Ira Sharkansky

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It is unwise to invest too seriously as a consumer of political rhetoric. Politicians lie. They must, in order to serve diverse constituencies. Party platforms are designed to up the enthusiasm of those already committed. “Singing to the choir” pretty much summarizes what goes in election campaigns, with parties appealing to their […]

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Will President Obama’s speech at the National Defense University this week rank with his speech in Cairo that called for freedom, liberty, and democracy, or George W. Bush’s speeches that promised democracy in Iraq and later declared victory? Bluster or wisdom? is an appropriate question to ask of an American president, fated to

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israelis have no monopoly of feeling threatened. Residents of Greece, Spain, and a few other developed countries–including some from the USA–have trouble paying their bills, or looking forward to work and a vacation. Israel’s economy is in pretty good shape. Not for all Israelis, but for most. Being Jews, many

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Newspaper estimates of the numbers taking part in recent demonstrations tell us something about the ranking of items on the agendas of various sectors. What is impressive is not the precision of such numbers, but great differences in their magnitude. On Thursday evening of last week, it was estimated that

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Remember the Cold War? And the crises focused on Berlin and missiles in Cuba? Could we be on the cusp of a comparable crisis focused on Syria? Among the unanswered questions is the relative weight of Israel in the thinking and threatening being done by the US and Russia. This,

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM –The holiday of Shavuot provided a pleasant respite from the excessive excitement of this country. Instead of the usual drone of disaster and dispute in the media, there were tasty festivities heavy on cheese filled casseroles topped off with cheese cake. The relative quiet, for everything but my aging arteries, was

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The latest numbers about the two year old Syrian civil war are 80,000 deaths, one million refugees over the borders in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, and a total of four million displaced Syrians either over the borders or away from their homes in Syria. As always, we must be suspicious

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel’s current discussion is providing its lessons in the politics of economics and the economics of politics. Political economy is the name of the game. It is not really a discussion we are having. It’s more like simultanteous complaints, expressed as close to the top of one’s voice as appropriate

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — On Sunday the vast bulk of Israel’s media was about Syria. By Tuesday, it had shifted to the budget that Finance Minister Yair Lapid would present to the government. The background was a sizable deficit in the budgets of recent years, and a greater deficit projected for the present year

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Those who saw the promotional video, Israel: Seeing is Believing, might want to balance it with  a BBC production, Israel: Facing the Future. It will take an hour of your time, but is worth it on several dimensions. It is as good as anything I’ve seen for displaying the variety

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Not every day is as filled with such sharp contrasts as those of a recent 24 hours. One item is a video that came to my mailbox with the title, Israel: Seeing is Believing. It looks like something from the Ministry of Tourism, and would send me to the nearest airport if

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–A country’s politics is a product of big things and little things. The big things have been around for a long time, and are unlikely to go away soon. They include place (i.e., geography and its implications), the good or bad luck of having or lacking natural resources, and elements of culture

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM– There is a lot of tantalizing stuff buzzing around our ears and in front of our eyes, depending on whether we are hearing or reading what might be called the “news.” The problems are that some of the news may be disinformation coming from official sources, some comes from unreliable internet

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Barack Obama has said that Syrian use of chemical weapons is a “game changer.” According to the lead paragraphs in a New York Times article, the President said “he would respond “prudently” and “deliberately” to evidence that Syria had used chemical weapons, tamping down any expectations that he would take