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May 7, 2013

Oil-rich Qatar pushing to make its name as a Mideast peace broker

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When it comes to the latest Arab peace initiative, two questions are circulating in Washington: Why Qatar? And why now?

The three answers: Because Qatar is rich; it is scared; and why not?

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister and foreign minister, in recent weeks has driven the revivification of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, moderating it slightly to hew closer to the outlines touted by the Obama administration since 2011.

The updated version, outlined by Hamad in remarks to reporters following his meeting April 29 with Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington, pulls back from the 2002 demand that Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders in exchange for comprehensive peace.

Instead, Hamid proposed “comparable and mutual agreed minor swaps of the land” — a formulation that opens the door to Israel's retention of several major settlement blocs. Hamad also did not mention the Palestinian “right of return” and the division of Jerusalem, elements of the original Arab initiative that had led to its rejection by the Israeli government.

Qatar, the fabulously wealthy Persian Gulf state that is host to the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, hasn't been known until recently for grabbing onto thorny diplomatic challenges. So what does Hamad hope to gain?

The Qatari Embassy did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but experts and officials say that Qatar is wealthy enough to do what it likes and, as an autocracy concerned for its survival in a region roiling with revolution, is driven to make friends and demonstrate its usefulness.

“For a small country, they’re throwing money around, organizing diplomatic events, trying to shape a range of issues, much of it related to the Middle East uprising,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank considered close to the Obama administration. “It's rich, it's small, it lacks the inner turmoil of other countries. It’s one of the [Middle Eastern] countries … that are more internally stable and have more resources.”

Just prior to unveiling the revised peace plan, Hamad, a distant cousin of the Qatari emir, was honored by the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, an organization that received $2.5 million to $5 million from the government of Qatar in 2012, according to Politico.

Tamara Cofman Wittes, the Saban Center’s director, said Qatar for years had accrued influence through such uses of “soft power” — the generous dispensation of money and assistance — coupled with its ownership of Al Jazeera, the region’s most influential news outlet. When uprisings swept the Middle East at the beginning of 2011, Qatar was able to step into a vacuum left by the toppled dictators, she said.

“It vaulted Qatar into a much more prominent role in regional politics because of the loss of [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak,” Wittes told JTA. “Its regional assistance and Al Jazeera have allowed it to play a larger role in how the awakening is viewed.”

Backing winners, whether the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or the forces that helped topple Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, also lends credibility — and insurance — to a regime that is itself autocratic, Katulis said.

“If they win as many as friends as possible, get in early on the ground floor, they'll be all the more influential,” he said.

A State Department official played down Qatar's role in reviving the Arab peace bid, noting that the new plan formally emerged from the Arab League. And yet he emphasized that the Obama administration is focused mainly on returning the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table and hopes the peace initiative can help them get there.

“It's a sign that the Arab League is a constructive member in the process,” the official said. “The regional partners have a role, but our major focus is getting the Palestinians and Israelis back to the table for direct talks.”

So far, that doesn't seem to be happening. Israel is less than thrilled about the new initiative. An Israeli official confirmed that Netanyahu remains as unenthusiastic about the 1967 lines as a basis for negotiations as he was in 2011, when President Obama’s proposal based on those lines precipitated a small crisis in U.S.-Israel relations.

Israelis are also skeptical of Qatar because of its support for Hamas, the terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip. The country’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, became the first foreign leader to visit the strip last October.

“On the diplomatic front, Qatar publicly claims to support Israeli-Palestinian peace while making certain to undermine it in every possible way,” Seth Mandel wrote last week in Commentary, the neoconservative journal.

But Wittes said Qatar’s relationship with Hamas could be seen as a benefit. Hamas is a mainstay of Palestinian politics, and Qatar could help influence the group to moderate.

“If obstruction of peace was Hamas’s role as spoiler,” she said, “you have to look at the potential for Qatar as a positive influence.”

Oil-rich Qatar pushing to make its name as a Mideast peace broker Read More »

How to invest in spring

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The tulips in New York City are in vibrant, raging bloom.  The locals who, less than two weeks ago donned dark overcoats, scarves, and gloves, and were slumped miserably over their iPhones as they trudged down into the dank subway, are now walking brightly, as the sun warms their souls. Birds sing in the newly leafed elms, and the park is alive with sun worshipers, bikers and runners, and parents screaming at their future Yankee starters.  Spring has arrived.

Just as spring follows winter, the economy also reveals its own seasons.  Savvy investors understand that the way to achieve their financial goals is 1) invest in a broadly and globally diversified portfolio; and 2) increase or decrease the percentages of certain investments within that portfolio based on the “season.”

(My firm believes that low-cost and tax-efficient index funds are the best way to diversify across different asset classes, but most advisors still think they can add value by selecting individual stocks and bonds.)

The key to successful investment management is understanding where you are in the economic cycle – the “season” – and to have the right mix of investments.  For example, if you believe that we are currently in the midst of an economic expansion – and I do — you want to have an over-weighted position in stocks because they tend to rise as the economy grows.  Conversely, since interest rates are so low, and bond prices will decline when rates ultimately rise, you want to have a smaller-than-normal amount of bonds in your portfolio.  (What is “normal” for you depends on your risk tolerance.  You and your advisor need to determine this together before you invest.)

There are no guarantees that any investing philosophy will give you positive returns each and every year.  What we do know from history is that the typical “win big, lose big” style practiced by the big Wall Street firms is a recipe for losing money.  Play it safe.  Be patient, and manage your portfolio for sustained performance by paying attention to the seasons.

How to invest in spring Read More »

Choose Life: The New Right to Life Movement

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Violence rests heavy in the mythological and religious womb of our civilization. The first murder happens just verses after Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden. According to legend, Cain was stunned after he struck and killed Abel, as death had not yet inhabited the world. He was literally at a loss as to what to do. The birds taught him about how to bury the body.

Violence has never left us from that wayward moment. However, our biblical religions do not glorify the violence. When God commanded Israel to build a Tabernacle so that God might rest amongst the people Israel, part of the package was that the altar would not be hewn with metal. Metal brought death in the form of swords and the altar was a symbol of life. Death would not bring life. If a priest fought in a war, even a commanded war, a righteous conflict, he was forbidden to do the Temple service if he had taken life. King David was not allowed to build the Temple because his hands were bloodied.

The Torah might sanction war and violence in limited cases (self defense, perhaps), however even sanctioned violence is not glorified. Extinguishing the life of a person, even an enemy, even a bad person, is still an act of evil.

The Rabbinic tradition transvalued the warriors into Sages who fought on the battlefield of Torah study. “Who is the hero? The one who triumphs over his will.” The 3rd century mishnah debated the symbolic meaning of the machinery of death. While there is a lone opinion that weapons are a man’s decoration, Sages say that weapons are a disgrace to a person. They call on Isaiah, beating swords into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks.

Yet we are also heir to civilizations which glorify the warrior, which laud the hero with the sword, the battle axe, and later the gun. The macho and often racist mythology of the lone gunslinger whether in a mythical west or a combat zone in Europe, Japan, Vietnam, and more recently America, created the American version of the medieval warrior. This legend of weaponized individuality, cowboyed autonomy (“yippee kay yo”) raised the rifle to iconic status.

We live at a bad moment in the arc of history for us to be embracing these myths and continuing to survive. When the smiths in the middle ages figured out how to forge steel swords, the weaponry of death became much more lethal, since the metal was no longer brittle. However, all this was nothing compared to the death that could be sown with the invention of gunpowder, then guns, repeating rifles and revolvers, and then machine guns in their various types. To our great bad fortune, the aura of the warrior carried over to the poor shlub who wielded an automatic weapon which could spray random death at a distance of a football field.

And so it is up to us to once again choose life. What is called for at this moment is a new Right to Life movement. A movement that does not fetishize the machinery of death in the name of a misguided masculinity or a corrupted culture. The machinery of death is now produced by a vast industry which profits from a product whose only use is the destruction of life. It is up to us to take the streets, the culture and this country back from the death-industrial complex.

In a week when ” target=”_blank”>governer of Arizona declared it illegal to destroy guns, even those that were bought back by the state; in this week when again ” target=”_blank”>Call your Representatives, take to the streets to protest outside the NRA’s branches, read the names of thousands of victims of the NRA’s war on America outside gun shows, and gun plants. This is the moment and we are called on to seize it.

Choose Life: The New Right to Life Movement Read More »

Celebrate Shavuot with the best of the spring season

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With its tradition of dairy meals, Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Arriving later in the spring — an ideal time to find delicious fruits, herbs and vegetables — it's perfect for using fresh and seasonal ingredients.

The four dishes I have selected for a Shavuot menu not only are perfect for dinner or lunch, they also reflect my philosophy on eating well: good planning, portion control and nutrition. Each dish can be prepared in advance, is not too difficult to make and doesn’t require many ingredients. And the ingredients are readily available.

I love to start holiday meals with soup. Green Pea and Zucchini Soup can be served at room temperature, which is nice if the weather is warm. It also freezes well.

For the main course, Ziti With Herbs and Mozzarella has a lovely combination of herbs and cheese. And in late spring and summer, there is an abundance of fresh basil, parsley and arugula, all of which add wonderful flavor to the dish.

For my fish, the tasty Seared Tuna With Two Sauces also can be served at room temperature.

Finally, instead of the obligatory highly caloric cream cheese-based cheesecake, try Ricotta Flan with Raspberry Sauce. The ricotta and almonds make the cake much lighter (and healthier) than a traditional cheesecake, and it  can be served warm, cold or at room temperature.  Feel free to add fresh raspberries.

The recipes below are from “Helen Nash's New Kosher Cuisine” (Overlook Press).

GREEN PEA AND ZUCCHINI SOUP

Makes 6 servings

This nutritious soup is truly a dish for all seasons, as it can be served at any time of year. Because it is so easy to prepare and freezes well, I usually have a batch on hand for last-minute dinner guests.

Ingredients:

1 pound zucchini
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
20 ounces frozen sweet green peas, defrosted
3 1/4 to 4 cups  vegetable broth
10 basil leaves, torn
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Rinse the zucchini and trim the ends. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the zucchini and garlic and saute for a minute.

Add the peas and 3 1/4 cups broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and cook, covered, for 5 minutes.

Cool the soup a little. Puree half the soup coarsely in a blender. Return it to the saucepan and reheat, adding more broth as needed, until the soup reaches the desired consistency. Stir in the basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

ZITI WITH HERBS AND MOZZARELLA

Makes 6 appetizer servings or 4 main-course servings

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup tightly packed flat-leaf parsley
1 cup loosely packed arugula leaves
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Kosher salt
1 pound imported ziti
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and bake in a toaster oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft. Cool.

Peel the cloves and place them in a food processor along with the basil, parsley, and arugula. Adding the oil in a stream through the feed tube, pulse until semicoarse. Transfer to a large bowl.

Cut the mozzarella into 1/2-inch cubes. Add the cheese, along with the crushed pepper, to the herb mixture and combine.

Bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Add all the ziti at once and stir. Boil briskly, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until the pasta is al dente.

Drain in a colander, refresh with cold water, and drain well again. Add the ziti to the herb and mozzarella mixture and combine. Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

SEARED TUNA WITH TWO SAUCES

Makes 6 servings

Tuna is surely one of America’s favorite fish, and it lends itself to many types of preparation, from sashimi to “tuna-fish” sandwiches. This dish follows calls for the fish to be almost raw; it can be accompanied with one of the Asian-inspired sauces, Ginger or Piquant Asian.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons  freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds sashimi-quality tuna
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Julienned daikon, sliced seeded cucumbers, and strong-tasting salad leaves like arugula or watercress, for garnish
Ginger Sauce or Piquant Asia Sauce, to serve

Preparation:

Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Pat the tuna dry with paper towels. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sear the tuna on both sides, then remove from the heat and rub both sides with the salt-pepper mixture.

When cool, wrap the tuna tightly in wax paper, then in foil. Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or overnight. This will make it firmer and thus easier to slice.

To serve: Cut the fish against the grain in thin slices and serve accompanied by the suggested vegetables. Serve either of the sauces separately.

GINGER SAUCE

Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

2 shallots, finely chopped
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 generous tablespoon olive oil
1 generous tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Combine the ingredients well and season to taste.

PIQUANT ASIAN SAUCE

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup shelled soybeans (edamame), defrosted  (see note)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

 

Preparation:

Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a medium-mesh strainer. Season to taste.

Note: Frozen edamame, shelled and unshelled, is available in health-food stores and supermarkets.

RICOTTA FLAN WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE

Makes 8 to 10 servings

You can bake this light dessert a day in advance and refrigerate.

FLAN

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
1 cup blanched almonds
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Grated zest of 2 lemons
One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese, at room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting the flan
Fresh raspberries, for garnish

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-by-1 1/2-inch flan dish with the butter.

Roast the almonds in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, until golden. Cool. Finely grind them in a food processor.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, adding the sugar gradually until well combined. Add the vanilla, lemon zest, ricotta, and almonds. Mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the center feels slightly springy to the touch. Place on a wire rack to cool.

RASPBERRY SAUCE

Ingredients:

One 12-ounce (340 g) package unsweetened frozen raspberries, defrosted
1 tablespoon Cognac (optional)
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, or to taste

Preparation:

Puree the raspberries in a blender until smooth. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve. Push the solids through the sieve with the back of a spoon to obtain as much puree as possible. Stir in the Cognac. Sweeten to taste with sugar.

To serve: Spoon the raspberry sauce on individual plates and place slices of the flan on top. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and garnish with fresh raspberries.

Celebrate Shavuot with the best of the spring season Read More »

Amanda Bynes melts down on Twitter

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Just a day after tweeting lingerie-clad selfies, former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes star posted an even louder cry for attention (and help?): topless photos of herself.

It’s not just the nudity that indicates a depressing rock bottomness to her downward spiral. It’s seeing her all alone in her bathroom, her tweaked-out expressions, her photo captions (“Rawr!”). Eek.

And just when you think it can’t get worse, Bynes goes off on actress and author Jenny McCarthy, who shared over Twitter that the police were at Bynes’ house and that hopefully the troubled 27-year-old would now get the help she needs.

“@JennyMcCarthy I need help? What are u talking about?” Bynes ranted. “Aren’t u 50 years old? I’m 27, u look 80 compared to me! Why are you talking about me?”

And: “@JennyMcCarthy you’re ugly! Police weren’t at my house old lady! Shut the f**k up!”

For once Bynes seemed somewhat aware of her mania, eventually removing the tweets and apologizing. ”You’re beautiful! I was lying!”

Amanda Bynes melts down on Twitter Read More »

P.A. health minister makes landmark visit to Hadassah Hospital

Leave a Comment / Israel, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

A Palestinian Authority minister of health visited Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem reportedly for the first time.

Dr. Hanu Abdeen, accompanied by other senior officials from the Palestinian Authority, visited the hospital on Sunday and met some of the dozens of Palestinian physicians who are doing their residency training there.

The hospital said Abdeen was the first P.A. health minister to visit the facility.

Abdeen met with the hospital's acting director-general and director of Hadassah-Ein Kerem, Dr. Yuval Weiss, in the pediatric hematology-oncology department, where 30 percent of the patients are Palestinian.

“Hadassah considers cooperation with our Palestinian neighbors a top priority,” Weiss said. “Medicine is a bridge to peace. There are no borders when it comes to treating patients.”

P.A. health minister makes landmark visit to Hadassah Hospital Read More »

Amid rising Islamism in Africa, Israel-Senegal ties still flourishing

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Struggling to be heard over a flock of bleating sheep, Israel’s ambassador to Senegal invites a crowd of impoverished Muslims to help themselves to about 100 sacrificial animals that the embassy corralled at a dusty community center here.

The October distribution, held as French troops battled Islamists in neighboring Mali and one month after Muslim radicals killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, is held annually in honor of Tabaski, the local name of the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast. The distribution is broadcast on national television in a land that is 95 percent Muslim, providing Israel with a powerful platform to burnish its image among Senegalese.

“It registers very strongly with locals that Israelis give them sheep for a Muslim holiday while most Arab embassies do nothing,” said Eli Ben-Tura, the Israeli ambassador.

The animals are just part of the millions that Israel has spent over the years in Senegal, a French-speaking Western African nation of 12 million where the average monthly salary is $158. In return, Senegal has supported Israel’s erection of a barrier to protect itself from Palestinian terrorism and, in December, signed over oil prospecting rights in its territorial waters to an Israeli-owned mining company.

Over the past decade, Israel's trade with Senegal has more than tripled.

“Like Israel, Senegal is an island of stability in an unstable region,” Ben-Tura told JTA in an interview last week at the Israeli Embassy overlooking Independence Plaza in Dakar, the capital city.

The importance Israel places on its partnership with Senegal was evident in Ben-Tura's speech on April 30 at Israel’s 65th Independence Day celebration at the Grand Theatre National, a magnificent structure built with Chinese funding in 2011 near Dakar’s main port.

Speaking to an audience of 1,000, Ben-Tura listed Israel’s latest gifts to the country: training for hundreds of farmers; preparations to train thousands more by Israeli experts stationed in the country; and the establishment of a permanent depot for agricultural equipment and disease control.

Even intercultural activities have not been overlooked. After speeches by Ben-Tura and Mamadou Talla, Senegal's minister of professional training, Israel Ballet artistic director Ido Tadmor and 40 local artists performed a modern dance routine featuring tea cups. Dozens of onlookers avidly recorded their every move on smartphones.

“Cultural exchange with Africa has been neglected for too long,” Ben-Tura said.

Yet beneath this seemingly symbiotic partnership may be a deeper concern.

Mali, which used to be part of a federal entity with Senegal, last year witnessed an Islamic insurgency so powerful that French troops were called in to quell it. Some 475,000 people became refugees, many of them in Senegal. Some observers believe Senegal is wooing Israel and the West mainly for protection from the Islamic upheaval.

“The effects of the insurgency are not felt here for the time being,” said Oleg Sergeev, minister-counselor of the Russian Embassy in Dakar. “But the Senegalese authorities are turning westward out of concern over the possibility that the Mali insurgency may be trickling over.”

As an impoverished Muslim nation heavily dependent on foreign aid, Senegal must toe a careful line in its embrace of the Jewish state. Anti-Semitic books with titles such as “Hitler the Zionist Puppet” are sold here at bookstands and in 2009, several hundred people burned an Israeli flag at a rally to protest Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The Senegalese government, then chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, condemned the attack as “unjustified and unacceptable.” Still, the government’s condemnations never went beyond words.

“It was a very strong reaction, but it didn’t have an impact on diplomatic relations,” said Christian Clages, the German ambassador to Senegal.

Senegalese officials declined to address the reasons for their country's closeness with Israel. But observers attribute it variously to the country's moderate brand of Islam, its relative openness to the West and its past disillusionment with Arab regimes. In 1973, under pressure from Arab countries, Senegal severed its ties with Israel.

“The Arabs threatened sanctions and promised free oil but never delivered, to the bitter disappointment of the Senegalese,” said Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli Foreign Ministry official who negotiated the restoration of diplomatic relations in 1994.

Senegalese moderation was on display in 2012 when Jamra, one of the country's leading Islamic associations, protested the release of an anti-Muslim film, “The Innocence of Muslims.” The online video triggered violent protests around the world, but in Senegal, it led to the first meeting between Jamra and the Israeli Embassy.

Jamra’s executive president, Imam Massamba Diop, told JTA he learned in his November meeting with Ben-Tura that Israel had nothing to do with the film. And despite his organization's generally pro-Palestinian posture — it considers Israel’s blockade on Gaza illegal and organizes pro-Palestinian activities in Dakar — Diop supports his government's friendly relations with Israel.

“The Senegalese people deeply appreciate the event,” Diop said of the embassy's sheep distribution.

Another Senegalese Muslim leader, Sheikh Paye, arrived at the Israel Independence Day celebration in a shiny, traditional white-and-gold imam robe. A spiritual leader in one of Dakar’s 19 neighborhoods, Paye told JTA that his attachment to Israel stems neither from gratitude for its largesse nor considerations of realpolitik.

“My late father used to be a good friend of several Israeli ambassadors here,” Paye said. “He died three months ago, shortly before the Israeli Embassy’s invitation arrived. It’s an honor to represent him here to people from a country he loved but never visited.”

Amid rising Islamism in Africa, Israel-Senegal ties still flourishing Read More »

What it really feels like to be alive today

Leave a Comment / Books, Culture, Entertainment, Is Featured? /

David Shields, author of the hotly debated “Reality Hunger: A Manifesto,” has bewitched us once again with his innovative genre-bending meditation “How Literature Saved My Life” (Knopf, $29.95).  Shields remains a mysterious man.  He initially seems to be one part seducer, and another part con man and aging hipster, with just enough earnest integrity and soul searching passion to remind you of the boys we met ages ago in college who couldn’t stop talking about their search for “truth.”  Shields is enthusiastic about writing but bored to tears with the majority of plot-driven contemporary novels that flood the marketplace and feel lifeless.  He particularly dislikes the artificiality he finds littered throughout Jonathan Franzen’s lengthy books and resents the esteemed critic James Wood, whom Shields feels is hopelessly misguided and rigid in his assessment of modern works.

Shields wants to be at the forefront of a new form of literature that more accurately mirrors what it feels like to be alive today, living amidst the continual interruptions and chaos that characterize modern life, particularly in light of the new innovations in social media.  His recent works no longer represent traditional novels in any way.  Instead, he puts forth a collage-like narrative that blends his own autobiographical renderings within the context of a larger conversation that includes heavily referencing other people’s works and ideas.  So his account becomes a dialogue of sorts between himself and others.  He seems able to bounce effortlessly between time and space and memory.  His assortment of remembered moments, intimate confessions, sudden epiphanies, and distant recollections reveal a serious mind always in search of higher ground.

Shields grew up an insecure child beset by stuttering and severe acne.  He is the only son of journalists, and lived his formative years in a secular Jewish home in Northern California.  His mother died of breast cancer while he was a junior at Brown University.  His father lived until 98 but suffered greatly from serious bouts of manic depression and was very rejecting of young David.  He still hurts when remembering his father’s response to his inquiry about what he thought about his writing.  The old man replied, “Too bad you didn’t become a pro tennis player.  You had some talent.”  Although his life has been arduous, one senses a ferocity in Shields to overcome whatever obstacles come before him.

Shields’ quirky riffs impress us with their originality.  For example, he writes about his uncomfortable realization that he shares too much in common with former President George Bush.  Shields writes “It’s hard now to reanimate how viscerally so many people hated Bush just a few years ago, but looking back on him now, I remember him as a homebody, someone who doesn’t like to travel without his pillow, is addicted to eight hours of sleep a night; so am I.  In India, he wasn’t sufficiently curious to go see the Taj Mahal.  I must admit I could imagine doing the same thing.  For his New Year’s resolution nine months after invading Iraq, he said he wanted to eat fewer sweets; he was widely criticized for this, but this was also my New Year’s resolution the same year.  He pretends to love his father, but he hates him.  He pretends to admire his mother, but he reviles her.  Check and check…He just wants to be secure and taken care of and left alone — pretty much my impulses.”  Shields’ cleverness is in showing us how by acutely observing what he dislikes in others he is more able to understand himself.  His personal journey is not linear and insular but part of a larger fabric.

Shields does not shy away from more serious matters.  He reprints for us a note he sent to his only child which reads “Email to my daughter, Natalie, eighteen, insulin-resistant and hypothyroid, who faced weight issues throughout high school: “I felt utterly isolated in high school and college (not part of any social scene), but over time my speech issues receded and I became the immensely social butterfly I am now.”  We feel his pain for his daughter’s sorrow, his hope for her future, and his desire to help her.

But most of the time Shields is struggling with his own demons.  This now ancient hippie is still asking the existential questions he struggled with as a young man wondering “What’s ‘true’?  What’s knowledge?  What’s ‘fact’?  What’s memory?  What’s self?  What’s other?”

Shields believes new forms of writing can help bring forth clarity and revelation.  He admires writers like Milan Kundera, Geoff Dyer, Sarah Manguso, David Markson, and W.G. Sebald whom he believes are following in this path.  He welcomes the rawness and vulnerability of their prose, and their openness to their own confusions.  There are some who may dismiss Shields’ work as merely a mask for narrative impotence, but many more will sense he is on to something.  This self-appointed prophet encourages us to think and read in a different manner that seems impeccably suited to our changing times.

Elaine Margolin is a frequent contributor of book reviews to the Jewish Journal and other publications

What it really feels like to be alive today Read More »

Iowa sisters fired for joking about burning Jews

Leave a Comment / News, United States /

Two Iowa sisters were fired from their jobs after joking about “burning the Jews” inside a toy oven.

Christina and Susan Ott were dismissed from an assembly plant in New Hampton, Iowa, in January, the Des Moines Register reported this week, after walking around work on Dec. 19 with a toy oven in which they placed gingerbread men.

“Happy Hanukkah. We’re burning the Jews,” the women said, according to five plant employees,

The Otts were rejected for unemployment benefits in separate hearings.

“Simply the act of carrying an oven around with little people in it while saying ‘Happy Hanukkah’ is offensive, let alone if she said the hate speech along with it,” administrative law judge Susan Ackerman said during a hearing for Christina Ott, according to the newspaper.

Iowa sisters fired for joking about burning Jews Read More »

Syrians angry at Israel

Leave a Comment / Live from the Arab Spring, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Worldwide /

This story originally appeared on themedialine.org.

Khalil Sharif wants everyone to stay out of his country’s business.

“First the foreign jihadists hijack the revolution and now the Israelis,” the 31 year old electrician complained to The Media Line. “Why can’t they leave Syria to Syrians?”

While Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the attacks on Syrian military installations this week, Syrians had no doubt who was responsible. What they’re not sure about, is what it will mean for the future of the civil war in Syria. On one hand, many are happy to see the regime they are fighting suffer a blow to its esteem. At the same time, Syrians fear the attack could allow President Bashar Al-Assad to marshal support by depicting an imminent Zionist threat.

Syrians are taught to loathe Israel at an early age, learning that it is the Arabs’ mortal enemy which wants to steal all their land and strip them of their cultural heritage. Daily doses of propaganda in papers and television ensure that older generations do not forget the perils Syria faces from what they call an expansionist Israel.

But today, many Syrians in opposition controlled areas have reconsidered their passionately held views about their southern neighbor. Some believe that Israel and the Syrian government are closet allies.

“Why hasn’t Syria attacked Israel in the last thirty years?,” 19 year old Hamid Shadi asked The Media Line at an Aleppo bakery. “How can Syria be Israel’s fiercest enemy if it never fights it?”

Shadi and others believe the two nations are colluding to prevent a rebel victory and that Israel has persuaded its Western allies not to intervene in the conflict.

Such reasoning has led some Syrians to postulate that the Israeli attacks were a ruse to allow the regime to shore up its sinking support in the face of the rebel led Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) revolution.

“Just when the regime is beginning to lose on the battlefield Israel attacks,” 34 year old accountant Sa’id Bunni tells The Media Line. “And what did it hit? A science research facility. How is that a military target?”

More level headed Syrians were equally perturbed by the attack.  “It will only distract people from our cause,” complained 42 year old landlord Jabir Shufi.  “We need to focus on overthrowing the regime, not sideshows and circuses.”

Shufi and others worry that a regime skilled in turning catastrophes to its advantage will do just that with the Israeli bombings.  “It will make people reconsider who the real enemy is – the Zionists or the regime, the defenders of the Arab cause,” explained 46 year old Anwar Ma’ri.”  Syrians will just get confused.  And they are good at that.”

Such confusion has already afflicted a number of Syrians. “Why is the FSA fighting the only regime willing to stand up to Israel?” asked 25 year old office supply store clerk Muhammad Sabri.  “It should support (President Bashar) al-Assad in his battle instead of fighting him.”

It is a refrain many on Aleppo’s streets echo. “The FSA is helping the Zionists bleed Syria,” said 22 year old fruit vendor Hashim Sadiq.  “This brings us dishonor.”

Despite the close ties between Israel and the United States, few here believe Jerusalem attacked on Washington’s orders.  “(American President Barack) Obama doesn’t need little Israel to do his bidding,” exclaimed 31 year old builder Yasir Umar.

In private homes far from the fears of eavesdroppers, some Syrians expressed reserved approbation.  “Assad does not fear the FSA,” said a man who only asked to be identified as Abu Ahmad. “But Israel scares him. These attacks keep him up at night and distract him from the fight against the FSA.”

Others who endorsed the Israeli strike lamented that Jerusalem did not bomb anything of significance.  “They didn’t take out Assad’s planes,” noted a man who asked that his name be withheld because he was speaking about a sensitive topic.  “They did not destroy his tanks.  So what good is the attack?”

With so many opinions voiced about an attack whose target is shrouded in secrecy, Syrians are unsure of what to think.  And that just might play into the hands of a regime that has portrayed itself as the only side that can provide stability in a land inundated with uncertainty.

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