Probabilities and possibilities

IRAN is “probably planning a nuclear weapon” said David Cameron recently but although Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu clearly agree, this does not automatically mean that Iran is planning a nuclear war.

Meanwhile Obama assured Israel that it would always be at its back while Netanyahu declared that Israel would be master of its own fate. It unquestionably will be, but no-one can forget that in doing so Israel will be master of the West’s fate – and the Middle East’s – too.

You have to eat a peck…

IT is absurd but not surprising to learn that the British Olympic Association warned athletes to avoid shaking hands with dignitaries or rivals during this summer’s Games.

The BOA believes it exposes them to bugs “which could shatter their Olympic dreams.”

Paradoxically, we live longer and succumb to fewer diseases but confidence in humanity’s survival abilities decreases in direct proportion to the apprehensions of the over-scrupulous.

Memories of times past

LAST week Libyans vandalised the Benghazi graves of Desert Rats who fell in the Second World War although it would be naive to assume that they should understand or respect their significance.

Surely it occurred to the countries backing anti-Gaddafi forces last year that what some Libyans chose to do once the country was in different hands would clash with what the West wanted or expected?