Non Sequitur

Potpourri – Topics that don’t belong anywhere else

Non Sequitur

Why Isn’t Israel Afraid of Iran?

June 28, 2020 The Watcher Emeritus Comments Off on Why Isn’t Israel Afraid of Iran?

Link to Iranian Air Force Commander Statement. I’ve followed Israel since the 1970s and visited there recently. While I wouldn’t say Israel isn’t afraid of Iran (you’ll get a lot of variance in attitudes among 8.7 million people, even in their government), I think they take the threat seriously and [Read More]

Non Sequitur

Is the best thing that could possibly happen the US right now, aside from a vaccine becoming available against C19, is for Trump to lose the election, so that the nation can heal, get back to decency, and bring people together after the great divide?

June 27, 2020 The Watcher Emeritus Comments Off on Is the best thing that could possibly happen the US right now, aside from a vaccine becoming available against C19, is for Trump to lose the election, so that the nation can heal, get back to decency, and bring people together after the great divide?

Were we divided prior to Trump’s election in 2016? The chart below shows presidential favorability percentages from Eisenhower through Obama. The source is a Pew Research article from January 2017 before Trump took office. The higher the bottom number, the less division. Note that prior to the Clinton era, the [Read More]

Non Sequitur

Why did Carthage refuse to support Hannibal when he was so close to conquering Rome?

June 26, 2020 The Watcher Emeritus Comments Off on Why did Carthage refuse to support Hannibal when he was so close to conquering Rome?

Good question. Unfortunately it’s a difficult one to answer because we have little information from the Carthaginians themselves. Nearly everything we know about them comes from Greek and Roman sources. Those provide a view from the outside, and a biased one a that. TLDR: The Carthaginians didn’t view the Romans [Read More]