CONCERN ABOUT OBAMA'S SAFETY AGAIN

I suppose someone in the White House, especially these days, knows they are risking their lives to serve in that capacity. Obama is no different and yet after his criticism of the various settlements (fortresses really) on the West Bank. This is the last opportunity for these settlers to live out a dream that they take very literally. I don't know what can be done to moderate the extremist tendencies of the settlers. They have gotten a lot of mileage out of being tough and never backing down and in this situation that could mean someone tries to harm Obama or Israelis working for a two state solution.

Rabin was assassinated by one of these fanatics and the "Holy Land" seems to create martyrs out of folks that would just be cranks elsewhere. So I suppose Obama is forewarned and hopefully will watch his back in the States as well. The same goes for all the white supremacists and extreme anti-Muslims who populate the States. They must be livid after hearing Obama quote the Koran and say other nice things about Muslims. Then by using his personal story Obama really put himself as a human being on the line.

Of course the danger of extremist violence from other quarters such as AQ cannot be ruled out but Israel and the settler militias seem more of a threat and may engage in provocative and warlike acts meant to sabotage the prospects of a two state solution by attacking Iran with nuclear weapons while carrying out an expulsion of the Palestinians in the midst of the crisis caused by the nuclear war. Of course Pakistan is the nation with the Islamic bomb so we cannot rule out an effort to trigger a war that devastates the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, or uses it up on targets not Israel. Israel and the United States could collude in these endeavors while Obama waxes eloquently about settlements and a two state solution. Then oops, a little nuclear or not so little nuclear war or wars and the Palestinians are doing the Cherokee march out of Palestine or getting killed like in the original Nakba.

This seems unthinkable but it is certainly not inconceivable. Nations build these nuclear weapons and one has already used them actively. Nuclear weapons clearly provide a degree of security to a nation that nations without them do not possess. Hopefully Israel doesn't really wan't to blow up the world or Iran and Pakistan either.

I suppose the costs to the world ecosystem would be quite significant if a few dozen nukes were detonated in Iran, Pakistan, India and who knows where else? Will we all line up like good little soldiers then? I fear so and yet what we should be doing is everything we can to stop such a nuclear attack by any party.