Years ago I had a friendly discussion with Ariel Sharon. I told him: "I am first of all an Israeli. After that I am a Jew."

The Palestinians’ deteriorating conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip makes even long-term optimism difficult. Neither a one-liberal-state nor two-state resolution seems in the offing because (if for no other reason) either would seem to spell political suicide for any foreseeable Israeli government.

The U.S. deep state’s hatred of the Iranian people goes back a long way, at least as far back as 1953.

Benjamin Netanyahu is a perfect diplomat, a clever politician, a talented leader of the army.

One might have thought that, in the wake of the Nazi regime’s systematic crimes against humanity last century, dehumanization would have become unthinkable once and for all. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. It has shamefully continued unabated, the assorted perpetrators including, with tragic irony, those who themselves were victims of Nazi dehumanization.

One can look at events in Gaza through the left or through the right eye. One can condemn them as inhuman, cruel and mistaken, or justify them as necessary and unavoidable.

Far be it from me to divide humankind in two, but were I so inclined, I’d divide it into those who love reason and those who are indifferent if not outright hostile to it. Members of the first group adore the reasoning process and their own reasoning faculties.

During the 2016 presidential election Donald Trump famously proclaimed he would drain the swamp in Washington, but looking at the cast of characters he’s surrounded himself with, it seems more like he invited all his carnivorous reptilian buddies to come drain their bladders in the swamp and now it’s not only bigger but warmer as well.

We look forward to it for months. Calendars have been cleared, reservations made, and the anticipation in the house is so high, it vibrates like a chicken on meth strapped to a thirty year- old dryer set on spin.

Trump’s surprise announcement that he is willing to talk to Rouhani is likely part of a plan formulated almost a year before he returned to government service by his national security advisor Bolton.

Ludwig von Mises showed how one government intervention inevitably leads to more interventions. That’s because the original intervention produces a crisis. At that point public officials have a choice: Repeal the intervention or enact a new intervention to address the crisis.

It was quite a shock to see the President of the United States bend the knee to Vladimir Putin and act as obsequiously as a Little Leaguer standing next to Aaron Judge. Of course, when Donald Trump spoke while Vladimir Putin drank a glass of water, we all applauded.