I’m still working on that Middle-East peace thing I told you I would solve.

But God Dammit, it’s a tough one!

The main problem lies with Arab culture, and it’s not going to get any better anytime soon!

Now call me a racists, or call me a politically incorrect idiot, or anything else you care to throw my way, but no matter how you look at it a lot of the problem in the Middle-East stems from the Arab cultural trait of saying one thing and meaning another. Or saying one thing, and then doing something else entirely because it seems more expedient at that particular moment.

Listen folks, you can condemn me from here to eternity for saying this, but I have worked with-and-for Arabs a long time now. (We have a large Arab population here in London.) Plus my wife spent a few years in Saudi Arabia, so we know the Arab mentality quite well!

Believe me, when negotiating with an Arab, honesty and personal integrity don’t amount to a hill of beans. (But please don’t confuse integrity with “honor,” that’s a whole different ball-game!)

What I’m saying is that you better be aware of the fluidity of the Arab mind if you don’t want to get taken to the cleaners and then dragged down the street and thrown into a dumpster before you even realize that negotiations have started!

The whole mindset of these people is “winning,” not “playing fair!”

Once again, you might call me a racist for saying this, but it is NOT a racial trait amongst the Arabs.

It’s a cultural one!

So I guess you could call me a “Culturalist!”

Whatever you do want to call it, that’s what is making peace over there so damned hard.

The ground rules keep changing depending on the circumstances.

(Because of this attitude, that’s why we see the Arab fighting with the Israeli, and then, when that dies down, they start fighting amongst themselves. Sunni against Shi’a, Shi’a against Sunni, Sunni and Shi’a against the Sufi and then all of them against The Bahá’í, The Druze and the Zoroastrians.)

Wheeeee!

Little wonder things never settle down!

This brings me to the United States of America.

After the Iraq war nearly bankrupted the country, President Obama is pulling out, and not a moment too soon.

But!

He is talking about an increase in troops in Afghanistan, and that would be a big mistake to think that a war can be won there.

NOBODY has conquered Afghanistan in all of recorded history kids!

You have a bunch of mountain tribes that make the hillbilly’s of Kentucky seem like an enlightened bunch, and on top of that they are tough, mean, superstitious, ready to fight at the drop of a hat and just generally disagreeable.

The British couldn’t tame that country.

The Russians couldn’t do it.

NATO won’t do it either.

Period.

Want some advice?

Leave them alone and try to keep them isolated as much as possible.

Just make sure not too much opium gets smuggled out.

Other than that, you’re no better off than gettin’ spit at by a camel!