Words of Wisdom for Our Era

"We learn that evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb!"

--Darth Helmet in "Space Balls"

Fortunately, evil has other weaknesses and good does have a learning curve.

Of course, who can write such a sentence nowadays without knowing that some readers will snort: "What is `good` and what is `evil?' Isn't that just a matter of opinon? Isn't that too absolute?"

Yes, it is certainly not useful as a category for political analysis--it should be left out of one's evaluation completely. But after you have finished looking at the histories, personalities, motivations, ideologies, and actions, in the end gradations must be made though obviously with many in between.

However, anyone who thinks that al-Qaida in all its various permutations, the Taliban, the current Iranian or Syrian regimes, Hamas, or Hizballah cannot be clearly assessed on this spectrum--with the Muslim Brotherhood branches not far behind--hasn't been paying serious attention.