WAITING IN THE TALL GRASS; THOUGHTS ON ISRAELI CONFLICT

I felt it necessary to discuss some of the recent events transpiring in Israel — clarifying my thoughts into words on a subject matter that should not be up for debate. There are universal moral ethics shared by people in the west that may in fact not exist in the east. The targeting of women and children, also known as “soft targets”, are rarely if ever primary targets of western militaries — but more of a byproduct of protracted war. I’m sure you can dredge up examples contradicting my opinion — but on the whole — men in the west view it to be sacrilege and find it extremely hateful to conduct warfare in such a manner.

Whatever your feelings might be on Israel — no one deserves to be gunned down at a festival. From a military standpoint, this only served to embolden your enemy and reciprocate in kind. If you had men willing to spend their lives for the cause of Palestine, dare I suggest hitting “hard targets” and attempting to achieve tangible military goals, instead of a prison break straight out of 500BC whose sole aim was to rape, pillage, and burn unarmed innocents alive.

I’m hardly what one would consider a zionist and place the interests of my people in America first and foremost. I view the plight of the people’s in the Middle East as one of a chaotic morass of cowardice — lacking a sophistication that could ever lead to a military success. If serious about the Palestinians — where are the Egyptians or the Jordanians or even the boogeymen in Iran?

It’s true, the United States is a formidable power to go up against and everyone rather enjoys their palaces and way of life — and it’d be a shame if something happened to that. It seems, and this is from an outsiders point of view, the Arabs either lack the gumption to see it through or they just don’t care all that much about Palestine.

As for markets — I meandered and rested lazily in the tall grass — up just 12bps for the session — hedged and careful — trying to weigh my risks versus rewards methodically — waiting for an opportunity to present itself to me.

Some might argue today was such a day — with markets going from crimson red to homosexual green. I agree. But, I missed it because of my bias and hatred for the market, an insatiable desire to view to much lower to the downside. No worries — I managed to make a little money whilst waiting for the markets to burn. My sense is, the war in Israel will either escalate very quickly and all at once — or not at all — and things will then go back to the way they were — which of course was a formidable albatross around the necks of overeager bulls.