Wall Street may bring Peace to the Middle East

It may seem odd, but the Wall Street debacle of the past eighteen months may provide the impetus for peace in our time. I don't think this was intentional, although I'd be prepared to thank them if it turns out that this was planned and it proves successful.

The first stage was the destruction of demand for oil, which has brought the price of a barrel of crude down by $100. Without high priced petroleum, the leading sponsor of anti-American and anti-Israeli activities in the region, Iran, will not be in a position to do nearly as much. I rather doubt they will continue active pursuit of nuclear weapons. When you need all your money to buy rice, or whatever Iranians eat, you may have to give up on plutonium for a while. And Hezbollah may need to go on a financial diet as well.

On the flip side, the general decline of wealth and income among Wall Street types had affected their ability to fund Zionism with the same esprit, even before the events of the past week. To this, Bernie Madoff may have added the coup de grace. The $50 billion he seems to have stolen came disproportionately from Jews, and perhaps even more so from Jews with a special fondness for letting another Jew manage their money. Some of them were definitely among Israel's best friends.

Maybe it won't work out, but if it turned out that peace could come from the antagonists running out of the funds necessary to remain obstinate, it would be an elegant and symmetrical solution, as mathematicians would say.