hidden image

Bob’s Banter by Robert Clements Lashing Out and Losing Out..!

Robert Clements Robert Clements
23 Oct 2023

Being an avid watcher of crime movies, I’ve noticed that whenever a member of the police force has a relative involved in a crime, that particular officer is taken off the case as his or her judgement would be clouded with anger, rage or revenge. Whereas what the police force needs is cold blooded emotionless thinking to solve the case.

Yesterday President Biden spoke to the Israeli president saying, ‘While you feel rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11 we sought justice, we made mistakes’

Yes indeed, you did make huge mistakes! Former President Bush with just one idea in his thick head; to retaliate for the Twin Tower deaths, entered Iraq with a vengeance and the world’s still paying for it.

Coming back to TV serials I love watching, especially Rocky, there’s the disappointing sound of a crunching blow as our hero is floored. Then the countdown begins and we cheer and the crowd applauds as he, all bloodied and messed up painstakingly lifts himself from the ground. We all expect him, like an enraged bull to lash out, pummel and smash the opponent to smithereens. But what does he do?

He disappoints us as he dodges, feints, weaves past the blows of the one who had laid him low, till slowly we realise Rocky is following a plan. He has his rage under control, and waiting for the right moment lands a penetrating crucial, decisive blow, that flings his opponent to the ground, never to rise before the count of ten!

That indeed is a ‘surgical strike’!

Modi with his attack on Pakistan after the Pulwama bombing, delivered a crushing body blow that has kept Pakistan on the mat for years now. He could well have thrown caution to the wind and sent a thousand missiles into Pakistan, and maybe the whole Indian army, but the blow given was accurate, precise and to the point.

Israel needs to learn to do this. At the moment, though wounded and angry they are acting like a rogue elephant gone berserk and slowly losing the backing of the world.

The Hamas are crafty. They didn’t attack to just harm Israel, their goal was to provoke Israel into foolhardiness, and get the world especially the Arab world against them.

They seem to be achieving that goal.

Like I said, I’m a movie buff, and what if this was a Netflix movie, like the Israeli ‘Fauda’? Brain instead of brawn would have been used. So, for once, real war needs to follow the reel one.

The Jews are great thinkers, now is the time for them to put on those same thinking caps!

Stop lashing out, you’re losing out..!

bobsbanter@gmail.com   

Recent Posts

India's ambitious overhaul of its labour law architecture—by consolidating 29 existing laws into four comprehensive Labour Codes—is projected as a landmark reform intended to simplify compliance, prom
apicture Jose Vattakuzhy
01 Dec 2025
Across India, workers and unions are resisting labour codes that dismantle decades of hard-won rights. As corporate elites are celebrated, labourers face exclusion, precarity and silencing. The battle
apicture Prakash Louis
01 Dec 2025
I have always considered myself a temple-goer. That description may seem inadequate, for my journeys have taken me from the southern tip of the subcontinent to the Himalayan foothills, tracing not mer
apicture A. J. Philip
01 Dec 2025
Sixteen BLO deaths in three weeks expose the brutal human cost of an impossible SIR timeline. As overworked field staff collapse under pressure, the Election Commission denies responsibility, and an a
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
01 Dec 2025
Two Jesuit moments, a century apart, reveal a stark contrast: courage that welcomed Gandhi, and caution that silenced a Stan Swamy lecture. As we mark the feast of St. Xavier, we are asked not to judg
apicture Fr. Sebastian James, SJ
01 Dec 2025
O Father of India, on this sacred day, Not in prayer of sorrow do we gather, For your light is still dancing in our hearts. A fire that never dies, never ends.
apicture Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla
01 Dec 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, the Constitution's guarantees feel symbolic to millions. With courts, policing, voter rolls and land rights tilting in one direction, religious minorities confront a future w
apicture John Dayal
01 Dec 2025
Beneath the speeches of Constitution Day lies a nation in peril. Rights are eroded, institutions compromised, minorities targeted, and democracy is hollowed out. Ambedkar's warnings echo today, demand
apicture Cedric Prakash
01 Dec 2025
Aeschylus, the Greek tragedian, wanted to know how he was destined to die. Hence, he consulted a fortune teller who told him the truth and nothing but the truth. "You would meet your death under a fal
apicture P. Raja
01 Dec 2025
Picture two engines joined together. Both powerful, both capable of pulling a nation forward. But one engine pulls east and the other west. They strain. They struggle. And the train goes nowhere.
apicture Robert Clements
01 Dec 2025