Politics 3 - Jerusalem

I wonder if the name Jerusalem is a religious or political thought in your mind.  Certainly, it is a city of religious significance, but today, politics overshadows almost all forms of religion there.  Of course, some choose to bring religion to the fore, specifically, Judaism and Islam, and one is bound to question the position of Christianity in all of this.

In this discussion, I wish to focus on the political aspect of Jerusalem.  What is Jerusalem — is it Jewish, Islamic, Christian, or all the above?  In my view it is all the above, in which case, for either one of the two present antagonists to decide its future without consultation with the others is doomed to failure.

Therefore, what is the answer?

In my opinion, there is only one answer, and I have never seen it mentioned before ... division.  At least, I have not seen it mentioned in the following way.

Now, before you look for the Comment button, please continue.

Presently, the Israelis declare, without any consultation, that Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel.  At the same time, the Palestinians say that it should be the capital of Palestine (There shall be a Palestinian State).  It seems that the Christians will have no say in the matter.  Therefore, the situation may be described as a solid stalemate.

The answer can be seen by using the Vatican City as a model — a city state within a state.  It works perfectly.

Jerusalem must become a city state, bordered by Israel and Palestine, but governed by neither of them.  The city could be controlled (governed) by a representative group of all three religions within the population and, citizenship and security (for example) for residents could be equally state controlled within the city.  There may be a request for U.N. Peacekeepers initially because, as a religious city, citizens will not be permitted to carry arms ... amongst other things.

Finally, the capital of Israel would be Tel-Aviv and the capital of Palestine could be Ramallah, regardless of the agreed borders of the two countries.  The latter requires a separate discussion.


I wonder what you think of this idea?

Religion 2 - Are You Religious?

I am beginning to regret saying that Religion would be one of my Blog’s monthly subjects for comment.  In one sense, it is continually topical, but otherwise there is a consensus that warns of dire consequences.

But, are you religious?  Most people are religious.  You see, that statement is controversial within itself, and most people will avoid the subject.

I remember, when teaching post-graduates in China, deliberately asking this question in order to force discussion ... a rare occurrence in that country (until recently).

What does the question mean? 

Do you believe that there is a God?  Who is God — a very old man with a long grey beard sitting on the clouds?  Or what is God — a Force, as revealed in the Star Wars story?

Were Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha, real people — and immortal beings?

Although some students accepted that Jesus, Mohammed, and the Buddha were real people, few students admitted to believing in a God.

Therefore, I described this anecdotal question:  Can you remember when you left the comforts of home for the first time, to commence university studies?  You were required to live in a dormitory together with strangers who appeared to display different moral codes (at least, you thought so at the time).  Can you remember, after a few days, crying into your tear-stained pillow, and saying, “Mommy, Mommy, please come quickly and take me away from this horrible place.”  Remember?

But you knew that ‘Mommy’ could not hear you — so, who were you talking to?  Anybody who (or anything that) would listen?  Therefore, at that moment, were you not being somewhat religious?  And is it probable that, even now, or sometimes, we have the need of a relationship with a “Force” that can resolve our problems?  Could this be referred to as being religious?

Travel 1 - A Dutch Island

The WestJet flight out of Toronto was uneventful and we arrived, at the side of the Princess Juliana terminal building, like second-class passengers, having to walk on the hot tarmac to the Arrivals section.  We had arrived on a Dutch Caribbean island.

Unlike the previously researched Google Maps, the island of Sint Maarten is made up of many small, but very steep, hills, causing the taxi to wind itself around narrow roads congested with traffic.  Thus, destinations that had appeared to be within walking distance ... were not.

Front (Main) Street

My choice of hotel, in the historic downtown Philipsburg, proved to be a good idea as it enabled me to stroll the attractive, narrow, one-way streets with ease.  Cars seemed to travel at a very leisurely pace, stopping in the middle of a street to drop off passengers — on one occasion, I saw a driver stop to buy an ice-cream — the following traffic just waited patiently, seemingly without a care in the world.  I have never seen so many duty-free jewelry shops on one street before, sometimes there were three or four within one building.  It was hard to imagine how many customers were really there to buy Cartier and Rolex watches.  Do people plan their vacations based on the number of duty-free shops?

Good night!

I stayed at the Pasanggrahan Hotel, on Front Street, an old structure full of character that is more than a hundred years old (Since my visit, a new annex has been added).  It is furnished with antiques, for example, four-poster beds, formally the Governor’s home and once visited by Princess Juliana and her husband.  It backed onto the beach where a new boardwalk (actually, made of stone) stretched the whole length of the bay enabling one to easily stroll from one end to the other, stopping for refreshment at the bars and surveying the tempting restaurant menus in preparation for the evenings dinner.

It was my intention to review the restaurants and eat fresh fish every day ... an undemanding task.  Naturally, my first meal was at the Pasanggahan’s restaurant, a delicious blackened mahi mahi fish with an excellent variety of vegetables.

It was about this time that I discovered that the island’s guilder was not a popular form of currency relative to the ubiquitous US dollar, and one should never hope to use the Canadian dollar ... even in most banks.

Some notable restaurants, and my choice of menu, are as follows:

• Green House - a popular and casual restaurant and bar near the harbour with intermittent service.  I enjoyed fresh swordfish steak stuffed with crab.
• Ocean - a fine dining restaurant in the highly recommended Holland House hotel with two talented European chefs.  I chose the ‘special’ that comprised grilled sea bass artistically set on a bed of spinach and rice - the desert was an innovative white chocolate cheesecake.
• L’Antoine - a restaurant with a wonderful view of the ocean, and a very amenable French manager.  For lunch, I chose an excellent Caesar salad with a freshly-made dressing and shrimps - the shrimps were so large and sliced in such a way that, for a moment, I thought I had been served lobster.
• Fusion - a small new restaurant with a comfortable atmosphere.  I had a nondescript shrimp tempora as a starter, but the  piece de resistance was a marvelous grilled and sliced tuna loin salad set on a bed of mango slices and lettuce, with a delicious ginger and honeyed soy sauce.
• L’Escargot - a very old restaurant recommended, surprisingly, by many.  I experienced a very long wait with the discourteous waiter continually saying. “Your fish is coming.”  It arrived on the fourth comment.  The tiny piece of Red Snapper was swimming in garlic butter, accompanied by vegetables that were extremely overcooked.  Therefore, attempt a visit at your peril.
• Should you be interested, the town has McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC - and I am proud to disclose that I did not visit any of them.

A Typical Side Street

With the narrow streets, bright colours of the historic buildings, and the beautiful flowers set against the steep mountainous backdrop, this is a place enjoyed by many photographers and artists.  Large cruise ships visit three or four times each week.  Perhaps, the French part of the island will be the main attraction next time, because one week was too long for such a tiny island..

Photo - Show Jumping

My attempt at fame.  Riding a wonderful, largely Arab, stallion called 'Golden Luster' (with remarkable dressage abilities) in the Inter-services 3-day event at Episkopi in Cyprus.

Quotation - "Life Is ..."

John Lennon

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Politics 2 - Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism, even in a political sense, may be interpreted in various ways.  Generally speaking, it has come to mean the argument for extending equal status to distinct ethnic and religious groups without promoting any specific community values.

Originally, in my opinion, it was thought to lead towards assimilation and monoculturalism.  But, now, this commendable idea seems to have failed.

We have a global society that is multinational and where everyone in the developing countries, today, because of the Internet and other forms of international media, desires a higher standard of living ... and we cannot be critical of that.  The problem is the perceived entitlement of citizens of poorer countries to emigrate to richer countries and, this, they will attempt to accomplish illegally, if necessary.

As I said in the introduction, it is “extending equal status to distinct ... groups without promoting any specific community values”.  Therefore, it accepts religious beliefs dependent upon observance of the country’s laws and constitution.  For example, if Sikhism requires a man to carry a knife, the knife should by symbolic and unable to cut.  If Islam requires a women to be modest, it is too extreme to completely cover the face, and security laws must predominate.  If genital mutilation is considered to be a violent and disfiguring injury, then, those who carry out such acts must face the full force of the law.  Finally, Sharia law is not part of Canadian law, and any attempt to include parts of it, must be strongly resisted.

Ask an immigrant from Somalia (for example) if they are, either, a Somalian, a Somali Canadian, or a Canadian (assuming citizenship), there should only be one answer.

Assimilation was never going to be successful and, now, it seems that multiculturalism is a failure too, at least, according to many powerful world leaders — Thus, another look at our whole immigration philosophy is necessary.

Therefore, it is a political requirement ... highlighted in Norway, recently.


Is that a controversial comment to make?  I hope so.