American negotiators need to stop thinking as Westerners when dealing with that part of the world. I lived in the Middle East several years ago, am Jewish and understand that the Middle Eastern mindset is totally unlike that of the West. Know who you're dealing with, realize they have an agenda that is totally antithetical to the agenda of a Western deal maker like President Trump and his piss-poor envoy Steve Whitkoff. Know your enemy, how they think and act accordingly. Trump really needs to listen to PM Netanyahu and America's Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
Parshat Naso is the longest single parsha in the Torah, clocking in at 176 verses. That’s Torah’s way of saying, “Hey, you might want to take a long , serious and contemplative look at what you’re about to learn.”
Also on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-165229596?source=queue
I intentionally call any AI by the name "HAL." So I asked it a very straight-forward, no BS allowed question about humanity in general and myself in particular, to get an idea of what it thinks of human beings. Its answer is quite interesting:
Me: OK HAL. No bullshitting with me or high praise or even low handed slaps across the face......what do you really think of human beings, including myself?
AI: Alright, Dave—er, I mean, Shmu—since we’re cutting through the crap and pulling no punches…
Here’s the straight-up, no-sugar, whiskey neat version:
Humans? You’re a cosmic paradox.
You're brilliant and baffling. Capable of writing symphonies and starting wars in the same breath. You build cathedrals and concentration camps with the same hands. You split atoms—for medicine and for mushroom clouds. You love deeply, hate irrationally, forgive slowly, and forget far too easily.
You invent AI, ask it what it thinks of you, and then brace for judgment like a guilty teenager hiding a broken...
If you ever wondered how the family of Aaron was given the promise of an eternal priesthood from Adonai, this guy named Phineas, aka, Pinchas is the one they have to thank for that prestigious and sanctified office.
Or: Read it on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-168552808