December 9, 2013 10:08 AM
Hello Avner
I have not been maintaining my page at LinkedIn for a while, so I do
not accept invitations.
However, I have also been receiving lately invitations, that I have checked
and found to be phony. Could you kindly let me know if you have mailed me this one.
I am also waiting to hear from you about your blog. As I understand the time is
now quite hectic, now and in Israel, so I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards
Abshalon
December 22, 2013 1:14 AM
Hi Abshalon,
I don't think that I have mailed you this from Linked-in. I have not been
writing in my blog so much.
As for your comments regrading the current situation:
As I told you before, I'm not worried about an atomic bomb being in the
hand of Iranian leaders, more than I do worry about it being in the hands of Netanyahu
and his friends. When people say that the Iranians are cheating, I think that they
are disregarding the so many incidents of Netanyahu cheating on the whole world.
He is promising one thing to Obama, another thing to the public in Israel, and yet
a third thing to the most important audience for him, the Likud Center which he
depends on for his job. He is a cheater by nature and I don't trust a word he is
saying, let alone his hand on the red button. The Palestinians and Iranians are
more reliable in my view, and less hypocrites.
Obama, on the other hand, is one of the smartest and courageous leaders
of our time. Please see attached a Hebrew paper written by a good friend of mine,
who is a top political adviser.
This is really a high quality assessment of the type of leader that Obama
is. He is way far-seeing than the bunch of machos who run the country that I live
in.
I think that your feeling about the support that Netanyahu is getting in
the US is very much biased. It is far from being true. I think that under his control,
the state of Israel is becoming the leper of the world, and this includes the majority
of Jews in the US - save the hard-core fundamentalist and lunatic
Republicans, who will take us all to hell with their Messianic visions.
Regarding my work, I don't like it as you know and I'm going to quit (or
get fired) in the coming few years, and go to pursue my real passion in high-school
teaching. I'm not doing tutoring at all - I don't think that I'm good at that and
that it is my call. I'm doing some volunteering in a high school once a week, and
I love it.
The education system in Israel is deteriorating, and I'm not there in order
to fix it. There are far more powerful forces against me, the government being at
the front. The fact that an ex-Israeli scientist, and some times a real Israeli,
receives the Nobel prize, doesn't help at all. It gives the government an excuse
to continue sitting on their fat butts, doing nothing, with the illusion that everything
is going very well actually.
I hope to add some more posts to the blog soon. I'm thinking that this conversation
with you will be part of it...
Have a great week and nice holiday season!
Avner
"I'm 45 now. So, I don't know if I'm halfway through a healthy life,
or almost done with an unhealthy one." (Louis CK)
Cheers,
Avner E.
February
19, 2014
Hello Avner
I really enjoyed
reading your last message. Not because all of it was good (I mean for you) but
because it was very interesting,
and I have been trying for some time to find the time to respond. I hope that
you will find that things are not so
bad as you expect.Part
of the problem is that I feel that
my Email at home is very un-secure. I do not think that Iwrite big secrets, just
in principle, it is annoying. So I am mailing this from Sunnyvale library, and
by the time I go over my mail, my
time is over. The article of your friend
is also very interesting, and I just do not know how to start. It seems to me
that I have to break down my response
to few smaller messages.
About tutoring: I am going twice a week
to a HS in Mountain View. This is considered
a very good school, and the atmosphere is very pleasant. However, I find that
I am tutoring only a small part
of my time. Most of the students look for help in Math, which is not my field yet (mainly
Physics and Chemistry).
I am looking for student who will work with me in a regular dates, and with a well
defined goal. I also like to know
time ahead what I am going to tutor, so I can refresh and prepare. I am riddled
by the seemingly lack of interest
of parents in helping their children to do well in school. For many this is not a problem,
especially in MV. I think that
the students need to learn much more today then in our time, and I do not understand
their study plan. It may change
yearly, and times they have to study without the proper background, like doing Chemistry
with no basis in physics,
or biology with no Chemistry and Physics. So I wonder: what are doing in the school?, and in what subjects? On one hand I find the free public schools
are very nice idea, but in the other
hand, their level can vary significantly from the big cities to small towns--which
I feel is very unfair: these students
diplomas are not accepted in the universities, and they have to go
to a community colleges, after which
they may be accepted. Organized tutoring, like in MV is not available, so that the
play field is very uneven. It
is clearly favors the rich, and it seems to me that the gap is growing. As to your criticism on Nethanyaho: You do not
mention any specifics details,
that can give me some idea. As I recall, the earlier letter you thought that President
Obama is a weak person, but
now you think that he is a strong one with a clear vision and determination. I
guess he may have eaten some spinach and kale for that, but I can not observe
the change. As I understand
you (the kingly you-and your friend) feel that he chose the Win-Wing strategy in the
Syria's Assad chemical
weapons event. I do not feel so sure about this.
Let us have
a quick look at the events, as I know them: At first, after Obama appointed John Kerry
to investigate, the president
agreed that chemical weapon have really been used, and therefor a military strike was
to come. He even tried, but failed
to generate an EU coalition, only France agreed to cooperate. However when the president
convened his own staff to
get support, he found that they were not ready to do so, (in particular the defense
and the army general commander).
So he decided to wait two days for the congress to return from recess. However, when
they returned, he "tested
the political air) and found it so unfavorable, that he decided to call off the operation, and go to the UN, with
the help of Mr. Putin. I suppose you
know the rest. So it seems to me, that Obama did not really chose the Win-Win line
of action: he just had to do that because
of the mess in the US government, and Putin, ironically ended to be "the
man of peace", in spite of
the fact that it was
know, that heavy transport plains were landing in Damascus airport, unloading
have crates full
of pigeons, I guess, and president Obama ended up with the image of a frustrated
aggressor. So I have some doubts of
the way your friend feels about his actions. I think that we know what happened
after: Assad did not really destroy his chemicals, and continues his aggressive
and cruel actions
against his opponents in Syria. I still feel, that a proper military strike would
have been much more effective.I
can see that my computer time is going
to run out in few minutes, so I look forward to the next time to write some more.
So I wish you all the best and look forward
to hearing from you, and to write
some more.
Regards
Abshalon
April 19, 2014
Hi Abshalon,
Sorry for
the late response,
I have been busy.I totally agree with you about the education gap,
and think that the government must boost the support to the smaller towns and more remote areas. I still
think that education must be free
to all, at least through high school,
and preferably to university
as it is done in Europe. In Israel, there is no lack of funds to support education,
but the overall atmosphere is very much against good education, so mostly the
rich can really afford
it if they want. The status of the school teacher is pretty low, and the Israeli
culture sees this profession
as synonym to a "loser"
in life. Nobody will admit this, but it's the truth. For example: the
Prime minister always calls athletes
after they win a bronze medal in some minor competition, but he never calls students who repeatedly win
gold medals in Math and science Olympics.
In general,
the media promotes and admires
social celebrities much more than intellectuals. This is Israeli culture at its best,
today.
With regard
to Obama, I
really don't know. I feel that we could have done more on the middle east conflict,
but his priorities are different.
Kerry is very determined, but he tries too much to be the "fair mediator",
and this is wrong. The Israeli government
must be held more responsible to the failure of "the negotiation",
so to speak.
Take care
and have a nice
holiday!
Avner
"La
Iglesia no debe tener miedo a la
verdad" (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, The Pope Franciscus)
Cheers,
Avner E.
July 20, 2014
Hello Avner
I just can`t believe how fast time
goes by. I have clear signs
to show that my mail from home can be (and is) interfered with, and the computer
time in the library is limited,
so many times my time is up by the time I get around to write.
The latest news about the ongoing war in Gaza
is not good, but I am sure that
IDF leaders will find a way to improve, and I hope that they will succeed this time
to eradicate the Hamas missiles
and tunnels. It can be probably due to including quite a number of reserves, that
are not trained as well as the regular army. The Iron Dome system is really a
great success,
because it enables Israel to hold on with relatively small losses.
It looks
to me that this is like the first clash between Israel and Iran, because much of
the equipment and strategy are Iranian import. I wonder if many people have too
much expectations
about the "peace negotiations" for the west bank: I agree with Israel
DM Yaalon, that the Palestinians
in the west bank need to embark on a "nation building" process,
before any serious negotiations
will be possible. In particular they need a leader with a vision and a fire in
his/her belly, and Abbas has none
of these.
So how have you been doing? I understand
that you are quite happy with whatever
your work is, and this is very good. Just wondering: what can you tell me about
you work, and your views about
what is happening now? In regards to your views about the status
of the education system in
Israel, it is no better in the US, as you may have already found out from your own experience.
I have learned a lot from
my tutoring experience in the HS in Mountain view.
This is a
very good school, and in many placed. like Newark, NJ, the situation is much worse.
More than two years ago, the Mark
Zukerberg (Facebook) decided to donate one million dollars to improve the education
system in Newark, NJ. The mayor agreed
to add on a dollar for dollar basis, so it came up to $200 millions. After two years,
"Meet the Press"
program invited the involved individuals in the project to explain how this money
had produced practically nothing.
I have a printout of the file, and I could mail it to you if interested. It is like
21pp, and I lost my way at about the tenth page.
It seems to me that the US in going downhill
and I just can`t think of how this
process can change direction. There is a massive increase in the corruption, and
the country is collapsing under the
pressure of the last wave on "not so good" immigration waves. In
Fremont, where I live: I had a look
at the list of the last year students graduates: about 5% or less are "American"
(by name), and
the rest are Orientals, Indians, and a fast growing group of Moslems and very
few Hispanics.
Just unbelievable! My computer time is closing on on me,
and I need to rap up!
Please pass my good wished to Mazy and I
hope she is doing well.
Best regards
Abshalon
August 6,
2014
Hello Avner
I apologize for not letting you enough
time to respond to my last message. Things are happening so quickly, so by the time
I get to write a whole new situation
exists. We feel much relieved
that the fighting has ended. How have you been, and what it was like at the
place you live? As I understand,
the damages were only small, but it is not pleasant to have to run for cover
repeatedly. I feel that the new established
relation with Egypt are very good news, and hope that it will last. However,
I wonder if Israel has got all what
it needs to make sure that a new fighting will not occur again. It looks to me that the IDF
should have remained for a while in
the outskirts of the Gaza strip, in order to continue the destruction of the tunnels,
and to show more support to
the people in the south, to encourage them to go back. So I am looking forward to
your comments and to enlighten
me about what happened.
I do not have much confidence in the UN ability
to ensure the ceasefire.
Past experience on the northern border of Israel is not encouraging. So what do you
think? I understand that Israel did
not have good intelligence about what the Hamas was doing, and was surprised by the
sophistication of the Hamas organization
and technology, which is mostly, I think an Iranian import. I am worried from
the fact that it looks that Iran
has already passed the point of no return in their nuclear program.
By the way,
you may get very clear information
about their program by watching:
Free Online
College Courses from
Top Universities | Academic Earth, subject: physics, lectures by UC Berkeley
(I think prof Muller), lecture #7
(nukes). It may give a very good understanding of what they are doing and why.
Free Online College Courses from Top Universities
|Acad.Over 750 free online college
courses and lectures are available from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley and more. A world of learning
is just a click away!
The economy in the US seems to be improving
but I feel that many of the good
news are "cooked" to look much better than it really is. According to my
personal experience, I tend to believe in the report I have heard about, that had been written by a group of researchers
from three east coast universities,
that claims that the US is in a transition process from a democracy to a ( corrupt)
oligarchy. In fact, I feel that
it has already happened. I think that this is not good for the high tech industry,
that is the most important
for the country. There is an on going process of change in a bad direction and a polarization
process, economically
and socially. I think that most of the new jobs are created in the oil industry,
and in development of software,
entertainment and communication. What I think is missing in the hardware development
of new technologies and systems and
the lack of new and useful ideas. Let me know if you are interested to read
about the education mayhem in
NJ. I do not think that anything like that exists anywhere in Israel, and it may make
you feel a little
better.
So I have managed to write a little more to
day, and I look forward to have enlightening news from you.
Be well
Abshalon
Aug
13, 2014 at 8:28 PM
Hi Abshalon,
I wrote to
you a detailed reply, but it was lost. Trying to recover.
I think that
by now you should already basically know my opinions about this situation. It's
puzzling who much you don't trust the US government (a pretty reliable entity in
my view), but you do trust the Israeli one, which is made up of nothing more than
a bunch of low-life cowards.
I don't think
that the fighting is over, only for a while. The Hamas was hit hard, but for them
to fight against the very powerful IDF for 30 days and not be defeated, is a great
victory. The number of Palestinian dead is not a factor on the contrary. The more
innocent people dead, the better for their agenda. Therefore, Israel cannot win
this game (contrary to what the Israeli Generals are bragging about). (Actually,
I am very impressed by their determinism and courage; The IDF has underestimated
them again, and it fired back on us).
Life in Tel-Aviv
during this "operation" continued pretty normally, if you were a rational
person. Some people were scared, but thanks to the "Iron Dome" system
(which most of the Macho Israeli military men objected to develop, and was eventually
made thanks to the only civilian Minister of Defense, who was everybody's joke at
the time – Amir Peretz, who lives is Sderot and thinks that Israel must talk to
the Hamas and pull back to the 1967 line) – hardly anybody was hurt. I never ran
to the shelter, because I don't trust the IDF directives, and I try to do the opposite
of what they say. That's not very wise sometimes, but I think that pulling over
in the middle of the highway and lying down, head between hands, doesn't make much
sense either. The chance of getting his by a traffic accident is much greater.
I don't think
that the IDF has the option to remain in Gaza for long, not under Netanyahu that
is. This guy only cares about how he looks in the Media, and the coverage of the
long stay in Gaza with too many dead soldiers would not make him look too good in
the polls.
Actually,
the IDF had the best intelligence ever provided in a battle field, all the Generals
acknowledged that. The only ones not to admit this are the government members, because
this would put a lot of blame upon them. They were briefed many times about the
terror tunnels, but as I said they are a bunch of ego-maniac idiots, so they didn't
pay attention. It's all in the Israeli media by now.
I'd love
to listen to this lecture – I heard Prof. Muller back in California, he is brilliant
and can tell a story. I have his book "Physics for Future Presidents,"
a very good one. I wish that Netanyahu read it.
Got to go
now. Keep writing!
Cheers,
Avner E.
