The gathering storm in the Middle East is gaining momentum. War clouds are on the horizon and, as with conditions prior to World War I, all it takes for explosive action to commence is a trigger.
Turkey’s provocative flotilla—often described in Orwellian terms as a humanitarian mission—has set in motion a flurry of diplomatic activity, but if the Iranians send escort vessels for the next round of Turkish ships, it could present a casus belli.
It is also instructive that Syria is playing a dangerous game with both missile deployment and rearming Hezbollah. According to most public accounts, Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 long-, medium- and short-range missiles and Syrian territory has served as a conduit for military material from Iran since the end of the 2006 Lebanon War.
Maze Cartoon of Tony Hayward fixing a leak on his boat. Maze cartoon of Tony Hayward, BP CEO, trying to stop a leak on his boat. Which he approaches the same way he did for the leak in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Created by Yonatan Frimer
VENICE, La. (AP) - Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn't get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP's CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.
Tony Hayward's latest public relations gaffe didn't sit well with people in the U.S. who have seen their livelihoods ruined by the massive two-month oil spill.
"Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he's at the yacht races," said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, La. "I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too."
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with anger, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of his company's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Robert Wine, a BP spokesman at the company's Houston headquarters, said it's the first break Hayward has had since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.
"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend," Wine said Saturday. "I'm sure that everyone would understand that."
Not Mike Strohmeyer, who owns the Lighthouse Lodge in Venice, on Louisiana's southern tip, who said Hayward was "just numb."
"I don't think he has any feelings," he said. "If I was in his position.....
BP chief's weekend sailing trip stokes anger at oil company
Pictures of Tony Hayward yachting at the Isle of Wight billed as a PR nightmare and insulting to those affected by oil slick
Crew aboard the yacht belonging to BP chief executive Tony Hayward at the Isle of Wight. Photograph: Chris Ison/PA
Images of the beleaguered BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, attending a yacht race on the Isle of Wight, just 48 hours after a hostile interrogation by a US congressional committee on the Gulf Coast oil spill, have provoked sharp criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, condemned Hayward's attendance at the event as "part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes" on ABC television, adding: "I think that we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting".
Hizbullah wants to gas Israel, I mean take gas from Israel - Maze Cartoon
Maze Cartoon - Jewish monkey reading a newspaper with the headlines, "Hizbullah Claims Israel's Gas Belongs to them" says, "In World War 2, the anti-semites put us into gas chambers. Now they want to chamber our gas" Created by Yonatan Frimer
Marine law expert Adv. Amir Cohen-Dor: The Dalit and Tamar gas fields are within Israel's economic zone.
Adi Ben-Israel and Uzi Blumer14 Jun 10 17:41
Hizbullah claims that that the natural gas fields recently discovered in the Mediterranean, belong to Lebanon and warned Israel against extracting gas from them. Iranian English language paper "Tehran Times" quotes Hezbollah's executive council chief Hashem Safieddine as saying that it would not allow Israel to loot Lebanese gas resources.
Earlier this week, Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri told "AFP", “Israel is racing to make the case a fait accompli and was quick to present itself as an oil emirate, ignoring the fact that, according to the maps, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters. Lebanon must take immediate action to defend its financial, political, economic and sovereign rights."
NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Around the turn of every year, bankers can think of only one thing: the size of their bonuses.
Even beyond bonus season, they run different scenarios and assumptions, trying to calculate their number.
This distracts them so much that the bigger the bonus at stake, the worse the performance, according to behavioral economist Dan Ariely, who lays out his theory in his new book "The Upside of Irrationality" (HarperCollins, $27.99).
"For a long time we trained bankers to think they are the masters of the universe, have unique skills and deserve to be paid these amounts," said Ariely, who also wrote the New York Times bestseller "Predictably Irrational."
"It is going to be hard to convince them that they don't really have unique skills and that the amount they've been paid for the past years is too much."
Ariely's findings come as regulators try to rein in Wall Street's bonus culture after the 2008 financial collapse. The financial industry argues it needs to pay large bonuses to attract and motivate its top employees.
In an experiment in India, Ariely measured the impact of different bonuses on how participants did in a number of tasks that required creativity, concentration and problem-solving.
One of the tasks was Labyrinth, where the participants had to move a small steel ball through a maze avoiding holes. Ariely describes a man he identified as Anoopum, who stood to win the biggest bonus, staring at the steel ball as if it were prey.
"This is very, very important," Anoopum mumbled to himself. "I must succeed." But under the gun, Anoopum's hands trembled uncontrollably, and he failed time after time.
A large bonus was equal to five months of their regular pay, a medium-sized bonus was equivalent to about two weeks pay and a small bonus was a day's pay.
There was little difference in the performance of those receiving the small and medium-sized bonuses, while recipients of large bonuses performed worst.
SHOCK TREATMENT
More than a century ago, an experiment with rats in a maze rigged with electric shocks came to a similar conclusion. Every day, the rats had to learn how to navigate a new maze safely.
When the electric shocks were low, the rats had little incentive to avoid them. At medium intensity they learned their environment more quickly.
But when the shock intensity was very high, it seemed the rats could not focus on anything other than the fear of the shock.
This may provide lessons for regulators who want to change Wall Street's bonus culture, Ariely said. Paying no bonus or smaller bonuses could help fix skewed incentives without loss of talent.
"The reality is, a lot of places are able to attract great quality people without paying them what bankers are paid," Ariely said. "Do you think bankers are inherently smarter than other people? I don't." (Reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Daniel Trotta)
Smugglers in Egypt and Gaza worry their trade will be adversely affected by returning Palestinians lugging goods bought for cheaper prices in Egypt. They know a total termination of the blockade will spell the end of their industry.
"If the border opened, there won't be any tunnels," Abu Al-Amir, a tunnel worker in Gaza, said in a telephone interview with AOL News. "If the tunnels end, no one will work."
Al-Amir said nervous conversations about what will happen if the border stays open have rippled through the smuggling community in Gaza. Although his work has not been affected, Al-Amir said, "There are people who are afraid."
Right now, it's business as usual for many of Gaza's tunnels that ferry construction materials, something neither of the borders is allowing through.
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Maze Cartoon UN Bombing Iran with Sanctions By Yonatan Frimer
Cartoon maze of a UN fighter jet dropping bombed marked "Sanctions" on Iran, while he has other with the name of known targets and the pilot says, "If these don't work, then we drop the real ones!"
Cartoon Maze Chemtrails Vs. Kassams
Maze cartoon contrasting the difference between USA and Israel. In the USA they complain about chemtrails in the sky, in Israel, they have Kassams.
Maze cartoon of a week in the life of Helen Thomas By Yonatan Frimer
Maze cartoon of a week in the life of Helen Thomas. First she tells the Jews to go back to Germany, then says she is sorry, then quits her job.
Cartoon Maze: Sh*t My Son Tweets By Yonatan Frimer
Maze cartoon of The Dad of Sh*t My Dad Says saying, "The book ought to be called "Shit My Son Tweets" or "Twitters" or whatever young people call it.
Cartoon Maze Chemtrails Vs. Kassam Rockets By Yonatan Frimer Maze cartoon of two monkeys talking about the skies in the USA and in Israel. In the USA there are "Chemtrails from who knows what" and in Israel their are Qassams that "We know are from Gaza" Created by Yonatan Frimer Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze Click here for the maze solution.
Cartoon Maze: Who you calling chicken? By Yonatan Frimer Maze cartoon of a bunch of chickens, labeled with the name of terrorist groups around a Turkey, labeled AKP, the ruling party in Turkey, and the Turkey exclaims, "Who you calling chicken!" Created by Yonatan Frimer Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze Click here for the maze solution.
"Hamas's resistance fighters were meant to defend their land. They won an election. I've told American officials before that I do not consider Hamas a terror organization, and I still don't. They are defending their land," he was quoted by Turkish media as saying.
Editorial Maze Cartoon on Arizona Immigration laws. Cartoon maze editorial bunch immigrants sneaking into America. Leader tells them "We are almost there folks, make sure you have plenty of water and get your fake birth certificate from Sanchez before the border." As they stand near a road with a sign that says, "Arizona 50 Miles." Created by Yonatan Frimer Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze Click here or on the image for the solution to the maze.
Editorial Cartoon Maze on a Dow Jones Airline, by Yonatan Frimer Cartoon maze editorial of an airplane, labled Dow Jones that has sand bags on its wings and tail and the sand is leaking out an labeled, "Glitch, EU, Greece and Reform" the co-pilot exclaims, "Sir! We are losing altitude! We gotta keep above 10,000 to avoid a crash!" Created by Yonatan Frimer Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze Click here or on the image for the solution to the maze.
Cartoon maze of how the Tea Party started. By Yonatan Frimer
Cartoon maze editorial of a bunch of sheep in a field. One sheep stands up and exclaims, "I will no longer be a follower!" The rest of the flock yells, "Me too!" and the group in the front explaim "If this catches on, we got to get that fox on board."
Good year to be a Cameron, cartoon maze: Cartoon maze editorial both David Cameron, the new prime minister of England and of James Cameron, who produced and directed Avatar, a movie that has broken many records for generating the most revenue. 2010 sure is a good year if your last name is Cameron.
Maze Cartoon - Effects of Human Error on Stock Market Maze cartoon editorial showcasing how stocks are effected by human error, buy having a bull represent stocks and a cowboy wrangling him to represent human error.
Editorial maze cartoon of the all new Electric Hummer. No longer will Humvees and Hummers be called gas guzzlers. Now they are better for the environment than a Toyota Prius.
Editorial maze cartoon of a conversation between King Fahd and Jean-Marie Lustiger on having a grand mosque built in Paris. Lustiger replies, "Sure, just as soon as I can build a grand cathedral in Mecca."
Nail in coffin of offshore drilling - cartoon maze Maze Cartoon editorial on how the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the nail in the coffin of off shore drilling. Created by Yonatan Frimer
Maze Cartoon for Editorial use on the Economy of Greece. A 747 marked "Economy of Greece" flys while chained to two bags of debt that are carried by the IMF and EU. Created by Yonatan Frimer
Can't solve the maze? Click here for the maze solution Editorial Cartoon Maze of Bashar Assad, President Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Nasrallah on the road to dictatorship. A donkey marked UN poops out resolution as the Iranian president remarks "Just don't step in any of it till we get there."
Smugglers in Egypt and Gaza worry their trade will be adversely affected by returning Palestinians lugging goods bought for cheaper prices in Egypt. They know a total termination of the blockade will spell the end of their industry.
Cartoon maze of a UN fighter jet dropping bombed marked "Sanctions" on Iran, while he has other with the name of known targets and the pilot says, "If these don't work, then we drop the real ones!"
Maze cartoon contrasting the difference between USA and Israel. In the USA they complain about chemtrails in the sky, in Israel, they have Kassams. 
Maze cartoon of a week in the life of Helen Thomas. First she tells the Jews to go back to Germany, then says she is sorry, then quits her job.
Maze cartoon of The Dad of Sh*t My Dad Says saying, "The book ought to be called "Shit My Son Tweets" or "Twitters" or whatever young people call it.
Maze cartoon of Bibi Netanyahu and PM Erdogan in the mens room, sizing each other up. Erdogan has a scornful look on his face and defends, "It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean" Created by Yonatan Frimer
Click here for a printable, hi-res version of this maze
Click here for the maze solution.
