Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

Iraqi Parliamentarian to President Obama: Do Not Give Up on Iraq

August 19, 2014

by Heather Robinson

In a phone interview from Iraq last week, Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al Alusi thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for his decision to conduct air strikes against ISIS and urged the U.S. President to “make it clear to extremists the...

Read More

Israel: if we are not for ourselves, who will be for us?

July 30, 2014

by Heather Robinson

Earlier today a friend brought to my attention a recent blog post by James Howard Kunstler, a writer on environmental and economic issues. With all the tragic news coming out of the Mideast, I think the analysis of this man – who is not...

Read More

Hamas’s child victims and Israel’s survival

July 19, 2014

by Heather Robinson

syrian-child-soldiers

Today I am thinking of Israelis and Palestinians, and all the children on both sides who deserve so much better than what they have, especially Palestinian children, because their leaders in Gaza simply do not value these children’s...

Read More

Should the Stain of a Youthful Mistake Last Forever?

July 8, 2014

by Heather Robinson

logomain.gif

From The Jewish Week

72738947-monica-lewinsky-attends-the-mens-health-best-life_1.jpg.CROP.promo-mediumlarge

In June’s Vanity Fair magazine, Monica Lewinsky, now 40, asks the world to reconsider who she is. In her essay, “Shame and Survival,” she writes about how, since 1998, when the news broke about her affair with...

Read More

Eric Cantor: dumped for having a heart?

June 11, 2014

by Heather Robinson

Eric_Cantor,_official_113th_Congress_photo_portrait

Yesterday brought the stunning political news that U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost his seat to a Tea Party challenger, David Brat, who accused Cantor of betraying conservative principles on spending, debt, and...

Read More

From Belarus, Without Love

June 3, 2014

by Heather Robinson

logomain.gif

From The Jewish Week

Changing dating expectations in a city where men won’t grow up.

At 20, living in a small town in Belarus, Olga (not her real name) placed her picture on a website for American men interested in meeting Russian...

Read More

Valentine’s Is A Rotten Day To Be Single

April 28, 2014

by Heather Robinson

Ny-post-logo

From New York Post

MALAYSIA-VALENTINE-WEDDING

The day after New Year’s, the assault begins. Scanning the drugstore’s aisles for cold medicine, you come face-to-face with a pink and white teddy bear holding up a heart-shaped “Be mine” sign. Turn the corner to...

Read More

Table for One: Product Placement

April 28, 2014

by Heather Robinson

logomain.gif

From The Jewish Week

couple_on_beach_0

“… fools give you reasons, wise men never try.”
— From Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific”

Alison Greenberg, 40, a Manhattan marketer, has been online dating...

Read More

People minus propaganda = possibilities for peace

March 2, 2014

by Heather Robinson

sudan

“Israel Apartheid Week,” a movement analogizing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and calling for blanket boycotts of Israeli products, divestment from companies that do business with Israel, and an end to academic cooperation...

Read More

Scarlett brave and beautiful

February 17, 2014

by Heather Robinson

Scarlett-Johansson1

Although I’m a few weeks late, I wanted to mention that actress Scarlett Johansson deserves praise for honoring her contract with Israeli home carbonation company SodaStream. (To recap: she appeared in a halftime advertisement for the...

Read More