JUST WONDERING

A few random thoughts:

--What if Israel had relinquished the Golan Heights to Syria? Would Assad now be launching rockets from the Heights onto Israel, hoping for an Israeli response so as to distract his people from his tyranny and to unite the Arab world behind a war with Israel?                                                    
                                                     
--What if Muammar Qadaffi had not been convinced by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to give up his nuclear and chemical weapons?  Would he have used them on his own people?  Would they be amongst the weapons that have disappeared in Libya and now are finding their way into the hands of Hamas and possibly other terrorists?

--What if the U.N were actually a moral, effective organization and its members were outraged at the slaughter of nearly 4,000 Syrians and the oppression of millions more?  What if China and Russia, not exactly democratic nations, did not have veto power over the Security Council?  Would there at least be a strong resolution condemning Syria?

--What if President Obama had strongly supported the Iranian revolt against the rigged elections in Iran?  Might there now be a new regime?  Is it conceivable that we would not now be facing the possibility of a regime that has declared its intentions to eliminate six million Jews developing nuclear weapons?

--TV commentators are increasingly using the phrases  "As It Were" and "If You Will."  What do these phrases mean?  Are they supposed to be sophisticated substitutes for "hmmm,"  "uhhhh," and "you-know?"  Do they really mean "I don't know what to say so I am throwing in a phrase that I hope sounds intelligent?"

--Early in the Obama Administration the President and his advisors on the Middle East asserted that progress on the Israel-Palestinian front was required in order to move effectively against Iranian nuclear build-up.  Yet, we now know from Wikileaks that the Arab world supports strong actions against Iran, and the President himself says that efforts are going well against the Iranian threat.  What changed?  Is there some movement on the peace front that we do not know about?