Author Archives: jdavis85

A Nuclear Iran: How does this change your world view?

Er, so remember guest contributor jdavis85? Before leaving the blogosphere, he wrote one last post. Except that I just found it today, so it was about four months ago when he wrote it. Luckily, these kinds of issues never go away…

There are two major issues that I am very interested in and I spend about 1-2 hours each day reading blogs about these issues. These issues are Israeli politics/relations and China in general. So, naturally, as someone who considers himself a Zionist and tries to continually keep updated on Israeli politics, I read Jeffrey Goldberg’s blog over at the Atlantic. Recently, he had an interview with Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, the recently sworn in prime minister of Israel (for the second time at that!). The full text of the interview can be found here.

One thing to note is that during the interview, Bibi implies, signals, hints at, however you want to call it, that if America doesn’t manage to stop Iran’s acquiring nuclear arms, Israel will be forced to. After all, for a country that has stated that it wants to wipe Israel off the map, publicly funds two terrorist organizations, and has recently rebuffed Obama’s attempt at peace, who can blame the Israelis? But, what is also important to note is Joe Klein’s note on the same subject where he said:

“Netanyahu is also completely wrong when he says that Iran, with a bomb, will be able to coerce Arab neighbors to its side. The precise opposite is true: Iran with a bomb would touch off an Arab arms race. The very prospect of Iran with a bomb is freaking out the Arabs now–in private, your average Egyptian, Jordanian or Saudi diplomat is far more passionate about the threat from Iran than the “atrocities” Israel undertook in Gaza.  ” Continue reading

A Man I’m Proud Of

Yes! I love discussing divisive issues! And I know you DL folks are gonna especially love this post from guest blogger jdavis. Intelligent debate is welcome. Just keep the name-calling (somewhat) clean. I’m working on getting my little sister to read phillygrrl.com.

After just seeing the video of Obama addressing Iran, the only word that comes to mind is “Finally!” As a Jew, I’ve continually concluded that the only way for Israel to survive is to isolate those who are actively hostile against it. By this, I of course mean Hamas and Hezbollah. Unfortunately, both of those organizations are funded directly by Iran. And that’s why when I heard news of possible renewed peace talks with Syria, I thought that Israel was finally making progress in the region considering that Operation: Cast Lead seems to have cost far more than it was worth.

Don’t be confused, however. I fully support Israel’s right to self-defense, and I can’t imagine that the people of Philadelphia would have reacted any less strongly were rockets falling on 9th and Passyunk. However, after seeing this article by Ha’aretz on the descent of IDF morality during this war, I feel ashamed for the reality of what took place. Continue reading

The Taboo Side of China

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More fascinating insights from phillyboy jdavis reporting from China!

Politics and Chinese Culture

In the year before I came to China, I was taking private Chinese lessons with a tutor for one hour a week for about 10 months. However, my tutoring essentially consisted, initially anyway, of my tutor teaching me how to pronounce Chinese words, making me write down lots of new words, and then telling me to memorize them. As things transpired, it turned into her telling me to memorize the words in the lessons in the book and her quizzing me on them during class. Continue reading

Are they really serious? I say “No.”

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Please welcome guest blogger, jdavis – a phillyboy who is currently teaching abroad in China.

After living in China for a bit over a year, one of the things I’ve realized is that, while I’m fairly certain corruption exists in every country, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a country that flaunts it quite so openly. Corruption like this can really be seen at all levels, from office workers and teachers, to the police, to government officials. This, I understand, is not uncommon for developing countries, as I’ve heard similar things about India. But for a country so publicly vying for rank as one of the greatest nations in the world, it troubles me that such corruption is so obvious on so many levels.

Continue reading