Solutions to the Middle East: I try to be a rational person. I try to look at both sides of the issues; many sides of the issues. I will admit to a side that wants revenge but I also have a side that looks for more sagacious ways out. This requires much understanding, knowledge of all history and most especially Middle East history. It requires us to ask the question why is this happening. The revenge side of me thinks, as some people on this blog do, that force is the only way; that no matter if there were no Jews in Israel, if there were no Israel, if we did not need oil, if those in the west were nowhere to be found in the Middle East, I suspect the Middle East would still be explosive. I think to a degree nothing in the long run will matter because this radical brand of Islam, this kind of quasi Marxist ends-justifies-the-means kind of Islam has grabbed on to a population that does not and will not let it go. Man Western or Middle Eastern can be a violent beast that we know. I would love to find the better angels of our nature, if that is even indeed possible, in these perilous times. I would rather the Middle East be turned into a progressive flourishing oasis rather than into a parking lot as some would advocate. This will take a Solomon-like effort. So far I see no Solomons on the horizon. I am trusting that amid six billion people on this planet there must be one!