Old soldiers don't dies ~ in Tel Aviv they don't fade either
If you are at all aware of what it going on in the political life here in Tel Aviv, you surly know about the Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War (2006). (NY Times, Washington Post, Chicago Sun). The full final report came out yesterday, although the interim preliminary report came out a long time ago, and it caused the Commander in Chief, Dan Chalutz and the secretary of Defense Amir Peretz to resign, the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had stayed in place. There are many accusations on how the whole political and military organizations handled the attack from Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. Of not is the large amount of criticism on the leaders than in any other time in Israel's history. But since the anger over what happened in the war was dissipated over the months, and since Olmert and others are not "going anywhere", business seems to be "as usual".
Final Winograd Report, is it OK to "lose" the war?
Well, the question we are all asking is: "Does this mean that Israel has lost the war?" -/- "Does this mean that Israelis are happy with Olmert?" Good questions, which by reading the daily papers and listening to the radio, most Israelis are fairly clear about. First of all, the "war" was not "lost". The quotes are not a way of evading the point. But Israelis have stopped thinking about the war with terrorism as "won or lost". I could say that for the most part, people see as the "war" with terrorism, in all it's shades and stripes as "a total loss". It is not only a loss of young soldiers and civilians, but a big loss of energy and effort. But most of all a loss of an opportunity to work with Arab countries, specially in the economic and cultural realms. The loss is probably more for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and even Syria and Saudi Arabia. Why? Because these neighboring states are closer geographically, culturally and even economically than any other country which has close relations to Israel. Because of the "Palestinian problems" everybody seems to be pointing to the other side with blames and accusations. I guess everybody is looking for the big "peace leader". Begin, Rabin, Sadat and even Arafat didn't turn out to be the ones. In the mean time, Israeli businesses are installing telecom and Internet systems in Eastern Europe and central Asia. Israeli stocks and investments are done in the US and in Europe. Israeli architects and builders are working hard in Africa. But really no cooperation on anything significant with any Arab country.
Now back to the 'raison d'etre' of the blog, Tel Aviv life and business. The good news again is that most of the business media has not even mentioned the Winograd report. Why? Mostly because it's old news, but also because it makes sense to simply ignore bad news, even if it's historical news. This schizophrenia I wrote about yesterday is what is driving the Israeli business to distance itself from anything even remotely related to the security situation. This is even more true with anything related to business with Arab countries (or companies). So now the Arab world is facing a bigger problem. How to convince Israeli business to lead where the politicians failed? Well, this leadership from the business world happens once in a while, but not here. Take for example at the situation between US business and Cuba, you don't get a good feeling. In the Cuban situation, US businesses, specially tourism, sports (baseball) and agriculture (sugar, tobacco) have been trying to do some sort of business with Cuba, but again, not doing very well. But than again, what are the Cuban to do? Well, this is what it seems to be when thinking about Arab leaders all over the middle east. What are they to do? Well, it is not at all the same situation, because Israeli businesses would probably love to work 100 miles away instead of getting on a plane and working 6,000 miles away. Anyway, these are some thoughts about what is going on here. I personally don't believe that this is "sad" at all. I also don't believe that anyone "lost" the war, but having portions of Lebanese villages and parts of cities bombed to oblivion is not a great sign of anything, specially intelligence, wisdom and compassion. Which is what Israelis think they bring to people all over the world. At least to places which are not Arab. Something to think about, specially if you are an Israeli or an Arab business leader.
Final Winograd Report, is it OK to "lose" the war? Well, the question we are all asking is: "Does this mean that Israel has lost the war?" -/- "Does this mean that Israelis are happy with Olmert?" Good questions, which by reading the daily papers and listening to the radio, most Israelis are fairly clear about. First of all, the "war" was not "lost". The quotes are not a way of evading the point. But Israelis have stopped thinking about the war with terrorism as "won or lost". I could say that for the most part, people see as the "war" with terrorism, in all it's shades and stripes as "a total loss". It is not only a loss of young soldiers and civilians, but a big loss of energy and effort. But most of all a loss of an opportunity to work with Arab countries, specially in the economic and cultural realms. The loss is probably more for Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and even Syria and Saudi Arabia. Why? Because these neighboring states are closer geographically, culturally and even economically than any other country which has close relations to Israel. Because of the "Palestinian problems" everybody seems to be pointing to the other side with blames and accusations. I guess everybody is looking for the big "peace leader". Begin, Rabin, Sadat and even Arafat didn't turn out to be the ones. In the mean time, Israeli businesses are installing telecom and Internet systems in Eastern Europe and central Asia. Israeli stocks and investments are done in the US and in Europe. Israeli architects and builders are working hard in Africa. But really no cooperation on anything significant with any Arab country.
Now back to the 'raison d'etre' of the blog, Tel Aviv life and business. The good news again is that most of the business media has not even mentioned the Winograd report. Why? Mostly because it's old news, but also because it makes sense to simply ignore bad news, even if it's historical news. This schizophrenia I wrote about yesterday is what is driving the Israeli business to distance itself from anything even remotely related to the security situation. This is even more true with anything related to business with Arab countries (or companies). So now the Arab world is facing a bigger problem. How to convince Israeli business to lead where the politicians failed? Well, this leadership from the business world happens once in a while, but not here. Take for example at the situation between US business and Cuba, you don't get a good feeling. In the Cuban situation, US businesses, specially tourism, sports (baseball) and agriculture (sugar, tobacco) have been trying to do some sort of business with Cuba, but again, not doing very well. But than again, what are the Cuban to do? Well, this is what it seems to be when thinking about Arab leaders all over the middle east. What are they to do? Well, it is not at all the same situation, because Israeli businesses would probably love to work 100 miles away instead of getting on a plane and working 6,000 miles away. Anyway, these are some thoughts about what is going on here. I personally don't believe that this is "sad" at all. I also don't believe that anyone "lost" the war, but having portions of Lebanese villages and parts of cities bombed to oblivion is not a great sign of anything, specially intelligence, wisdom and compassion. Which is what Israelis think they bring to people all over the world. At least to places which are not Arab. Something to think about, specially if you are an Israeli or an Arab business leader.
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