Ira Sharkansky

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Politics moves by symbols and slogans. Policymaking operates under an umbrella of politics, but gives more weight to the details of reality. Examples of the symbols and slogans that have moved American politics are war on drugs, war on terror, and–in the words of a Washington observer with a fancy title– “the

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The Marker, the economic supplement of Ha’aretz, celebrated the first year of the Netanyahu government with a front page story comparing the prime minister’s promises and accomplishments. The headline deals with the most recent great idea, to extend rail and improved road networks to the far corners of this small

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israel radio announced that The Times of London was accusing Israel of “waging covert war across the Middle East.” The worry was that this would be the start of another campaign to condemn and delegitimize Israel, recruit support for boycotts of its exports and its academics, and arrange arrest warrants for officials

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–In several of these columns I have described the United States as a laggard among wealthy democracies in its support of social services. Anti-tax individualism shows itself in one of the lowest indicators among this group of countries for government outlays as a percentage of national resources. President Obama’s disappointment in health reform

By Ira Sharkansky   JERUSALEM–Money, money everywhere, but not enough. That’s the message from the massive deficit already apparent and projected for the United States. It comes from too many wars, too many tax cuts, too many entitlement programs, and too much exploitation by highly paid capitalists who forced the government into unprecedented bail-outs. Who’s

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Here is something that President Obama and his advisers should consider before spending any more of their time nudging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to negotiate a peace. http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167194 The details are not entirely clear, but reinforce the larger story of corruption in high places of the Palestine Authority, the lack

JERUSALEM–President Obama’s State of the Union address dealt almost entirely with domestic issues, despite American troops active in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen, as well as highly touted efforts with respect to Israel-Palestine and Iran. Also, the focus was heavily on the economy, and lightly on what had been his iconic health initiative. The

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–One of my internet friends objects to my calling Europe the enlightened continent. “What in the blazes are you talking about.? Europe, the hot-bed of modern antisemitism…enlightened? The Netherlands with a de facto, maybe de jure euthanasia policy! France being so overrun with rebellious Muslims that there are scores of areas throughout the country

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–For those who are not sure that the devil is in the details, here’s an example. An American insurance company and hospitals are arguing about an administrative procedure. It has reached the point where one state legislature has enacted a law about the clerical details to be allowed in its jurisdiction, patients are being

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Media in Israel and overseas have described in the most positive of terms the aid that a team of IDF and Magan David Adom (Red Star of David) personnel have provided in Haiti. An article in the New York Times adds to the praise, but also reports on Israelis who lament that

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel is usually in the headlines about war, terror, great power efforts to make peace, or some other bloody or politically charged issue. This note is not about any of that exciting stuff, but deals with the way others and Israelis often view themselves. That may have something to do