IsraelMarchesIntoGaza

The Israeli Defense Forces launched a ground offensive into Gaza today. This follows Israel’s weeklong air bombardment with the announced aim of stopping the relentless rocket and missile attacks by Hamas onto Israel. These rocket attacks have been more or less continuous for a number of years, and total more than 10,000.

There was a nominal cease-fire for the last six months that Hamas ended unilaterally after announcing there will never be peace with Israel or any extension of the ceasefire. The Hamas organization then launched over 100 more rocket and missile attacks against Israel, which provoked Israel into action. Clearly Hamas wants to fight Israel, particularly on the Public Relations front. They believe they cannot lose as they are perceived as the little guy fighting the big bully so they want to suffer civilian casualties and position their fighters behind and amongst the civilian population intentionally whilst they aim their rockets at Israeli schools and civilian centers.

Hamas combatants will seek to ambush and trap Israel’s soldiers rather than confront their superior firepower and conventional advantages. It’s hard to fight superior forces and it is also difficult to fight an asymmetrical battle. If Israel really wanted to win this battle tactically it would have to reach the strategic decision to demolish Hamas and re-occupy Gaza. Israel doesn’t want to do this and therefore has set much more limited objectives to diminish the missile and rocket launching capability of their deadly foe.

Earlier on Saturday, some 13 people were killed in one Israeli air raid when a missile struck a crowded mosque in Beit Lahiya, Palestinian medics claimed. Israel accused Hamas of using such mosques to hide weapons, ammunition and arms manufacturing.

Despite the inevitable consequences, or perhaps precisely because they were seeking such an Israeli military reaction the Hamas terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets into southern Israel on Saturday, one of which hit the port of Ashdod, injuring two people.

Demonstrations were held against Israel's military operations around the world but no one other than Jewish supporters of Israel appeared to notice that Hamas instigated this entire conflagration.

Meanwhile in Israel thousands of reserve soldiers have been mobilized as the offensive in Gaza widens with the launching of a ground invasion that Defense Minister Ehud Barak says "won't be short" or easy.

It is wise to assume that some of these actions by Israel are a warning to Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon who fought a month long war with Israel in the summer of 2006.

Israeli ground troops began pouring into Gaza earlier Saturday. The incursion expanded an 8-day-old operation that had been conducted almost exclusively from the air.

At least 30 Hamas gunmen were reported killed as IDF troops swept into the northern Gaza Strip where they met fierce initial resistance from Hamas forces entrenched in well-prepared fortifications just over the border.

IDF sources said that the real goal is to conquer territory in northern Gaza, including rocket launch sites, from where most rockets are fired. They are using about four brigades' worth of troops inside the Gaza Strip.

Another main aim of the operation is to deliver a heavy, long-term blow to the Hamas military wing, which the IDF estimates, had not been seriously damaged by the air campaign.

It has been argued that Israel’s response to the rocket and terrorist attacks of Hamas is disproportionate. I don’t understand why this is so. How would the UK or USA or Russia or France, in fact any other country, be expected to react when it had been attacked 10,000 times?

Remember, Israel had pulled out of this territory years ago, and Hamas broke the cease-fire repeatedly and refused to renew it and no one seems to remember that Israel had released convicted terrorists as a gesture of goodwill in the last few weeks. None of this appears to matter or count.

I don’t believe that Israel has any other alternative left open to it and we can only hope that this operation will be as brief, victorious and final as possible. The alternatives are simply not tenable or acceptable.

HappyNewYear

First, to everyone who reads this column, happy New Year!
As we journey together into 2009 we all wonder what surprises will unfold during this year, and just how many will be pleasant or otherwise.

We cannot ignore the realities of the global financial tsunami currently rolling over us while we hold on to every bit of firm high ground we can find.

It is equally implausible, in fact unwise to overlook the Wars on Terror and those in Afghanistan and Iraq; and how could we avoid mention of the current Middle East battle raging in Gaza and the dangers posed by a resurgent Russia and the Iranian / Islamic nuclear threat.

Some of my readers have written to me expressing their dismay that I have been too pessimistic featuring such concerns in my recent normally upbeat column. I am, by nature an optimist, but I am also a realist and pragmatist. We have had little news of good cheer to make us feel upbeat recently. However I can report that all is not gloom and doom in this corner of the electronic universe.

We have reasons to be generally optimistic that are not based on logic or improving economic trends or even positive signs in our common horoscope. These hopes are based on what we are, and what our system of life has achieved in the past. Our Anglo American democracies have stood the test of time and triumphed over great adversities and powerful adversaries in the past and I believe we shall do so again.

Of course the journey is sometimes very hard, and can, on occasion, leave many casualties, and awful suffering. But in the end we will overcome these problems because ours are the greatest countries in the world, and that’s why the world envies us, and has every reason to do so.

It is no accident that so many people still desperately seek any possible method to live in our midst, its because however bad things seem for this moment, most people recognize that ours are the countries they want to live in. And, if it isn’t the UK or the USA the economic migrant wants a piece of, its New Zealand, Australia or Canada that magnetizes people. There is no coincidence here; our Anglo Saxon systems of democracy, our long-term stability and our innate sense of common decency are desirable to most people in the world.

In our wish to survive the current problems we must do nothing to damage the very core of our national being in its defense, as long as we cherish and protect these values with all our strength we shall overcome all adversities and every adversary.

HopesForTheFuture

Following on from my recent article I have enjoyed further meetings with American friends over the last two days that reinforce my views about what’s happening in this amazing country, and around the world, and what’s likely to happen next.

It strikes most people that it is grossly unfair that banking and finance arrangements freely entered into in good times, have been unilaterally changed by the lenders to the detriment of the borrowers during the current bad financial times.

Yes, there is probably the legal right for the lenders to make these changes; but just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should.

These alterations in terms are without exception, to the benefit of the lender, and damage the borrower. The implicit danger to the lenders is that they will, in the longer term, kill the goose that has laid their many golden eggs.

The result of these short sighted, unfair changes in financial terms by the financial institutions has been the collapse of many small to medium size businesses and an explosion of personal bankruptcies and property repossessions. It is logical to anticipate that this situation will become far worse if allowed to continue on the same trajectory.

Business debt collection agencies are already finding it next to impossible to obtain very large percentages of the money due to the lenders.

Another outcome of the present financial crisis has been the explosive growth in the supply of bail out money to the banks and now other industries from our governments. Such printing of money on a massive but quiet scale is fueling the future fall in value of that money. This will lead to a money bubble to follow the property and financial and stock market bubbles, and this could well lead to another major crash in the value of money itself. There is nothing more damaging to a country during peacetime than this outcome, witness the Great Depression, the Weimar Republic or the current crisis in the wrecked country, Zimbabwe.

Are our leaders able, with the inspiration of President Elect Obama, to do anything whatsoever to keep us safe when we have arrived at this precipice?

With all my heart I want to believe that they can save some prosperity for us, but my head says otherwise. Reality dictates that we might not enjoy the prosperity of the past decades again, and certainly should not plan for such an outcome for the foreseeable future.

Such financial instability will lead to problems in supply and demand for raw materials, and possible battles for that supply at prices our countries can afford to pay. Will we, in such circumstances, be willing to forego our individual transportation on demand, or heating or refrigeration when necessary?

These are fundamental issues we are going to have to wrestle with at the same time as our capacity to fight such battles economically, politically and militarily become progressively more seriously impaired. Do we wait until we are even more seriously weakened or pick our fights cynically at a time and place that suits us?

Even more fundamental, if such a thing is possible, will be the control of food and water production and its distribution around the world. Do we behave in a fair and equitable manner or simply pursue a behavior model to suit our more narrow national interests?

My hope is that we see further than the end of our own nose. Our vital need is to work together for eventual global salvation or fail singly. There are no victories to be gained by individuals or even countries acting alone, now, more than ever, we must find new ways to work together.

WaitingforObama

As the festive season rolls on in America there is a sense of waiting, and dare I say, hoping. The country, if not the entire world, is waiting impatiently for the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. Some here seem convinced he is the Messiah, and those of us of a more cynical bent are still hopeful that he might be more John F. Kennedy than Jimmy Carter with speech making abilities.

Whichever he is the world desperately needs hope and leadership as it is awash with problems. The perspective in the States is slightly different than it is in Europe but the underlying themes are identical. The economy stands out as the principal issue and last night I was dining out with a bunch of politically active Southern Californians in the city of Glendale. The consensus amongst all of them, Republicans, Democrats and the non-aligned was the same. The country has to get back in the business of making things that people want and need to buy. Two examples given were low emission and high mileage little cars and fuel-efficient power generation.

On the ground level there was clear evidence that local businesses are in deep trouble just as they are at home. It was agreed that the principal culprits are the banks that are still misusing funds, now provided by us all, and are not recycling that money back into the system. The results of this short termism are rapidly becoming catastrophic as businesses simply cannot arrange credit and are incapable of continuing with finance.

In property I encountered a lady who manages many “for rent” apartments and houses. As people have already invested their funds to purchase the properties she manages she is unable to vary the terms of those properties except for the virtually cosmetic provision of initial inducements. As people simply cannot qualify for regular mortgages to purchase homes here you could assume that they will be rushing to rent. But this is not the case, the business is virtually not moving as the unfortunate folk who can’t afford to stay in their homes as purchasers are moving back in with their families. This is a recession like no other in living memory.

You get some additional signs of this when you look around you on the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas and notice the hugely increasing numbers of people begging on the streets in near freezing temperatures. This dramatic increase in numbers is a new phenomenon; these people are dressed more like middle class professionals than they are tramps. They could be you and me.

I spoke with a retailer who has dropped his prices on clothing by 50% for this usually busy period for his store, and he had 3 customers in an entire day. He doesn’t know how long he can continue to stay in business if it continues like this.

The happiest person at the party was the lady who recently retired with a teacher’s pension. Many others were congratulating her for her remarkable good fortune and hoping that they can reach the same stage without further problems.

I have never met a group of Americans who are so pessimistic, and it is really quite worrying and depressing to do so, and this was without anyone raising little matters like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continuing problems in the Middle East and the unresolved War on Terror. Let us all hope that next month, when Obama takes his Presidential oath in Washington that it is the first step in his starting to lead this country and the world to a better future, we certainly need it.

Spooky

This morning I woke up early and decided to use the time productively. With the wonders of modern science you can check out the whereabouts and well being of friends, old and new, on the Internet with the greatest of ease.

I eased my shiny and lovely MacBook Air onto my lap and hit the Google button. Next I entered the name of a friend I hadn’t seen in many years, a man who once served with me on the Board of Directors of our company in America, and when I was starting out in the film business and he was the big boss of Cinerama Distribution gave my first little movie, The Festival Game, its release. His name is Joe Sugar and I thought I could ring him once I found out where he was to say hi, wish him well for the festive season but sadly I was too late, he had died in the last weeks.

I was saddened and disconcerted, I wish I had spoken with my old friend and we'd shared some chuckles about the wonderful Friars Club lunches we had enjoyed together in Beverly Hills; swapping jokes and anecdotes, but it was not to be.

Now I was even more motivated to look up another old friend who I had heard was sick with that cruel illness, Alzheimer’s, his name is Sandy Howard. This guy was one of the funniest and most charming of men, handsome and talented, a born raconteur and a producer of sometimes-manic energy if sometimes less wisdom. He made films, good and not so great, but always with a smile and a smashing story. I once met him with another friend at a local Chinese restaurant, and they were relieved to see my father and I arrive as they clearly couldn’t afford the meal they’d eaten, they agreed that they “had momentum, but unfortunately it was downward momentum!” Sadly the downward momentum has continued because Sandy had also just died.

Life is the poorer for the passing of such men, hugely entertaining and knowledgeable, old school entertainment people that define the word, Hollywood, for the rest of the world.

Now I was getting very worried because I had checked out two friends and they had both gone to meet their maker, so I thought I would check out someone I didn’t like so much. I clicked on the name of John Daly, someone who I had good reason to dislike after once being friends and having done deals together. Up came his name, guess what, he had also recently died. However much I didn’t care for John I don’t wish anyone dead, but now I felt like I’d killed him.

I was beginning to think that I had better put the computer away for the day and not open it again. But time passes and logic took hold hence I’m writing this blog, but don’t worry, I won’t be checking any friends out on Google for a while.

TheAmericanMedicalSystem

I promised to write about all elements I found here during my stay, including the less positive aspects of America during my trip, so here goes. The U.S. medical system is expensive, but very effective, but only if you can afford it.

This morning we were, as a family, all sick with lingering various coughs and sneezes type symptoms. We needed medical attention to sort it out. More a precautionary measure than an emergency, but if 4 out of 5 of you are laid low you want to know recovery is certain and not too far off.

If you have money and / or insurance this is not a problem. Fortunately I am an assiduous gatherer of travel protection so our journey to recovery was to prove more interesting than painful.

In fact there was very little pain involved at all. I had carefully filed my travel insurance ready for this trip but had forgotten to pack the policy document. My lame excuse is that this oversight was due to my already having flu and a temperature. Despite the lack of my policy document I did have my policy number and more than my share of Klinger chutzpah.

Sarah, my daughter, seeing our ailments and fed up with being an unpaid nurse, took decisive action and called her own medical practitioners for an emergency appointment first thing this morning, which she obtained within 15 minutes.

Getting to the shiny, clean and well-appointed medical building within the allotted time was no problem. Seeing the medical assistant and the doctor was almost immediate and without any fuss.

There was the anticipated problem with the insurance numbers from the UK not being recognizable for an American medical practice but remarkably we were being checked over, comprehensively, politely and with no fuss exactly how you would wish. The doctor, the medical assistant and the receptionist were charming, helpful and terrific at their jobs.

I was reeling from the shock, it isn’t exactly like this in England, where going to the doctor is something like meeting Osama Bin Laden and his cronies on a day they’re feeling nasty.

The only down side here, on which we in the UK have the definite advantage, is that our General Medical Practices are totally free of charge, and accessible to all, whereas here in the States you need the cash or the insurance or these medical pleasures are unavailable.

It was at the point of payment that the system did unravel somewhat. The receptionist almost blew a gasket trying to work with the insurers, and it proved to be simply impossible, so I paid for the service and we went to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. Again this was probably worse in the States as a service than in the UK and undoubtedly far more expensive. Instead of just a few pounds the prescriptions cost over $120.

I was reminded of a trip we once took to Vancouver in Canada, when my son Dan was sick. We found that Canada had all the medical efficiency of America at its finest, combined with the caring for all mentality of Britain’s National Health Service at its best. Surely both are possible and desirable and are a measure of a country’s civilization. In this respect Canada is the model we should all aspire to.

StillHopeForAmerica

There are certain aspects of life in the USA that are particularly good, and others that are the opposite. During this trip I shall touch on both, but my overwhelming reaction on this trip is one of hope. America isn’t done yet, and that’s very important to all of us. We need a strong, resilient America, and this country might be bloodied but it remains unbowed.

Perhaps the reason that there’s still hope is enshrined in the slender shape of President Elect Obama. The people here, by and large, are convinced that they have amongst them a man who can and will lead this country back to the summit of world affairs whilst regaining the traction to rediscover and invigorate its moral leadership of the free world.

It remains to be seen whether or not this optimism is well founded although all right thinking people must hope so. There are deep shadows that threaten the horizon and they come in the form of the scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to swap political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama following his presidential election victory.

No one is suggesting that the President Elect has any connection to the Governor’s alleged misbehavior, other than that of geographical proximity. However there is the underlying linkage of the Chicago political machine of the current Mayor Daly that underpins all Democratic shenanigans in the windy city. Barack Obama cut his political teeth against this background, which means his saintly aura might be more than a little tarnished. Personally a little humanity makes the new president much more convincing for me.

Now that interest rates are approaching zero per cent and the great governments of the old industrial powerhouses are totally committed to the financial and industrial salvage operation we have few weapons left to deploy except common sense and our will to win. It has seen us through even bigger crisis than this huge economic downturn, and it will do so again.