The cynical Syrian circle of death

To bomb or not to bomb, that is the question. How do we get stuck in these tar babies? The wise John Adams said, “America does not go looking for monsters in the world.” He didn't count on a lethal lamebrain like George W. occupying the White House. Out of curiosity I went to Wikipedia to check out the history of Syria. I started with the Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 1916. The British and French would divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire...sort of carving up Turkey. It had the assent of Tsarist Russia who would get Istanbul as a leftover while Britain and France got big spheres of influence and could decide state boundaries. Great maps colored red, blue and light green decided over brandy and cigars in some London club. This undercut the promises made by Lawrence of Arabia to create an Arab homeland in Greater Syria. And in the movie they got Alec Guinness, Obi Wan Kanobe himself, as King Faisal but he was booted out. Ah, but what a tangled web we weave when first we aim to deceive. The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power and they published the terms of the agreement and it is the fatal turning point in Western-Arab relations. Even in 2002 the British Foreign Office admitted “a lot of problems are a consequence of our colonial past”. So where do we come in: we didn't partition the Arab world, or help create Israel. In 1956 we were the good guys who paddled the backsides of Britain, France and Israel for invading Egypt. Why should we go into Syria with guns and missiles firing like we did in Iraq? Orwell was dismayed to hear American military leaders in WWII insist on a “Carthaginian Peace”, in other words total obliteration of the enemy. As for the use of chemical weapons, that's how they fight. A billion Arabs couldn't send a man to the moon. It isn't in the Koran. And as that compassionate dictator Joe Stalin once said, “One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic”.

Jasmine French deserves our sympathy

She is the tragic heroine of Woody Allen's new movie, “Blue Jasmine”. It opens with her flying First Class, which she can't afford, from NY to live with her half-sister in San Francisco—someone who has never tasted First Class in her life unless McDonalds had a test of a Caviar McMuffin. Jasmine got in this fix of being homeless, husbandless and broke through her own jealous impulsiveness that toppled the house of cards built by her husband's shady financial dealings—today's villain du jour. But in my experience these beautifully coiffed and clothed Park Avenue women have always had more moxy and cunning than poor Jasmine. Woody has stacked the deck against her. No money, no family and no marketable skill and no sense or sensibility for the life ahead of her. Her only support is the sister who bags groceries and dubious lovers. Even her son and husband have abandoned her. The funniest scene is a bit of farce when the aptly-named Dr. Flicker, a dentist she works for, declares his love and makes a pass at her and she knocks him to the floor. She's not going to leave the Four Seasons lifestyle for The Olive Garden without a fight. There is no Mr. Right for her, including an unctious man who wants to run for congress. If Woody is detailing infidelity and divorce he's on sure ground he knows well. If he's showing us the gulf between the 1% and the 99%, he's not in the same league as George Bernard Shaw. I guess this is a story of modern manners and morals except you won't find either in the script. Woody leaves her broken, dispirited, alone and talking to herself on a park bench. Chekhov went backstage after one of his plays ended and found the actors in tears. He said, “but this is just a little comedy”. I suppose Blue Jasmine is just a little comedy where everybody loses, especially the husband who commits suicide in prison.