Middle East History

In The Midst Of Massive Injustice, A Moment To Salute Jimmy Carter, On What Would Have Been His 101st Birthday!

In the midst of massive injustice, and living through the worst Presidency in American history, far worse than the first term of Donald Trump, we should all pause and reflect on something that can make us smile!

Today, October 1, would have been the 101st Birthday of President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024, almost three months past his birthday, and the longest lived President in American history.

Jimmy Carter is diametrically opposite of Donald Trump, as Carter can be regarded as likely the most decent, humane, truly religious, sincere, compassionate, empathetic, intelligent person ever to occupy the White House, bar none!

Carter may not have accomplished the greatness of Presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his time in office was tough, but he gave his “All”, as the hardest working President of modern times!

Carter will be remembered for the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, the most important development in modern Middle East history.

He will be remembered for his great environmental advocacy (the greatest of any one term President), and for the justice of arranging for the Panama Canal, forced on Panama by Theodore Roosevelt, to be returned to their sovereignty under international law.

He also established the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); recognized Mainland China; and presided over the creation of the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services, among other accomplishments.

Carter also promoted human rights as a foreign policy goal, and created the Carter Center, post Presidency, to deal with tropical diseases and promote free and fair elections, and won the Nobel Peace Prize a generation after his Presidency, along with building housing for the poor with his own hands for Habitat For Humanity.

And he also gave America the man regarded by many experts as the best, most effective, most engaged Vice President in American history, Walter Mondale. Additionally, he struck up a close friendship with his one time rival, Gerald Ford, the closest Presidential relationship of two rivals for the Presidency since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Carter’s reputation will continue to rise, and the contrast with Donald Trump is stark and shocking.

God bless the soul of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter!

Another Shocking Event: 9/11 For Israel, Threatens Survival And Stability In Middle East!

In a stunning week, where the Speaker of the House of Representatives was repudiated for the first time in American history, now, shockingly, Israel faces issues of its survival and stability after the totally unexpected intelligence failure which led to sustained attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, from the Gaza Strip.

This is the greatest tragedy since a half century ago, when at the same time on the calendar, there was the Yom Kippur War between Israel, Egypt, and Syria.

The loss of life, the number of wounded, and the shock of Israelis being taken captive, has stunned everyone who thought that Israel never had its national security and safety to be in danger.

Of course, the United States supports Israel in this crisis, but it does not take away from the reality that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is an extremist right wing government, which as I write, has apparently rejected the idea of a government of national unity, with the purpose of disposing of the most extremist right wing Orthodox Jewish religious elements in the government coalition.

There could be a massive war crime in the Gaza Strip, leading to the death of thousands of civilians who have nowhere to escape the potential bloodshed as Israel works to punish and destroy Hamas and the terrorist threat to Israel’s future.

This is a time of mourning, and of prayers required, that somehow, the developing tragedy will not lead to a massive loss of life unmatched in Middle East history!

And without a stable House of Representatives and an installed Speaker, the US government is faced with the crisis of having problems helping Israel, as well as Ukraine, in what has now become two major foreign policy crises faced by President Joe Biden!