Auf Wiedersehen, Österreicher

Not surprisingly, I have been quite busy, and expect to be well occupied for the next few weeks.  This has curtailed my blog posting activity, and will likely continue to do so.

Given the spike of military-like activity in the immediate vicinity, the government of Austria has decided to pull their 300-troop contingent from the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights.

So let's get this one straight:  Austria is willing to participate in the peacekeeping effort, but only to the extent that the situation is peaceful to begin with.

I have mixed feelings about the UN peacekeeping forces in Israel.  On one hand, they do put a damper, to some ever-diminishing extent, upon violent activities, inasmuch as there still remains some sort of social taboo against shooting at the Blue Helmets.  This utility, of course, is actively in the process of eroding.  Even when I visited Israel 30-something years ago, the UN was not seriously regarded by the local populace as exerting too much effectiveness in its supposed mission.

Moreover, the Blue Helmets, when they are not wearing their blue helmets (and sometimes when they are), spend their pocket cash at Israeli business establishments, thereby contributing to Israel's robust economy.

On the other hand, there are things which the Israeli military cannot really do with impunity when the Blue Helmets are around.

And if the lessons of history are to be effective, there is, at best, some irony in the notion of Jews depending upon organized official groups of Austrians or other Volkdeutschen for protection.