1) egypt didn't jump on the hamas bandwagon the way many predicted.
2) bibi and obama managed to work together very well, thank you. as a leftist put it, if this is obama's throwing up under a bus, i hope that he throws us under a train.
3) europe may not have been ideal, but they also stood by us during the war.
4) yes i would like the government to be more pro-active. if the elections go as planned i would hope that a government that includes shelly will find a way to do it.

Regarding the Egyptians – they are down on us for many reasons, most of which have little to do with us. But I would like to concentrate on the reasons over which I do have control since working on those will definitely make things better. Dealing with the Palestinians is the single most important one. Stop being so damn arrogant as we are apt to be would be another.

which is why i don't believe that the egyptians are down on us because of our treatment of the palestinians.

years ago, Yossi Beilin gave a famous interview in which he said that rabin never concluded what would be the final status of the palestinians. it is obvious that oslo was a "let's try it and see how it works out" plan. so, i don't believe that rabin was such a long term thinker either. certainly, neither sharon nor olmert were.

Nobody gives a damn about human rights unless you are well enough to spend the time and effort and even then its not all too common.

Netanyahu is one dimensional: His only ticket is to prevent a repetition of the Shoah and he views Iran as the central threat. He doesn't recognize the threat of a binational state, he doesn't recognize the threat of a non-democratic state, he doesn't recognize the threat of international delegitimization. Why not ? Because he is certain that he knows the truth. Listen to him when he talks to the world leaders. It's only him who knows the truth.

Bibi doesn't have an end game – his end game is survival, both for himself politically and for Israel.

where i differ from you is what political arrangement should we be shooting for. a hesder with hamas? well, that will mean screwing our erstwhile peace partner, abu mazen.

let's go for something else, like pushing egypt to open rafiah for civilian supplies or have hamas/egypt be fully responsible for their fuel needs. cut our connections to the greatest extent possible.

bibi was the one who got the world to impose sanctions; he didn't start off by bombing the centrifuges. he isn't that one dimensional. if shelly would tell me something different in private, great. but i am not in the position for a one on one talk with her. and to tell the truth, i couldn't care less what shaul said. he changes his position weekly.

btw: the reassessment was in the seventies. it was a kissenger tactic (then sec state of gerald ford) to get rabin (first term) to back down.

the palestinians are an excuse for egyptians not to like us. they don't give a damn about other human rights violations. they don't break ties with sudan for their genocides.

i'd like (more than like) for bibi to spell out what is his end game. i really have no idea. on the other hand, i refuse to accept the demonization that people do with him. even

I agree with you that the jury is out on the Arab spring – I don't think it's a desaster for us if we start playing the game – but it definitely is more of a problem than non-democratic governments were – with them you could do business. When the people don't like you (and they don't as long as you don't give Palestinians their due) you are in a lot deeper water. You cannot count on the Egyptian government like you could before – Mursi has to keep the street in check. It's true that he can't do that without US wheat but if we put enough pressure on him (like with Gaza) it could easily force his hand. So far he seems to be doing a lot better than expected. I hope it stays that way.

The Iran problem is being dealt with obsessively and only from one point of view : to bomb or not.The issues, as you recognize, are alot more complicated and the fact that Shelly and Shaul see eye to eye with Bibi over the seriousness of the problem doesn't require me to take the same position. What heads of political parties do is called "posturing". Does it reflect their real views ? You have to ask them in private. I wouldn't be surprised if we were surprised.

While the US and Israel do have common interests, we have lately made a considerable effort to ignore US interests. It's only a matter of time before this will come to haunt us. Having been in the military during the US "reassessment" in the 80ties I can tell you that it wasn't the best of times.

Fact is that Netanyahu is running this country without looking around, without taking into consideration the concerns of others. Many others. There will be a price to pay for this. We'll pay it.