Ariel Sharon Lingers Like Francisco Franco (Minus The SNL Laughs)

The Middle East is a region of the world that has long fascinated me.  A day does not go by without news and intrigue from this most combustible and historically compelling region.  One of the blogs I love to read concerning the Middle East, Brian’s Coffeehouse, is written by Brain Ulrich, an Assistant Professor in History at Shippensburg University.  His two major research areas are the Middle East from the 7th through 10th centuries and the Persian Gulf from ancient times to the present.  As such he is a winner of a blogger, and based on his content I am sure a most impressive lecturer.

Today he had a topic that I had not thought about for some time. 

Ariel Sharon is still alive.  From the link he provided comes this information.  One has to wonder if this is atonement for the atrocities in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, of which Ariel Sharon was front and center in creating.

Four years after a massive stroke that has since rendered him unconscious, former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon now breathes unassisted.

He lies motionless in a two-bed private room at the 18-bed Sheba Medical Centre, a long-term-care facility near Tel Aviv that specialises in the rehabilitation of comatose patients.

A team of nurses keeps moving his body to prevent the onslaught of pressure sores, while an extra nurse is on duty 24 hours a day specifically tasked with monitoring him.

Fed daily through a tube, Mr Sharon, now 81, was once famous for his substantial girth but now weighs around 50 kilograms. Every day he is visited by at least one of his two sons, Omri and Gilad, and at night he is fitted with an oxygen mask, more as a precaution than from necessity.

Overall, caring for Mr Sharon costs Israeli taxpayers about $A400,000 a year.

On odd occasions his eyelids will suddenly open, and can stay open for several hours – one of the more encouraging signs that keep those close to him hopeful that he might one day recover.

But according to doctors familiar with Mr Sharon’s condition, he has zero chance of recovery.

”His brain is about the size of a grapefruit,” says a hospital manager who has had ongoing involvement with Mr Sharon’s care, and who declined to be named.