Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Protests grow over Arafat siege. Palestinians march in the streets as their leader’s plight in the ruins of his Ramallah HQ attracts growing international sympathy. Like most people, I suppose, I’ve been watching this story for the last two days.  I don’t understand the rationale behind the Israeli response.  I wish I could figure out how destroying Arafat’s infrastructure will cause the suicide bombers to stop.  My perception is that there are moderate Palestinians who are willing to negotiate, and radical Palestinians who are not.  The only question is where Arafat really fits.  Obviously the Israeli’s think he is a radical.  But even so, destroying the infrastructure of government in the Palestinian territories will simply make it impossible for a future moderate to govern, will it not?

I have sympathy for Israel.  But this is bizarre behavior.

And on the topic of sympathy for Israel, obviously I have been living in a vacuum here in Canada.  Last week in Italy, walking through the back streets of Venice, I came across this graffiti scrawled on a building.

Last week’s trip to Italy was a vacation for Janice and myself.  It was primarily an opportunity to see Renaissance Art in Florence and Venice.  Needless to say, we went to a lot of churches.  Not being Catholic, myself, I am somewhat sheltered from the Catholic tradition of preserving relics of Saints.  There were a lot of bits of this Saint and that Saint in these churches.

My favorite was this one… it’s the finger of St. John the Baptist… one wonders which finger it is…

Spotted this on a street corner in Florence.  The irony of the message perched above a McDonalds advertisement was too much. It makes me a little angry too. It’s easy for Europeans to be self-righteous about bio-tech and GM foods… their bellies are full.

The Iraq Decision: Sobering editorial from the Washington Post.