Heard in Berlin

I spent a whole hour listening to a Hudson Institute podcast, interviewing a German diplomat. He presented the case of Germany as a non-nuclear industrial country in the middle of Europe, subject to blackmail and living in fear. The Ukraine-Russia war terrorized them, and even more President Trump decision to withdraw from the American treaty to defend Europe. The Germans fervently desire American presence in Europe, and they want America to fulfil the vacuum existing in Syria. Russia has already moved in an established a base in North Syria. The lesson learnt in Berlin during the last elections in the USA is that Germany cannot allow its destiny to be decided by a "bunch of people in Georgia" momentarily impressed by local police violence or something like that. The bunch referred to are the few thousand AfroAmerican votes that inclined the balance toward Biden (good) against Trump (bad, he wanted to bring back the troops and leave poor Germans unprotected).   Pic:: Hermann Kahn, the founder of the Hudson Institute. 

The Bananization of America

Democrat Cori Bush, an ordained pastor from Missouri, moved her office in the Congress farther away from the office of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, saying that she feared for her life. Are their ideological differences so deep that they cannot see each other, or is this a row between two vendedoras of fresh mango with adjacent stands in the Feria Popular? 

A Scare

 I had to go to the Kupat Holim Clinic to take an X-ray and three persons from my family came with me.  Apparently, I shall not be left alone on the street under the rain, when old. The report says that everything in my spine is well, nothing broken or damaged, only the normal signs of age. I saw the pic of an old Jew with an unkept white beard, and a number with my age. What a scare! In my daily life I am totally unaware that I look like a "Street Person" and my shocking age.

Twice is not enough

 There is much talk here of the new South African and British variants of the corona virus, and a the need for a third vaccine and probably annual shots. On the other side, the religious neighborhood of Bnei Brak is in open rebellion, they defy government orders and yesterday they burned a bus in the main street. They are sure this is fake pandemic and a conspiracy to make the population to obey blindly government orders. Netaniyahu said that Israel is the world's laboratory for "herd immunity".  Like him and everybody here, I am confused.

The year 2021

 

I received the second injection of the Pfizer vaccine a week ago and definitely am feeling side-effects: cannot think clearly, severe gluteus muscle pain, lack of interest in internet news - in short, cannot work. Every day I am rejecting well paid jobs. Some hospital managers say it does not protect 100% against the disease and its power against the new variants is unknown. It appears that I shall survive 2021 but it will be no joy. 

It is getting worse

Israel has closed its gates, seaports and airports. We are now in a strict quarentaine. The virus has engendered variants that are worse than the original, and they are all in Israel. Surprisingly, the Army Intelligence unit started to post its own report on the epidemic (independently of the Ministry of Health), a rather strange development. The Army started to deal with the epidemic, which may reflect the seriousness of the situation. The haredi sects are in open rebellion, they will not accept the isolation imposed on the rest of the population. 2020 was annus horribilis, and this one is even worse.  

When will this end?

 

Yesterday got the second jab of the Pfizer anti-corona vaccine. Finished the Beit HaMerkazim job. Had to do it twice as the owner wanted fewer holes in the pre-stressed slabs. The schools are closed and three grandchildren spent the day with us and tomorrow four will come. The children dont like each other. Feeling unwell. Israel is world champion in vaccinating yet the number of sick people is growing and more people than ever is getting sick. Many are out of work almost a year, and they feel tired of all this. The tone of the media has changed and the focus is on food, celebrities and such sunny subjects. The bourse is peaking, there is such inflow of dollars that the Central Bank is buying billions of that green toilet-paper to stop the overvaluation of the shekel. From where is coming all this money? American Jews may be worried about the Democrats' "tax the wealth" slogans.