Is It Only Me?

I am pleased to note that the Railwayman from C2C who saved a woman's life has been re-instated, presumably with a warning not to do it again.  Bob Crow, the Union boss, called it a 'victory for common sense'.  I don't.  I call it a senseless waste of time and money ( which probably came from fare-payers), when a simple "nice one, mate, but we'd better alter our procedures, so you don't have to risk your neck again, and people in wheelchairs can't fall on to the track" would have done.  Still, I'm glad everyone's alright, and hope C2C have learned something...........

The depressing Syria problem refuses to go away, and now Mr Putin has taken centre stage.  His idea may be good - or possibly just clever - but there's no doubt that he's taken the wind out of America's sails.  The wrong-footed White House is now in between a rock and a hard place.  There seems to be little appetite for intervention in the States, despite Mr Kerry and Co. frantically trying to drum up support to put the money where Obama's mouth is.

I think the biggest problem here is knowing who your friends are - which, of course, means knowing your enemies as well.  Subtracting the enemies from the total does not mean that anyone remaining is your friend - or is even going to stay your friend once you've dug 'em out of the cack.  There is no doubt at all that Assad's regime is oppressive (I worked with a Syrian who knew just how oppressive it is when the secret police murdered his brother and threatened him, so I'm not just making this up), and the man will stop at nothing.  There is also no doubt that Vlad didn't thrive all those years in the KGB without being very capable.

But what are we replacing them with?  Another bunch of evil old clerics who preach murder in the name of a peaceful god?  Al-Quaida?  A Syrian version of the world's greatest chauvinists, the Taliban?  Are we condemning Syria to something at least as bad as Assad, or even worse?  Do we know?  And - call me Mr Cynic - where's the money?  Because whoever controls the MIddle East has the key to the world.

Or is it only me?