"A Line In the Sand" by James Barr (2012)

The Middle East is a puzzle of contemporary history, with a cast of governments, and officials, who have managed to turn the entire area into a global disaster waiting to happen. We often look back only as far as the late 1940's and the rise of Israel to statehood as the root of the problems there. This is a very short sighted outlook.

While the conflicts in the Middle East can be traced as far back as biblical times, the most influential events which have ravaged the region occurred in the years during the First World War. It was during this time, when T.E. Lawrence, under orders from General Allenby, united the Arab tribes in order to break the back of the Ottoman Empire. Even as the fighting was raging, a secret agreement; which came to be known as the Sykes-Picot agreement; drew a line in the sand from the Mediterranean Sea to the foothills of Persia. The land north of the line would go to France, while the lands south of the line would belong to the British. Nobody consulted the Arabs.

The British quickly took possession of the Eastern side of the Suez Canal and began their tepid backing of a Jewish state. The French, looking to maintain control in Lebanon and Syria, exploited the political chasm between the Zionists and the British. This was the true beginning of the conflict which rages in the Middle East to this very day, and as such it bears close examination. Mr. Barr, with this book, has done just that.

At the time, the French were very much concerned that the British were undermining their rule in the area, and the British were of the same opinion of the French. So, through a series of what can only be described as "political blundering", based largely upon a struggle between the two colonial powers in the area, the stage was set for the struggles which began almost immediately after the end of the First World War.

The French, of course, gained Lebanon and Syria; while the British retained control of Palestine, portions of Egypt and Transjordan, as well as Iraq. The British then created Kuwait as a way of cutting Iraq off from the sea, requiring Iraq to ship its oil through Kuwait, as well as paying a tax for doing so. Of course, this became the basis for the "First Gulf War" in 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The book also explores the role of Germany during the Second World War, and her efforts to seize Iraq from British control. The RAF, in support of this effort, bombed the Syrian airfields which were being used by the Germans to re-fuel their planes.

Mr. Barr has done an excellent job of tracing the conflict in the Mid-East to several pivotal events, most going back to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the First World War. Peopled with such luminary figures as Sir Mark Sykes, and his French counterpart Francois Georges-Picot, along with David Lloyd George, T.E. Lawrence, and Winston Churchill, this book will provide the reader with excellent background in helping to understand the present day Middle East and just how it got so fouled up.

"The Honored Dead" by Joseph Braude

We all have secrets. Nothing is as open and honest as it may seem at first. And nothing could illustrate this more than life in the Middle East. Thousands of years of differing cultures and religions have resulted in a myriad of traditions, and strife, in the area. Such is the story of Ibrahim Dey, a seemingly unemployed Muslim man who is murdered in Casablanca, Morocco. Joseph Braude, the author, is an embedded journalist with the Moroccan police, who are working to solve the case; he is also Jewish.

Ibrahim Dey was a "majdub", that is, he was a man of poor luck for himself, but lucky for others. He was honest, and his opinions were well respected. He styled himself as a broker of real estate, and in Casabalanca that can mean anything from obtaining a toaster, to arranging a marriage. Sometimes it can even involve real estate. But, more often than not, this is simply a title for a man without a real vocation. Ibrahim Dey was typical of this type of man. Or was he?

By days, he spent his time in the local coffee house, where he was available for consultation. By night, he was the part time "relief" watchman at a warehouse owned by a Jewish man. Ibrahim would often take a portion of the night shift for his friend Attar, who would sneak home from the warehouse to see his family. On one of those nights Ibrahim is murdered in the warehouse, supposedly by a man who was being chased by a gang of youths. That man turned out to be a soldier in the Moroccan army. When confronted by the watchman, Ibrahim, the two struggle and Ibrahim is killed. Or, so goes the "official" conclusion.

Ibrahim's best friend, Bari, has his doubts about both the official investigation, and it's conclusion. When he is introduced to the author he airs those doubts, setting him off on a private investigation of his own, leading to the back streets, and history, of the underside of Morroco.

Police Inspector Lt. Jabri, along with Officer Sharif, attempt to guide the author through what happened the night when Ibrahim was murdered. But they seem to be covering something up. Taking off on his own, the author befriends Ibrahim's friends and family in an effort to uncover the mystery of why this seemingly innocent, and well liked man, was killed. His search leads him back to Ibrahim's home city of Jadida, and his sister, Aisha, who lives under the thumb of Ibrahim's sister-in-law, Latifa.

Latifa entered the family by marrying Ibrahim's brother, and immediately began to divide it, eventually taking over the management of the family grocery store, supposedly at the request of her husband. This is a very unusual thing in Morocco, which, as an Islamic country, is very much a male dominated society. Latifa even sells the family business in an effort to save the family home. Did she have just cause to do this? What was the real relationship between her husband and Ibrahim?

Eventually Ibrahim leaves Jididah for Casablanca, and a life in the slums. What happened to drive him there? And why does his family allow Latifa to retain control of the family assests?

When the author finds that Ibrahim had been listening to radical sermons in the days before his death, the story becomes even more complicated, leading the author to believe that the authorities are somehow involved in silencing Ibrahim. But the biggest question of all is why? What could this man have done, or known, that would require his being killed?

With a surgeons skill the author introduces, and explains, the history between the Jews and Islamics in Morocco, attempting to shed light on the often misunderstood relationship of these two groups in that country. When the veneer is pulled back, that relationship is seen to be other than what it appears.

When the author finally meets the warehouse owner, who is also a Jew, he is surprised to learn that Ibrahim was practicing some sort of "magic" in the warehouse at night, allowing people in for a fee to perform "spells." The soldier who murdered him was a "client." Why he murdered Ibrahim Dey is open to speculation, and, as with many things in the Middle East, it may never be known. And even if the mystery is solved, the full truth behind it may often be obscured.

This book takes you beyond the Casablanca you have come to know from films. The romance is torn away, and the underbelly of reality takes it's place in a spellbinding tale of twists and turns, which are as mysterious as the city in which they occur.

Gasoline - Rising Prices, Same Old Schemes

There is a new scheme making the rounds on the Internet to force the oil companies to lower their prices. It is, of course, pure folly. It is a variation on the old "don't buy gas for a day" protest that has been circulating for years now. This one was supposedly "thunk up" by a retired Coca Cola executive, probably the one who was responsible for the idea of changing Coca Cola a few years back, only to be forced to re-introduce "Classic" Coke when the plan failed.

Sorry to tell you, but it won't work- most of us don't buy Exxon or Mobil directly to begin with. I use a local station that charges a few cents less per gallon. If everyone stops buying from Exxon-Mobil, then Exxon-Mobil's cost of providing a gallon of gas will rise, and they will pass it on. The smaller companies, seeing a rise in their customer demand for fuel will do exactly as Exxon-Mobil would do, raise the prices in lockstep with one another. Besides which, gasoline is what is known as a fungible commodity, that is, one which is transferrable. So boycotting one company will do little more than cause the fuel not sold by that company to be bought by another company, and the cost of the transfer will go directly to the consumer, compounding the problem. Here is the link to the "scheme" and the analysis of it on Snopes.com;

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

The same thing is happening all over the country now with water bills. The less you use - the more you pay- due to the added cost of having water treatment plants. The cost to run one is static, no matter the quantity of clean water produced and consumed. The only alternative is rationing, car pooling or getting a sense of urgency about developing alternative fuels that equals the way we got back in the car market after Japan blindsided us in the 1970's. (None of this happened after 9/11 so don't expect it to happen now.)

At this point, I would have to say that we are dancing to the fiddler's tune. Until the day that we are all willing to ration our use of gasoline, or car pool, as the country did in World War Two; the prices will continue to rise as an ever growing populace struggles to compete with an ever shrinking resource. Not to mention the politics, and money, involved.

In the meantime my 1996 Mitsubishi gets 30 mpg and has 195,000 miles on it. Long may she run!

Happy Birthday Egypt!

Here's to the rebellion in Egypt. Now let's see which way the winds will blow in the coming weeks. I'm hoping to be proven wrong concerning my fears that the Muslim Brotherhood will take control, ushering in a new era of Islamic, rather than Secular, government. As I said, I'm hoping to be proven wrong.

The courage, and tenacity, of the Egyptian people, in the last 18 days, has been nothing short of extraordinary. Their Armed Forces acted with great restraint as the people stood their ground. So, here's to a free and democratic Egypt, with the hope that it will usher in a new era of Secular Democracy across the Middle East. Hopefully, that will counterbalance the threat of Radical Islam from the countries further East; such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and etc. Only time will tell.