Spare the Middle East your civilisation

The sheer volume of unhinged Orientalism and greed being thrown at us over the past year is staggering

“If I stopped now, after coming all this way—well, they’d call me an idiot!” thought Pakhom, the peasant who believed that more land would bring him peace and joy. He already had what he needed, but it was never enough. But really, how much land does a man need? He never thought of it that way. He just wanted more—more for less. Always more, always less effort.

As for what happens to Pakhom in the end, you’ll have to ask Tolstoy. The greed that consumed him, the temptations he fell for—he couldn’t see the danger because he was blinded by the ideal, he had built, so carelessly and frankly, foolishly. What happens to him in some obscure Russian land in the mid-19th century is Tolstoy’s concern. We, however, should focus on the Pakhoms of today.

Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet continue their military campaigns in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon. They seem determined to eliminate Hezbollah, as if that will somehow solve their “problems” in the long run. Then, the next goal: take do…