Israelis turned out in numbers not seen in a generation, and handed both of their would-be prime ministers the same verdict: not enough. On the partial count this morning, neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot’s reaches the 61 seats needed to govern. Both men have nonetheless claimed the night. Eisenkot told supporters the old […]

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In July 1971, Henry Kissinger developed a convenient stomachache in Pakistan, vanished from public view and turned up in Beijing. The secret trip that led to Nixon’s opening to China rested on a simple piece of geometry: in a world of three great powers, the smart move is to stand closer to each of your […]

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TEL AVIV — There is one country on earth where Donald Trump could plausibly win a national election, and he knows it. “I could run for Prime Minister,” he joked in May, claiming 99% approval here. No poll has ever shown that. But the joke landed because it is only half a joke. Thirteen days before […]

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TEL AVIV – Every Israeli election of the past decade has been sold as the last chance to save the country, and every one has ended in the same place: a long night of counting, followed by weeks of bargaining among men who swore they would never sit together. The vote on October 27 has a stronger […]

The post Israel votes again but the arithmetic hasn’t changed appeared first on Asia Times.

On September 30, the last American and coalition troops flew out of Erbil Air Base, and the Pentagon declared an “orderly departure.” The White House called it a victory. President Trump, never one for understatement, described the whole enterprise as “a very expensive excursion into Hell.” For once, the hyperbole is closer to the truth […]

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