Prof. Norman Bailey in Globes: War can wait

Publication Date: May 9, 2013

It is increasingly apparent that there is no appetite in either the United States or Israel at this time to go to war with Iran by attacking the Iranian nuclear facilities.  {read more}

Prof. Norman Bailey discusses youth unemployment in Israel

Publication Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The current issue of The Economist has a cover picture of people being discharged into a trash dump, with the headline "Generation Jobless" and the subtitle "The Global Rise of Youth Unemployment." In the article inside the magazine it points out that youth unemployment, as reported by official statistical agencies, which undoubtedly miss many of the unemployed, even so totals more than the population of the United States.  {read more}

Prof. Norman Bailey discusses threats in Lebanon, Kurdistan, and Iran

Publication Date: Sunday, April 28, 2013

In the increasingly chaotic Middle East, certain crises get most of the attention: the Egyptian economic meltdown; the anarchy in the Sinai Peninsula; the Iranian nuclear threat, and the Syrian civil war. But there are a large number of other developments in the region which deserve our close attention also.  {read more}

Prof. Bailey comments on Portugal’s refusal to adopt EU austerity measures

Publication Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013

The crisis of the week has shifted from Cyprus, where the EU, the ECB and the IMF decided to confiscate bank deposits --including those supposedly insured by the EU (which gives rise to the interesting speculation as to whether the depositors with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts could have applied to be reimbursed) all the way across the continent to Portugal.  {read more}

Some good news about Israel and what Obama said about it

Publication Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Amid all the euphoria about President Obama's visit to Israel, modified by the realization that Netanyahu's apology to Turkish prime minister Erdogan under pressure from Obama (and truth be told under pressure also from Israeli industry, which has seen its once-robust sales to Turkey plummet) was a serious and humiliating mistake, insufficient attention has been paid to a very positive fact.  {read more}

Rare opportunities amid monumental stupidity in Cyprus

Publication Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013

It has been said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce. The interminable European economic/financial crisis neatly illustrates that saying.  {read more}

Cyprus farce: The incompetence of Europe's leaders has never been more plain to see; but there could be an opportunity for Israel

Publication Date: Monday, March 25, 2013

It has been said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce. The interminable European economic/financial crisis neatly illustrates that saying.  {read more}

Budget dilemmas in Israel and the U.S.

The most fateful decision by governments is the split between spending on defense, and spending on making the country worth defending

Publication Date: March 7, 2013

In the United States, a broken political system and a broken budgetary process have resulted in an automatic, across-the-board budget cut for the approximately one-third of the governmental budget that is not mandated (social security, medicare, etc.), including defense and internal security.  {read more}

Spread ownership, or spread poverty: Technological and economic change are outstripping the ability of our political institutions to manage them

Publication Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The recent Italian elections closely reflected the current situation in Europe and much of the Western world: total confusion. The left will dominate the lower house and the right will dominate the upper house.  {read more}

Talking won't always help: The idea that most conflicts arise from misunderstanding is an illusion

Publication Date: Friday, February 22, 2013

The first US ambassador to the United Nations was a crusty old former senator from Vermont who had never been outside the United States and not much of anywhere inside the US except back and forth to Washington. When Israel declared independence in 1948 and was invaded by its Arab neighbors, Ambassador Austin looked out over the podium of the General Assembly and said: "What I don't understand is why the Jews and the Arabs can't get together around a table and resolve their differences like good Christian gentlemen."  {read more}