To follow on….from Kids beware!

From the PAST – How many presumably intelligent politicians couldn’t see that the vote on same sex marriages was not primarily about the right for people to be married (they already lived together and had many legal protections!). One would have expected ‘Shepherds’ to look deeply and thoroughly! There is a good reason in law why people are requested to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ The government certainly did not apply this standard to themselves in informing the public about why they wanted the same-sex marriage passed. Rather, on a broader scale of ‘perverted ideas’, there were powerful elements in both government, educational facilities and percentage wise smaller groups in society who passionately wanted to make it possible to bring into the educational system and society an acceptance at all levels of the ‘normalcy’ of homosexuality. There were and are many who consider this as legally allowing the tainting of normal healthy minds at an age when they are most impressionable and unable to discern truth from pressure! And this is planned to begin even from infancy? How long did it take between the law passing and pushes to change educational standards in primary schools. Anecdotal reports claim that the route in had already been planned! Most certainly they had begun pre-plebiscite to teach it in Universities!

From the PRESENT – In what war has the attacking army been supposed to feed and protect the enemy who have committed filthy actions to bring war upon themselves? What is called the ‘Fourth Geneva Convention’ has many excellent provisions to protect civilian normal life when their country is being attacked; – noting particularly medical, educational and daily living (shopping etc) facilities. Very clearly this Convention puts onto the shoulders of the attacked people to not use these facilities to cover and/or protect war time actions! So although it sounds good in theory, actually the ‘so called Government of Gaza’ negates all these reasons as they place warheads under the cover of every such institution which the IDF has entered! Many proofs have been clearly shown to the whole world – the majority of whom prefer to believe the proven Gazan (Hamas) lie.

From HISTORY – The now anglicized word ‘Palestine’ has a history. It was a region of Egypt where its people were Egyptians. It was a Roman term introduced after the 70 AD massacre of many Jews as a substitute name for Israel, Judea and Samaria – the population were almost 100% Jews; and an area of the Ottoman (Muslim) Empire called by the British and verified by the World Nations at the end of WWII as the Palestine Protectorate as a home for the Jews! Politically (and remember the Law is often an ass!) they said that it was to be separately governed as a homeland for the Jews and the Arabs, both of which groups lived there! They were not officially called Palestinians. Since then the Arab portion of the population have refused to see the 2 state division unless it included annihilation of all Jews. (intifada)

UNIMAGINABLE – How many honest nations leaders can vote for a country which has a terrorist government to become a member of the UN? The honest answer is none! In the recent UN vote the applicant Palestine had refused on several occasions to accept a land for themselves. Offers have been made several times by Israel before and refused unless, accepting that land, meant the eradication and genocide of its enemy, Israel? Australia showed its lack of honesty and integrity by voting ‘YES’. Shame upon all our heads. Of course you could deny the label ‘terrorist’, but I can’t imagine much more terrorizing things than they have done!

Dominic Cartier

Kids – Beware! ‘They’ are a mob of liars!

***But don’t be fooled by lies to aim at false skies!***

I guess that ‘they’ doesn’t include ‘we’ or ‘you’, but in a sense it does include all of us because it is a very rare, unique super-honourable person who does not sometimes colour or limit the truth to fit their version of the truth. I intend to let that sit in the background of my discussion and I am assuming a good share of understanding and honesty as I proceed! Most people are liars, and most of us convince ourselves that our degree of lying is tolerable and justifiable – often not so our assessment of others!

I am coloured, although most people see me as white. At least where the sun shines on my skin in the winter I am a light shade of brown; in the summer I am ‘browner’ to very brown. As you can see looking into my eyes – taken mid-winter, not photoshopped!

Nevertheless I am seen as a white supremacist! I’m not sure over what I am seen as ‘supreme’. Maybe I’m being a bit facetious, it seems to me that as I am not First Nation (although both my parents were Australian citizens) I am not classified as coloured (although as I have explained, I am! I don’t think of myself as a Scandinavian or ‘peaches and cream’ Pommy – a ghostly white person). I am not a female or one of the deviant groups. I am neither green, woke, NAZI or extreme right or left wing politically (although I do see some truth in some of their thinking. I’m not sure about any good in ‘woke’) – and thus I am not worth being considered as anything but a mere waste of space! Except as a taxable item!

I refer back to my opening paragraph. Politically there is a rare bird called an ‘honest politician’. Sadly because of party politics a truly honest politician rarely gets a chance to be heard. They are forced to follow the party line, a line which is drawn very close to a desire of winning the next election.

The Bible talks about shepherds (I presume leaders) and sheep (I presume the masses). Using religious terms transferred to politics, I presume that the various levels of government are in a significant way the ‘shepherds’. Looking at recently changed laws I ask – “How many, presumably intelligent politicians, can’t tell the difference between a male and a female?” I will follow on my thought pattern in my next ‘heatedstew’ edition.

Dominic Cartier.

More War Deliberations.

I have previously written a list of things which relate positively to the Israeli side of the present ongoing but centuries old war between the Ishmael and the Isaac descendants of Abraham – that is between the Jews and the Arabs. Initially we need to differentiate between the words “Philistines” and “Palestinians”, because there is overwhelming evidence that the Philistines lived for some centuries BC in what is now called Gaza.

The Land – Many remember the story of the Israeli David fighting Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. The Bible record states that there were another four giants of the same family as Goliath, and they all had the chance to fight against David and Israel and were defeated. There was no boundary marked on a map, but the areas controlled by both sides varied according to who was winning the skirmishes. As I can understand from secular reading the people called ‘Philistines’ exist no more. The first Palestinians were in fact Jews. The Romans were ruling over the lands where the Jews lived. Because of the troublesome nature of their subjugated people, ‘the Jews’, and with the thought of rubbing the Jewish noses in a hated concept, the Romans called a large area both to the East and the West of the Jordan river ‘Syrian Palestine’. The population at that time was overwhelmingly Jewish. The term covered what had been known by the inhabitants as Judea and Samaria i.e. Southern and Northern Israel. The trouble with the name and population has ‘grumbled along’ for centuries.

Muhammed is said to have had his first contact with the Angel Jibril in a cave called Hira, located on the mountain Jabal An-Nour near Mecca in 610 AD (CE), and from that ‘revelation’ Islam was born – the cave was in Saudi Arabia near Mecca. Jerusalem was conquered by Muslims about 635 AD and has been under the control of various power groups ever since. After WWI the Balfour declaration created the state of Palestine for a national home for the Jewish people! This was approved by the League of Nations in 1922.

The Zionist movement began in 1897 because Theodur Herzl believed the Jews needed a homeland – and the Zionist movement became very strong after WWII. At the time that Palestine was created as a home for the Jewish people, the population was part Arab, part Jew. Thus, this is a complex situation with Jewish heritage going back from Abraham’s time through Roman times, but with strong Arabic (often Islamic) control from 635 to WWI.

When did the present war begin? The Arab/Jewish antagonism has continued since 635AD as both a religious and cultural war. Could this be described as an unfinished war with many battles on the way? I think it helpful to look at it that way and to see the present situation as a battle. Both sides must accept their responsibilities in the ongoing war. But this battle was undoubtedly begun by a brutal terrorist act of Hamas. Am I surprised that Israel wants a decisive victory? Are hostages, including infants, the sick and the elderly legally held in modern warfare? Are civilians able to be used as shields for the army in modern warfare? Are armies allowed to shelter behind educational and health facilities to make attacking the enemy illegal? Has Hamas undoubtedly done all these illegal things? Is an opposition nation ever expected to feed the enemy civilians?

War	Civilian deaths	Army deaths
WWI	9.7 million	10 million
WWII	44 million	15 million
NATO in Yugoslavia	4	1 (ratio)
First Chechen war	40,000	4000
Second Chenchen war	13000	3000

What is an acceptable civilian to army death ratio?

It seems very reasonable to aim at zero civilian casualties. But one’s tongue must be in the cheek to say you believe that possible. It is very difficult to get accurate figures when one side is trying to prove that they are being treated poorly and the other side is trying to make themselves out as heroes!

By these figures The Rwanda figures of 800,000 civilian deaths from a population of 5-6 million is fairly obviously genocide, as were, one suspects, the Chechen wars. The Israeli – Hamas (Palestinian) conflict is obviously an extreme urban based war with underground tunnels at multiple levels. Hamas undoubtedly, as proven by the verbal and photo presented evidence, is using several illegal methods of shielding their terrorists. With Hamas figures, a total of 30,000 are dead, and, with Israeli figures 12,000 of those are Hamas soldier deaths. Both sides publicly question the figures presented by the opposition. If accepted they give a ration of 3/1.2 civilian to army. Certainly, that isn’t genocide, and I don’t believe the figures are totally honest.

How much help do the Hamas get? Hamas gets many instruments of war sent in ‘free’ by Iran. Some of the surrounding nations are paid to be actively involved (eg Hezbollah in Lebanon) and are stocked up, armament-wise, by the same nation which uses Hamas as an extended arm of their anti-Jewish hatred. UN aid to Gaza adds up to many billions. Has any of this AID money been used by Hamas in preparing for war?

The Battle cry ‘The river to the sea’, conceptually embedded in Hamas’ constitution, is absolutely disgusting. It is a statement of genocidal intent!

The non-Hamas-aligned Palestinians have my heartfelt sympathy. They are living in an environment of hatred; they have been educated to hate and destroy; they are being used as tools by an evil terrorist regime. I find it surprising that there are any Gazans not aligned with Hamas as I read the educational material taught in UNWA controlled schools. In polls taken inside Gaza, Hamas is well supported and thus in fact it is uncertain how many Gazans are not siding with Hamas.

The Israelis don’t need me (I’m a retired surgeon) to go there, although they may need soldiers from elsewhere. If I was 40 years younger, and if I could persuade Hamas to have a hospital apart from their war extensions inside the hospital, I would go to Gaza to offer my help. My required situation would be relatively easily provided, with an army field hospital and I cannot see any reason why the UN or the USA couldn’t supply it. Surely MSF would be happy to supply other staff unless they are committed to Hamas.

Dominic Cartier

Cycl-optic or Bi-optic? In my defence.

During a sensible and healthy discussion this week, I was ‘accused’ of being one-eyed. The person then went on to say that probably all of us are one-eyed, I think acknowledging that they were themselves. It got me to thinking about the issue. Where does sitting on the fence come into the argument? Sitting on the fence for too long gives one a severe pain in the area of pressure, particularly if the top strand is barbed wire! You must make decisions in life. But there are at least three varieties of one-eyedness. There are people who jump onto one side of the fence (or sometimes are born in that paddock) without ever seriously looking at what is on the other side of the fence – truly cycloptic. There are those who think hard and long, make a choice, get off the fence, and become almost hysterically committed not only to one side of the situation but are vitriolic against those in the other paddock – another form of cycloptic. Then there are those who get off the fence, standing on one side of it, but are honest enough to see the strengths of the other side of the argument – after all that is what we are really talking about! In other words, they know what side of the fence they want to be but seek to build a style over the fence so that there can be useful contact – bi-optic!

In the Israeli Gaza war there are many issues to cause disagreement but there are as far as I can root out several true facts. No doubt can you can list a few more.

Philistines lived in an area very similar to Gaza. Israel and the Philistines were frequently in war as Israel occupied the portion of Cana which the Bible indicates that God had promised Abraham. The Palestinians are not a continuation of the Philistine tribes, who are thought to be completely ended. As I understand it, Palestine (Syria Palestina) was named after the Philistines by the Romans (Hadrian) about 135AD. They changed it from Judea to rub it in the nose of the Jews who actually lived there and who were a thorn in the Romans’ side. The Philistines were already not in existence.
There has been continuing rumbling war between Israel and Gaza for years, but this war was started by, what is called by all honest people, a terrorist attack.
There is no doubt that billions of dollars given to Gaza, meant to help the people of Gaza, have been used to prepare for a war against Israel. Much of this money has been by the UN and Iran.
People are still called refugees whilst many are in their fourth generation in Gaza. The population of Gaza has grown from about half to seven and a half million in the past 70 years.
There is no doubt that Hamas has illegally involved both schools and medical facilities as a cover for war activities. As there is no doubt that Hamas has used, on a large-scale, humans as shields to stop Israel continuing its retaliatory war. This is a criminal act.
What country is ever expected to feed the country against which it is warring?
The war could stop in an instant if Hamas released the hostages (holding them is an illegal act) and surrendered.
There would still be many things to be sorted out.
The UN is horribly and in its daily acts anti-Israel. Look at UNWA’s history and the number of anti-Israel decisions which the UN makes compared to what it makes against the rest of the world! In 2023 the UN condemned Israel 14 times compared to the rest of the world 7 times. For instance, there was one against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine!
Organizations like Medicine without Frontiers have continued to work in government knowing that they are covering illegal Hamas activities.
The media is biased heavily against Israel.

You can see that in the fence between Hamas and Israel I have come down on the Israeli side. But note, and I don’t think that I am kidding myself, provided I didn’t have to work where Hamas were involved, I would be there helping the wounded Gazans. There is plenty of room for organizations like MSF to set up army style hospitals. Though I suspect that Hamas wouldn’t agree to it. I am not Jewish though I will confess that my wife has 12% DNA suggesting that she is; both of us are Christians by birth and by choice, and have worked amongst Muslim people medically.

Growing old with purpose!

For some years a group of us held the consultant posts in the major government hospital in our city. It was a big hospital (603 beds), but well away (1,500Km) from the capital, and relatively understaffed at the top level. I was a ‘come and go again’ member of the staff as I spent as much time in Ethiopia as Ethiopian politics and my health would allow. In 1976 when I joined the staff as Surgical Supervisor there were basically 3 general surgeons (the Medical Director was a surgeon but an Administrator (who only treated burns) several orthopaedic surgeons, an eye surgeon, and 2 Obstetrician/Gynaecologists, We had 3 senior anaesthetists and 3 general physicians. Gradually a few others were added. Several years later we got a neurosurgeon, a paediatric surgeon and several younger registrars graduated and joined the staff.

Yesterday was the funeral of the neurosurgeon. There was a huge audience with many family but also many people celebrating his bringing neurosurgery to the north of our state about a thousand by a thousand kilometres! (The state is huge!) My wife and I sat behind the paediatric surgeon and another surgeon both of whom I consider young guys, although in their 70s. I didn’t see him but I have good reason to believe there was a younger, now retired surgeon there and I saw a couple of younger, now older, anaesthetists.

One of the physicians is still alive (nearly 90 I think), an eye surgeon is unwell but alive in the capital city as is a healthy anaesthetist. But we three surgeons sitting together felt that we are the only 3 old brigade of surgeons. And I was there when one was a registrar and years before the other came! I hope for their sakes that I’ll be the next one to die. There is a certainty about death. It reminds me of a story that Jesus told about a guy called Lazarus and a beggar. Lazarus was filthy rich and very self-centred but his wealth didn’t allow him to avoid death. He woke up in hell. The story in the Bible (Luke 16: 19-31) gives several major issues to consider but relevant to this situation – talking across the divide of hell and ‘heaven’ he mentioned that he had relatives who lived as he had and he requested Father Abraham to send a dead guy back to warn them. There was a very powerful statement by Abraham – ‘Even if someone rose from the dead, they wouldn’t believe him!’ This weekend is Easter! He is Risen!