Word: primed
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...start of the 2006 war against Hizballah in Lebanon, but soured when it became obvious that Israeli politicians and generals were bungling the war, and that soldiers' lives were being needlessly lost. That hasn't happened yet, but already a few retired generals are starting to complain that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his cabinet are dithering. Says former National Security Council Chief Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, "Either reach a cease-fire in two to three days, or start a big military operation that will take at least two weeks. We've been beating around the bush for a week...
...farce played out in Brussels, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek - the Czech Republic currently holds the E.U. presidency - and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were phoning Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, warning him that Gazprom and Russia faced the loss of reputation and revenues as Western customers looked elsewhere. The E.U. efforts were almost all aimed at the Russians rather than the Ukrainians. They also spoke with Ukrainian officials. It helps that the E.U. is Ukraine's largest aid donor. Ukraine is facing a financial meltdown, and recently asked for a $16.4 billion International Monetary Fund bailout. Gazprom, owing around...
...will be willing to go now to make peace with Israel is unclear. The Saudi-sponsored Arab Peace Plan, which offered Israel peace with 22 Arab countries if it withdrew to its 1967 borders, will remain on the table for Israel's new PM to consider. Even Syria, a prime supporter of Hamas, spent part of 2008 in indirect peace talks with Israel mediated by Turkey. But Syria has broken off its talks for now, destroying any chance that Damascus, on behalf of Israel, might put pressure on the exiled Hamas leaders residing there...
...into 5.4 million Jews and 1.6 million Arabs. But if you include Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank, they may already have a slender majority; and given their higher birthrate, the gap will widen quickly. This tectonic shift in demographics is what scared even hawkish Israelis like former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into abandoning the biblical dreams of a Greater Israel stretching all the way from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. As Olmert recently warned, "If we are determined to preserve the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel, we must inevitably relinquish, with great pain...
...disunity, the Palestinians have been unwilling to modify their demands that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their ancient homes inside Israel, which Israel will never accept. With a general election looming in Israel - polls suggest that the hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to become the next Prime Minister - there is an opportunity to start talking again...