popular logistics

During the Depression, Henry Ford kept his factories running. Similarly Thomas J. Watson, hired salesmen at IBM. Both knew they were investing for the future.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the late 1980’s, Cuba found itself in similar, if not worse, conditions. During the Soviet era, Cubans exported most of their main crop - sugar - and imported most of their food and virtually all of their meat. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, they had no export market for overpriced sugar, and thanks to U. S. foreign policy, no way to import food, fertilizer or pesticides.

According to Bill McKibben, in “Deep Economy,” rather than give up, they invested for the future. They planned, they planted crops, and while they lost weight, they succeeded. Their agricultural practices have become a model for sustainable and largely organic agriculture - they don’t use artificial fertilizer or pesticides.

Like the Cubans, the Palestinians have become orphaned children of the Soviet Union. They lost all aid from the USSR. And with the influx of immigrants to Israel from Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Republics, they lost their jobs - why should Israelis hire people who want to kill them when they can hire people who want to join them? Unlike the Cubans, the Palestinians were adopted by Europe and the U. S., who showered money and other aid on them.

But money is a medium of exchange; it is only valuable when it can buy stuff. Thanks, perhaps in large part, to the Arafat’s thievery, the Palestinians have nothing.

Arafat stole every penny he could – to the tune of millions of dollars. He’s gone, but the self-proclaimed “holy men” in Hamas, Hizbollah, Iran and Syria blame the Jews for all their problems. With leadership like this they are doomed. The Palestinians need a leader like Henry Ford, Thomas J. Watson, or even Fidel Castro.