Word: consensus
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...sources of this paralysis are somewhat different in the two countries. In Japan, a combination of highly constraining social patterns, consensus-based decision-making and an ossified political process have suppressed new ideas and made the country resistant to change. In the U.S., there is no shortage of fresh thinking, debate and outrage - the paralysis is caused by a lack of consensus on how problems should be tackled. There are too many people in positions of power who seem to believe no real change is necessary, or that it can just be put off, for political purposes, to another...
...expected to come before the end of the month. U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled proposals in January for a $90 billion bank tax designed to recoup public money used to shore up the nation's lenders. No-nonsense Sweden, meanwhile, has already implemented its own version. But amid this consensus on the need to charge banks, doubts over the merit of the schemes remain. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...currently about 200,000 Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem, but the government doesn't regard them as settlers, as Netanyahu emphasized in Washington this week. It is doubtful whether any Israeli government could muster either the electoral mandate, or the manpower, to remove them, because there's a broad consensus among Israelis that at least the Old City should remain in their hands. And there are Israelis now so deeply settled in the middle of Arab neighborhoods, sometimes sharing the same building, that any attempt to draw boundaries in the city would likely present a constant source of tension...
...acquiring nuclear weapons." Israel and its advocates in Washington see Iran's nuclear program, rather than the conflict with the Palestinians, as the prime issue in the U.S.-Israel conversation. So Clinton talked up the Administration's efforts to halt Iran's uranium-enrichment program, citing "a growing international consensus on taking steps to pressure Iran's leaders to change course." Europe was on board, she said, and Russia wasn't far behind. "And although there is still work to be done, China has said it supports the dual-track approach of applying pressure if engagement does not produce results...
...punish third-country companies doing business with Iran. A number of Western oil companies have recently stopped supplying gasoline to Iran in anticipation of such measures, suggesting they could be more effective than U.N. sanctions. But the Administration is also concerned about hurting ordinary Iranians, or shattering whatever international consensus currently exists on dealing with the Iran issue. And opposition to sanctions by many of Iran's neighbors and key trading partners would likely soften the impact of unilateral sanctions...