Catastrophe

Our Hanukka holiday joy was dashed as Israelis watched the seemingly unstoppable raging fire destroy our precious forest land and threaten homes, villages and kibbutzim. The sight of international aid coming to our rescue, especially that of the Turks, and the water-dropping foreign aircraft was the only relief from the depressing and frightening images on our TV screens.

According to the AP:

Israel battles forest fire with foreign help
"HAIFA, Israel – Responding to an unprecedented Israeli distress call, aircraft from Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Britain dumped sea water and flame retardant Friday, battling a woodland inferno that has killed dozens, displaced thousands and ravaged one of the Holy Land's most prized forests.

As the country mourned the dead, Israelis — long known for their high-tech society and vaunted rescue missions abroad — were stunned at their firefighters' helplessness in quelling the blaze, the worst forest fire in the nation's history." -more

And according to Bloomberg:

Planes Arrive From Greece, Bulgaria to Aid Israel With Fire

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- "Planes from Greece and Bulgaria arrived in Israel today with firefighters and equipment to help contain a forest blaze near the port city of Haifa that has killed about 40 people and forced the departure of 14,000 others.

The planes landed at the Ramat David air base southeast of Haifa, an Army spokeswoman said, speaking anonymously according to military regulation. Spain, Croatia, Turkey, France, Russia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, the U.K., Egypt and Romania have also pledged to send aircraft, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

Israel expects about 20 planes from those countries to arrive during the course of the day, said Menachem Caspi, one of the firefighter commanders. The planes will have to work over the next few days until the blaze is fully extinguished, he said in a televised press conference from Haifa today." -more

Euro Tribalism (1990)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 20 years ago, in June of 1990.

Back then we were comfortable with the idea that the borders of African states were drawn with little respect for the primitive tribes and tribal regions of their inhabitants. Europe was more civilized. The people who lived in France were French. The folks who lived in Yugoslavia were Yugoslavian. It all had a neat, intelligent, civilized, European feel to it.

20 years ago we were surprised by the post-cold war rise of tribalism (which in service of preserving our prejudices we call ethnicity). 20 years ago this cartoon brought a laugh. 20 years of European reality has killed the joke.

* * * As I write this column the latest news is reporting the tribal, anti-Uzbek violence by Kirghiz attackers.

Your thoughts?