Does Israels all-consuming focus on security make them less secure in the long run?
It is a paradox: their focus on security makes them insecure. The Israelis have a legitimate problem, though, because they’re a tiny country living in a difficult neighborhood. They need to find a balance. We can’t do it for them, because we don’t live on the knife’s edge. We don’t know what it’s like. The United States doesn’t have predatory neighbors to the north and south. And we have fish — literally fish — as our neighbors to the east and west. You’ve said that Americans have many illusions about peace-making. Americans don’t see the world the way it is. We see the world the way we want it to be. We are pragmatic and optimistic and naive and idealistic. These are some of our better qualities. But they also get us into trouble. You’ve also said that success — not democracy — has become the world’s most compelling ideology. The U.S. hasn’t been very successful in the Middle East lately. Does this hurt our ability as negotiators? Failure creates weakness and the impression of inc
