Anas’s Blog

Isn’t it funny that the word “care” can mean a trouble or worry, in the sense that if you’re carefree you have very few, or no, worries or concerns; but that you can also “care” for someone in that you feel a strong affection towards them? But if you like/love someone and you therefore claim to care for them you really claiming to be prepared to inconvenience yourself — and saying we care is one of the main ways we try and show affection for each other: by showing our willingness to put ourselves to trouble. How practical.

I usually have enough self-restraint not to laugh out loud at something I’m reading if I’m outside walking on the street. But this quote from a New Statesman review of a new and highly *controversial* book by professors Mearsheimer &  Walt  about the utterly inordinate influence of the Israel lobby on US politics just so perfectly sums things up re: the special relationship thing us Brits –well some of us – pretend we have going with the Yanks that I had to let go a good hearty chuckle even if it made me look like a loon on the street (actually to be honest there was no one around, but still…):

The thesis put forward by Mearsheimer and Walt, briefly, is that Israel has become a “strategic liability” for the US and that ending the special relationship - the one the British delude themselves they, rather than Israel, have with Washington - would benefit not only the US, but the rest of the world, including Israel itself.

“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!”

– Dr Strangelove