Monday, June 16, 2014

AND AGAIN, TO PARIS

Susie and I leave later today for a seven week stay in Paris.  As always, I shall be on the Internet once we get there, and will continue blogging about philosophy, economics, world events, cooking, and my early morning walks through the streets of Paris. 

I am sure the irony of reports of possible US -Iran cooperation is lost on no one.  Perhaps the chicken hawk neo-cons will be secretly grateful now that we did not follow their advice and invade Iran.
The US has, in my judgment, peripheral interests at best in the outcome of the present conflict, but Iran's vital national interests are directly engaged, because a return to power of Iraqi Sunni forces would once again create a hostile regime on its Western border.

As we were having a quiet dinner at a local restaurant yesterday evening, I note thanks to my peripheral vision that France had defeated Honduras in the World Cup.  No doubt Paris will be talking of little else when we get there.  I confess that Soccer leaves me cold, but I am sure that reveals a deep flaw in my character.

By the way, am I the only person who has noticed that each of the great team sports has its own distinctive crowd noise?   I can tell from the crowd sounds alone whether it is a baseball, basketball, football, or soccer game on the telly.

a bientot a Paris.

3 comments:

  1. It does indeed reveal a deep flaw in your character. (Just, y'know, in case you wanted confirmation.)

    I'm not just here to insult you, though! If you haven't read this piece by Juan Cole about the ISIS thing already, you might enjoy it:
    http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/myths-radical-advance.html

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  2. It's not just certain sports which have distinctive crowd noise Professor, but locations too(and I do not mean the obvious of chanting a local or national anthem). I can't properly define why but I could listen to the crowd noise of a match and instinctively know whether they're playing in Britain, rest of Europe or South America.
    And as always, have a safe and pleasant trip to France

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  3. "I am sure the irony of reports of possible US-Iran cooperation is lost on no one. Perhaps the chicken hawk neo-cons will be secretly grateful now that we did not follow their advice and invade Iran."

    Prof.

    That's one of the things I like in this blog: there's always something to chuckle about.

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