av(August) last year that 3 months later led to October 7(Tirshri 22) a women pregnancy begins to show at 3 months. At nine Months the baby gets birthed. Nine months falls out on April 8, 2024. My bet is that what was conceived back in Av, and showed it’s self for the first time on Oct 7, will become full born before Passover.
The average pregnancy is 280 days / 40 weeks. the Median time is 38 wks. and 2 days. Grandma, use to say, “the bread is done when the bread is done. Baby’s can come two wks. early or two weeks late.
In case anyone is not paying attention. Their will be a total solar eclipses Apr. 1, 2024 . Nisan 1, 5784.
@Edgar
Not me. I don’t even recall reading that. I wonder who said it or what it means, for that matter. This is not my area of expertise.
@Peloni Actually, I was unaware of this case. Thank you.
@Sebastien
I was referencing the Smirnov case, with which you are no doubt acquainted. Margot Cleveland does a good job explaining the case and its relevance to the continuation saga of the Russia Hoax:
Democrats Spin Weiss’s Latest Indictment Into New Russia Hoax To Let Biden Skate In 2024
They will use this as far as it takes them, and as Cleveland notes, the Russia Hoax, while exposed as a fraud, has repeatedly served its purpose. First in undermining the Trump presidency and then again doing the same with Hunter Biden Laptop in the minds of those who were less discerning of reality.
Cleveland, Carlson and others like to use the Hunter Laptop to explain the limit of election rigging in 2020, which frankly defies credibility given all that has been exposed, so she also suggests that, by extension from the Hunter Laptop, the Russia Hoax was responsible for Biden ‘winning’ the 2020 election, but the truth about the election rigging in 2020 should be recognized as being far greater than this.
SEB=
You are referring to Egypt being “a broken reed”. I don’t believe that Assyria was ever anything but an expansionist enemy of Yahud. or Samaria (Shomron).
Is it just me, or are these people approaching the conflict in the Red Sea like a bad joke:
How do you deploy a warship without knowing that you are about to run out of ammo for that ship, with no possibility of supply?
@Michael
https://barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com/2012/12/israel-us-and-stinking-fish-1976.html
@Michael Monty Python “The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch” 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ioXrZT9Ric
@Michael “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammuntion” Kay Kaiser.1942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2m7fswxSF8
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition and we”ll all stay free.”
@Peloni What’s the renewed Russia hoax you mentioned?
SEB_
No bet. It’s a given that there will be some sort of mob violence. But not nearly as widespread as if Ben G’vir’s policy had been in place. Then there would not have been confined mainly to the Mount but all throughout the country. There’d have been outright murders much more than our daily quota..
I have urged for years for Israeli Police to track down the means that the terrorists smuggle all the rocks and bolts of wood etc into their Mosque.
I suggested that it was most likely that they would ise a 3 l3gged stand with a block and tackle at the Aksa edge to bring up their ammunition.
Or a similar mechanical metho./
Another possibility might be the unauthorised construction and “repairs” that are always going on there by the Arabs. There’s be lots of building materials -blocks and etc lying around.
@Sebastien
@Edgar
I think Ben Gvir”s policy change would have resulted in an owned error by Israel, even as the policy was soundly based.
In fact, the reasons behind Ben Gvir’s decision was the correct one to make, but we should consider what would have occurred if he had been allowed to move forward with such a bold but correct change in policy. If he moved forward with it, how easy do you think it would be for Bibi to keep his united opposition to the US in place? Maybe 5 minutes? In fact, the US would have turned the tables on Israel, brought down the hammer on them, and could have left the coalition in a far more damaged position than where it stands today. They would have condemned Israel under the pretense of Religious freedom and access to the Holy Sites and few if anyone would have come to support Ben Gvir’s changed policy.
I do agree that the yearly tradition of violence at Al Aqsa will likely be more exacerbated (read as more violent) than before, as will the calls for Jihad against Israel as a consequence. And let us not forget that Hamas is openly calling for terror attacks to take place over Ramadan, so there is that to consider as well.
Yet, I don’t see any way that the new policy would have been left intact even if the US allies in Knesset had not blocked Ben Gvir’s from implementing it as they just did. Hence, the move to block the policy change today only resulted in avoiding what would have been used as a scathing rebuke towards Israel, and there should be little doubt that that policy would not have ultimately been withdrawn after a great hellabaloo between Israel and the US.
This being stated, as I noted, we should all expect Ben Gvir’s warnings will likely prove to be prophetic, but there is little which could be done to implement that policy at this time and keep it in place due to the US-Iran realignment policy and/or the Biden Dearborn strategy. Just my own thoughts of course.
@Raphael
Well, to your point, they have already begun with a renewed Russia Hoax which they unveiled last week and all the usual Leftist Looneytoons have been pushing it as hard as they can, but I think the public will not bite on the . You may prove more accurate on this point, but I believe that this dog won’t hunt a second time, but time will tell.
@Peloni1986
My apologies to you and to Mr. Sacks. The last comment about “liars controlling the narrative” was added by me, hence the brackets. (Maybe there is an official convention for annotating other peoples’ work.) In any case, I think the liars do still control all the important narratives, because they “own” the media, academia, and the government. Every now and then, we can detect a crack in their armor, but they are far from losing control. We will see them operating at full force when the US presidential campaign begins.
@Edgar Well, he lost and we shall see who was right. Do we have a bet? (gentleman’s bet, of course.) Anybody else want to get on in this and make this a non-profit betting pool? How many think we shall see a repeat of 2021?
Just to refresh everyone’s memory:
“The Al Aqsa Mosque became a flashpoint for tensions during Ramadan in 2021, when an 11-day conflict broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and rioting and violence by Arab citizens erupted inside Israel. Israeli police clashed with Palestinians at the mosque during Ramadan in 2022 and last year.2 hours ago
Ramadan Looms as Flashpoint in Fight Between Israel and …”
-WSJ
SEB-
Ben G’vir’s position on this matter at THIS time is WRONG. Just to flex his muscles is asking for the 5th Column to come out, millions of Jew Haters, and cause such internal disruption at such a critical time in the middle of a bitter War is asinine, and should NOT happen.
We can’t expect a Daniel to go into and emerge safely from today’s Lions’ Den”
@Tanna
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/385974
Fools
@Raphael
I have read several comments by Sacks. He is very much on target most of the time, but I would disagree with the final line in this thread.
The liars don’t control the narrative any more. This is why the Ukraine aid has not passed even as Ukraine is going from defeat to defeat more rapidly than by the day. They stand exposed and the ruses which have worked so well for them in the past do not have the means to convince the majority of the cover stories for their schemes. Time will tell what point of manipulation will be used to turn the funds back on, but the people are openly opposed to doing so, and that alone is a statement of their loss of control over the narrative. If their blame game narrative held any strength at all with the general public, the Ukraine aid package would be passing on its own.
This short summary of the Ukrainian war is the best I have ever read. There are important lessons for Israel to learn here.
A WAR OF LIES
by David O. Sacks
February 17, 2024 12:09 PM
The war in Ukraine is based on lies — lies about how it started, how it’s going, and how it will end.
We are told that Ukraine is winning, when in fact it is losing. We are told that the war makes NATO stronger, when in fact it is depleting it. We are told that Ukraine’s biggest problem is a lack of funds from the U.S. Congress, when in fact the West can’t produce enough ammunition — a problem that will take years to fix. We are told that Russia is suffering greater casualties, when in fact Ukraine is running out of soldiers — another problem money can’t fix.
We are told that the world is with us, when in fact the Global Majority believes U.S. policy is the height of folly. We are told that there is no opportunity to make peace, when in fact we have rejected multiple opportunities for a negotiated settlement. We are told that if Ukraine keeps fighting, it will improve its negotiating position, when in fact the terms will only get much worse than what was already available and rejected.
Nevertheless the lies will succeed in dragging out the war. Congress will appropriate more funds. Russia will take more territory. Ukraine will mobilize more young men and women to feed into the “meat grinder”. Discontent will mount. Eventually there will be a crisis in Kiev and the Zelensky government will be toppled.
And then, when the war is finally lost, when the whole country lays in smoldering ruins on a funeral pyre of their own making, the liars will say, “Well, we tried.” Having prevented any alternative, having smeared anyone who told the truth as puppets for the enemy, the liars will say, “We did our best. We stood up to Putin.”
In fact, they will claim, “We would have succeeded but for the fifth column of Putin apologists who stabbed the Ukrainians in the back”. Then, having shifted blame, and patted themselves on the back, they will blithely move on to the next war, as they moved onto Ukraine after their disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The lies are comprehensive — but they will work [because the liars control the narrative.]
@Tanna How is this day different from all other days? 😀
Mr. Zorn, if I may add one thing to your list. If the Pal’s storm the Temple mount after being warned not to “disturb the Peace” Then Israel should take it away from them and completely control it and not allow pal’s to visit, except on the second day of the third week of Ramadon. 🙂
Netanyahu counters Biden: Most Americans support Israel
Israel must act pre-emptively and issue a warning, as well, that if they do this, the immediate response will to be to approve more Jewish settlements and dismantle illegal Arab settlements.
Moreover, that the homes of terrorists will not be blown up but, rather will be expropriated by the state, using Eminent Domain, but without compensation, and transferred to the families of the victims.
“Gaza is wrong and what you don’t see on tv”
https://youtube.com/shorts/UIGzMsWrG1w?si=Jk5idFqQhyW6u8Fj
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/settlements-israel/pro-palestinian-authority-groups-spread-lies-about-israeli-wineries/2024/02/26/
https://zoa.org/2024/02/10449422-transfer-from-gaza-is-the-hamas-wars-biggest-taboo-ny-post-dr-mordechai-nissan-hebrew-univ/
An astonishingly delusional TSS piece today. In the comments, I wrote: “This is complete Fantasy,” And then, I wrote: “I’m reminded of the Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit about “The Ministry of Silly Walks” which is on Youtube. If only there were one about “The Ministry of Wishful Thinking” it would be highly appropriate. Quite.”
and, just now:
“Has the author forgotten Gaza which was supposed to become the Singapore of the Middle East? Well, maybe it did – in an alternate – I was going to say dystopian but this one isn’t so hot, either – reality universe in which Singapore becomes a terrorist hotbed determined to destroy neighboring countries, conquer the world, and murder everyone who had 3 or 4 grandparents who ever left chewing gum on a seat. ”
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-789233